[Sigia-l] [spam] Retraction re: "IA" value posting I made earlier

[karl fast]

> 1. I didn't say IAs aren't designers. I said 'information
> architecture' is not 'design'. Different, different. As of
> <http://www.jjg.net/ia/recon/> I am officially out of the business
> of talking about 'information architects'.

At the risk of saying starting a flurry of arguments....

I respectfully disagree that 'information architecture' is not
design...

And I also disagree that 'information architects' are not designers...

(but I agree with Jesse that these are "different, different"
statements)


To me, "design" is the act of creating and working out a specific
solution to a particular problem, usually by someone who applies
their experience and knowledge of relevant basic principles (which
is to say, it's not random or flukey). It is a creative act, and
great design is often inspired, but it's usually firmly rooted in a
thorough understanding of basic principles and involves coming up
with a solution to a problem.

In web design circles, when people talk about "design" they usually
mean "Design" as in someone with kick ass skills in Photoshop-
Illustrator-Freehand-Insert-Favorite-Design-Tool-Here.

I'm overstating my point but I think you understand what I mean. It
is design in the sense of so-called design schools. It usually has a
strong component of 'visual design' or 'graphic design.' It is
considered a qualitative process. It is considered more art than
science. This view of design excludes the activities of people like
programmers, engineers, carpenters, molecular biologists, and so on.

Information architecture is design and information architects are
designers. Thesaurus construction, metadata schemes,
entity-relationship diagrams, XML schemas, labeling systems--all of
these involve design as I define it, not as we often seem to think
of it.

How do I define it? Like the dictionary does. 

   http://www.dictionary.com/search?q=design


<rant status="on">

The idea that IA is not design pisses me off. To borrow a phrase
from Nicholson Baker, it is "utter craziness and horseshit."

What do I do when a client hires me to organize the information on
their site? I apply my experience and knowledge of basic principles
to DESIGN a solution to the problem. 

What do I do when a client hires me to build a faceted
classification scheme, or fix their navigation, or improve the
checkout process on their e-commerce site? I do some user research,
analyze the data, and DESIGN a solution to the problem.

You cannot talk about IA without talking about design.

I have one caveat here.

The Argus school of IA emerges from library and information science.
I just finished my LIS masters. My number one problem with LIS, at
least at the school I attended, is that it doesn't view design as an
important concept in LIS education.

The main concepts that an LIS program teaches are (1) organize, (2)
evaluate, (3) manage, (4) service and (5) control. The concept of
design is present in almost every course, but it's not emphasized.

Example: Cataloguing is taught as the application of various rules,
but they don't teach you to think about taking the principles you're
learning and applying them to the design of something new. You learn
AACR2, Dewy, LCC, LCSH--but not how to design your cataloguing or
classificiation schemes.  They talk about collection development and
"building" a collection, but they don't talk about "designing" a
collection.

I believe library schools would be dramatically different if the
concept of design and the design process was taught as a conscious
act. Right now it's buried deep in the LIS subconscious. 

I've talked with LIS faculty who think IA is radical and new and
fresh. Why? Becauuse they're buried the idea of design so deep
they've forgotten that LIS is all about design.

I've also talked with LIS faculty who don't understand this IA thing
at all. They say "but we've been teaching that since day one." To
which I say "Yes, but you don't teach it from the perspective of
design."

Okay...I am done now..

</rant>


--karl