[Sigia-l] Fwd: RE: Apple and Pears"

[Louis Rosenfeld]

Ben Speaks spoke:
> 
> [stuff deleted]
> 
> > The IA pureplay shops (like Argus)
> > bombed
> > commercially because of 
> > overspecialization and focus on LIS (ever
> read
> > the titles of some of the 
> > consultants over there? "Thesauri Expert"
> means
> > nothing to 99% of the 
> > people who are not in the field. It is hard
> > enough to educated/pitch 
> > companies on something like IA much less to
> > assume such titles). 
> 
Yes, I did see some of those job titles! :-)  And
apparently however Argus marketed itself (job
titles weren't a major method, BTW), we managed
to be profitable and growing for ten straight
years.  I'd hardly say that counts as bombing
commercially.  

I'd also suggest you consider the context for the
five horrible months that killed us (late
2000-early 2001).  The economy slammed the wall,
and Fortune 500s cut consulting budgets to the
bone.  As a company that relied on Fortune 500
clients, and that offered a still new, fuzzy, and
ROI-caseless service, that's a pretty hard thing
to survive.  We and other IA (and UX) firms
were essentially the canaries in the coalmine at
that time.  Not a fun place to be!  But that's
life.

It bugs me that Argus' demise would be cited as
an example of an entire practice's lack of value.
It places too much importance on Argus' role, and
worse, is short-sighted:  "LIS IA" is growing,
but it's growing in house, not at specialized
firms.
   
> > To this day I am amazed that AIGA didn't
> absorb
> > the domain of IA and thus 
> > make it a subset of visual design. I think
> they
> > were feeling generous (and 
> > still are) as such a move would not be beyond
> > their capabilities. 
 
IA a subset of visual design?  I don't think so. 
Would you say the same of usability engineering? 
Or of other UX-related fields?  They're all
highly related and often integrated, but none
could seriously be considered a subset of graphic
design.  
 
I guess our IA definitions must be completely
and absolutely different.  Which is one of the
things that make this an interesting field.  :-)

But to assert that AIGA (or anyone professional
association--or field, for that matter) could
simply deign to just go out and absorb another
field is simply fantastic.  I happen to be a
board member of AIGA-ED, and I'll say it again:
 
I don't think so.
 
cheers

=====
Louis Rosenfeld :: www.louisrosenfeld.com
Attend the seminar :: louisrosenfeld.com/presentations/seminars/eia/