[Sigia-l] IA Practice Maturation- European practice

[Duich McKay]

Philipp Chudinov" <fec at quorus-ms.ru>wrote

> Well, Russia is behind Norway then. It is not a desert. It is a vacuum. I
> agree with Marie Green, it would be nice if we have some kind of
> inter-national SIG.

I think we have to reflect the reality that this practice is being led by
the US, and the rest of us learn a lot by being part of this community. I
don't see much difference in practice, just the cultural context.

How many people on this list working full time in IA in Europe are actually
working on US derived products or services or for US agencies? In this case
are essentially exporting US practice because the work comes from the
client/employer is in the US, not the local one.

(Anyone from Scotland on this list?)

One of the arguments for IA is the business benefits of customer focused
structures and controlled vocabularies. This echoes with one of the drivers
for any sort of business or infrastructure in the US; standardisation across
a continent. I observed people there are far more willing to bend their
personal and business lives to the demands of market efficiency, travel far,
simplify language and procedures, work crazy hours etc. The result is the
awesome speed, commitment of the US economy which makes a lot of people
money and keeps everybody very busy.

Back in the continent where the plumbing doesn't work, I observe that in the
UK, and especially in Scotland, people don't actually want to be efficient
or organised. They refuse to adjust their lifestyles or working practices.
Such efficiency is not seen as making much difference to the overall quality
of their lives. Arguing for IA in a culture where bus stops don't describe
routes because the no. 22 has "always" run that route is hard. The internet
is seen as self contained world, not the new frontier that got people in the
US back on their wagons.

I believe looking at the cultural context helps in the US as well. I saw in
New York a culturally dense city based on mercantile capitalism with
experience in synthesising communication and value through mass-media, art
and money. The web looked too crude to most people I met when I worked there
five years ago. I can't speak for the rest of the East.

In the West new media and new technology seemed much more closely
intertwined, a more industrial culture. History and people rest much more
lightly on the land so there is more visionary, and absurd, thinking.

In Europe, even after 15 years a Apple Macintosh is such an object of wonder
it might as well have arrived from another planet. We are unfortunately not
intrigued enough to wonder why we cannot do it ourselves. (Nokia, Ericsson
and Philips don't come close.)

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Duich McKay
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