Presentation at the 2012 Polish IA Summit in Warsaw.

1. Reframing information architecture
A CASE STUDY FROM THE JOHANNESBURG ART GALLERY
By Jason Hobbs

2. Terence Fenn

3. More than ever we are finding that traditional approaches
to solving problems in the world are failing.

4. It has taken over 25 years to determine a solution for the
HIV / AIDS problem largely because it was viewed as a
scientific, medical problem for so long.

5. And yet the solution, is in two major parts, addressing the
social conditions in which the disease operates.

6. Education
Wellness
Anti-retroviral’s

7. “We have been learning to see social processes as the
links tying up open systems into large and interconnected
networks of systems, such that outputs of one become
inputs of another. In that structural framework it has
become less apparent where problem centres lie, and less
apparent where and how we should intervene even if we
know what aims we seek”
Dilemmas in a General Theory of Planning (1973), Rittel and Webber

8. The Johannesburg Art Gallery presents such problem.

13. Gauteng: "Place of Gold"
8.8 million people
1.4% of South Africa's land area
20% of total population of South Africa
Provides 1/3 of the South African GDP
And 7% of the whole of Africa's GDP

32. • The building is a national monument
• It will be 100 years old in 2015
• Holds the most comprehensive archive of SA’n
art in the world
• Researchers visit internationally
• Has hosted large, global scale exhibitions
• Significant collection that is extremely valuable
• Extensive collection of African art
• Considered the best exhibition space in Africa
and on par internationally

33. JAG Snag…viewed the
problem through the
lense of architecture and
time

35. • Leaking
• Damp and humidity
• Wear and tear
• Lack of secure storage space
• Sewerage
• Funding

38. But that’s just scratching
the surface of the
problem.

39. • Lack of funding
• Lack of vision
• Lack of resource
• Theft and security
• Lack of visitation
• Lack of competency
• Lack of awareness
• Lack of an arts-culture
• Competitive environment
• Visual overload
• Lack of education
• Ineffective use of channels
• Missing potential markets
• The location

46. Indeterminate problems

47. Indeterminate problems are ill- defined, reliant on
subjective social agreement and wicked in the sense that
before they can be solved they need to be tamed, defined
and limited.

48. Because at different levels problems may appear to
warrant different solutions and a solution at one level, may
yield a problem at a different level.

52. So as an architect I’ll see
the problem like this…
As an urbanist like this…
As a civil policy-maker
like this…
As a marketer like this…
As an operations
manager like this…
As a business man like
this…
Etc…

53. So we are faced with two fundamental challenges:

54. 1. How do we collect, organise and understand the mass
of data that makes up the problem?
2. If this is a multi-disciplinary problem, upon what set of
tools and techniques do we base our solutioning? How
do we come up with a solution?

55. How do we collect, organise
and understand the mass of
data that makes up the
problem?

56. This is where it helps to be an information architect…

63. Pen & paper techniques for getting from research to design WORKBOOK (Adaptive Path)

64. IA tools and techniques help us to analyse and understand
complex problems.

66. The research
framework:
• The institution
• The users
• The market
• The legacy

67. Activities:
• Stakeholder
interviews
• Legacy presentation
& desktop research
• Environmental
desktop research
• SWOT photo essays
• International art
market research
• Internal user
interviews
• Contextual analysis
• Content &
functionality audits
• User interviews
• Competitor analysis
• Best-practice and
benchmarking

68. If this is a multi-disciplinary
problem, upon what set of
tools and techniques do we
base our solutioning? How
do we come up with a
solution?

69. A void has been created.
If we can’t fall back on any individual design discipline then
what underpins our approach to solutioning?
How do we structure a solution involving vast amounts of
data and multiple dimensions in which the problem lies?

70. ARTIFACT
Experience Experience
ARTIFACT Data ARTIFACT
Experience Experience
ARTIFACT

71. ARTIFACT
Experience Experience
Solution?
ARTIFACT Data ARTIFACT
Experience Experience
ARTIFACT

76. But there’s something available to us that is even closer to
home.

79. IA’s re-organise parts to create new wholes that solve
problems in data based environments.

80. IA’s re-organise parts to create new wholes that solve
problems in (complex) data based environments.

81. You never directly experience the information architecture:
It is between clicks
It is behind the navigation, the content, the graphic design
It is enabled by the technology

82. And it is trans-disciplinary in nature.
Although most of our thinking is applied to digital
environments like the web, the act of organising
information is actually abstracted from any particular
channel.

84. INFORMATION
ARCHITECTURE

85. A website
IA solution
Data

86. Technology
IA solution
Graphic design Data Content
Navigation

87. Technology
Interaction Branding
design IA solution
Graphic design Data Content
Usability Marketing
Navigation

88. Our deliverables are the explicit articulation of structural
and spatial solutions from, for and in data.
These solutions, are not the final design artifact.
Rather, the final design artifact draws on this underlying
structural solution to express itself.

89. So how can this apply to
the JAG problem?

91. The art gallery
Its visitors Its business model
Solution
It’s marketing Data Its staff
Its channels
Its findability
Its collection
Its funding

92. Data. Lots and lots of data.

93. Data. Lots and lots of data.
Positioning
Identity
Accessibility

94. Data. Lots and lots of data.
Positioning
Identity
?
Accessibility
?

95. This is a reframing of IA

96. Information architecture design is the creative act of
synthesising data to structure solutions.

97. Information architecture design is the creative act of
synthesising data to structure solutions.
Information architecture design is channel and discipline
agnostic problem solving.

98. Information architecture design is the creative act of
synthesising data to structure solutions.
Information architecture design is channel and discipline
agnostic problem solving.
Information architecture design re-organises data from
dysfunctional formations to create new functional
formations.

99. And in doing so, we design meaning.

100. “At the end of the silence Father
began talking, and in the space of
twenty minutes he revealed to me
the facts of life. He held nothing
back. He initiated me into the
deepest secrets of the Librarians
lore: he laid bare the main highway
as well as the forest tracks, dizzying
prospects of
variations, nuances, fantasies, exoti
c avenues, daring schemes, and
even eccentric whims. Books can be
arranged by subject, by alphabetic
order of author’s names, by series or
publishers, in chronological order, by
languages, by topics, by areas and
fields or even by place of
publication. There are so many
different ways” (Oz 2005: 24)

101. “And so I learnt the secret
of diversity.
Life is made up of different
avenues. Everything can
happen in one of several
ways, according to different
musical scores and parallel
logics. Each of these
parallel logics is consistent
and coherent in its own
terms, perfect in
itself, indifferent to all the
others…
So I learnt from books the
art of composition”

102. Information architecture design is poetic in nature.

105. In conclusion…

106. Four principles for indeterminate problem solving:

107. Four principles for indeterminate problem solving:
1. Design problems are embedded in social practice

108. Four principles for indeterminate problem solving:
1. Design problems are embedded in social practice
2. Designers solve complex problems by testing them
against solutions

109. Four principles for indeterminate problem solving:
1. Design problems are embedded in social practice
2. Designers solve complex problems by testing them
against solutions
3. The design of solutions is transdisciplinary

110. Four principles for indeterminate problem solving:
1. Design problems are embedded in social practice
2. Designers solve complex problems by testing them
against solutions
3. The design of solutions is transdisciplinary
4. Design is an act of meaning-making

111. Thank you.