The document discusses the challenges of navigating the ever-growing amount of information and proposes an approach called "information wayfinding". It argues that we should think of information as a spatial environment rather than a book. The principles of information wayfinding include structuring information into logical districts, using flexible layers to provide context, giving positional cues to help users understand where they are, enabling users to survey and understand the overall information environment, providing clear paths between information nodes, and creating a coherent interaction experience. The goal is to make large amounts of information accessible without overwhelming users.

1. Information Wayfinding
The Future of Search
B Y T Y L E R TAT E

7. We are drowning in
information.

8. “What information consumes is rather obvious:
it consumes the attention of its recipients.
Hence a wealth of information creates a
poverty of attention, and a need to allocate
that attention efficiently among the overabundance of information sources that might
consume it.”
— Herbert Simon, 1956

9. Big data is not a technology problem.

10. Big data is not a technology problem.
It’s a people problem.

11. How can we make ever-growing volumes
of information accessible and useful to
people without overwhelming them?

12. 1. We need to think about search from a new mindset.
2. We need to understand how people seek information.
3. We need to unify interaction with information.

13. 1 A Brief History of
Information

14. The Analog Era

15. The Analog Era
The tablet and the written word

17. The Analog Era
The tablet and the written word
The scroll and the table of contents

19. The Analog Era
The tablet and the written word
The scroll and the table of contents
The printing press and the index

21. The Digital Era

22. The Digital Era
The early Internet and the Web page (1990s)

24. The Digital Era
The early Internet and the Web page (1990s)
The CMS and the search engine (2000s)

27. The Digital Era
The early Internet and the Web page (1990s)
The CMS and the search engine (2000s)
Big data and ? (2010s)

28. 2 The Information
Environment

29. "Mankind evolved in a world of space and
time. Our memories evolved to record events
that transpire in space and time. Modern
attempts to externalise and enlarge that
memory should not, and probably need not,
neglect its spatiotemporal dimensions.”
— George A. Miller

33. “We must consider not just the city as a thing
itself, but the city being perceived by its
inhabitants.”
— Kevin Lynch

34. Paths
Edges
Districts
Nodes
Landmarks

35. The Environment
A place someone goes to seek information in order
to satisfy an information need.

39. Districts
Layers
Nodes

40. Districts
The primary categories into which an environment
can be logically divided.

42. Layers
Secondary categories which describe a specific
facet of a given node.

45. Nodes
Precise points in the environment (that we might
otherwise refer to as a Web page, document, or record).

51. 3 Information Wayfinding

52. Wayfinding is the collection of cognitive
processes people use to navigate physical
environments.

53. Information wayfinding is the collection of
cognitive processes people use to navigate
information environments.

54. Locate

56. Explore

58. Q3
Q6
Q5
Q4
Q2
Q7
Q1

59. Recognize
Need
Use
Interpretation
Find
Information
Validate and
Interpret
Information

61. Meander

63. 4 Principles for a New
Architecture

64. Structured Districts

66. Flexible Layers

68. Positional Cues

70. Survey Knowledge

72. Clear Paths

75. Coherent Interaction

81. 1. Structured Districts
2. Flexible Layers
3. Positional Cues
4. Survey Knowledge
5. Clear Paths
6. Coherent Interaction

88. How can we make ever-growing volumes
of information accessible and useful to
people without overwhelming them?

89. 1. Consider information as a spatial environment rather
than a book.
2. Understand how users find their way through an
information environment, and support them along
that journey.
3. Unify navigation and search, districts and layers into a
single, coherent experience.

93. DesigningTheSearchExperience.com
twigkit.com
vimeo.com/78578346
@TylerTate, @Twigkit

94. Information Wayfinding
The Future of Search
B Y T Y L E R TAT E