Rating: 
Summary: What the doctor ordered
Review: When I read the following, I knew I'd purchased the right book:"You are going to do it. You might be the project or product manager, the designer, the engineer, or the marketing guy. You're not really sure why it landed on your desk; heck, you're looking around to see if there is another desk you could slide onto. But as your hope for getting someone else to do it fades, you realize it has to be done. And this is the book I wrote for you." I am a software engineer (primarily web application development) and I spend most of my time writing "backend" code to query databases, apply business logic and generate server driven web pages (much like the one you are viewing right now). As these applications grow more sophisticated it becomes more and more important to organize the which, how and what of content. This comes up in many ways: the order in which the user sees information, the navigation from screen to screen, the amount of data being display and so on. This book begins with a description and basis for information architecture and then introduces a variety of principles that one can employ in creating an information architecture for a web site. Some examples of topics include wayfinding, navigation, organization, interviewing and mapping content. The author's voice maintains an informal tone - it's obvious the author did not want to sound pedantic. However, the content is rich and well developed so one doesn't feel patronized. The hidden value of this book is that it gives many examples when a principle is asserted. Just by touring the websites given with these principles in mind will make one a better information architect, be it formal or informal. So my rating is 5 stars; loved it, loved it, loved it!
Rating: 
Summary: Lack of focus
Review: When reading the book I was briefly enthralled by her critical take on the standard (guru) guidelines for good site design - but it should have been a warning on what was to come: a mixing of usability, design and information architecture. Off course the three disciplines mingle in every site development, but in a book called Information Architecture it should dedicate all its pages to that subject - but all too often I find myself halfway through a chapter before realizing that it is mainly about design and usability (or even project management) and only secondly about information architecture. Another thing that seriously degrades the focus is what I see as a shameless attempt to make the book thicker by including non relevant material. On pages describing the organizing of content she manages to use up half a page with a picture of her husband with the caption "Looks cold, doesn't he?". She could also have spent more time organizing the book's content. With chapters named "Making It All Up, Writing It All Down", "All Together Now" and "Eat Me, Drink Me, Push Me" it is impossible to navigate in, impossible to look for some kind of principle behind the organizing of the content. The book should have been called "Site Development: IA, Design and Usability for the newcomer".
Rating:
Summary: A must for those in e-learning.
Review: While most people reading this book do so for Web development, it has absolutely amazing tenets for use in e-learning. Information architecture, as with usability are to be studied and emphasized over and over again. Wodtke does an excellent job of creating a personal and compelling set of arguments. A must have resource.
Rating: 
Summary: Lacks Depth and Substance Necessary for this Subject
Review: While well written and entertaining, the author fails in this book to present a volume with any real depth. If one is in search of a book that explains information architecture and provides some really good guidelines, this is, however, such a book. The reader is directed to carefully plan the Web site, to commit it to paper first and to do a prototype which should then be shown to others for their input as users. All this is fine. But she seems to thumb her nose at credible usability experts (while not naming them one senses one is Jakob Nielsen) by attempting to prove that the rules don't really matter all that much. That would be obvious when you visit her personal Web site, ... You'll find locating links a considerable task. I am sure she's very professional and very good at what she does. But this book did not speak to my desire to better understand usability and information architecture in a manner that I could adapt to my own work immediately. It was more of a survey of IA. I much prefer the work and exhaustive studies of Jakob Nielson and others who provide workable ideas that have proven themselves over time. The author of this book doesn't seem to hold with their findings. And indeed, one must know the rules and then set about to improve on them. So I have no argument with her here. My argument is that she puts no stock in the "rules" yet she fails to offer any alternatives. Had she done so, the book would have been a breakthrough read. It was not. Susanna K. Hutcheson
Owner and Executive Copy Director
Powerwriting.com LLC
Rating:
Summary: A Must Have to Learn IA in Plain English
Review: Written in a clear, informal and humorous style, Christina takes on the challenge of explaining what Information architecture (IA) is all about and walks us step by step through the IA process and is descriptive and instructional instead of theoretical. This book doesn't give reader rigid rules such as "navigation bars should have only seven links" or some fixed methodology or which software to use for developing websites. Instead, this book is focused on the big picture of building a website: the big picture about the business's needs, the end user's needs, and what needs to go into the site and how to present information in a clear, easy to find format. Just like planning a skyscraper, a website needs its blueprint before choosing building materials or worry about the actual construction of the building. Personally, I find the chapter on "Making it all up, writing it all down" particularly helpful. Christina provides us with a set of tools to try out as part of the IA process. As she stated at the introduction, she didn't give us a set of rules but instead, developed a toolbox with a collection of techniques and principles for readers to pick and choose based on their needs. Tools that will actually make us think, make us work harder on formulating a better site structure rather than applying simple rules to all your problems. If you are involved in the web development process, regardless your role as the business managers, project planner, web designer, programmer, etc, and you need to buy any book on planning and organizing your website, this should be it.
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