[Sigia-l] The How

[Amy Kahn]

Don't forget:

Interaction Designer
Business Analyst

On Thu, 2002-11-14 at 15:45, Patrick Neeman wrote:
> Getting a bunch of designers, writers or programmers together is like herding cats.
> 
> I think one of the other fears I have about special interest groups like these is that in many cases some of the founders use them
> as resume fodder i.e. to impress the general audience as a whole to make them seem more 'qualified'. Everyone talks about the work
> that it takes to start a non-profit, and what's involved, but they also seem to manage to list it on their resume as an
> accomplishment, so there is some ROI.
> 
> Additionally, I'm troubled as consultant to see the proliferation of titles that have come out of all of this. I'll use a few
> examples off this list:
> 
> Information Architect
> User Experience Architect
> Lead Knowledge Architect
> User Interface Designer
> Information Design Honcho
> Internet User Experience Consultant
> Interaction Design Strategist
> 
> This troubles me because if we are 'experts' at classifying information and crafting a user experience, and yet we can't explain
> what we do to the general public (and more inmportantly, to HR managers and our own community), we are failing miserably. And saying
> there is too much information is a very poor excuse.
> 
> One of the more ironic cases is how while one of the members mentioned that he wasn't an IA but was a User Experience Architect, a
> job listing on this list specifically classified IA and User Experience Architect as the same position. Additionally, many of the
> functions of IA (wireframes and such) I've used under the title of both Program and Product Manager. Go figure.
> 
> But that's just my opinion. I might be wrong.
> 
> P@
> 
> Patrick Neeman
> pat at nexisinteractive.com <mailto:pat at nexisinteractive.com>
> 949 643-0910 land
> 949 633-3054 cell
> 949 215-1659 fax
> 
> nexis interactive
> our skills. your solutions.
> 
> ------------------------------------------
> Signs Evil Forces Are Out To Get You:
> Roommate's note on fridge:
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> 
> 
> > > IA has many of these things. It does not have a professional
> > > organization. We believe an organization would be A Good Thing.
> > > Perhaps we are wrong. If so, this probably means IA is not as mature
> > > as we think because creating something like AIfIA is a step that
> > > professions typically take.
> >
> > There are many professions far larger and older than IA that have no
> > unitary/official professional organizations such as programmers or writers,
> > to cite a couple that work alongside IAs. I never asked a prospective
> > programmer or writer, for instance, if they belonged to a 'professional'
> > organization before hiring them, neither do I know anyone who does. This has
> > nothing to do with 'maturity.'
> >
> > Now there are however 'professional' organizations in programming and
> > writing that work along the notions of a guild or a union, like various
> > vendor-related technical certification organizations or writers' guilds. I
> > don't know what you think of them but a very sizeable portion of those in
> > programming or writing have a very negative impression of these
> > organizations as they artificially impede the ability of many to get or bid
> > for jobs in certain environments. Like a PAC or a lobbying group, they are
> > seen as protecting the monetary interests of their members and not much
> > else. In fact, there are many such organizations that not only compete but
> > outright fight against each other in certain professions that have become
> > the subject of parodies. In some professions like journalism, it would be
> > considered a duty of everyone to fight against the emergence of an
> > organizations that would selectively qualify who can and cannot be a
> > 'member' of the profession.
> >
> > Best,
> >
> > Ziya
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
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> >
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> ------------
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> 
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> 
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-- 
Amy Kahn <amy at zoned.net>
Zoned Communications