Requirements
Students are required to submit a report proposing
the IA and navigation for the Wusteman Gadgets site plus details of
testing.
Report writing
You are required to take into account the advice
given on appropriate report presentation in the lecture on this topic.
A report is not an essay. As indicated above,
you are an information architect and the audience of this report is your
colleagues on the web development team (not the customer); the report should be
designed accordingly. For example,
·
Your report should not include references to IS30050, the fact that it
is an assessment, your student number etc. It should be entirely realistic.
·
Your report should not attempt to explain the basics of IA, the
functioning of common usability test tools etc. (We can assume that a
professional team creating a website understand the basics of IA and don’t need
it explained to them.)
·
As a corollary, your report should not include quotes from textbooks
(not even a course text). You may reference relevant industry reports etc if
they are not too obvious for professional web designers - for example, if you
want to refer to the latest trends or patterns.
·
Your report should not be so general as to be of relevance to any
possible website, but should be of specific relevance to the website you are
creating. Thus, it is unlikely that a general diagram taken from lecture
slides or the web will be relevant. All diagrams should specifically describe
some aspect of your proposed website, not just IA principles in general.
·
Assume that your colleagues in the web development team are very busy
and would prefer, wherever possible, to glance at a well-structured table
rather than a few paragraphs of text. You should attempt to present all the
necessary information in this report in as concise a manner as feasible.
Brevity is an advantage in such a report, but only when it doesn’t impinge on
clarity. Make sure your meaning is always clear. For example, bullet points can
often be used to advantage - but a list of random, unrelated and unexplained
bullet points are not helpful.
·
If you attempt to make a scanty report look longer by using a large font
(anything over 12 pt), you will lose marks. Every year, a couple of students
try this…..
·
Double line spacing should not be used: use single spacing or 1.15
spacing.
·
As well as attending the physical lectures and studying the electures,
ensure you read the relevant chapters in Spencer. The entire book is of
relevance here, but Part 4, Designing and Information Architecture, and Part 5,
Designing Navigation, are particularly helpful. Further useful references will
be referred to in lectures.
·
Your report should be presented in a professional manner. For example,
the layout should be clear (no orphans or widows), there should be no
grammatical or spelling errors, tables should be clearly presented and
accurately labelled.
·
The required layout for the report is listed below, along with an
indication of what should be included in each section. Unless otherwise
indicated, when asked for a table or a diagram (eg a site map), you are not
required or expected to include further notes explaining the table or diagram;
they should explain themselves. You won’t receive extra marks for notes that
add nothing to the information already obvious from the table/diagram. In fact,
if you add unnecessary notes that duplicate information already presented, you
may lose marks. However, if there is information of relevance to the section
that can’t be gleaned from the table/diagram, you may present it concisely via
the most appropriate method (eg a key, brief notes, an additional table etc).
·
You won’t receive marks for making additional proposals in areas other
than the IA or navigation.
Required report
layout
You must stick to the following layout but you can
include further subdivisions within sections where appropriate.
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