[Sigia-l] IA and medium

[Challis Hodge]

George Olsen wrote:
>What's more likely is that IA-ish skills will become part of the
>arrows in the quiver of some newly-broadened existing title. But
>conversely, IAs who want to move into these new fields are gonna have
>to learn the appropriate domain-specific knowledge.

One example is usability engineering. We saw the principles and roles expand
from a niche in software out into the Internet and converge with a similar
trend in hardware design. This has been followed by a trend toward other
member(s) of a team filling the usability engineers role and the entire team
adopting the principles while the usability engineers are again practicing
in niche areas.

-c


Challis Hodge
chodge at humancontext.com
312.382.0033    fax 312.382.0044

= HumanContext
              we put the equal sign between business and people

[www.humancontext.com]

-----Original Message-----
From: sigia-l-admin at asis.org [mailto:sigia-l-admin at asis.org]On Behalf Of
George Olsen
Sent: Tuesday, May 14, 2002 12:59 AM
To: sigia-l at asis.org
Subject: Re: [Sigia-l] IA and medium

At 9:15 PM -0700 5/13/02, Dave Parker wrote:
>How is IA like
>exhibit design? or How is IA like Environmental Design? Can IA skills be
put
>to good use in these fields?

These are the more fruitful sort of lessons. Both in terms of
learning from (and maybe even appreciating) others who have boldly
gone before, as well as realizing how we can apply our skills in
areas that maybe haven't thought about using these skills previously.

>Can IA's sell themselves just as well to
>exhibit shops and museums?

Absolutely, although not necessarily under the "IA" title.

Again, let's separate the skills of IA from the title.

What's more likely is that IA-ish skills will become part of the
arrows in the quiver of some newly-broadened existing title. But
conversely, IAs who want to move into these new fields are gonna have
to learn the appropriate domain-specific knowledge.

To draw a comparison: environmental signage has traditionally been
nominally part of graphic design because it shares many of the same
skills. But to move into this speciality, you have to learn a lot
about signage materials that a typical designer never needs to learn.

Of course this is whether you're a broad IA or content IA will make
much more of a difference. Broad IAs are going to have more
opportunities to move into other field. Content IAs are going to have
more opportunities to move into the specialized niches that Peter
Morville talked about at the IA Summit.

--
______________________________________________________
George Olsen                           george at interactionbydesign.com
User Experience Architect                                     310-993-0467
                      http://www.interactionbydesign.com
Content Management Symposium, Chicago O'Hare Marriott, June 28 - 30.
See http://www.asis.org/CM

ASIST SIG IA: http://www.asis.org/SIG/SIGIA/index.html
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