On-site Information findability: towards an integrative view MASTER THESIS WITHIN: Informatics NUMBER OF CREDITS: 30 PROGRAMME OF STUDY: Information Architecture and Innovation AUTHORs: Rients Wiebren Johannes van Blanken, Zdeněk Šrejber JÖNKÖPING May 2020 Master Thesis in Informatics Title: On-site Information findability: towards an integrative view Tutor: Daniela Mihailescu Date: 2020-06-03 Key terms: Findability, Information Architecture, and Social Informatics Abstract A major component of the internet are websites which each have their information architecture, but more importantly, findability. This thesis focusses on the topic of findability, which is defined by Morville as “The quality of being locatable or navigable” (Morville, 2005, p. 4). Findability has become more crucial due to an increasing amount of information and time people spent on searching and gathering information. This motivation has led to the aim of investigating findability through insights into, and a delineation of, two complementary perspectives: information architecture and social informatics. Empirical evidence was collected through semi-structured interviews with design practitioners, and a literature review was conducted to provide an integrated view of findability. The STIN-model and berry-picking model provide a frame of reference which designers can use to improve the findability of their digital platforms. The most predominant suggestions based on the empirical evidence are as follows. Firstly, designers should remember that they are problem solvers and should always use methods appropriate to the problem that needs to be resolved. Secondly, designers should start with problem analysis, which should combine qualitative and quantitative methods to reach the optimal results with regards to user research. Finally, do not reinvent the wheel, make use of already existing tools that incorporate upgradeability and reusability. i Acknowledgments After two years of study, the final product of our work has been completed. Zdenek and Rients are proud to present this thesis, but before we can do so, there are some people we would like to thank. Firstly, we would like to thank Daniela Mihailescu for her guidance, feedback, and motivational support. We also thank Andrea Resmini for being our mentor and for teaching us invaluable skills which we can utilize for the rest of our lives. Our thanks also goes out to all the interviewees who have helped us to gather the required data. We would also like to thank all the colleagues and friends we had the opportunity to meet in this master. Moreover, our thanks also go to our friends and families who supported us during the master studies. Figure 1 Honest work (KnowYourMeme, n.d., p. 1) ii Table of Contents 1 Introduction ...................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Problem Discussion ............................................................................................. 1 1.2 Objective ............................................................................................................. 2 1.3 Scope and limitations .......................................................................................... 3 1.4 Thesis structure ................................................................................................... 4 1.5 Definitions ........................................................................................................... 4 2 Literature review .............................................................................................. 6 2.1 Findability ........................................................................................................... 6 The current state of findability ............................................................................ 6 Models ................................................................................................................. 7 Summary ........................................................................................................... 10 2.2 Information architecture .................................................................................... 11 History of IA ..................................................................................................... 11 The current state of IA ...................................................................................... 13 Frameworks ....................................................................................................... 17 Information Architecture Summary .................................................................. 25 2.3 Social Informatics ............................................................................................. 26 History of SI ...................................................................................................... 26 The current state of SI ....................................................................................... 27 Frameworks ....................................................................................................... 28 Social Informatics Summary ............................................................................. 32 2.4 Proposed Integrative view ................................................................................. 33 Integrated view model ....................................................................................... 35 3 Methods ........................................................................................................... 36 iii 3.1 Research Philosophy ......................................................................................... 36 Selected research philosophy ............................................................................ 38 3.2 Research approach ............................................................................................ 39 3.3 Research strategy .............................................................................................. 39 3.4 Research choices ............................................................................................... 40 3.5 Primary data ...................................................................................................... 40 3.6 Secondary data .................................................................................................. 41 3.7 Ethical Consideration ........................................................................................ 43 4 Results .............................................................................................................. 45 4.1 Introduction ....................................................................................................... 45 4.2 Project manager & UX-designer at Societygal ................................................. 46 4.3 Product Designer at &Partners .......................................................................... 48 4.4 Director of Design Strategy at &Partners ......................................................... 52 4.5 DevOps web application developer .................................................................. 55 4.6 Lead Designer at Pilotfish ................................................................................. 57 4.7 Codes ................................................................................................................. 60 Aim .................................................................................................................... 62 Communication ................................................................................................. 62 Design ............................................................................................................... 62 Experience ......................................................................................................... 62 Issue .................................................................................................................. 63 Methods ............................................................................................................. 63 Perspective ........................................................................................................ 63 Philosophy ......................................................................................................... 64 Process .............................................................................................................. 64 iv Research ............................................................................................................ 64 User ................................................................................................................... 64 Verification ....................................................................................................... 65 5 Analysis ............................................................................................................ 65 5.1 Findability ......................................................................................................... 65 5.2 Information Architecture ................................................................................... 66 5.3 Social Informatics ............................................................................................. 67 5.4 Integrative view analysis ................................................................................... 69 6 Conclusion ......................................................................................................