NOTQIN — OT Track

Information Architecture

3 min read

Information Architecture (IA)

Definition

The structural design of shared information environments — how content is organized, labeled, and connected so that people can find and understand it. Sits at the intersection of library science, UX, and software design.

Often called the blueprint layer of a digital product or knowledge system: invisible when good, painful when bad.

The four IA systems (Rosenfeld & Morville)

SystemWhat it doesNOTQIN example
OrganizationHow content is grouped (taxonomies, classifications)Folder structure (02_Knowledge Base/Industrial Intelligence/Concepts/), type: frontmatter values
LabelingWhat things are calledFile names, wikilink names, audience-tag values
NavigationHow users move through contentSidebar, breadcrumbs, backlinks panel, portal nav
SearchHow users find specific thingsObsidian search, Quartz full-text, future RAG over vault

Why it matters for NOTQIN

The vault’s structure IS information architecture. Decisions like:

  • Where to put a new concept note (which folder under 02_Knowledge Base/?)
  • Whether to use Customer Anatomy Pack or Master — Customer Anatomy as the canonical link
  • Whether sector packs go in 01_Project Portfolio/ or 02_Knowledge Base/
  • Audience routing as a parallel IA dimension (per Portal Audience Routing 2026)

…are all IA decisions. Get them wrong and the team won’t find what they need; get them right and the system feels effortless.

Three IA tensions to resolve consciously

  1. Hierarchy vs network — deep folders (hierarchy) vs flat + wikilinks (network). The vault uses both: shallow folders + dense wikilinking.
  2. Imposed vs emergent taxonomy — define type: values up front, OR let them emerge from usage. The vault uses controlled type: values + free-form tags.
  3. Findability vs discoverability — finding what you’re looking for (search) vs encountering what you didn’t know to look for (browse). Good IA serves both.

Common mistakes

  • Letting folder structure drift (every contributor adds their own preferred location)
  • Inconsistent labels (Smartex Auto Tier-2 Sprint vs NOTQIN Auto Tier 2 sprint 2026 for the same thing)
  • No controlled vocabulary for type: or tags → search becomes useless
  • Over-nested folders (>3 levels deep, nobody navigates)
  • Treating IA as a one-time setup vs ongoing maintenance
  • Building navigation for the current user; failing to design for the new user

How IA is enforced in this vault

  • type: frontmatter values are bounded: reference, concept-reference, strategy, playbook, tracker, feedback, log, index, etc. (See NOTQIN KM System — Master Index for the canonical list.)
  • Hub-entity wikilinking standing rule (every person/company/concept gets wikilink form — never plain text)
  • Folder-level READMEs at each major subfolder explain the IA decision
  • Portal Audience Routing 2026 is meta-IA — IA of who sees what

See also

Graph View

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