30-minute presentation at OzIA conference, 2008

1. Taken out of context
(old tricks, new dog)
Margaret L Ruwoldt
Information Futures Commission

2. Endings...
2007:
• Uni agrees to introduce new curriculum
• Student service model redesigned
• Two libraries close for renovations
• Central web team split, restructured
Information Futures Commission

3. And beginnings...
“Something’s wrong with
the library. Can’t you just
fix it?”
Information Futures Commission

4. The obligatory ’toon
Information Futures Commission

5. It’s more complex than that
thanks, XKCD
Information Futures Commission

6. It’s more complex than that
Information Futures Commission

7. The project
Information Futures Commission
• Chaired by Vice-Chancellor
• Consultative process
• Output: 10-year strategy for scholarly
information and technologies
• Outcome: informed, targeted decisions
Information Futures Commission

8. The project
Scope:
1. Information and data produced as part of
doing research
2. Materials created for teaching purposes
3. Library collections, archives, museum &
gallery collections (inc. physical spaces)
4. Research outputs (articles, books)
5. Technologies that support all of these
Information Futures Commission

9. The process
Information Futures Commission

10. eh?
What’s this got to do with IA?
Information Futures Commission

11. The process
• Project management
• Literature review
• Documentation:
– 12,000 words plus
footnotes, bibliography
– 4 authors
– version control
Information Futures Commission

12. The process
• User research plan
• Communication plan
• Advocacy:
– presentations
– meetings
• Stakeholder interviews
• Competitor analysis
Information Futures Commission

13. The process
• User surveys
– task analysis
– qualitative
– quantitative
• Consultation forums
• Business intelligence
Information Futures Commission

14. The process
• Exploratory workshops
– scenarios
– personas
• Contextual inquiry
(well, sort of)
• Textual analysis
– 75 written submissions
• Guest lectures
Information Futures Commission

15. The process
• Focus groups
• Card sorting
• Affinity
diagrams
• Whiteboard
Information Futures Commission

16. The process
Information Futures Commission

17. The process
• Prototypes
(draft
documents)
• Collaborative
writing, editing
Information Futures Commission

18. The process
• Advocacy,
many meetings
Information Futures Commission

19. Happily ever after
• “Melbourne’s Scholarly Information
Future: a 10-year strategy” was
formally adopted in July
– becomes part of the broader
Growing Esteem strategy from 2009
• Initial funding allocated
– implementation starts in 2009
– review progress in 2012
Information Futures Commission

20. Lessons learned
• Stories are powerful, when told in
authentic voices
• When time is short:
– Face-to-face is best
• for project team
• for stakeholders
– Video is a close second
Information Futures Commission

21. Lessons learned
• Pick’n’mix your tactics:
– similar approaches exist in different
disciplines (EA, IA, UX...)
– choose whatever works for your
project
– review your progress frequently and
adjust tactics as needed
Information Futures Commission

22. Lessons learned
• Getting buy-in:
– user research activities became
stakeholder education opportunities
– highly-engaged stakeholders became
active participants in designing the
final strategy
– highly-engaged stakeholders are
more likely to make the tough
decisions
Information Futures Commission

23. Margaret L Ruwoldt
Enterprise Information Architect
Information Services division
m.ruwoldt@unimelb.edu.au
+(61 3) 8344 0478
www.informationfutures.unimelb.edu.au
© Copyright The University of Melbourne 2008

24. http://plethaurus.com/
Information Futures Commission