About Information Mapping
Information MappingTM is a trademarked methodology for writing and structuring content. It was developed by Robert Horn, a researcher at Harvard and Columbia Universities, in 1967.
The overall process of Information Mapping consists of three major steps: analysis, organization, and presentation.
Analysis
The technical communicator analyzes both the text and the audience’s needs in order to make effective decisions about how to present the content.
Organization
The technical communicator organizes draft content into categories of six different types of information:
- Procedure (steps)
- Process description (explanations)
- Structure (descriptions)
- Concept (definitions and examples)
- Principle (rules)
- Fact (physical characteristics)
Presentation
The technical communicator applies four basic principles to guide formatting decisions:
- Chunking: Is all the information broken down into non-divisible chunks?
- Labeling: Are all chunks of information assigned an appropriate label?
- Relevance: Is everything within a chunk of information essential to the audience’s needs?
- Hierarchy: Are hierarchical labels consistently applied to tell readers where they have been and where they are going?
The various types and pieces (“blocks”) of information are then arranged into groupings that Horn describes as “information maps.”
Note: Numerous research studies have indicated that the Information Mapping method increases information accessibility and usability and optimizes comprehension and performance. However, the approach has been somewhat controversial. Page 8 of the Namahn article cited under Resources lists some pros and cons of the method.
Resources
http://www.infomap.com/ (Information Mapping worldwide headquarters)
http://www.infomap.com/index.cfm/Europe/ (Information Mapping European headquarters)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Information_mapping (Wikipedia entry for Information Mapping)
http://www.namahn.com/resources/documents/note-IM.pdf (Information Mapping, a research note by Namahn. White paper by Namahn design consultants in Brussels, December 2001)