[Sigia-l] IA and medium

[George Olsen]

Avi Rappoport said:
> Actually, many of the principals carry over to all sorts of media.  I
> wrote some very long and complex technical manuals -- now I realize
> that defining the content and organizing the documentation was very
> much an IA task.

That's again why we need to distinguish between the _principles_ of IA
(however you want to define them) and job descriptions. As was pointed out,
principles of medicine carry across between doctors and vets.

I've been both a writer and graphic designer (with a specialty in
publication design) over the years, so let me address things from those
perspectives.

As Avi discovered, organizing content is something writers and editors do --
 and where IA blurs with content strategy. This ability to help shape the
content I think is a significant difference with traditional LIS, as others
have mentioned.

Likewise, graphic designer often make decisions about how to visually
organize content. This includes stuff like type hierarchies, how to cluster
related content on a page/across a publication, etc. Despite what RSW said,
this is the sort of thing he did, in his Access series of books.

This is where IA blurs into user interface (or publication) design. Granted
not all IA do this -- nor are all IAs _qualified_ to do this -- but again
this is an important different between IAs and LIS. 'Cuz even if IAs don't
do this themselves, they've at least got an awareness that someone needs to
do this.

Finally, IAs also tend to be concerned about navigation through information
spaces in a way that LIS isn't -- probably because we're not there to
actually interact with users one-on-one. This has parallels to "wayfinding"
in the field of environmental signage.

I think these cross-overs are the source of a lot friction between IAs and
others (as has been discussed here), since IAs other don't know or don't
acknowledge that others already know about some of the same principles
we've "discovered."

That said, our skills can definitely be applied to other mediums, and
that's where there's a lot of exciting work to be done. For example, user-
centered design techniques (like nomenclature testing) can just as easily
be applied to designing a printed brochure or mall signage.

Will IAs do this? I don't know. Doctors and vets both practice medicine,
but in separate spheres. And it's presumptuous for us to barge into other
fields without a full understanding of them. But it's probably crucial that
we start thinking across mediums, since a coherent and cohesive experience
across multiple touch-points of an organization is going to be more and
more important.

_____________________________________________________________________
George Olsen                           george at interactionbydesign.com
User Experience Architect                                310-993-0467