Will the next phase of information architecture be invisible?
Information architecture: the structural design of shared information environments
But what about when the information isn’t technically “shared” and it’s just stored in a hockey disk on your kitchen counter and you can’t exactly see it?
Yeah, I’m talking about Alexa. You don’t necessarily need to know how Alexa found out what time the sunset is today, you just want to know what time the sunset is.
With the introduction of machine learning and voice interfaces, how a user accesses information is easier than ever. There’s not as much Googling or scouring a website’s pages when we could just ask a piece of hardware.
But what about when it comes to personalized questions or information?
Think about the last time you had to call an airline. There was either A) a fake “person” who was supposed to ask questions, listen to your answers, and assist your call but that didn’t really go as planned or there was B) an endless phone menu you had to repeat two times because you zoned out before hearing “Press 4 for customer support.”
The audio information architecture has been a tough one to crack; however, with the introduction and success of products like Alexa, there’s an opening to put the information architecture in the hands of the user, thus making it somewhat invisible.
What if whenever you called JetBlue, your airline of choice, they knew you were probably calling about trying to get an upgrade? Instead of leading you through a maze of choices you don’t even want, the automatic phone system asked you “Would you like to upgrade your seat on your next flight to New York City?” because it had learned why you call.
In making information architecture more personalized through machine learning, is it becoming invisible to the user? That might just be the best version of information architecture: something you don’t even have to sift through.
