As mobile and cross-channel challenges become even more complex, we find ourselves chasing an endless explosion of devices, app platforms and operating systems. Meanwhile, user context is becoming more ambiguous and varied than ever. What if, rather than starting with the device, the content or the software, we started with fundamentals about how people perceive their environment?

It turns out, the science behind user perception is fascinating stuff, with huge implications for interaction design, information architecture and content strategy. We'll cover:

• A model for three key modes in which people experience information.
• A framework for analyzing how people perceive their environment.
• How these elements help us untangle some knotty real-world examples and explain some typical yet puzzling user behaviors.

A co-founder and past board member of the IA Institute, Andrew Hinton is currently working on a book for O'Reilly on how information shapes our experience of context.