Dade-Robertson M. The Architecture of Information: Architecture, Interaction Design and the Patterning of Digital Information

Routledge, 2011. – 192 p. – ISBN: 0415561833, 0415561841, 9780415561846This book looks at relationships between the organization of physical objects in space and the organization of ideas. Historical, philosophical, psychological and architectural knowledge are united to develop an understanding of the relationship between information and its representation.
Despite its potential to break the mould, digital information has relied on metaphors from a pre-digital era. In particular, architectural ideas have pervaded discussions of digital information, from the urbanization of cyberspace in science fiction, through to the adoption of spatial visualizations in the design of graphical user interfaces.This book tackles:
the historical importance of physical places to the organization and expression of knowledge
the limitations of using the physical organization of objects as the basis for systems of categorization and taxonomy
the emergence of digital technologies and the twentieth century new conceptual understandings of knowledge and its organization
the concept of disconnecting storage of information objects from their presentation and retrieval
ideas surrounding ‘semantic space’
the realities of the types of user interface which now dominate modern computing.Acknowledgements
Illustration creditsThe architecture of everything
Changing patterns of architecture and information
Scope and focus
The place of architectural theory
The multi-disciplinary context
Structure and content
The architectonic system
Architecture and meaning
Architectonic systems and the emergence of categorisation
Conceptual spaces: categories in the mind
Topic and toposBetween city lights receding and the non-space of the mind
Loosing the ballast of materiality
Spaces between logic and ontology
Display becomes reality
The web is not a tree
Remediating spaceThe spaces of information
Spaces of information
The failure of architectural metaphors
Measuring – semantic space
Mapping – screen space
Exploring – interaction space
Navigating – architectonic spaceReality becomes display
After information architecture
Non-discursive formations
Place–action
Space agency
Invisible architecturesNotes