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Highlights

Presentation

Enabling Exploratory Discovery Through Taxonomy

Taxonomy Boot Camp 2024

Not everything can just be searched. “Aha!” moments deliver value. Exploration leads to insights and surfaces contexts. How do you prepare your content for these user experiences?

Presentation

AI Explanations as Two-Way Experiences, Led by Users

User Experience Professionals Association (UXPA) conference

How do we craft designs that "explain" concepts and respond to users’ intent? Can AI identify, elicit and apply relevant user contexts, to help us understand AI outputs? How do explanations become two-way?

Presentation

Menu Mania: What's Wrong With Menus

User Experience Professionals Association (UXPA) conference

Menus are ubiquitous in websites and applications of all types. They are critical to accessing the information and actions that users need. In this presentation we share best practices for designing menus.

Presentation

Connecting Art & Archives for Research, Discovery, and Storytelling

MuseumNext (virtual)

The Georgia O’Keeffe Museum and Design for Context have developed a scalable infrastructure supporting integrated information from art, archival, library, historic home collections and exhibitions. Exploring rich relationships reveals a wealth of contexts, perspectives, events, and places. Learn about how the Museum is envisioning the future of its publishing and collections-based storytelling.

Our insights

  • Presentation
    decorative image

    Enabling Exploratory Discovery Through Taxonomy

    Taxonomy Boot Camp in Washington, D.C. – November 18, 2024

    Duane Degler

    Not everything can just be searched. “Aha!” moments deliver value. Exploration leads to insights and surfaces contexts. How do you prepare your content for these user experiences?

    decorative image
    Read more
  • Presentation
    Small image with text for Georgia O'Keeffe and her art

    Connecting Art & Archives for Research, Discovery, and Storytelling

    MuseumNext Digital Collections Conference – October 10, 2022

    Duane Degler, Liz Neely

    If you’ve ever sat in on a discussion between a curator and an archivist, then you understand the breadth and richness of stories hidden in collections. The Georgia O’Keeffe Museum has developed a scalable infrastructure supporting integrated information from art, archival, library and historic home collections. Collections Online is a vital shared resource for the Museum and the public. Exploring rich relationships reveals a wealth of contexts, perspectives, events, and places. Learn about how the Museum is envisioning the future of its publishing and collections-based storytelling.

    Small image with text for Georgia O'Keeffe and her art
    Read more
  • Presentation

    Hello, Meet Hola! Design for Mixed-language Interfaces

    UXPA International Conference, Baltimore, MD – September 2, 2021

    Duane Degler, Rachel Sengers

    A global online user population necessitates the exchange of content from different sources, and the ability to aggregate multilingual content is a critical requirement within many research and business contexts. To effectively reach a global audience and provide access to content in multiple languages, we must structure mixed-language content to support its successful presentation and delivery, and provide innovative designs that facilitate exploration. In this interactive session, we provide real-world examples for doing just that.

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  • Presentation
    snippet of the Georgia O'Keeffe Museum home page

    The Georgia O'Keeffe Museum Collections Website

    Webinar, IIIF Museum Community Group – January 7, 2020

    Duane Degler, Charlie Butcosk, Rana Chan

    In this demonstration of the Georgia O'Keeffe Museum's collection browse website, launched as a beta in September 2019, Duane Degler and the Georgia O'Keeffe Museum's Rana Chan discuss the project background, linked data architecture approach, and the O'Keeffe team's thoughts on the future. This webinar was presented to the Museum interest group of the International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) community.

    snippet of the Georgia O'Keeffe Museum home page
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  • Conference

    Linked Information and an Enhancement Ecosystem

    2019 Information Architecture Conference in Orlando, FL -- March 15, 2019

    Duane Degler

    In his Information Architecture Conference poster, Duane Degler offers key steps in the theory and practice of managing information as linked data, a framework that supports ongoing enhancement of digital resources, and ways to support cross-silo information resources within, and across, organizations.

    Read more
  • Conference

    User and Information Design Considerations for Effective Semantic Search

    NFAIS 2019 Annual Conference in Alexandria, VA -- February 14, 2019

    Duane Degler

    Semantic search seeks to enhance the meaning in content, to more closely align the searcher and the available information resources. This means there is a strong user-centered aspect needed to unlock the benefits. In this NFAIS Conference presentation, Duane Degler explores strategies and considerations for best supporting your users through effective semantic search.

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  • Conference

    Archives Strengthening Historical Narrative: Sharing Digital And Linked Data Resources For Broader Reach And Sustainability

    Museum and the Web 2018 Conference in Vancouver, Canada -- April 19, 2018

    Duane Degler, Mark Coffey - Texas Coastal Bend Collection, Alan Watts - Texas Coastal Bend Collection

    In their MW2018 panel presentation, Duane Degler joins Mark Coffey and Alan Watts, both from the Texas Coastal Bend Collection, to provide insights into ways oral history and images can be used to assemble flexible topic-based narrative structures. This session provides insight into technical and curatorial approaches, so others don’t have to “start from scratch.”

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  • Conference

    Going Global: The Intersection of IA and UX in a Multilingual Environment

    IA Summit 2018 Conference in Chicago, IL -- March 25, 2018

    Kate Blanch, Rachel Sengers, Janette Shew

    In their IA Summit talk, Kate Blanch, Rachel Sengers, and Janette Shew discuss how to structure multilingual content to support its successful presentation and delivery, and how to provide innovative designs that facilitate exploration of that content.

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  • Conference

    No Static: IA for Dynamic Information Environments

    IA Summit 2018 Conference in Chicago, IL -- March 24, 2018

    Duane Degler

    In this IA Summit talk, Duane Degler provides an overview of the dynamic information landscape, positions the role of IA firmly at the heart of its ecosystem design, and provides ideas for weaving this into your practice.

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  • Conference

    Linked Collections and an Enhancement Ecosystem

    Art Libraries Society of North America (ARLIS/NA) 2018 Conference in New York, NY -- February 26, 2018

    Duane Degler, Kate Blanch

    In their ARLIS/NA poster, Duane Degler and Kate Blanch offer key steps in the theory and practice of managing collection data as linked data, a framework that supports ongoing enhancement of digital resources, and ways to discuss your approach toward digital scholarship.

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  • Presentation

    Integrating Taxonomies and Ontologies into Enterprise Search and Browse

    Data Harmony User Group in Albuquerque, NM – February 6, 2018

    Duane Degler

    In this Data Harmony User Group 2018 session, Duane Degler outlines approaches for increasing taxonomy integration into search and browse, thus drawing the greatest value from your taxonomies for your users.

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  • Presentation

    Guerrilla Glue: Making Collaborative Digital Innovation Projects Stick

    MCN 2017 Conference, Pittsburgh, PA – November 10, 2017

    Duane Degler

    In this MCN2017 session, Duane Degler moderates a panel discussing how institutions and projects are using linked data and modern technologies to achieve long-term outcomes for themselves and others.

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  • Presentation

    User Experience Design Considerations for Multi-Museum Online Collaborations

    MCN2016 Conference, New Orleans, LA – November 4, 2016

    Duane Degler, Lesley Humphreys

    In this MCN2016 session, Duane Degler and Lesley Humphreys share human-centered user experience considerations and requirements that pertain specifically to the challenges faced by collaborations among multiple collections, sites, and institutions. 

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  • White paper

    Understanding How Content Is Used in Enterprise Settings

    March 16, 2016

    Duane Degler

    Enabling knowledge management capabilities through search and discovery can benefit from richer data to learn the ways users think about the information they find and use. This article describes an approach we developed to support enterprise search and content synthesis for case management and research in legal and scientific/academic domains. We use an extremely lightweight (yet powerful) mechanism to bridge the silos and establish a network of data around the use of information.

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  • Publication

    Intelligent Understanding of Content Use

    Published in KMWorld Magazine, March 1, 2016

    Duane Degler

    Using a rich network of data about how people actually use content, we can find insights by integrating it with other enterprise information sources. In this article, Duane Degler explores how it becomes a valuable input to governance processes, at both the organizational and content levels.

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  • Presentation

    Building Bridges with Taxonomy: Enabling Semantic Integration

    Taxonomy Bootcamp, associated with KM World, Washington, DC - November 2, 2015

    Duane Degler, Jayne Dutra

    Taxonomies should be designed with enough flexibility and transition points to be a bridge to other taxonomies and datasets. Enabling your taxonomy to fit into the larger universe of partner companies, industry standards, federal requirements and complementary term sets gives it a solid foundation for future growth. We explore which vocabulary sets are available for reuse by the enterprise information architect and demonstrate how thinking about semantic integration from the beginning of the design process helps build a taxonomy that endures.

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  • Presentation

    Creating Personal Profiles Across Time and Distance

    SmartData Conference, San Jose, CA - August 19, 2015

    Duane Degler

    Personal data capture and algorithmic modeling of user preferences and interests is maturing. In this talk, Duane Degler explores some of the considerations for longitudinal preference management, how adaptive interfaces might play a role, and how users could interact with a model at a particular time in an application.

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  • Presentation

    Structure and Metadata: Shortening The On-Ramp To Linked Data

    IA Summit, Minneapolis, MN – April 25, 2015

    Duane Degler, Dalia R. Levine

    Information Architects codify information’s purpose and context – that is vital for effective use and management. This talk summarizes our approach to understanding dynamic, multi-dimensional information models and the practical tools that help us create them.

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  • Workshop
    Museum exhibit

    Emerging Tastes: Considering How Preferences Evolve

    International Workshop on Personalized Access to Cultural Heritage (PATCH 2015), Atlanta, GA – March 29, 2015

    Duane Degler

    Experiencing cultural heritage is a voyage of discovery and learning, where emerging insights and serendipity play a significant role. The experience also happens in a blended personal and social context. At the broader level, engagement is longitudinal – what we learn from modern cultural experiences (daily life in our surroundings) can provide clues to analogous interests in cultural materials, and vice versa. This paper addresses richness of personal experience poses challenges and opportunities for capturing preferences in ways that support a user’s experience with cultural heritage across institutions and over time, both in the digital realm and where digital interaction blends with a physical space.

    Museum exhibit
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  • Presentation

    Perspectives and Considerations for Linked Open Data in Cultural Heritage

    American Art Collaborative partners – January 15, 2015

    Duane Degler, Neal Johnson

    An overview of considerations for creating, publishing, managing, and using linked data in a cultural heritage context.

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  • Presentation
    Libraries, Archives and Museums

    Design Concepts and Lessons from Linked Data for Digital Humanities

    Semantic Business and Technology Conference, San Jose, CA – August 20, 2014

    Duane Degler, Neal Johnson

    Projects in LOD-LAM (Linked Open Data for Libraries, Archives and Museums) give us a perspective on creating rich, relevant, usable applications for heterogeneous linked data. This presentation shows examples and describes our design approach.

    Libraries, Archives and Museums
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  • Workshop

    Now What? Creating Innovative LODLAM Sites and Apps

    LODLAM Training Day, Semantic Business and Technology Conference, San Jose, CA – August 19, 2014

    Duane Degler, Neal Johnson

    With the rapid evolution of a semantic web, it is no surprise that many cultural institutions, large and small, are exploring Linked Open Data (LOD) as a means of connecting distributed data across the Web and across internal repositories. This presentation explores the questions, practicalities, and implications related to designing sites and applications for linked open data.

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  • Publication
    Reframing Information Architecture book cover

    Dynamic IA: External & Internal Contexts for Reframing

    Springer - 2014

    Duane Degler

    The world of information architecture has changed, and a reframing is moving the conversation forward. Duane Degler contributes a chapter called “Dynamic Information Architecture—External and Internal Contexts for Reframing” to Reframing Information Architecture, a book edited by Andrea Resmini.

    Reframing Information Architecture book cover
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  • Presentation
    Abstract connected nodes

    Design Meets Data (Linked, Open, Heterogeneous)

    Museums and the Web Conference, Baltimore, MD – April 5, 2014

    Duane Degler

    The tide of available information continues to rise. The opportunities that come from open access, linked data, sharing resources with other institutions, and standards-based data are enticing - and perhaps overwhelming? In this talk, we discuss the role of design to help you find ways to make the most of your opportunities for new types of interactions and engagement with Information Objects. We share experiences from projects and research that help you think about Information Objects and the emerging drivers for user experience, including Getty and Mellon-funded systems where we’re beginning to test ideas about how to support a broad set of goals for interaction in complex information spaces we're facing today.

    Abstract connected nodes
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  • Presentation

    Designing for Information Objects: The Library, Archive & Museum (LAM) Information Ecosystem for Now and for the Future

    EdUI Conference, Richmond, VA – November 5, 2013

    Duane Degler, Neal Johnson

    Museums, libraries and archives hold physical objects that people interact with every day. Just as there is a physical object, there is an “Information Object” that people use, and authoritative institutions curate that information for now and the future. This talk is about designing the Information Object, and the role of shareable, structured information.

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  • Presentation
    User navigating on mobile phone

    Enhancement Ecosystems: Enriching Structured Content with User Tagging and Annotation

    Semantic Technology & Business Conference, New York, NY – October 2, 2013

    Duane Degler, Thomas Vander Wal

    Formal and informal metadata, classification and descriptions play a significant role in the quality of user experience with content and search. This talk describes “enhancement ecosystems” involving users and content experts.

    User navigating on mobile phone
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  • Presentation
    Linked data

    Lemonade out of Lemons: Design increases your data's value to your users

    Semantic Technology Conference, Washington, DC – December 1, 2011

    Duane Degler, Jasmin Phua

    We all want users to gain value from our information and applications. The use of semantic technologies has grown significantly over the last few years, and with that growth has come the challenge of designing clear, useful interactions to help your users find meaning in large and varied datasets. This talk demonstrates that the risk of poor design is that much of the richness of semantically-enabled environments can be lost because the user experiences tend to be overwhelming rather than meaningful and engaging.

    Linked data
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  • Presentation
    Design sketch on whiteboard

    Design 10:5:2 - 10 Best Practices, 5 Examples, 2 Actions

    Semantic Technologies, San Francisco, CA – June 8, 2011

    Duane Degler

    Are you thinking about how to achieve designs that will get a positive response from your users? Are you wondering how to refine an interface to work well with semantic data? While the ‘magic’ in design can’t be boiled down to a few simple rules, this talk will show you things you can do that will help get your project started on the right path.

    Design sketch on whiteboard
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  • Presentation
    Designing information architecture

    IA 2.0: An Open Conversation about Context, Mobility and Semantics

    IA Summit, Denver, CO – April 2, 2011

    Duane Degler

    Information Architecture has the potential to take a leading role in making the next generation of web and mobile applications more valuable for our users. We have key skills to clarify structured data relationships, identify relevance and context, and streamline the usefulness of information. In order to lead, IAs need to understand and address the implications of an environment that is changing fundamentally from what we've known in Web 1.0 and 2.0. What does it mean to design for a Context Web? Note: This file contains points transcribed from the conversations with participants.

    Designing information architecture
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  • Presentation
    Linked data

    UI Design for Semantic Web: From Idea to Experience

    Semantic Web Summit, Boston, MA – November 16, 2010

    Duane Degler

    User Experience is critical to success - we've seen the evidence of that repeatedly in the Web 1.0 and 2.0 worlds. What role does UX play in the Linked Data world? As more people engage with semantic-driven applications and information - both as consumers and creators - unique interaction styles and experiences are surfacing. At the same time, this presentation points out some new interaction challenges raised by the potential of the Semantic Web.

    Linked data
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  • Presentation

    User Interfaces for the Semantic Web

    Presented at Semantic Technologies Conference on June 22, 2010

    Duane Degler

    This is a tangible guided tour of innovative semantic web applications and user interfaces, as well as interesting interfaces that ask the questions: “What is being adopted from current Internet — and Rich Internet — apps and sites? What new design concepts might be possible now or in the future?” The presentation begins to open up opportunities, issues, and implications for people who will be users of the “linked web of data.” And we continue to ask one of our favorite questions: How can it be made easier and more useful?

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  • Publication

    Preliminary Analysis of Users and Tasks for the Semantic Web

    Semantic Web User Interaction Workshop, International Semantic Web Conference, Athens, GA – 2006

     

    Lisa Battle

    This position paper raises the importance of understanding the users of the Semantic Web and the tasks that will bring them to the Semantic Web. It proposes a high-level framework for categorizing those users and tasks, and provides implications to be considered in end-user interaction design.

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  • Publication

    Policy Content at SSA: Using XML and Semantic Metadata

    XML2004 conference, Washington, DC – November 17, 2004

    Duane Degler, Terry Hynes

    A new content management and delivery system has been growing over the past years at SSA. From a content perspective, users have been asking for “simple answers, with all supporting information, relevant to my situation.” From an organizational perspective, the role of content is increasingly seen as integrated with transactional systems in order to sustain quality service delivery in an increasingly complex business environment. From a technology perspective, the use of emerging tools based on XML and semantic technologies provides opportunities for simpler systems that control content maintenance more effectively, improve integration, provide easier content access, and allow migration as systems evolve over time. This case study shows the application and discusses design considerations.

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  • Publication

    Maintaining Ontology Implementations: The Value of Listening

    Extreme Markup conference, Montreal, Quebec, Canada – August 2004

    Duane Degler, Renee Lewis

    It's hard to argue against the concepts of self-describing data, contextual interfaces, and richer metadata for content that eventually will make up the Semantic Web. However, it is easy to imagine semantic environments suffering from the same challenges that many content management system implementations and the Web itself suffer from: the preoccupation with data could easily leave us drowning in it. This paper focuses on approaches being explored to promote feedback and user involvement for the maintenance of semantic representations, to ensure they remain useful and current.

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  • Presentation

    The Usability Imperative Inherent in the Semantic Web

    Usability Professionals’ Association (UPA) 13th Annual Conference, Minneapolis, MN – June 10, 2004

    Duane Degler, Renee Lewis

    A tremendous amount of hope — and hype — has been attached to Tim Berners-Lee's concept of the Semantic Web, where machine-readable “meaning” enriches the promise of the web. Creating a positive, successful, trust-worthy experience for users is crucial to its success. What does that mean? What is imperative for it to become the “next generation” web? Most importantly, why must the usability community play a leading role to shape the Semantic Web in a positive, user-centered way? This paper addresses these questions and more.

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