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CONTENT AND CONTEXT
Taken together, a piece's content and context form a whole which is larger than the piece itself. As a designer, your job is to understand the context before massaging the medium to deliver the message (the content).
Context plays a number of roles in helping others interpret the meaning
of content. Specifically, it
• validates
• categorizes
• establishes perspective
• helps users integrate a piece into their lives
Objective
Learn to evaluate a piece's use of context.
|
The piece's information is well validated |
(0-4)
|
Were you able to validate the information fully? |
|
The piece's information is well categorized |
(0-4) |
Were you able to categorize the information fully? |
|
The piece does a good job of establishing point of view |
(0-4)
|
Were you able to establish the point of view, the perspective, of the authors? What is the point of view? Was context helpful in this regard? If so, how? If not, what was wrong? What would you do to make it the piece more clearly establish its point of view? |
|
The piece is |
(0-4)
|
Was the piece well integrated into the environment (i.e. the user's life outside of the piece)? If so, how? If not, what was wrong? What would you do to integrate it better? |
Content
The design of content - its selection and arrangement - is the most important
element in a project. It is the reason there is a project. The
elements of content design include
• a focused main point
• level of detail
• quantity
• accessibility
• quality
Objective
Learn to evaluate a piece's use of content.
|
The piece has a well-focused main point |
(0-4)
|
Is it clearly obvious what the piece's main point is? Is the content focused clearly to meet both the client's objectives and the user's needs? What would you do to make it better focused? |
|
The piece's information is at the right level of detail |
(0-4) |
Were you able to categorize the information fully? |
|
The piece has the right amount of information |
(0-4)
|
Does the content offer the right amount of information for the users?If not, what was wrong? What would you do to make it better? |
|
The piece's information
is accessible |
(0-4)
|
Is the piece accessible to the audience? Why or why not? What would you do to make it more accessible? |
|
The piece offers
quality information |
(0-4)
|
Is the presentation authoritative and effective? Is the information in this piece spelled correctly? Is the grammar good. Are the pictures and graphics of high quality? Is the information itself accurate? What would you do to improve the quality of this piece's information? |
Content and Context
What's the difference?
The meanings of content and context are deeply interwoven.
Content is the facts, the figures, the headlines and the stories, the processes, tasks and activities that are represented in an interface.
Context is background material that helps you understand content. The word context derives from the ancient verb contexere, which breaks down as con (together) and texere (to weave) and so means to weave together. Weaving creates whole fabric (meaning) from simple threads (content plus context.)
The same content can convey an entirely different meaning when the context is changed. For example, years ago a popular fast food chain ran an ad to show that its burgers contained more meat than its competitors'.
The punch line was "Where's The Beef?". This sentence became a national catch phrase.
Later, at a crucial moment in a televised presidential debate between Ronald Reagan and Walter Mondale, Mondale derided the substance of Reagan's ideas for America's future by saying "Where's the beef, Mr. President?". It was an effective hit.
Context is background material that helps you understand content. The word context derives from the ancient verb contexere, which breaks down as con (together) and texere (to weave) and so means to weave together. Weaving creates whole fabric (meaning) from simple threads (content plus context.)
Context is the information that surrounds a central issue and helps us understand how the core, the content, weaves into the surrounding environment.
The point to be made is that designers must understand the contextual system of their audience. Content and context are an ensemble that work together to share the burden of delivering meaning.
How does context VALIDATE information for the user?
The News?
Washington DC -- White House officials announced that space aliens have
taken over the body of the President.
What is your reaction? The information is unequivocal. But how do we interpret it? Is it true?
If it's in the New York Times, we tend to assume it's true. If it's in the National Inquirer, we don't. In other words, the article is to the magazine as content is to context: Knowing the source of content is a contextual, but invaluable, tool for validation.
As digital media tools become more powerful, the reliability, the truthfulness, of information becomes more suspect. Since almost anyone can digitally alter photos, videos, audio recordings, and so on, their trustworthiness is always an issue. In the movie Forrest Gump, newsclips of President Richard Nixon were doctored convincingly to include the hero!
Here are a few ways to provide context for validating purposes:
- Be upfront! State who you are, your point of view and objectives clearly.
- Identify your sources or the content authors and experts used in your piece. Include access to resumes, biographical content, credentials. Hotlink everything you can. For example, above we underlined 'White House Officials'.
- Provide access to corroborating details via hotlinks. For example, we hotlinked the news item 'space aliens'.
- Is your site part of a formal (or informal) network of related organizations, events, publications, people, etc? If so, feature these in appropriate places, and provide hotlinks. Use the logos and/or trademarks of well-known institutions, brand names, etc.
- Be respectful. One sure way to be respected is to treat others and their points of view fairly.
- Provide background information, history, size of any organizations involved.
How does context CATEGORIZE information for the user?
Humor? News? Science Fiction?
Washington DC -- White House officials
announced that space aliens have taken over the body of the President.
Is it humor? News? Science fiction? The format and style of a cartoon strip evokes a different set of expectations than the same words coming from a prime time newscaster or on a late-night "B" sci-fi movie channel. The cartoon's style helps you categorize the data.
War of the Worlds
Context can be misused! In War of the Worlds"
Orson Wells played an enormous prank on thousands of radio listeners.
He used the context of a radio newscast to present a science fiction story.
The voice of the newscaster was authentic. The format matched that of
news broadcasts. These unspoken contextual details persuaded the audience
that the news was true.
The Good Times Virus
Hundreds of thousands of email users received
notices of this computer virus. Usually the message comes from a friend,
who, believing that the message is true, intends to do you a favor by
alerting you. The whole thing is a hoax. The prank works because it comes
from someone you know. This bit of validational context changes the interpretation
of the message itself!
How does POINT OF VIEW-- another function of context-- help a user get the meaning of a piece's information?
Context can also help make clear the point of view that underlies a piece. If you are watching a conservative commentator on TV, you would expect the reporting to be biased towards a conservative viewpoint, and you interpret the commentator's words accordingly.
An old axiom holds true: "Consider the source".
How does context help INTEGRATE a piece into the user's life?
Our definition of interface includes all aspects of the user experience. For this reason, an interface designer must be concerned with the integration of a piece into the larger environment. Your designs should attempt to be integrated seamlessly with your users' real life. The reward for such attention is increased user satisfaction and efficiency.
Familiarity instantly aids the user to understand what to do. The designer's experience with the contextual basis of the piece will enable the creation of deeper, more clear meaning.
What goes into making a piece's information WELL FOCUSED?
The first questions asked in content design are "What is the main point of this piece?" and "What topics should be covered?" In general, four kinds of people provide the answers: clients, users, content experts, and instructional or information designers. These people focus the content so it succeeds for both client and users. You must use active listening to determine the true focus of the piece.
Example -- Lifemap
This piece was designed for a client: The California Academy of Sciences. The users are museum goers. The content experts were scientists on Academy's staff, and the information and instructional designers came from the design company, Arborescence.
Clients provide the big Ms: motivation, message, media, and money! Like the spark that starts a fire, clients provide the push for a project. Often this comes from a communications need -- a need to communicate specific content. They will often have a good deal of content (media) at their fingertips. As a designer, you must ask if this pre-existing content is appropriate for the task at hand. Is it the right message? Is it in language that is appropriate for the new audience? In fact, this pre-existing content must be evaluated in terms of all the content design issues we raise in the rest of this chapter. The starting point of this evaluation is understanding what's appropriate for the users.
Users. What content do users want? You can't assume that what users want is the same as what clients want, or that clients really know what users want. You can only find out by asking real users! You must investigate user success criteria, which are often quite different from the client's. These two elements -- desired content and success criteria -- are a key part of a piece's context, they must be reflected in the interface's design.
User Baselines. Generalists know less and less about more and more until they know nothing about everything. Specialists know more and more about less and less until they know everything about nothing.
Knowing the baseline knowledge level of users will affect all aspects of content design. One way to think about baselines is to imagine categorizing your users as beginners versus advanced users, for example, or generalists versus specialists. Understanding your baseline will reveal the intellectual level at which your information should be positioned, and help you use an appropriate language for the conversation that takes place across an interface-- one that is appropriate for both client and users.
Content Experts. While clients and users are a good starting point for content focus, content experts (people who are experts in the content or subject matter of a piece) often provide the best information, the correct details and insight into information structure.
Information and Instructional Designers understand how people learn and how to build content so that learning is efficient and effective. They organize topics and the flow of information. They structure the content and it's flow so it makes sense, so users can understand and learn it. Without this structuring, the transmission of information is impeded. They are experts at investigating and understanding the implications of user baselines.
What is the right level of DETAIL for a piece?
The right level of detail is determined by what is appropriate for the user. The correct level of detail is needed for the user to have a successful experience.
If accommodating different categories of users, you may find that different levels of detail are appropriate for each group, in which case you must provide access to all the different levels; and arrange these zones so that the users will access the appropriate areas.
How do you determine the right AMOUNT of information for a piece?
Once you've determined the level of detail, you must ask how much information is enough? To answer, you must consider two factors: the audience, and the message itself.
Audience Capacity
From the user's point of view, you must think in terms of appropriateness.
How much is correct for them? How much do they have the time for? What
is their motivation and resulting attention span?
Message Size
The answers to the preceding questions must be balanced with answers to
questions about the message itself. How much information is needed to
deliver the intended message? Naturally, this includes taking into account
the levels of detail needed.
How do you make a piece ACCESSIBLE?
In many situations, a portion of an audience may have special needs that require you to provide content in special ways. You may, for example have to consider making the piece accessible for people in wheelchairs, or for people who cannot hear or see. Text captions in video are a good example of an accessibility solution. Braille in public space kiosks is another.
Example -- Grandma and Me
In Grandma and Me, in the first interactive screen, Little Critter (the main character) speaks to the audience explaining the screen to them. He points to the buttons as he speaks. This is because the audience doesn't know how to read.
Elsewhere in the piece, if the user indicates she wants to quit, Little Critter doublechecks the decision with the user (an example of tolerance, by the way) by asking "Are you sure you want to quit?" Two buttons, Yes and No, appear with a child's head behind each. The heads are moving: up and down behind the Yes button, and side to side behind the No button. This makes the meaning of the buttons accessible to the non-reading audience.
What goes into providing QUALITY information?
The importance of quality can't be over-emphasized. Quality is part of every piece's story, and the quality of a piece is the sum of the creative effort invested in every aspect of the piece's implementation. Quality is therefore something to be worked on at every step in creating a piece. This means fact-, spell- and grammar-checking. It means proofreading and debates devoted to choice of words, shades of color, placement of images, individual pixels in graphics and icons, and a million other fine-tunings that all add up to an excellent product.
