CHAPTER OVERVIEW

There are two key aspects of high-level interactive architecture:

• the overall structure and grouping of information

• the navigation connecting these different information groups

Multimedia programs and Web sites have a wide variety of possible structures and navigation. Rarely do these approaches exist in a pure form. Most projects have some combination. A key question the writer must ask when developing a piece is which approach will best achieve the communication goals. As discussed in Chapter 3, "High-Level Design, Management, and Technical Skills Useful to the Interactive Writer," information architecture is often planned with flowcharts. Every possible interactive architecture is not listed here, merely those that are most commonly used by the writer and designer of nonnarrative, informational multimedia.

LINEAR STRUCTURE AND NAVIGATION

Defined Linear structure can be compared to a desert highway with no crossroads. It is the structure of most motion pictures and television programs.

Use Linear structure makes it possible to integrate into multimedia some of the standard linear informational structures, such as the problem-solution structure and the dialectical structure. The problem-solution structure is used by setting up a problem linearly and then asking the user to solve it interactively. Dialectical structure, a favorite of the TV news magazine 60 Minutes, sets up a dialogue between two different points of view. First we hear from the Army general who wants to spend billions on a bomber; then we hear from the peace activist who doesn't want to spend any more money on new...