Developing a unified web site or intranet for a large, decentralized organization is the Holy Grail for many of today's Internet professionals. This daylong seminar is for managers and web professionals who desperately want to tie together content in a rational, user-centered way, regardless of content ownership issues, cultural hurdles, and turf battles.
"Unlike many industry thought leaders' presentations that explain theoretical but unrealistic doctrines, Lou's seminar struck a nice balance between what should be done and what could be done in the sometimes contentious, always political, corporate setting. His common sense approach of injecting sound IA principles into small windows of opportunity was spot-on."
Michael Padilla, User Experience Director, Radian Guaranty
"Lou's deep understanding of information architecture and engagement with the participants provided the framework for a great learning experience... I came away with a host of ideas and leads to explore further."
Anna Gifford, Information Architect, Victoria Online
"I found it extremely informative and eye opening... excellent speaker."
David Wierbiki, Senior Graphic Designer, Deloitte & Touche
"Rarely does one get such value from a seminar. This pragmatic, practical approach delivered what I needed to make a start. I feel significantly less overwhelmed now."
Peter Smith, Coatings Intranet Program Manager, Akzo Nobel
"Even if you think you know everything there is about information architecture, Lou's seminar takes you further; it helps you develop an IA strategy for your own organisation, and helps you build a network of colleagues who are addressing similar challenges."
Paul Nattress, Content Editor, npower
"Practical, intelligent information on how to actually deal with the politics and pitfalls in an enterprise environment. More than just best practices and things to avoid, Lou helps you understand how to get things done and how to handle obstacles in the 'real world'."
Cynthia Pae-Moebius, Information Design Specialist, MCI
"Packed with…big picture strategies and practical techniques."
Marcia Morante, President, KCurve, Inc.
"Extremely helpful…has me thinking about a number of ways to really improve our sites."
Jon Booth, Website Architect, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services
"...provided realistic approaches to dealing with IA in an enterprise setting that I could start putting into practice immediately..."
Michele Saunders, Information Systems Librarian, University of Arizona Libraries
This advanced information architecture seminar combines lecture, demonstration and exercises, discussion, and handouts to address a topic that bewilders every large organization: designing unified information architectures for large enterprises. You'll learn to:
- Develop main pages and other upper-level "portal" components that convey a single cohesive organization, not a collection of warring business units.
- Use metadata and contextual navigation to help users move from one content-rich page to another, regardless of which business unit manages that content.
- Design search interfaces for improved access to content stored in organizational "silos".
- Better implement an enterprise-wide information architecture through appropriate research and design methods and improved governance.
While you're in the neighborhood, stay one more day and take Steve Krug's web usability seminar; you can register for both sessions at a substantial discount.
Information architects, content managers, webmasters, managers, and others pulling out their hair to develop a unified information architecture for a large, political, and decentralized organization's web site or intranet.
- If you're a beginner at information architecture, you should read a good book on the subject before attending.
- If you're an experienced information architect, you'll appreciate a seminar that goes beyond the basics of wireframes and blueprints and instead focuses on designs and supporting methods that actually work in the enterprise setting.
- If you're a manager, you'll benefit especially from the discussion of governance and other organizational considerations that impact an enterprise information architecture.
Registration and continental breakfast begin at 8am. The seminar starts at 9am and finishes at 5pm, followed by an extremely happy hour. During the day, we'll cover these topics:
- Overview of enterprise information architecture (EIA)
- EIA from the top-down: taxonomies, guides, and other techniques for unifying departmental content
- EIA from the bottom-up: content models and metadata to enable contextual navigation from page to page
- EIA and search: indexing cross-departmental content, presenting results consistently
- EIA and the organization: models for rolling out an enterprise information architecture, staffing it, and paying for and managing it in a distributed corporate environment
- Handouts including presentation slides and references to related readings, software products, and other useful resources.
- A variety of opportunities to network with attendees, including a post-seminar happy hour with Lou Rosenfeld, Steve Krug, and other members of the local information architecture and usability communities. In these new fields, knowing your peers is invaluable.
Louis Rosenfeld is an independent information architecture consultant who has helped numerous Fortune 500s and other large, messy, political enterprises address their information architecture headaches. He is co-author of Information Architecture for the World Wide Web, regarded as the bible of information architecture. Learn more about Lou.
