[Sigia-l] AIfIA Goals 2004 Survey Results

[david_fiorito at vanguard.com]

> Bureaucracies love standards.

... and that automatically makes them evil?

>> Standards are about consensus and coordinated effectiveness.

>I gave you the HR recruitment anecdote, whether it's Visio, UML or some
>programming language per se, standards (of the tools/workflows variety) 
are
>often shoved down your throat.

The larger the enterprise the more rigid the structures.  If Vision is the 
tool of choice in an enterprise and someone comes in lacking the skill or 
desire to use it then they will not fit in unless they are willing to 
learn to love Visio.  That's reality.  I would love to be working on a 
Mac, using Omni Graffle, and dressing in casual clothing but that will not 
happen here so I need to be able to conform to the system.

>> Standardized traffic laws are the only thing that keeps the traffic 
moving.

>Go to any underdeveloped country, drive downtown, observe horrendous 
traffic
>chaos, head over to government library, behold all the wonderful traffic
>laws in the books, scratch head.

Standards without enforcement are useless.
 
>I'll say this one last time, hopefully, because it has been discussed a
>thousand times here already: that definition is necessarily most elusive 
at
>this time. Designers, writers, programmers, to cite a few, are not 
licensed,
>yet they manage to conduct business in far larger numbers than IAs.

Yes but when you mention those positions a clear picture forms in my head 
of what I can expect each of those individuals to do.  IAs on the other 
hand cannot articulate, or do not want to articulate, a clear definition 
of just exactly what it is that they do.  A designer designs, a programmer 
programs, a writer writes, and an IA does HCI, indexing, UI design, 
meta-data, yada, yada, yada.  I yearn for the day when I can tell someone 
in the business world that I am an IA and they get it.

>> Furthermore a clear definition of an IA would make it a whole lot 
easier
>> to get big corporations to hire a few more of us.

>Based on what evidence? Do corporations hire fewer designers or writers 
or
>programmers because they are unlicensed?

Licensing is not the issue.  Defining a profession is not licensing. 
Designers, writers, and programmers fill clear needs.  I need a custom 
application = programmer.  I need some copy for my new site = writer.  I 
need to create the look and feel for my new site = designer.  IA does not 
have an analogous "need = solution" pairing.

I know that each of these professions is deeper and more complex than my 
simple equations demonstrate but when it comes time to sign the 
requisition for a position its easier to justify the existence of writers, 
designers, and programmers because they are known quantities.

>Look, I live literally in the middle of Wall Street and for the better 
part
>of a decade my clients have been exclusively some of the largest
>corporations on the planet. So I don't think I need a lesson on corporate
>reality.

Good, then you should understand the need for strong definitions and 
agreed upon standards.

>There's no substitute for critical thinking, whether or not you choose to
>acknowledge it.

Agreed, and critical thinking can create a solid set of standards for 
those who need to be guided in their work.

Cheers,

Dave