My first impression after reading Blueprints for the web by Christina Wodtke is that it was a refreshingly easy read. After struggling through some rather impenetrable academic texts lately, it felt good to find a book on 330 pages that can comfortably be read in two afternoons. It is a deeply practical book, and contains nothing conceptually difficult. This is both a strength and a weakness.
The book clarified a number of concepts that are often talked about in information architect circles but not really explained often enough for the random newbie who happens to pass by, like the difference between a controlled vocabulary, taxonomy and thesaurus.
I particularly enjoyed chapters 5 (Sock Drawers and CD Racks Everything Must Be Organized), 6 (A Bricklayers View of Information Architecture), 9 (Making It All Up, Writing It All Down) and 10 (All Together Now). During chapter 5 I card sorted my CD collection, and found out that I have "music", "punk" and "bad music". Apparently early Einstuerzende Neubauten is "punk", whereas late Neubauten is "music". The same thing happened with Nick Cave. I'm confused already, but I'm not blaming Christina.
Chapter 9 is a wonderful tool chest of techniques. Site path diagramming, mind mapping (which she rather confusingly calls topic mapping), storyboards, wire frames and more. I felt that the section on site maps was a bit weak, but at least it was practical, which is more than can be said about other books on the subject. After this exhausting list of tools chapter 10 is a stroke of genious in that it contains an example where the information architect doesn't use all the techniques in the previous chapter. Comforting.
There were a couple of things that I didn't like; The chapter titles are a bit confusingly clever at times and the subtitles doesn't really solve the problem (as I'm sure they were intended to). Even after reading chapter 8 I have no idea what "Eat Me, Drink Me, Push Me" is alluding to. Even though English is not my first language I encountered few problems with the text, but there were a couple of times where issues caused by the American origins of the text stumped me a bit. This happened a couple of times, but right now I only remember wondering what ramen was.
It is strange that the "must have" section of the reading list contains "Information Architects" by Richard Saul Wurman. It is out of print, partly out of date, and not really relevant. The only way I can make sense of its inclusion is that Christina is thanking Wurman for the favorable quote on the cover. Unelegant.
In conclusion, Christina is given a passing grade for the book. It is not the definitive book on information architecture, but it is a rewarding read. You will still not be able to explain to people what information architecture is after reading it, but at least you will be able to tell them what information architects do, and hopefully you will be able to do a little information architecture yourself. Not bad.