Piotr Andrusiewicz
A conference program is one of the most intensively used informational artifacts in academic events. Its effectiveness depends not only on visual form but, more fundamentally, on the quality and coherence of the underlying data structure. This paper approaches conference program design from the perspective of information architecture, treating the program view as the outcome of data modeling rather than a standalone graphical artifact.
The aim of the presentation is to demonstrate how an information architect structures and organizes conference data – including relationships between days, sessions, individual items, presentations, and contextual metadata – in order to enable clear, flexible, and scalable visualization within an information system. The study is based on a real-world case of a conference program designed and implemented in a content management system as an integrated event information system.
The paper discusses key design decisions regarding information hierarchy, semantic modeling of data fields, and ordering logic, and analyzes their impact on visual perception, temporal orientation, and overall usability of the program interface. Particular attention is given to the relationship between data structure and multiple visualization variants, such as day-based views, session-based views, and user-centered perspectives.
The findings suggest that many issues related to readability and usability of conference programs stem from deficiencies at the level of information architecture rather than from shortcomings in visual design. The study highlights the role of the information architect in shaping data-driven visual representations and contributes to a better understanding of how structured data underpins effective communication in information systems.