I’ll be teaching a class called “The Basics of Information Architecture” for Web Managers University on March 28. This is a hands-on workshop for people just getting started in information architecture (or a good brush-up for people with some experience). We’ll be looking at applying IA principles and techniques to three kinds of sites: content-rich, transaction-focused, and intranets. Register today!

Here’s a general outline of the course:

Information Architecture Overview

1. What is Information Architecture?
2. What does a typical IA project look like?
3. How does IA fit into big projects?

Information Architecture for Content-Rich Sites

1. Inventorying content
2. Understanding how users find things
3. Establishing an organization scheme
4. Developing the navigation
5. Developing the search strategy
6. Working with controlled vocabularies
7. Testing the content structure

Information Architecture for Transactional Sites

1. Different kinds of transactions
2. Understanding and documenting transactions
3. Building flow charts
4. Describing page contents
5. Prototyping transactional sites

Information Architecture for Intranets

1. Special challenges of internal audiences
2. Planning the intranet
3. Intranet maintenance challenges

Incorporating Information Architecture

1. Planning Your Information Architecture Project
2. Fitting Information Architecture into Your Organization
3. Justifying Information Architecture