Information Architecture and Business Modeling in Modern Organizations of Information Technology

The modern IT organizations has been structured in such a way as to establish the motivation of the teams and workers in the exercise of their functions; meet the needs and expectations of the customer and the organization; anticipate the factors that threaten the achievement of the expected results; reduce costs and maximize profits in a holistic view of the estimates of lucrativeness and the profitability index ROI-Return on investment of the software project. This chapter aims to present the information architecture and business modeling at IT organizations. This architecture allows associate the people management to the software projects management in an interactive and productive dynamic of learning and growth professional career. This motivating and representative scenario shows how the organization can be aligned to their economic interests, making it competitive in the market and successful in business.

Using Wiki for Managing Knowledge in Agile Software Development

The movement towards agility is one of the most significant changes in industrial software engineering over the past decade. In the practice of agile methodologies, there are different types of knowledge that is created, communicated, and consumed. For the benefit of the stakeholders involved, there is a pressing need to manage this knowledge, both during development and beyond deployment of a software system. This chapter proposes a framework comprising related conceptual models as means for understanding the use of Wiki for managing knowledge in agile software development. In doing so, Wiki is considered beyond that of a technology or a tool, as a facilitator of knowledge, and placed in a larger context of the Social Web environment. For the sake of practicality, a number of illustrative examples are given, and implications of deploying a Wiki are highlighted.

Information Architecture in Practice

The concept of architecture has been widely used in the context of information and communication technologies (ICT's). It is associated with such diverse terms, such as, business architecture, architecture of knowledge, strategic architecture, governance architecture, information architecture, architecture of competence, ICT's architecture, network architecture, computer architecture, data architecture, and many other examples one could give. Why the term is used in this way? What sets them apart? May it be replaced by a simpler and less catchy term, such as structure? Information architecture is a design methodology (concept) that is applied to any environments, being understood as an area located within a given context, consisting of content in streams that serves a community of managers/decision makers/users. The model can be to any informational environments of any area of knowledge, regardless of media, format, content or type of information that constitutes it, since a traditional library to a complex organization. It is not coupled to people, to the organizational structure or any technology.

User-Centred Design and Evaluation of Information Architecture for Information Systems

Information Architecture plays a central role in the usability of Information Systems. It is vital that organisations employ appropriate methods to know their users when designing and evaluating Information Architecture in their systems to make them more effective. This chapter presents concepts and techniques to help organisations apply user-centred methods to design and evaluate Information Architecture in their Information Systems. The discussion is centred on the card sort technique, presenting its main variants and their applicability. The chapter also presents a worked example with the application of the Card sort technique to organise the content of the authors' university website, with data collected from 38 participants. By means of the discussion of the worked example, the chapter presents how to prepare a Card sort, recruit participants, run the study and analyse the results to be applied in the design and evaluation of Information Architecture of Information Systems.

Architecture of Information

The information architecture as a discipline of information science has been a fertile ground for disagreement about definitions which are mostly based on practical, devoid of epistemological and scientific grounds, where each ”actor” involved seeks to provide tools, techniques and concepts based on their own perspective and personal training that considers more appropriate. This paper argues that the time for a comprehensive definition is reached, based on the definition of Saul Wurman (1997) to synthesize and express in simple terms a collection of linguistic concepts that influence the perception of reality. The ways and means adopted by the discipline of information architecture in its development have in practice, limited their potential and scope. Its potential applicability to understanding the human experience in general and the phenomena of information in particular, remains to be explored. The research aims to contribute to the construction of the discipline of information architecture in terms required by Haverty (2002). The identification of formal theoretical aspects assist in the understanding of the interaction between the elements that compose it, from a systemic perspective, scientific status and key processes that define the discipline as a practice. We propose a definition based on the epistemological framework of phenomenology, by the analogy with the traditional architecture and methodology concept.

Organizational Architecture and Online Social Networks

The global marketplace is changing, forcing companies to establish stronger partnerships to compete at higher levels. Interorganizational networks are becoming a reality—not only for small enterprises, but also for larger companies. To face increasing global competition, companies need to strengthen their competitive advantages and solicit complementary resources from partners in order to get closer to customers. The Internet and its associated technologies, especially online social networks, can help with both tasks. Customers are using social media to share content, opinions, criticisms, and even compliments with companies and products. This chapter discusses the formation of interorganizational networks and points out some of the benefits that online social networks can contribute to these new organizational architectures.

Informed Governance

How can an organization be successful if it doesn't have clear objectives? If it does not know where to go, how can it plot a route? An organization without well-defined objectives is like a drifting ship, goes along with the winds, wherever it blows to. Defining objectives is of capital importance for good organizational performance and success, vision alignment and goal focusing. Their definition must follow strict requirements that guarantee relevance and accomplishment. Moreover, objectives must be set at all levels of the organization, so that everybody tracks the same route. This research proposes an approach to the way organizations define objectives. Based on principles of Organizational Engineering and the Portuguese Air Force's top-down structure and Mission, a model is proposed that takes into account relevant organizational elements needed to guarantee the objectives' pertinence. It also provides strategies that can be used to align them with the management levels.

Organisational Architecture and Learning in an Inter-Professional Context

Designing an effective organisational architecture for an undertaking can be considered essential to its success. The way an organisation is designed – or otherwise appears to its workers – will affect the extent to which those workers associated with it can be effective at their jobs. This chapter undertakes a case study into an organisation that is based around contingent working and inter-professionalism. Important things drawn from the study include the importance of the Cloud to distance working, such as teleworking; the identity of the organisation and how workers relate to it; as well as what factors assist on inhibit worker motivation. The study concludes that the organisational structure of the organisation investigated – where different firms perform different tasks, could be seen as best practice in supporting inter-professional environments.

Innovation Management in Modern Organizations

The present context of the knowledge-based economy and society has brought relevant changes with respect to how innovation has been conceptualized and explained. This chapter discusses the characteristics of learning and uncertainty as intrinsic components of innovation over the course of time. A number of views that explain the innovation process are discussed in terms of evolutionary momentum, from the science-push strategy to the market-pull model, culminating in the holistic, integrating view of innovation. The case study illustrates the path of technological development of a Portuguese footwear company, based on the licensing of technology, the capacity for continuing learning and absorption, and a culture of innovation as key elements for success.

Borderline Fields of Information Architecture

This chapter addresses the complex relationships between information architecture and information overload from the viewpoint of the information professional. It is discussed in the light of information literacy, which cannot be considered without a discussion of other related literacies. Special attention and extended length will be given to data literacy, which is relatively new, but is on the way of gaining particular weight with the growing importance of data-related issues. As borderline fields of information architecture, information overload, the different literacies and personal information management play dissimilar roles. Information overload is the symptom, while well-known approaches and tools of information architecture, information literacy and other literacies, as well as personal information management offer different tools to alleviate these symptoms. Notwithstanding, there is undeniable connection between them, which should be made subject to further research.