The working assumption is that everyone should be working with their team on your respective projects. That is the primary homework that everyone should be contributing to.
Individually this week, you have a homework assignment related to our field trip to the City Tech Science Fiction Collection. During today’s class, you learned how we organized and keep track of the items that constitute the collection. And, you had a chance to get your hands dirty by working with materials in the collection to perform data collection.
Your homework is to write a 250-word memo addressed to Prof. Ellis that reflects on your experience today and how you might apply some of the techniques discussed during the field trip to other domains–it could be where you work now, where you would like to work in the future, a personal project that you would like to begin, etc. Copy-and-paste your memo into a comment added to this blog post before next week’s class.
If you were absent, you can use the materials on the SF Collection’s website to discuss the way the materials are organized and then discuss how you might apply those techniques to other domains.
This week, each team should write a collaborative memo in your Google Drive shared folder that includes a description of what work each team member has done on the project during the past week. If you haven’t completed what you were responsible for, note that in the memo and give a date for when you will complete the delegated responsibility. This is about accountability to your team and keeping me informed about the progress of your team’s work as a whole. Each team member should copy-and-paste their team’s single update memo into a comment made to this homework blog post.
For your reference, I typed up the outline that we discussed last week and included it below.
Final Team Project Outline
(Modified Proposal)
I. Introduction
A. Purpose
B. Topic
C. Roadmap
II. Core Proposal
A. Background
B. Problem
C. Solution (LARGEST PART--include site description, site map(s), and wireframe(s)
III. Other Proposal Parts
A. See Online Technical Writing Textbook
IV. Information Architecture Reflection
A. Justification, explanation, and evidence for why you propose to do the things in the way your team chose.
B. Quote and use parenthetical citations.
V. References
A. Anything quoted and parenthetically cited should be listed here in alphabetical order. Cite using APA format.
Other notes
Don’t be afraid to change course with your proposed site as you work on the project. What you read and learn might give you new ideas that you can incorporate. However, don’t allow feature creep to make your project too unwieldy.
While you might be using a divide-and-conquer strategy to creating content for your report, remember that your report is a collaborative effort. Get your content on the page, but all team members can edit, change, alter, improve, etc. the copy provided by any other team member. Check your ego at the door, so to speak, and treat your report as collectively owned–including the writing that you contribute.
Give reasonable deadlines and meet those deadlines. However, if you can’t, communicate that to your team and provide a new deadline.
During class, we will look at the Proposals section of David McMurrey’s Online Technical Writing Textbook (also linked on the syllabus).
For this week’s homework, your team should write a memo from all team members to Prof. Ellis with the subject, “Team Project Outline and Planning.” Begin the memo with a sentence describing its purpose. Then, include an outline for your project report and a paragraph describing who will do what this week (you don’t have to divide up the whole project right now–as discussed in class, you might want to focus on the core proposal section (see photo above) and work outwardly from there). Each team member needs to copy-and-paste the memo into a comment made to this homework post for credit.
After discussing your team’s possible topics (at least 3) and proposed deliverable (e.g., website, help system, app, white paper, book, etc.), collaboratively write a memo in your Google Drive shared folder. It should follow this format and be at least 250 words:
TO: Prof. Ellis
FROM: Write all team member's full names here
DATE:
SUBJECT: Final Team Project Planning Memo
Write a sentence introducing the purpose of this memo.
Write a discussion of three topics you discussed for the content of your proposed deliverable. Indicate which of the three your team selected.
Write a brief discussion about the proposed deliverable and which type your team selected.
Then, each team member should copy-and-paste the memo into a comment made to this post (so each team member has recorded credit for contributing to the homework assignment).
For folks who were absent, we will find team placements for you next week. To make up this missed assignment, you can take advantage of one of the extra credit opportunities.
And for easier access, the overall project is detailed on the syllabus and below. We will break this down into parts and work on it during future classes, though some time outside of class will be necessary to complete the project.
Final Team Project, 30%
The final team project gives students an opportunity to apply what they have learned about IA by writing and publishing a 2,500-word report online that proposes a complex website or document and includes explanations/reflections about why and what purpose each component of their report serves in terms of IA. The report will be written and published using Google Docs. The report requires at least 10 quoted and cited library-based sources (class readings that were drawn from the library are acceptable to use). Additional sources from external sources are permitted, but these sources need to be contextualized more rigorously than library vetted sources. On the last day of class, each team will email a link to their project to Prof. Ellis and give a short 5-10 minute presentation in class anchored by a slidedeck that provides an overview of their report.
We are continuing to expand your GitHub-hosted websites to give you more practice with HTML, organizing principles, and linking strategies.
Building on the website that you submitted for the Week 8 Homework, each student should draw out a new sitemap that mirrors the example shown above. The key addition is that the four sub-pages of your site each receives a linked sub-sub-page (includes more details about the topic of a sub-page) which in turn receives a linked sub-sub-sub-page (includes even more details about the topic of the sub-page and the sub-sub-page).
Additionally, you should link these pages according to the lines connecting them. This means that a sub-page should include a link to its sub-sub-page, the sub-sub-page includes links to its sub-page and sub-sub-sub-page, and the sub-sub-sub-page includes a link back to its sub-sub-page. The idea is to allow a visitor to navigate deeper and deeper into the rich content of your website, but also have links that ascend back to the top level of your website’s page hierarchy.
Feel free to include breadcrumbs and customize your website as you see fit. Remember to include IA features that help with the organization of the pages (i.e., how you name your html files) and user navigation elements (e.g., breadcrumbs, headings, etc.).
These new pages do not have to have images embedded, but they may as long as they are made by you. The main content on the new pages may be text-only–again, think of the concept of rich information from our readings, adding details (more depth) to what you wrote higher up the page hierarchy.
To submit this homework after Spring Break before our next class, add a comment to this post that includes your embedded updated sitemap (use img.bb) and a link to your GitHub-hosted website.
As we discussed in class today, Week 8 Homework is the continuation of what we had planned to do in Week 7. Last week, you submitted your sitemap, which is the organizational IA for your site. This week, you should submit a wireframe (or wireframes) for the user interface IA for your site and provide a link to your website that you host on GitHub. Break things down and take care of your wireframe first. That’s your design guide for what goes where on your HTML pages of your website. Then, begin expanding on the two pages that we built together in class so that you index.html plus four more html files that all link to each other and home/index.html. I’m providing images of the examples that we discussed in class below as well as the original assignment with links to HTML guides (also, remember Google is your friend for HTML help!). And one last thing, please remember that when you make a change to your html files on GitHub and click Commit, it takes a few minutes before the change appears on your website (also, holding down Shift + click Refresh will force most browsers to flush the cache and load a fresh version of your website).
To submit your homework, do these two things in a single comment made to this post: 1) upload your wireframe (draw by hand and take a photo, or use a drawing program) as an image to img.bb and paste link, and 2) copy-and-paste a link to your website on GitHub.com. We’ll discuss these next week and build on your work.
SitemapWireframe for index.html (all of your wireframes may be the same!)Wireframe for subpage (again, you may design a wireframe that applies to all of your pages)
Following this weekâs hands-on exercise with setting up GitHub Pages and building a couple of rudimentary HTML pages, you will have a chance to build your own HTML-based website on GitHub Pages.
While youâve had some experience with drawing sitemaps of other websites, this assignment will help you see how websites are designed and implemented by beginning with a sitemap and then building that sitemap out on GitHub Pages.
Begin by designing your sitemap for a website about something that interests youâa hobby, your studies, your work, etc. It should have a homepage and at least 4 sub-pages. One of the sub-pages should include an image of your sitemap (it can be on your âAboutâ page or a dedicated sitemap page). The sitemap below is just an example with different file names given for the subpagesâyour sitemap should reflect your pages and filenames.
After youâre satisfied with your sitemap, take a photo/scan it for use in your site.
Then, begin building your pages and adding content into them. Your website should combine images and writing. All of the images should be your own, and all of the writing should be your own, too. Use my model website as a guideâweâre more interested in the IA aspects of your site than how much content you put into it.
On each page, remember to include breadcrumbs and a menu that links all of the pages together.
Refer back to the Week 7: Lecture post for important links to support your work on GitHub Pages.
To submit your homework, copy-and-paste a link to your website (e.g., https://dynamicsubspace.github.io) into a comment made to this post before our next class.
Next week, we will do some work in class related to your websites and build on these concepts in terms of organizing more complicated sets of information.
Reminder: Since we decided to spend more time on the practical HTML skill building in Week 8, the only part of this week’s assignment that is due is an image of your proposed sitemap and the topic for the website you plan to build based on that sitemap. Use img.bb to share your image in a comment made to this homework post before we meet on Monday, Mar. 27. Then, we will continue the HTML practice so that you can begin work on your website.
Following this week’s hands-on exercise with setting up GitHub Pages and building a couple of rudimentary HTML pages, you will have a chance to build your own HTML-based website on GitHub Pages.
While you’ve had some experience with drawing sitemaps of other websites, this assignment will help you see how websites are designed and implemented by beginning with a sitemap and then building that sitemap out on GitHub Pages.
Begin by designing your sitemap for a website about something that interests you–a hobby, your studies, your work, etc. It should have a homepage and at least 4 sub-pages. One of the sub-pages should include an image of your sitemap (it can be on your “About” page or a dedicated sitemap page). The sitemap below is just an example with different file names given for the subpages–your sitemap should reflect your pages and filenames.
After you’re satisfied with your sitemap, take a photo/scan it for use in your site.
Then, begin building your pages and adding content into them. Your website should combine images and writing. All of the images should be your own, and all of the writing should be your own, too. Use my model website as a guide–we’re more interested in the IA aspects of your site than how much content you put into it.
On each page, remember to include breadcrumbs and a menu that links all of the pages together.
Refer back to the Week 7: Lecture post for important links to support your work on GitHub Pages.
To submit your homework, copy-and-paste a link to your website (e.g., https://dynamicsubspace.github.io) into a comment made to this post before our next class.
Next week, we will do some work in class related to your websites and build on these concepts in terms of organizing more complicated sets of information.
This homework assignment ties together the previous two homework projects–creating contemporary and historical sitemaps for a website of your choosing. In the previous assignments, you illustrated and discussed the sitemaps based on your observations. In this assignment, you will compare and contrast the sitemaps of the historical and contemporary versions of the website you selected. As you compare and contrast the two different sitemaps, you will want to discuss the changes that have been made across the decades in terms of the sites’ information architecture. Considering our readings in the course so far, talk about what has changed and why those changes might have been made. Important elements to consider in this discuss include web growth (i.e., more information to implement IA for), changing user expectations and experience, new IA theory being utilized, new learning theories being applied, etc. Provide your own evaluation of the sitemap change from before to now based on what you’ve learned so far this semester in Information Architecture. Refer back to our readings and your notes for ideas to include. The assignment can be completed using your own words entirely, but if you decide to paraphrase or quote from our readings, you will need to cite those references appropriately in a section titled References at the end of your memo.
Your memo should include the memo block at the top followed by your discussion–including an introductory paragraph explaining the purpose of the memo and a road map of what follows, however many paragraphs you decide to utilize for your discussion, and a References section if needed. It should be at least 500 words but no more than 1,000 words. Depending on your discussion, each memo will look different in terms of its organization, so I am not prescribing how it should be organized beyond the instructions above. Publish your memo as a comment to this post (see below for a barebones example).
TO: Prof. Ellis
FROM:
DATE:
SUBJECT: Analysis of [year] and [year] Sitemaps for [domain.com]
Introductory paragraph explaining the memo's purpose with links back to your two previous homework assignments (see details below for creating your hyperlinks). Include roadmap for your discussion that follows.
One or more paragraphs discussing the two different sitemaps for your selected domain. Describe and show what you are talking about in regards to the two sitemaps. Use numbers (more links, fewer links, etc.). Discuss how the sitemaps organize the site's information.
Keep in mind that chunking information might make your memo more readable and engaging. Use topic sentences and provide transitions to your writing.
You will want to include links in your introduction to your previous two homework assignments/comments. To do this, find your previous comments, right click on the date/time at the top of your comment and choose to copy link, return to your comment to this homework assignment, highlight the word “here” referring to one of your previous homework comments, click the hyperlink icon, paste your link into the hyperlink box, and click Save. See the images below for further guidance.
This week’s homework builds on last week’s homework and sets you up for success on next week’s homework, so it’s important to follow these directions carefully to keep everything linked together.
Last week, you wrote a memo that included a sitemap illustration and discussion of the sitemap for a contemporary website that also has a pre-2005, historical version saved in the Internet Wayback Machine.
This week, you will write a similar memo for the earliest version of your selected website that you can view on the Internet Wayback Machine. Your memo should include an introduction that clearly states the date of the archived version of the website and how you are able to view it. Like last week’s memo, it should include an illustration of the website’s sitemap and a discussion of the site’s organization structure. Your memo should only focus on what you observe about the historical version of the website. Avoid comparing it to the contemporary version (we’ll do that in next week’s homework).
As a reminder, create the historical sitemap on a clean sheet of white copy paper on which you draw a sitemap (see this Wikipedia entry and this Adobe XD Ideas entry for support) based on what you see on your selected website’s homepage on the earliest, archived version in the Internet Wayback Machine. Remember to focus on the links on the homepage that lead to other pages on the same site. You do not have to document links leading to unaffiliated external sites (e.g., social media sites). Take a clean photo of your drawn site map (crop out anything that isn’t the paper and avoid casting a shadow over your illustration). Upload your image to imgbb.com as you did in last week’s homework to generate an embeddable URL to your photo. Alternatively, you may use software to draw your selected website’s site map, but this is not required. What you may not do is rely on a website that autogenerates the sitemap for you.
Third, write a memo as shown below in which you state the website that you selected, it archive date and how you are accessing it, embed your site map, and describe how the website is organized in your own words. Your memo should be between 250-500 words depending on how much explanation you need to describe the site’s site map based on its homepage.
TO: Prof. Ellis
FROM:
DATE:
SUBJECT: Historical Site Map for [YOURDOMAIN.COM]
INTRODUCTION
One or two sentence introduction to your memo, its purpose, what it contains, etc. Remember to include the date for the archived version of the website and how you are accessing it.
HISTORICAL SITE MAP FOR [YOURDOMAIN.COM]
Embed your photo of your site map illustration here. Go to imgbb.com, click "Start Uploading," select your photo, set a time for it to be deleted (leave it up for at least 2 weeks), and copy the URL generated at the bottom of the "Upload Complete" screen (it will look like https://ibb.com/letters). Return to the comment box on OpenLab, click the icon that looks like a photo, paste the URL to your image, click Save. After you click "Publish Comment," your image should appear where you inserted it (which should be here after your introduction.
HISTORICAL SITE MAP DISCUSSION
Write 250-500 words describing the website's site map that you illustrated above. Some relevant details to include might be where certain links are located on the page, which are emphasized and others de-emphasized, and your own observations about what the site map and its links tell you about the company/organization whose website you selected.
Fourth, stay tuned for the next stage of this homework, which we will begin in Week 6. In Week 6, you will compare the site maps for the contemporary website and its older archived version.
This week’s homework is going to connect to the next two weeks, so it’s important to follow these directions carefully.
First, think of a website of a large organization, company, government entity, nonprofit, etc. that has been around for at least the last three decades. Go to its website and copy the URL (uniform resource locator). Then, visit the Internet Wayback Machine, paste the URL, and hit enter. Verify that you can view a version of that website older than 2005–you will want to use the oldest version for our homework assignment next week. If the website that you selected is available today and there is an archived version older than 2005 then you are ready to proceed. If you were not able to find an archived version older than 2005, you will need to select another website until you find one with an archived version older than 2005.
Second, using a clean sheet of white copy paper, draw a site map (see this Wikipedia entry and this Adobe XD Ideas entry for support) based on what you see on your selected website’s homepage as of today (don’t worry about the archived version in the Internet Wayback Machine until I talk about our homework next week). Remember to focus on the links on the homepage that lead to other pages on the same site. You do not have to document links leading to unaffiliated external sites (e.g., social media sites). Take a clean photo of your drawn site map (crop out anything that isn’t the paper and avoid casting a shadow over your illustration). Upload your image to imgbb.com as you did in last week’s homework to generate an embeddable URL to your photo. Alternatively, you may use software to draw your selected website’s site map, but this is not required. What you may not do is rely on a website that autogenerates the site map for you.
Third, write a memo as shown below in which you state the website that you selected, embed your site map, and describe how the website is organized in your own words. Your memo should be between 250-500 words depending on how much explanation you need to describe the site’s site map based on its homepage.
TO: Prof. Ellis
FROM:
DATE:
SUBJECT: Site Map for [YOURDOMAIN.COM]
INTRODUCTION
One or two sentence introduction to your memo, its purpose, what it contains, etc.
SITE MAP FOR [YOURDOMAIN.COM]
Embed your photo of your site map illustration here. Go to imgbb.com, click "Start Uploading," select your photo, set a time for it to be deleted (leave it up for at least 2 weeks), and copy the URL generated at the bottom of the "Upload Complete" screen (it will look like https://ibb.com/letters). Return to the comment box on OpenLab, click the icon that looks like a photo, paste the URL to your image, click Save. After you click "Publish Comment," your image should appear where you inserted it (which should be here after your introduction.
SITE MAP DISCUSSION
Write 250-500 words describing the website's site map that you illustrated above. Some relevant details to include might be where certain links are located on the page, which are emphasized and others de-emphasized, and your own observations about what the site map and its links tell you about the company/organization whose website you selected.
Fourth, stay tuned for the next stage of this homework, which we will begin in Week 5. As you might have guessed, you will create a site map for an older version of the site. Then, in Week 6, you will compare the site maps for the contemporary website and its older archived version.
