{"id":25464,"date":"2015-04-29T08:30:00","date_gmt":"2015-04-29T15:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/content26.com\/?p=25464"},"modified":"2017-02-21T13:56:40","modified_gmt":"2017-02-21T21:56:40","slug":"ia-and-product-detail-content","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/987654321.space\/c26_dev\/blog\/ia-and-product-detail-content\/","title":{"rendered":"What Does IA Have to Do with Product-Detail Content?"},"content":{"rendered":"

The IA Summit was a whirlwind of smart people, smart ideas (see our Twitter roundup<\/a> for a snapshot), and excellent collaboration. As Marianne Sweeny<\/a> said in her session, by collaborating we \u201cuse a silver buckshot rather than a silver bullet.\u201d That is, by casting a wider net rather than relying on the One Best Idea, we can develop better processes, design, and content.\"IA-summit-featimage\"<\/p>\n

And there was plenty of collaborating going on. Attendees voted for flex track sessions proposed during the summit by other attendees. Some IAs developed beautiful sketch summaries<\/a>. Feedback from first-timers (including me!) was sought and well-received.<\/p>\n

It may seem a stretch to imagine how information architecture is relevant to the business of selling products online, but I assure you,\u00a0it is<\/a>.<\/p>\n

How System Thinking Helps Product Content<\/b><\/h2>\n

Marianne\u2019s talk focused on system thinking. To me, that model of thought is about the need to consider context when developing product-detail content. What site will this live on? What does the entire page look like? What else do we want to do with this content? How will it be delivered\u2014HTML, JavaScript?<\/p>\n

Anatomy of a Content Model<\/a>, a session by Lacey Kruger of Blackbaud, talked about the need to change our content models from desktop experiences to content everywhere experiences<\/a>. Also the main topic of the recent Intelligent Content Conference, this is only going to become a requirement.<\/p>\n

The shift speaks directly to what\u2019s happening on Amazon and elsewhere: content is being chunked by retailers. Primarily to improve mobile experiences, we think, but also driven by trends in web design that influence how these sites are built and redesigned over time.<\/p>\n

Containerless Content: Getting There<\/b><\/h2>\n

The question of mobile and desktop sites, a hot topic these days for retailers and brands selling online, was covered, too. A session called Architecting the News by Nick Haley, director of user experience at The Guardian<\/em>, gave a brief history of mobile and desktop sites: in 2012, they were inefficient, inconsistent, extra work, and tended to break.<\/p>\n

\"Sculpture<\/p>\n

As more research has emerged on what users want from web experiences, three main behaviors became clear.\u00a0Consumers of the web want to:<\/p>\n