Information Mapping

3di is the UK consultancy partner for Information Mapping Inc., which offers the Information Mapping method that helps organizations leverage knowledge and improve performance. At 3di we use the method as our internal standard and apply it to customer projects whenever possible.

The Information Mapping method offers a proven approach to the analysis, organization, and visual presentation of information.  This approach is based on research into how the human mind actually reads, processes, remembers, and retrieves information. 

What is Information Mapping?
In practice, it is made up of an integrated set of easy-to-learn principles, techniques, and standards that enable authors to break complex information into its most basic elements and then to present those elements optimally for readers. The result is a set of precisely defined information modules that are consistent from author to author and document to document.

The method is independent of both subject matter and media; that is, it can be applied to the subject matter of any industry, and it can be presented on paper, on a computer screen, verbally, or in a multimedia presentation.

Information Mapping is a basic tool that has been used successfully in a wide variety of documents in every industry. Any business or technical information will benefit from this method, whether it is intended for initial communication, education, training, reference, quick reference, or performance support.

An excellent starting point
For many organizations, Information Mapping serves as an excellent starting point towards better information management. The constantly evolving package of concepts, rules, seminars and macros is easy to understand, buy, replicate, and manage. For technical communicators, Information Mapping is a proven tool that can form part of their tool kit. Depending on the situation, the method can be applied in whole, or in part, explicitly, or discreetly.

As relevant as ever
The basic elements of the method and its underlying principles have stood the test of time. This is because of the huge amount of research carried out before and after it was developed in the 1960s and because of the overwhelming success in people’s ability to apply the method and see some benefits once they had learnt it. The individual principles and elements encompassed by the method are also now generally considered to be technical authoring best practice.

In recent years the modular nature of Information Mapping has become of particular significance due to the:

• Spread of content management systems
• Range of output media
• Increasing number of XML-based applications
• Pressures on information reuse
• Need to translate into more languages at reduced cost

Each of these factors has raised the stakes and made the impact of Information Mapping much more widely felt.

3di work in partnership with Pacific Blue in the UK and the wider Information Mapping Europe organization to deliver the full range of Information Mapping services and products.

www.informationmapping.co.uk