How do you know whether your web tools or apps will be effective and usable?

Advice from the Australian Government Information Management Office (AGIMO) suggests that government agencies draw on the discipline of information architecture to ensure “ensure that sites meet [both] business and user needs”. A key role of AGIMO is to identify and promote ‘Better Practice’. They’ve created several checklists to help with the key issues for websites in the Australian Government context — checklists that are equally important for businesses who are endeavouring to deliver Web 2.0 applications into the market.

Australian Government agencies are finding that [information architecture] issues are particularly important when they are redesigning or redeveloping existing websites … Sites established several years ago may have grown in an ad-hoc way or grown very large. As a result they may be confusing to users and difficult to manage and may not accurately reflect current agency priorities.

With Web 2.0 applications like Flickr and Facebook quickly becoming the benchmark for user-interaction online, AGIMO’s advice is a timely reminder that online applications and collaborative software, need to be designed well, and information well-structured, in order to assist people to achieve their information needs.

IA is the foundation of good website design. It is about planning where information and services will be located on the site in the most convenient and logical way for users. Effective IA helps ensure that sites meet [both] business and user needs.

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