Comments on: The many faces of Information Architecture http://www.gurtle.com/ppov/2007/12/19/the-many-faces-of-information-architecture the personal website of Patrick Kennedy Sun, 05 Feb 2012 06:05:03 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Pat http://www.gurtle.com/ppov/2007/12/19/the-many-faces-of-information-architecture/comment-page-1#comment-33497 Pat Tue, 19 Feb 2008 22:57:59 +0000 http://www.gurtle.com/ppov/2007/12/19/the-many-faces-of-information-architecture/#comment-33497 <p>One thing I regretted not including in this article has been summed up beautifully by <a href="http://inkblurt.com" rel="nofollow">Andrew Hinton</a> on the IA Institute mailing list (hopefully he doesn't mind me pasting part of it here):</p> <blockquote> <p>Generally speaking, User Experience practitioners should be basically <strong>"T" shaped</strong> ... broad knowledge of all UX methods and practices, with deeper expertise in one area. At least that's the consensus among many leaders in the UX community.</p> <p>So, what's IA's deep expertise about? IA as a practice is about the structure of shared digital spaces—essentially, this means where the links take you and why.</p> </blockquote> <p>"T shaped" is a great term and perfectly addresses the relationship between the broad overlapping knowledge areas (which I included in my circle diagram) and an area of expertise which an individual practitioner might focus on. It is hard to avoid having to know other areas of knowledge outside one's own field of specialisation, but we are better off for it.</p> One thing I regretted not including in this article has been summed up beautifully by Andrew Hinton on the IA Institute mailing list (hopefully he doesn’t mind me pasting part of it here):

Generally speaking, User Experience practitioners should be basically “T” shaped … broad knowledge of all UX methods and practices, with deeper expertise in one area. At least that’s the consensus among many leaders in the UX community.

So, what’s IA’s deep expertise about? IA as a practice is about the structure of shared digital spaces—essentially, this means where the links take you and why.

“T shaped” is a great term and perfectly addresses the relationship between the broad overlapping knowledge areas (which I included in my circle diagram) and an area of expertise which an individual practitioner might focus on. It is hard to avoid having to know other areas of knowledge outside one’s own field of specialisation, but we are better off for it.

]]> By: IA is not just about navigation at Pat’s Point of View http://www.gurtle.com/ppov/2007/12/19/the-many-faces-of-information-architecture/comment-page-1#comment-31831 IA is not just about navigation at Pat’s Point of View Fri, 01 Feb 2008 01:18:58 +0000 http://www.gurtle.com/ppov/2007/12/19/the-many-faces-of-information-architecture/#comment-31831 [...] Whilst I’ve written recently about the many faces of IA, I think there is more to such comments than just a different definition of IA being expressed. Probing a bit further, I found that these remarks were based on a rather superficial view of the work involved. It wasn’t obvious, until I ranted for a whole day, that it takes a bit of effort to whip up the navigation for a site. [...] [...] Whilst I’ve written recently about the many faces of IA, I think there is more to such comments than just a different definition of IA being expressed. Probing a bit further, I found that these remarks were based on a rather superficial view of the work involved. It wasn’t obvious, until I ranted for a whole day, that it takes a bit of effort to whip up the navigation for a site. [...]

]]> By: Pat http://www.gurtle.com/ppov/2007/12/19/the-many-faces-of-information-architecture/comment-page-1#comment-30809 Pat Thu, 17 Jan 2008 04:55:28 +0000 http://www.gurtle.com/ppov/2007/12/19/the-many-faces-of-information-architecture/#comment-30809 Thanks Stephen. Give me your summary, does my article accurately reflect this history? :) Thanks Stephen. Give me your summary, does my article accurately reflect this history? :)

]]> By: Stephen http://www.gurtle.com/ppov/2007/12/19/the-many-faces-of-information-architecture/comment-page-1#comment-30799 Stephen Thu, 17 Jan 2008 00:03:46 +0000 http://www.gurtle.com/ppov/2007/12/19/the-many-faces-of-information-architecture/#comment-30799 This is a nice history of interaction design and interaction designers. http://www.coroflot.com/creativeseeds/2008/01/sidestep_interaction_designers.asp This is a nice history of interaction design and interaction designers.

http://www.coroflot.com/creativeseeds/2008/01/sidestep_interaction_designers.asp

]]> By: laurent goffin http://www.gurtle.com/ppov/2007/12/19/the-many-faces-of-information-architecture/comment-page-1#comment-29860 laurent goffin Sat, 05 Jan 2008 17:06:26 +0000 http://www.gurtle.com/ppov/2007/12/19/the-many-faces-of-information-architecture/#comment-29860 Congratulation for this brilliant article. It's really very interesting how you try to map Information architecture skills with all the kind of problematic we are facing when defining a wide range of different internet based solutions. thanks for this analysis. Congratulation for this brilliant article. It’s really very interesting how you try to map Information architecture skills with all the kind of problematic we are facing when defining a wide range of different internet based solutions.

thanks for this analysis.

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