Information Architecture Glossary
Content, noun. the stuff that makes up a deliverable; media, data, text, including citations and references
Content author, noun. This role can include technical writers, copywriters, subject matter experts, etc. The Content Authors collaborate with the Information Architect to develop the content structures. Content Authors and Information Architects have a symbiotic relationship.
Content collection, noun. Multiple pieces of related content.
Content management system (CMS) or component content management system (CCMS), noun. “system that manages content at a granular level (component) rather than at the document level. Each component represents a single topic, concept or asset (for example an image, table, product description, a procedure).” (Wikipedia)
Content strategist, noun. The role that defines how content will meet business needs and satisfy end-users. This role is responsible for guiding investments in content systems and publishing capabilities, as well as studying performance metrics and advising adjustments to content.
Content strategy, noun. The practice that defines how content will meet business needs and satisfy end-users, guide investments in content systems and publishing capabilities, and inform migration/transformation plans and performance metrics.
Content type, noun. A classification for content based upon its purpose and structure. It may align to topic type, but it is not synonymous.
Darwin Information Typing Architecture (DITA), proper noun. Open standard supported by OASIS.
Data, noun. “a set of values of qualitative or quantitative variables; restated, pieces of data are individual pieces of information.” (Wikipedia).
Deliverable, noun. content items delivered or provided to users.
Deliverable format, noun. The packaging of the deliverable (a PDF, an zip file of XML, a zip file of HTML, etc.).
Delivery information architect, noun. The role responsible for how the content is displayed in deliverables like website article, mobile app content, books, PDFs, etc. This role may be dedicated to a specific platform such as a website or practitioner environment.
Delivery platform, noun. Any delivery mechanism (a mobile app, a website, an LMS, etc.).
DITA Open Toolkit (DITA-OT), proper noun. an open-source publishing framework to convert DITA content into various output formats. Applicable supported transform types currently are: PDF, HTML5, XHTML, ODT, and RTF.
Document type definition (DTD), noun. “defines the legal building blocks of an XML document. It defines the document structure with a list of legal elements and attributes.” (Wikipedia)
Extensible markup language (XML), noun. “a markup language that defines a set of rules for encoding documents in a format which is both human-readable and machine-readable.” (Wikipedia)
Headless architecture, noun. an architecture that decouples delivery from creation and management; often based on open standard API frameworks like RESTful (dynamic) and AJAX (pre-fetch), depending on requirements
Information, noun. the general term to refer to content, data, and metadata as a collection.
Information architecture (IA), noun. “the structural design of shared information environments.” (Wikipedia)
Information technology infrastructure library (ITIL), noun. “a set of practices for IT service management (ITSM) that focuses on aligning IT services with the needs of business. In its current form (known as ITIL V3), ITIL is published as a series of five core volumes, each of which covers a different ITSM lifecycle stage. ...[It] describes processes, procedures, tasks, and checklists which are not organization-specific, but can be applied by an organization for establishing integration with the organization’s strategy, delivering value, and maintaining a minimum level of competency. It allows the organization to establish a baseline from which it can plan, implement, and measure. It is used to demonstrate compliance and to measure improvement.” (Wikipedia)
Management information architect, noun. The role that manages back end information architecture. This role is responsible for how content is managed, stored, and accessed within the organization. This role develops structures that facilitate updating and maintaining content and metadata for the content source.
Metadata, noun. information about content and data that allows for associations, storage, retrieval, and content manipulation.
Open document format (ODF), noun. “an XML-based file format for spreadsheets, charts, presentations and word processing documents.” (Wikipedia)
Open document spreadsheet (ODS), noun. an ODF-support file format for spreadsheets.
Open document text (ODT), noun. an ODF-support file format for word processing documents.
Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards (OASIS), proper noun. “a global consortium that works on the development, convergence, and adoption of e-business and web service standards.” (Wikipedia)
Portable document format (PDF), noun. “is a file format used to present documents in a manner independent of application software, hardware, and operating systems. Each PDF file encapsulates a complete description of a fixed-layout flat document, including the text, fonts, graphics, and other information needed to display it." (Wikipedia)
Rich text format (RTF), noun. a Microsoft-specific document format developed for cross-platform document support.
Semantic network, noun. A set of ontologies that are modeled and managed as knowledge graphs to improve process efficiency via contextual delivery and metadata associations
Structured content, noun. Content that is consistently typed, organized, and authored for a specific purpose.
Taxonomy, noun. “Taxonomy formalizes the hierarchical relationships among concepts and specifies the term to be used to refer to each; it prescribes structure and terminology.” - Bob Bater
Topic type, noun. A DITA classification that is encoded in the topic schema to support content by purpose and structure.
Transform developer, noun. This role develops and deploys code to transform XML source to deliverable output formats.
XML transformation language, noun. “a programming language designed specifically to transform an input XML document into an output document which satisfies some specific goal.” (Wikipedia)
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