[Sigia-l] Re: Fwd: Time for communications to take charge of your website

[MJJAIXEN at up.com]

This is a topic near and dear to my own heart, since I helped my
organization move ownership of the web sites to communications a year ago.
I sense a paranoia here about communications people.  A manager of
communications is like a manager of IT, except they are managing
communications projects instead of IT projects.  Yes, communications people
may have difficulty with the technology.  However, as the web becomes more
and more pervasive, it's easier to teach communications people the
technology than it is to teach IT people how to communicate.

Of course, that's my organization.  I followed the web site from IT (where
I was a systems engineer) to Communications (where I am developing our IA).
Our IT group liked to focus more on the servers behind the scenes and the
applications on those servers.  So organization of the web site was
haphazard at best.  Our marketing folks would have loved to take over the
entire web site, but it would have been to the detriment of the other
audiences (suppliers, investors, employees, etc.)  Communications is the
logical home for the web.  Does that mean you have to bring some technology
and some specialized technical skills to Communications?  You bet.   But
specialized skills are all over communications, whether it's writers,
designers, or artists.  I've found more interest in improving the
information architecture of our web sites in our Communications group than
I ever had from IT.

And even marketing is considered a communications discipline.

Perhaps McGovern got a little off in comparing information architecture to
page layout.  But I think designing a 200 page magazine brings some IA-like
concepts that are more than "page design".  When you read Time or Newsweek,
there is a flow to the pages if you are reading it from front to back.
When you go to the table of contents, there is an information architecture
there.  It's small scale, since there are only a few dozen stories in a
magazine.  It's not alphabetical order.  It's not chronological order.
It's not in "size of article" either.

Mike Jaixen
Manager - Information Architecture
Corporate Relations
Union Pacific

Eric Scheid <eric.scheid at ironclad.net.au> wrote

Gerry McGovern last week said "someone should be in charge of your
website" ... that is, someone to say "the buck stops here" and to end the
pastiche of design by committee.

This week he answers the question of just who... the "Communications
Manager". Not IT, not Marketing, ... Communications.

http://www.gerrymcgovern.com/nt/2002/nt_2002_05_20_ownership.htm

>The natural home for your website is within the communications
>section of your organization. This is because the Web is first
>and foremost a communications medium. To fully own the website,
>communications managers need to stop being scared of technology.
>They also need to get to grips with information architecture
>design.

Huh?

I've never heard of a Manager of Communications. Someone please enlighten
me here.

He then goes on to say some provocative things about Information
Architects...

>Another reason why communication executives have not embraced the
>website is because they have shied away from information
>architecture design. Again, the impression is that information
>architecture is a technical discipline.
>
>It is absolutely not. It is a communications discipline. Those who
>try to make it seem technical don't understand it properly or are
>trying to protect their turf.

Comments anyone?

>Information architecture deals with the organization and layout of
>content on a website. If a communications executive has ever managed
>the publication of a magazine, large report, or book, they have
>dealt with information architecture-type issues. Figuring out how to
>lay out the front page of a magazine, the table of contents, the
>index, the chapter structure; these are all information
>architecture-type issues.

I thought those were page layout issues, more the domain of information
designers, not information architects.

>Yes, information architecture is quite complicated on a large website.
>However, metadata, classification, navigation, search, and webpage
>design and layout, are communications challenges.

and not logistics or interoperability or ... ?

>The person in charge of your website should be a communications
>expert with strong expertise in editing and publishing content.
>They should have control of the entire website, not just parts
>of it.

Call me cynical, but is this guy in the business of content consulting?

>A website's core objective is? To communicate.

Tell that to eBay and Amazon. Communication, for those sites, is only a
*means* to an end -- their true core objective is to sell stuff.

<hurrumph>

Thats my gripe for the day.

e.

______________________________________________________________________
eric at ironclad.net.au                 i r o n c l a d   n e t w o r k s
information architect                      http://www.ironclad.net.au/