Final Process Flow Diagram and Concept Map

Fourth Stage: Process Flow Diagram FINAL DRAFT

Third Stage: Process Flow Diagram and Concept Map Draft 3

Beginning stages of Process Flow Diagram and Concept Map, further refinment is highlighted in blue.

Process Flow Diagram: Showing how to play a game of soccer.



Concept Map New Categories:

Soccer
Field
Two Teams
Referee

Second Stage: Process Flow Diagram and Concept Map Draft 2

This is my first actual attempt at deconstructing the game of soccer, in order for me to see the entire forest, I must first see the individual trees. I'm not an expert at soccer, so at this stage of the process I had to embrace that fact and not leave out anything accociated with a game of soccer. Instead, I felt I NEEDED to understand every possible aspect of soccer in great detail, before I can start excluding information that may not be necessary for the final diagram.

First deconstructed categories:

Ball In and Out of Play
Start and Restart of Play
Soccer Match
Playing Field
Offside Position
Object of a Soccer Game
Team Members

First Stage: Process Flow Diagram and Concept Map Draft 1

Method to the Madness

This phase of the project was very thorough and tedious. In order to begin my Process Flow Diagram, and Concept Maps, I wanted to clarify certain major aspects of a Soccer game, which were still extremely unclear to me. Soccer positions are very abstract; the same position can be referred to as 4 different titles, all meaning the same thing, such as Halfback and Midfielder, but to someone who knows nothing about the game can be very confusing. Even more confusing, was figuring out that some positions can alternate from offensive and defensive positions depending on the player's location on the field, or who has possession of the ball. My first inclination was to reach for the pen and paper and actually draw out the entire soccer field in perspective with each player on the field as they would be in any real game situation. Then, I identified each player on the field with every possible name usage. From there, I made a mini Concept Map to visualize the hierarchy of the positions, which I concluded that there wasn't one; each position adjusts to the flow of the game, besides the goalie.

Persona and Target Audience

Persona and Target Audience

The creation of a persona helps the designer, or Information Architect, to understand and represent our end user. By hypothetically developing their cultural associations, and valued objects, one can start to “guesstimate” and anticipate what else may be harmonious to their individual lifestyles. Relating back to the main topic of this project, Soccer, the persona will help me decipher the visual and lingual language my user will understand.

Target Audience:
An Athletic person familiar with various sports, and sport related terminology (for example the word Foul) who never took the time to learn soccer, but would now like to learn about the sport in order to play on an intramural team.

Paul

o Was a High School basketball player
o Watches ESPN everyday
o First year College student
o Physically active
o Just joined an intramural soccer league.

Narrative Draft #1

CLOUD

It is the year 1990; I sit here now in my stale living room a content 70 year old man, watching the Italian world cup loudly roaring on my poor excuse for a television. My grandchildren watch the game with their wide eyed expressions glued to the screen like zombies as Team Germany just scores a goal. The late afternoon sun gleaming into my window, I doze off into the twilight of my early childhood memories. I can’t help but recall the days when I was about 10 years old and playing soccer.

I came from Brazil to the United States, where at that time soccer wasn’t as popular and commercialized as it is today. Back in Brazil we used to play under a scorching unmerciful sun without any protection on our bare feet. Our filed consisted of nothing but dry dirt; it was solid and filled with irritating hot pebbles. After playing a game our feet would ache as if we had just walked a mile on hot coals. But who cared? We didn’t, our love for the sport was so deep the sacrifice was worth while. Not to mention kicking the ball without proper cleats or shin guards, as they wear today in organized soccer, only made us tougher. When my mother used to call us in for dinner, I would plaster soiled mud onto my legs to hide my wounds and many bruises in order to play another day. My mother would worry about me getting hurt on the field nagging to me constantly, “soccer is a very physical and contact sport, son.” To make things worse we never used an official referee, so injuries were common, and I got used to wearing mud. Before every game all the boys marked the touch lines, goal lines, goal areas, penalty marks, penalty arcs, halfway line, center mark, and center circle (which had been more like an oval for us) with nubby chalk, trying to mimic the adults’ field. For us, marking the field was a ritual, there were 22 of us drawing, and among some of us were little juvenile line drawing competitions, for example, which could draw the fastest and most accurate lines with our chalk. Any near by rock was transformed into our corner flags. The stray dog, who we named Mule, for some reason would always sit directly in the center mark of the field, expecting food of course, delaying the kick off to start. Despite its rundown condition, this field was our Mecca, our second home, and we worshiped this pitiful old field of dirt.

The 11 guys on my team were all my closest buddies; on our beat-up holey shirts each of us had our nick-names written in lipstick, which we lovingly “borrowed” from our older sisters. They acted as make-shift jerseys with numbers way too small for anyone to notice anyway. My nick name was Cloud, and of course my number was 1. I got this name from my speed; I was so fast the only thing my opponents could see was a cloud of dust when had the ball. For this reason I was the striker because I my quickness aloud me to score many goals. Our goalie, Wally, from the word wall, as in brick wall, was so big nothing could get by him into the goal area. He was the only Jewish kid in our neighborhood too. One summer he dropped his chocolate through the tangled goal net and dove for it like a drowning baby. Of course he got stuck, but we were all amused watching him struggle to free himself as he flailed like a fish out of water. I’ve never laughed so hard in my entire life. He sure LOVED his chocolate. Actually, we found out that his love for chocolate was beneficial for us. Wally was Jewish, so during the holidays he would receive pounds of Hanukkah gelt. We were fascinated by these chocolate coins covered with gold aluminum wrapping, so we threatened Wally not to eat them because we needed them for our coin tosses at the beginning of the game. This takes us to our smallest player, Pee-wee, one of the forwards, who usually played alongside with me. He got his name obviously from his petite size. He was half as big as everyone else, but just as fast and strong. We played offense well together; he would always assist my goal scoring. Pee-wee also had incredible footwork, he would dribble the soccer ball so well that the person defending him would usually end up stumbling on there own clumsy feet like a new born foal standing up for the first time. The other forward was Pookie, the “ladies man.” He got his name from all the girls’ playful teases about his good looks. Pookie was an exceptional player, but he was distracted by the girls always watching him play. Our midfielders were Rafa short for Rafael, Mafa because it rhymed with Rafa, and Frankie. They were triplets who I believe shared one brain between the three of them; either that or they used telepathy. They could always anticipate and read one another’s passes and cross the ball over to the middle of the field with incredible accuracy. Mafa was a great mathematician so he would study the passing angles before every game, he said it was closely related to physics, but we were all too anxious to ever listen to his silly theories. We all thought he was wasting his time, but it seemed to work in games, so we never made fun of him. Three of the guys on our defense were named the trunks, like tree trunks, because they were all best friends and were the tallest out of the whole group. Anyway, Paulo and Zach were our left and right full backs, and Big was our stopper. He was called Big, because he stood 6 feet tall at age 13, which was odd for soccer and odd for that age. He was a ticking time bomb, everyone kept their distance, but this was good for a defensive position.

Lastly there was Bobbie. She had golden-brown hair with bright green eyes and a glowing bronzed complexion. To everyone else she was the annoying tomboy, always begging us to let her play, but it was me who convinced my team to make her sweeper because that position had the least action, plus she was better than half of the boys so I didn’t want her to show them up and get injured in the process. Nobody knew that Bobbie was my secret crush. After games we would practice are footwork skills and head the ball back and forth. I considered Bobbie and I a team back then, as I still do today.

Check out this short Soccer Film
A Soccer Story (click Watch)

Organization Schemes:

Without audience interaction, information is useless. The type of audience decides the type of organization scheme. An organization scheme is the efficiency in the way separate elements (information) are arranged into a coherent whole. From my research I have discovered two main organization schemes: Exact and Ambiguous. “Exact organization schemes divide information into well- defined and mutually exclusive sections. For example the alphabetical organization of the phonebook’s white pages.” (Rosenfeld & Morville pg.56) Another example includes chronological ordering. For this project I’m going to focus on topical Ambiguous Organization schemes, by grouping items in intellectually meaningful ways. These schemes “divide information into categories that defy exact definition.” (Rosenfeld & Morville pg.58) Though they are difficult to design, they prove to be more useful because “we (the user/audience) don’t always know what we are looking for. The lack of knowledge, and whether the user is able to articulate this knowledge they already have, is unknown. This demonstrates why the hunt for information is often iterative and interactive.

Why should I use an Ambiguous Organization Scheme?

What one may find at the beginning of their search may influence what they look for later in their search.

Associative Learning “Seek and ye shall find”

Someone can learn as they go with a well defined system.

The success of ambiguous organization schemes depends upon the quality of the scheme and the careful placement of individual items within that scheme.

(Rosenfeld & Morville pg.59)

Audience Language

The next phase of the project, (hopefully there is a method to this madness) directs me toward exploring language. What is language? What is Communication? How do we communicate? One definition of language I found appealing is “a system of communication with its own set of conventions or special words,” system of communication being the key element. Communication I found is simply an exchange of information, knowledge, gathered facts, or data. How we communicate this information is, I feel, most important. Context of use plays a big role. The final outcome of this project is going to be a static informative visual representation that communicates to an audience, and how that audience or user perceives this information is where the communication lies. This is where most of my frustration lies, because essentially I feel as if I only get one chance to communicate the game of soccer to an audience. So how do I know what language my audience speaks? And when is it my place to make assumptions or educated guesses about my audience? WHO IS MY AUDIENCE? I think it’s fair to make an educated guess here and assume my audience is English speaking people who are interested in learning how to play soccer in the most simplified and informative way possible.

I have discovered through research that my problem lies within Ambiguity. Ambiguity is a situation in which something can be understood in more than one way and it is not clear which meaning is intended. This is directly related to my Audience, when referring to soccer, will they understand Goalie, Goal keeper, or simply Defender? This is where the educated guess comes into play. A brief overview of Ambiguity and its relation to this project:

• Classification systems are built upon the foundation of language, and language is ambiguous: words are capable of being understood in more than one way.
  
• This ambiguity results in a shaky foundation for our classification system. (Soccer)
  
• When we use words as labels for our categories, we run the risk that users will miss our meaning. (Rosenfeld & Morville pg.52)

Matrix

This is a completed Matrix showing the relations of Soccer terms. After the completion of a Matrix, I can view and sort the terms with the most connections. These terms are a taxonomic starting point, or a hierarchical classification of the soccer terms, in order to locate the primary words associated with soccer. For example, beginning with the word Plant, this could then spawn into two more subcategories, which are Flowers and Trees. From there, Flowers can have its own subcategories, Annuals, and Perennials, etc. (Rosenfeld & Morville pg.66) In the Matrix shown below, I have magnified a portion to show the relationship the word “defender” has with the word “defending team.” The relationship obviously being that the defender is part of, or directly related to, the defending team.


(click the image for a larger view)

Interviews: Soccer Explained

In order to further my understanding of soccer I decided to interview the experts. My first interview was with a die-hard soccer player/fan named Andy. One of my first observations was that he was wearing a t-shirt with some sort of soccer label, showing his cultural involvement with soccer. Andy was extremely enthusiastic about this interview, which made things go smooth. Ideally I would have conducted a contextual Interview, which is an interview held in the expert’s environment or place of work being done, but because of scheduling conflicts, I had to catch him right after one of his intramural soccer games. This wasn’t too bad because he could directly reflect back to a game he had just previously played. Andy’s results were very thorough and detailed, and extremely informative. (see his results below). He drew a very in depth visual representation of a game of soccer including descriptive labeling of the field and player positions, down to the yardage of some of the field lines. He also drew small thumbnail artifact drawings of equipment involved with a game of soccer. This is a technique that interaction designers have adopted in order to document information find key breakdowns in a flow sequence.
My second interview was very similar to Andy’s. Like Andy, Jonah has a great love for the sport. He was also very visually thorough with his responses. This phase of the project for me was the most informative. Using the experts as a resource, and asking them to elaborate about a certain topic, was very effective for me to figure out the game of soccer. This, for me, was a great platform to begin my deconstruction of the game.


Check out this neat soccer clip from one of my Interviewees Jonah:
Jonah Soccer Footwork

(notice the soccer inspired clothing)

Interview 1: Jonah



(Click images for a larger view)

Interview 2: Andy






When asked to explain the game of soccer either visually, or verbally, detailed drawings, shown above were the out come.

Key Take-aways:

• Different terminology is used to describe the same things.

• Words and visuals were used in order for them describe the game of soccer.

• People have a high respect for the game. I asked each subject what was the first word that came to mind when they heard the word soccer?

Andy's response, "Superior"

Jonah's response,"Pride"

• Each Subject drew the entire field.

• Every aspect of the game was important to them, including uniform.

Bad Case of the Monday's

After Monday’s class (January 9, 2006) ended I felt like my brain was scattered on the floor in pieces. Information over-load maybe? Hopefully not, but the main problem for me, in order to begin the next phase of exploration, is to organize my thoughts. What did we learn? The first half of class briefly went over Narratives, and why they are important tools for the Info. Architect to use for communication.


What is a Narrative?

• An Account, Story, and Factual Description
• Plays, Movies, Books are associated.


...Then what is a Narrative Essay? (I’m glad we went over this, I was a tad rusty.)

• A story that is: PRECISE, DETAILED, SENSORY, and VIVID.

• Contains a: PLOT, CHARACTER(s), SETTING, CLIMAX, and ENDING.

• Told from a certain point of view, for example; first or third persons.

o And a good point that Jon added was that it can "make and support a point."

Next we discussed the importance of making a Matrix in order to determine necessary relationships between words involved with the rules and regulations of soccer. A Matrix is a type of map that uses a grid format. The amount of terms you are trying to connect determines the size of your Matrix x2, because each word is used on the x and y-axis. Now one may ask, well what is a Map, and why do we need them? The definition of a map from the dictionary is as follows:

“A visual representation that shows all or part of the Earth’s surface with geographic features, urban areas, roads, and other details.”

Another definition included:

“A diagrammatic drawing of something such as a route or area made to show the location of a place or how to get there.”

My general interpretation of a Map is a visual representation used as a means of reference to compare information or data in relationship with its given context.

Why are maps important? Maps provide direction to those who are “lost.” Whether it is literally lost in direction, or metaphorically in ones mind. When it comes to the game of Soccer, I am lost; I know absolutely nothing about the game, for example.

The matrix is also vital in determining the hierarchy of words to later apply to a process flow diagram, and concept map.

Concept Map:

• A picture of our understanding of a complex system.
• Intended to represent a Mental Model (the users vision) of a concept.
• Can see the “forest and the trees.”

Process Flow Diagram:

• Shows the discrete rules, and their relationships to one another that make up an activity.


Process Flow Diagram vs. Concept Map:

The differences between these particular maps make all the difference. A process flow diagram focuses on definite raw data pure cause and effect at its most basic form. Concept maps solve this communication barrier by making it more usable, and accessible, by representing it in a structure that communicates through visuals, directions, and lingual levels. Also by creating what is known as a Mental Model, which simply represents the users point of view.

Soccer Information Links

FIFA(Federation International Football Association) 2005 Rules of Soccer

TEST YOUR LAWS OF THE GAME KNOWLEDGE AT ussoccer.com's NEW INTERACTIVE VIDEO SITE

Board With Soccer...

My wonderful classmates put together a style/ inspiration board to get a feel of some soccer culture and to share various soccer related rules and diagrams. This part of the process gets the juices flowing and helps to brainstorm a given topic, and allows me to make connections easily because I can see all types of information/data literally right in front of me.

Soccer Terms and Definitions

• Advantage: A clause in the rules that permits the referee to refrain from stopping play for a foul if the team that was fouled already has possession of the ball and is in a good attacking position. However, if the advantage does not ensue then the referee may stop play and penalize the fouling team.
• Assist: a play in which one-player passes to another, who scores.
• Attacker: A forward or striker.
• Attacking team: The team that has possession of the ball.
• Back: A defender
• Beat: To get the ball past an opponent by dribbling, passing, or shooting.
• Behind the defender: In the area between a defender and the defender’s goal.
• Break: A play in which a team quickly advances the ball down the field before the opposition has a chance to retreat.
• Caution: SEE YELLOW CARD
• Center: A cross, or pass, from a player located near the sideline toward the middle of the field; used to get the ball closer to the front of the goal.
• Central Defender: A player who plays in the middle of the defense, directly in front of his or her goalkeeper.
• Clear: To kick the ball away from the areas near one’s goal.
• Control: A play in which 2 player uses his or her body, chest, thighs, hands, or feet to stop a moving ball.
• Counter attack: An attack launched by a defending team soon after it regains possession of the ball.
• Cross: see CENTER
• Dangerous Play: Any action that the referee considers to be dangerous.
• Defenders: Backs—fullbacks, center backs, stopper, and sweeper
• Defending team: The team that does not have possession of the ball.
• Deflection: the ricochet of a ball after it hits a player, post, or referee.
• Diving Header: A ball struck by the head of a diving player.
• Draw: A game that ends with a tied score.
• Dropped ball: A way of restarting the game. The referee drops the ball between two players facing each other.
• Drop Kick: A kick in which a goalie kicks the ball from his or her penalty area by dropping it from the hands and kicking it just as it hits the ground.
• End line: see GOAL LINE.
• Fake: A dummy move meant to deceive an opposing player; used by a ball carrier to make a defender think the ball carrier is going to dribble, pass, or shoot in a certain direction when he or she is not.
• Far Post: The goal post furthest from the ball.
• Football: name for soccer in most countries outside the United States.
• Formation: The arrangement of players on the field; for example, in 11-a side soccer, a 4-4-2 formation is one in which a team is playing with 1 goalkeeper, 4 defenders, 4 midfielders, and 2 forwards.
• Forwards: The attackers, strikers, and wingers on the team, who are responsible for most of the scoring.
• Foul: A violation of the rules for which an official assesses a free kick or penalty kick.
• Fullbacks: Defenders who play neat the touchlines. There are two—a left back and a right back.
• Goal Kick: A way of restarting the game when the ball that crossed the goal line was last touched by an attacking player. The ball is kicked from anywhere inside the goal area.
• Goal Line: The line on which the goal stands.
• Goal Mouth: The front opening to each goal.
• Halfback: see MIDFIELDERS
• Halftime: The intermission between the two periods, or halves, of a game.
• Hand Ball: A foul in which a player other than the goalie touches the ball with his or her hand or arm.
• Hat Trick: Three goals scored in a game by a single player.
• Injury time: Time added on to the end of any half because of time lost due to player injuries, substitutions, or intentional delays by a team.
• In Play: Referring to a ball that is within the boundaries of the field, if play has not been stopped by a referee.
• Linesmen: The assistant referees who patrol the touchlines.
• Lob: see LOFT
• Loft: A high arching kick.
• Marking: Guarding a player to prevent them from passing or receiving the ball.
• Match: A soccer game.
• Midfield: The region of the field near the centerline; the area controlled by the midfielders.
• Midfielders: The players who link together the attacking and defensive functions of a team. The play between the forwards and the defenders.
• Near Post: The goal post closest to the ball.
• Net: The mesh draped over the frame of the goal to catch the ball when a goal is scored.
• Obstruction: A play in which a defensive player uses their body to prevent an offensive player from playing the ball.
• Offensive Player: see ATTACKER
• Offensive Team: see ATTACKING TEAM
• Officials: The referee and two or three assistant referees who officiate a game of soccer.
• Offside: A violation called when a player in an offside position (see term) receives a pass or interferes with a play from a teammate.
• Offside Position: A play in which an attacking player is positioned in his opponent’s half with fewer than two opposing defensive players (usually the goalie and one other defender) between him and the goal he is attacking when he receives the ball.
• Onside: the opposite of offside.
• Open: Referring to a player who does not have anyone marking them.
• Out of Bounds: Referring to a situation in which a ball is outside the boundaries of the field.
• Out of Play: see OUT OF BOUNDS
• Overtime: The periods played after regulation in a game that ended tied.
• Penalty: Short for “penalty kick” (see term); also, a punishment given by the referee when a defending player commits a direct free kick foul within the penalty area.
• Penalty Kick: A kick taken from the penalty mark by a player against the opposing goalie.
• Pitch: A British term for “soccer field.”
• Play on: An instruction used by referees to indicate that advantage has been applied.
• Possession: Control of the ball.
• Post: Goalpost.
• Red Card: A card that a referee holds up to signal that a player has been sent off. He could be removed for other reasons—injury for instance.
• Referee: The chief official at a game.
• Save: The act of a goalkeeper in blocking or stopping a shot on goal.
• Score: To put the ball into the net for a goal; the tally of goals during a game.
• Scorers: Players who score goals.
• Screening: see SHIELDING
• Set Play: A planned play from a “dead-ball situation” such as a corner kick or free kick.
• Shielding: Protect the ball from a defender by keeping one’s body between the ball and the defender.
• Shin Guards: Shin pads that protect the front of a player’s legs.
• Shooting: Kicking the ball at the opponent’s net in an attempt to score a goal.
• Short Sided game: A game played with fewer than 11 players per side.
• Shot: A ball kicked or headed at the opponent’s net in an attempt to score a goal.
• Shutout: A team prevents the opposition from scoring any goals in a game.
• Sideline: The line that runs along the length of the field on each side.
• Sliding Tackle: A play in which the player slides on the ground feet-first to tackle an opposing player who has possession of the ball.
• Square Pass: A pass made by one player to a teammate alongside him or her.
• Stopper: The defender that marks an opposing striker with the opposing striker with the aim of stopping him or her from scoring.
• Striker: A team’s primary scorer.
• Substitution: Replacement of one player on the field with another player not on the field.
• Sweeper: The defender the plays closest to his or her own goal behind the rest of the defenders; a team’s last line of defense in front of the goalkeeper.
• Touch Line: See SIDELINE
• Trap: See CONTROL
• Volley: A ball kicked by a player before it hits the ground.
• Wall: A line of defending players standing together to protect their goal against a close free kick.
• Wingers: The attacking players who play along the wings (see term) with the aim of crossing the ball in to the forwards.
• Wings: The areas of the field closest to the touchlines.
• Yellow Card: A card that a referee holds up to indicate that a player has been cautioned. Two yellow cards in one game earn a player an automatic red card, signaling the player’s removal from the game.

Taking a Step Back

This blogger is intended to show its desired readers and I, Lisa Thomas, the process an Information Architect uses in order to gather information and essentially “pull meaning out of data.” For this particular case study we are exploring the complexity of a game of soccer. In order to communicate this knowledge unto another or its user, we must take on the responsibility of the Info. Archie and make what may seem complex to any “normal” human being and by this I mean anyone who doesn’t understand the various design processes, and make this complexity clear. We ARE the whipping boys. We do all the hard work and experience all the anxiety so the user doesn’t or shouldn’t ever experience these emotions. Along the way I would like to gain an understanding about why communication may fail in some cases and where the glitch lies in the lack of communication. This blogger also concentrates on the importance of language, and not language in the traditional sense, but language that speaks to a culture or sub-culture through visuals, emotions, words, tangibility, form, materials, and so much more.

Soccer is relevant but also is totally irrelevant. The purposes or goals of this project are:

• To explore a large complex domain, rich in data and patterns, gaining the knowledge and vocabulary to create a compelling information design.

• To provide various representations of the inner-workings of this complicated system

• To understand how a state diagram works and how it relates to information design

• To create a reproducible procedure for investigating information design problems.

Referring to the last bullet of information above, this “procedure for investigating information design problems” is at the core of this project, whether it be soccer, baseball, football, or horseback riding, the constants stay the same. In this case the constant is a holistic process, obviously subject to change due to varying topics, but proves to be effective when communicating complex systems. Soccer is merely a variable within the whole scheme of information architecture. The outcome should be the equivalent in all cases; pulling meaning from data, successful and clear communication of knowledge, and some sort of structure or representational order to your data.

Game Face

Today, January 7, 2006, was the first time I've ever played soccer. My information architecture class played a non-traditional game of soccer at Forsyth park located in the heart of Savannah, GA. This was a successful way for someone like me who knows nothing about soccer, to start getting familiar with the game and go out there and do it. At first I felt like I was running around like a chicken with its head cut off, but then I realized that this was a good thing, keeping in mind the user is not like me, I could understand and relate to someone at this point who truly knows nothing about a soccer game and how they would feel if they were just thrown into a soccer situation such as I had previously experienced. As the game further progressed I started to get the gist and allow my (clearing throat) true athleticism to take over and start playing without thinking about every move I was making on the field such as; wondering if I had been out of bounds, or off-sides, or using the wrong body parts. I was pretty surprised and pleased with myself at this point, after falling on my ass in the first few seconds of the game, I didn't quit and made a major come back by scoring two, count 'em, two goals! Snaps for me :) Not only must we learn how to play soccer, we must become experts on all related terms, and by defining every word I come across will allow me to do so. Instead, before doing that I chose to take on a "do" strategy and take action in this first phase of the process since my outlook about soccer is closely related to the user I felt I can learn more by submerging myself into a physical game and take away an experience of smelling the grass, feeling the sweat drip down my face, and breathing heavy during our half time pow-wow. From there I can then reflect on a past experience and use this new knowledge and relate it to new terminology I come across while defining, so I don't feel overwhelmed with all the gathered data.

Making soccer a family affair:

Terminology

Brainstorming terms related to a game of soccer and
Visually creating sub categories and making connections to the random selection of soccer terms:

Project Scope

Describe, through images and words, the game of Soccer to someone who has no experience with the sport.

1. Create a written narrative explaining the game of soccer:

a. List the terms used in describing a game of soccer
b. Define the terms listed
c. Rank the terms with regard to their importance
d. Prepare an outline
e. Write a draft narrative
f. Write a final narrative
g. Enhance the narrative using basic type elements (bold, typesize, font)

The first phase of the project focuses on terminology associated with soccer. We are to create a written narrative explaining the game of soccer. This technique allows the user to make an emotional connection through story telling by focusing on important soccer related words, and to establish a character interaction or relationship within the narrative by involving the reader.

Initial Thoughts: Pure Soccer

Growing up in a basketball oriented family, Soccer was not a sport that appealed to me due to the lack of popularity in my surrounding culture. Recently I was presented with the opportunity though my Information Architecture class, taught by Professor Jon Kolko, to explore this overlooked sport, and become an expert in the game of Soccer. By deconstructing the rules of Soccer, how it is played, and exploring any other aspects of the game, I will gain an in depth understanding of this complex system.

My approach to this project is pure and new. My inexperience in the world of Soccer should work in my favor because I will have an untainted approach and let the “standard iterative design process” can truly teach me how the game is played.