[Sigia-l] I Want My GUT of Information Architecture!

[Boniface Lau]

> From: sigia-l-admin at asis.org [mailto:sigia-l-admin at asis.org]On
> Behalf Of Peter Merholz
>  
[...]
> 
> Because, really, isn't information architecture just some practice
> of
> 
> Understanding the goals of the user
> Understanding the goals of the organization
> Managing the Stuff that is created by the org to support those needs
> Systems for organizing that Stuff to facilitate finding (thesauri,
> taxonomies, cvs)
> Systems for labeling that Stuff to ensure understanding (and not
> just in English!)
> Systems for encouraging semantic processing of that Stuff (facets,
> ontologies)
> Understanding when to use metaphor (at the outset, to orient the
> visitor), and when to ditch it (pretty much immediately after that,
> let the Stuff speak for itself, in all its complexity)
> Providing cues for navigating this Stuff
> Not letting navigation dictate the organization of this Stuff
> 

The above issues are not unique to information architecture. People
involved in various aspects of web development also deal with much of
those issues. Just that they deal with those issues from the
perspective of their individual fields or disciplines like graphic
design, computer human interaction, programming, etc.


> It's just that easy, right?

If only people are true to their profession.

Self-respecting professional graphic designers do not claim that they
are programmers even though they might have written some scripts when
using graphic design packages.


Boniface