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3.78 of 5 stars
The post-Ajaxian Web 2.0 world of wikis, folksonomies, and mashups makes well-planned information architecture even more essential. How do you pre... read full description

reviews

Nov 22, 2010
Elizabeth rated it: 4 of 5 stars
I'm on the team responsible for a major website redesign at our library, and my particular area of responsibility is the content and organization of the site. In preparation for this massive undertaking, I picked up this book as I was told it's one of THE canonical texts in the area of information architecture. I read the first edition, so some of the specific recommendations were dated, but the general concepts are still very applicable. I'm looking forward to picking up the 2006 edition and More...
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Jan 11, 2011
Book rated it: 4 of 5 stars
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Jan 13, 2009
Rachel rated it: 5 of 5 stars
Read this book for an information design class. It was the first time I'd ever heard of IA and I chose this book on a whim, because it looked interesting. Little did I know how hooked I would get on IA. It's a great resource for anyone wanting to learn about IA or get into a usability field.
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May 26, 2011
Lvccgd rated it: 3 of 5 stars
Книга написана в академическом стиле, т.е. теоретических представлений больше практических обоснований. Есть противоречивые рекомендации... В книге заложено много, но чтобы вытянуть что-то нужно читать от А до Я. Короче книга для обучения, если для практики то только для уже состоявшихся архитекторов. В любом случае в своей нише книга дает исчерпывающие ответы, так что прочтение не пройдет зря. More...
Sep 13, 2011
Robert rated it: 2 of 5 stars
More fanatic than technical -- too much "why the world needs information architecture." More focus on prose than technical communication.
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May 13, 2010
Murray rated it: 5 of 5 stars
Often referred to as 'the Polar Bear book' (because of the polar bear on the cover), or the IA bible. I read a library copy of this book in 2006, and then went through my own copy of the 3rd edition again in 2007. It is a very in-depth book into IA and how it applies to the web. There's a lot of material to cover, so it takes a while to read if you want to absorb it all, especially if you never heard of the ideas before. But it's a very useful book, and also serves as a good as a reference while More...
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Jan 13, 2009
Hilary rated it: 3 of 5 stars
It seemed a bit dated. Good overview of what IA as from the authors' perspective; however, in my extensive professional experience, IA is a term that can mean different things at each company where it is applied. For example, the IA Strategy document is a good idea -- but I've never heard of anyplace that uses it! Also, the documents they refer to as blueprints, I've more often heard referred to as sitemaps and flows (though I have heard of them as blueprints too -- maybe it is the more gener More...
May 01, 2009
Dave rated it: 3 of 5 stars
A well-balanced and well thought-through introduction to the field of information management. Parts of this book, like how to optimize within-site search engines, aren't important to me right now, but lots of the ideas surrounding information architecture are of extreme interest to me.

Since it is such a new field, a decent amount of the book is about things like how to self-train as an information architect or how to sell the value of investing in information architecture to your co More...
Sep 16, 2009
Michael rated it: 4 of 5 stars
Pretty great book about information architecture. If you build websites and don't know what information architecture is, I'd recommend reading it.

Some of the info is really about what to do if you're an information architect, dealing with company politics, budgets, etc. If you only work on very small projects, or if you're the primary decision maker, you could probably skim all of that stuff. Most of the meat of this book is early on.

The only reason I'm not gonna gi More...
Dec 21, 2009
Dhuaine rated it: 3 of 5 stars
I read this book in order to achieve a basic level of understanding information architecture for usability and SEO purposes. It certainly contains very useful information, but is presented in rather boring way - too wordy and yet still dry. It's also targeted at people aspiring to become information architects or at least develop large-scale websites - Section IV and V were rather irrelevant for someone who dabbles in information architecture as side effect or side job.
Aug 23, 2009
Debbie rated it: 4 of 5 stars
This book is geared to those developing larger websites than I typically build, but I still found it quite useful. The sections on navigation and organization systems for your site were very good. The book also helped me refine my site-mapping and wireframing processes.
Dec 03, 2008
Chris rated it: 2 of 5 stars
Big. Dry. Fairly Helpful. The main point is that you should take into consideration the questions users are trying to find the answers to when they come to your site. Make it easy for them to find the answer. Also consider that users do not always know the questions themselves.
Oct 07, 2010
Íris rated it: 4 of 5 stars
I keep coming back to my "old" edition of this book. It’s a classic like an black dress for a marriage. It’s always handy when you need to justify something in a document and can’t remember the right words.
Apr 05, 2009
Arden rated it: 2 of 5 stars
I did not learn much from this book, but it was interesting to see how concepts about how to organize information that I learned to take for granted as a librarian are viewed and understood in the web development world.
Feb 11, 2009
John rated it: 1 of 5 stars
400pg book on how to be an online librarian. There were few examples of good vs bad & too much focus on theory. I almost never ditch a book midway through but this one wasn't a good use of time.
Mar 01, 2010
ACRL added it
Read by ACRL Member of the Week Lisa Ancelet. Learn more about Lisa on the ACRL Insider blog.
Dec 07, 2008
Zack added it
Too old to be much use but I got it for free so here it is!
Jan 08, 2009
Andrea marked it as to-read
...more like I just need to finish reading this.
Dec 19, 2008
Alex rated it: 5 of 5 stars
Talk about your niche audiences.
I love this book.
Sep 22, 2009
Phil rated it: 2 of 5 stars
Pretty boring read, but lots of good information if you're either building or updating/supporting a large web infrastructure.
Feb 02, 2009
Jerome rated it: 4 of 5 stars
Basics of IA.
Jun 12, 2010
Jessamyn rated it: 5 of 5 stars
Information Architecture for the World Wide Web is authoritative and comprehensive in scope. It will be endlessly helpful and valuable in my career as an information architect and usability specialist.
Jul 26, 2009
Elizabeth rated it: 3 of 5 stars
Oh boy! Informatics is everything you thought it sounded like, and worse!
Sep 07, 2010
Rachel rated it: 4 of 5 stars
preparation/background reading for the e-portfolio and professional development.
Sep 13, 2008
Yuki rated it: 1 of 5 stars
What a bunch of bs! is my opinion of this book. It reads like a dictionary, constantly defining something that exists, stuff you see on web pages all the time. I mean, I don't care what is it called... tell me something more insightful than just giving it some lame name. What a waste of time.
Jun 08, 2010
Dave rated it: 4 of 5 stars
This book was hugely helpful to me as I begin a career in Information Architecture. The only downside to it is that, because it's so comprehensive, it goes on a bit too long. But it had a good mix of theory combined with practical advice, which is always nice.
Jan 23, 2010
Hans rated it: 4 of 5 stars
A very comprehensive overview of the Information Architecture field. I liked how it didn't just focus on the contents of IA, but also on the context. Even though it got a 3rd update in 2006, it already feels dated at certain points.
Dec 02, 2010
India rated it: 3 of 5 stars
I read this about a decade ago, so I don't remember much except that it was a little dry. If you need to learn what information architecture is, though, you could choose a worse source. I should probably check out the new edition . . .
Aug 31, 2009
Chris marked it as to-read
I like the reference to the Del Rio (a bar in Ann Arbor, Mich., that has long since closed) at the beginning of the book, but I found the examples extremely outdated and in the end I decided to drop it after just a few chapters.
Feb 12, 2008
Tod rated it: 4 of 5 stars
This book could have been done in about half as many pages. There's a whole lot of chatty text, but the organizational insights and examples are very valuable.