Rockley Chapter 8 - Delinquent
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Chapter 8 - Information Modeling - Anne Peterson
In this chapter, modeling refers to formalizing a structure with writing and style guidelines, templates, and structured frameworks. Rockley says that it's critical to do a thorough analysis of information and its audience(s) when creating the model.
Rockley likens information architecture to the blueprints needed to build a house. It defines how content will be organized and structured for "information products" such as user guides, catalogs, documents, brochures, press releases, annual reports, intranets, Web sites, or technical specifications. Information architecture, done properly, requires a company to thoroughly examine all their content and catalog it.
Each of the information products listed above adheres to unique structural elements that identify them. It is important to understand the different types of structures. As content writing advances to Document Type Definition (DTD) it is even more important to understand structure and how it works.
The level of detail in a model depends on granularity, which determines the smallest possible piece of content that will be reused. There are different levels of granularity for authoring, resue, and delivery. Rockley says the greater the granual level, the greater the complexity of modeling, authoring, and managing the content.
After determining granularity, the model can start to be built. Some elements are mandatory and some are optional. There are information product models and individual element models.
Models can be made up of the following components:
Chapter 8 - Information Modeling - Anne Peterson
In this chapter, modeling refers to formalizing a structure with writing and style guidelines, templates, and structured frameworks. Rockley says that it's critical to do a thorough analysis of information and its audience(s) when creating the model.
Rockley likens information architecture to the blueprints needed to build a house. It defines how content will be organized and structured for "information products" such as user guides, catalogs, documents, brochures, press releases, annual reports, intranets, Web sites, or technical specifications. Information architecture, done properly, requires a company to thoroughly examine all their content and catalog it.
Each of the information products listed above adheres to unique structural elements that identify them. It is important to understand the different types of structures. As content writing advances to Document Type Definition (DTD) it is even more important to understand structure and how it works.
The level of detail in a model depends on granularity, which determines the smallest possible piece of content that will be reused. There are different levels of granularity for authoring, resue, and delivery. Rockley says the greater the granual level, the greater the complexity of modeling, authoring, and managing the content.
After determining granularity, the model can start to be built. Some elements are mandatory and some are optional. There are information product models and individual element models.
Models can be made up of the following components:
- Semantic information - uses semantic tags to describe what goes into each element
- Base information - describes the common naming of each element using generic tags
- Metadata - provides data about data
- Architectural information - provides details on type of reuse
Rockley says that once the models are developed, they must be implemented throughout the organization so all authors and reviewers can use them as they create, edit, and review content.
posted by Anne Peterson | 5:49 PM
8 Comments:
I think any time that you can structure documents similarily you can add to the ease of reuse. I think it's just a matter of substitution and replacement. I think information architecture will allow for greater ease of usage throughout the documents life cycle. As always, better planning initially can save a lot of time in the end/.
I suppose the principal of 'elements as containers' from this chapter could be seen like the metaphorical world of computer files. They aren't really 'files,' but data pieces. We keep them in what we call 'folders', and there can be folders inside of folders inside of folders. The folders act like a category to sort things into, much like a container acts as a category to sort elements into.
It's funny how almost everything we see on a computer screen is a metaphor for some sort of abstract data collection. In order for most of us to understand complex and technical materials, we often have to think of them in terms of something else to fully grasp the concept.
This chapter points out the importance of standardization. The more we learn to build and design using the same structural bases the easier it will be to manage them in the long run.
The level of granularity is important not only from a writer's perspective, but also from the viewpoint of the database administrator.
Each chuck of data that is saved to a relational database is saved in tables. The greater the level of granularity the more complex the database itself will become. Increased complexity in database structures can affect system performance. It is important to understand database design when determining level of granularity for complex document schemas.
I really like the metaphore Rocklet used in this chapter. It works well from all angles. When you think of the data building a structure (document) it is easy to see how everything fits together and how, if you take out one thing, it needs to be replaced by something very similar. It sort of makes it a puzzle. Each spot must be filled by the right type of information.
I think the "blue print" metaphor works really well with for this chapter, especially how granularity seems to correspond to the smallest "grain" of information. I'm not sure how intentional that was. Overall it's a good way to visualize how the information should be organized.
Standardization seems to be a key element of what we do! We have to make sure that our work is consistent in order to make sure it’s not only correct but also understandable. I suppose I’ve heard Dr. Nord’s saying “consistency is next to godliness” quite a bit over the years, but I think that it does have some merit.
It’s interesting that I haven’t heard much about metadata until I started reading Rockley’s book. I don’t think I’m that unobservant, so maybe it was always put into another term of use? Either way, I guess I should start reading up on it more.
I also like how Rockley compares a architectual blueprint to information architecture. A company does have to organize and structure their information. From the littlest to largest piece of information, it's all important.
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