Stap isi

7 December 2010

Faceted views

The information architecture of council websites continues to be a challenge. Yet hierarchical structures remain the orthodoxy.

I very much like the Guardian‘s approach. They maintain the distinction between reporting and comment but don’t let it impede the reader’s path through the content. I think there are lessons to be learnt from their sophisticated approach.

I think we can discount the ‘pure search’ style approach that has been trialled by at least two local government authorities (Westminster and Lancashire). Not seeing smoke, I assume there’s no fire.

So it’s ironic that – for me – the most interesting idea of late comes from the company synonymous with search.

Google have finessed their faceted search to offer results categorised as: Everything; Images; Videos; Books; News; Places; Blogs; Realtime; and Discussions.

With the exception of ‘books’ perhaps, all make sense on a council website. You’re either after authoritative information on a process or product (facets could be ‘services’ and ‘facilities’) or you’re interested in date or place-based information, community interactions or media formats.

I like these distinctions.

Some local government authorities already offer place-based information. Good examples are Lichfield District Council’s My Area and Napier’s My Property.

I especially like Google’s categorisations ‘Realtime’ and ‘Discussions’.

— b3rn      Dec 7, 09:49 PM   #

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