Introduction to the Structural Approach to Information Architecture
The Structural approach to Information Architecture is grounded in the idea that there are reproducible patterns of information structures, and that these structures create unique impact dynamics between participants within these systems. The job of the information architect is to analyze how the structure of systems shape their dynamics, and create new structures that can make new kinds of dynamics between users.
The basic units of these structures are objects. Objects are anything that can be perceived as one. A chair can be an object. A cake can be an object. Anything you think of as a discrete entity can be an object.
Objects can be arranged in very basic groups of collections and lists. A playlist is a collection of various songs. A to-do list is a specific list of chores that you have to get done.
Channels connect objects together, or connect people to objects. Channels can be designed to send lots of information between two users. For example, in a video call a person can see their friend’s face and hear their voice. Channels can also be designed to transmit little data. A simply text message only sends words between people. Who has what information in a system has implications for who holds power within a system.
All digital systems are human-made and designed with goals in mind. Much of the work of the Structural Information Architect is to find structures that fit both the goals of the people who are design the information systems and the people that will use them. People will take the least energy-intensive path to complete their goals, which means you need to design systems that demand less energy than people are willing to give.
Information architects have tools called levers that can help them create these energy-efficient systems. Some levers can decrease the energy a user needs to exert. These levers include affordances, which are visual cues that tell a person how to interact with an object, and map generation techniques that help a person understand where they need to navigate to in order to fulfill their goals. Other levers increase the energy that people are willing to exert in the system. This includes mechanics, which are designed ways to present information between a user and one interaction with the system. This also includes games, which are system-wide incentive structures that encourage participation with the system.
Objects and channels are connected in ways that create base dynamics, or one-way flows of information. Two base dynamics that are connected together form loops, which are one full set of action and feedback with a system.
Loops are connected together into modules, which are discrete units of functionality. Multiple modules are then built into blocks which through their structure create emergent interactions that occur across the multiple different modules within each block.
Finally blocks are connected into system-wide platform structures. Some platform structures have little structure, like user-generated hypertext trees. Others are hierarchical, in which the system designers delineate every path a user can go down. The online world allows for these, and every conceivable structure in between. There is an unlimited number of different modules, blocks, and distinct structures that can be formed from them.
These modules and the structures formed have implications for the amount of power and control users have within a system, whether communities can form and what kinds of communities they are. The job of the Structural Information Architect is to discover exactly how structure impacts outcome. With the rise of structuralism, the role of the information architect takes on an important role in shaping information flows and power within governments, businesses, and communities around the world.
