[Sigia-l] IA research? and professionalism

[Karl Fast]

>  I am not sure that a body of available research defines a 
>  profession... 


A body of research does not a profession make, but it is often one
of many elements that are used to define and (more importantly)
legitimize a profession to the world at large.

Other things include books, journals, conferences, trade shows, and
educational programs, be they certification or university degrees.
Some professions even have special legal standing, like doctors and
lawyers and engineers and architects. Trade unions are another
mechanism. IA already has many of these and they have been
invaluable.

Having a research literature has been essential to firmly
establishing many professions. But not all. It's been essential for
doctors and architects, but not for actors and blacksmiths.

Is it necessary for IA?

I tend to think it is. As a doctoral student I am certainly biased.
Yet I think most of us would agree that IA should position itself
closer to doctors and architects than actors and blacksmiths (no
disrespect intended; my great grandfather was the first blacksmith
in Saskatoon, which is the largest city in Saskatchewan).

Still, I'm not sure that means we will be able to point to some
papers and say "that's the IA research literature." Many things out
there are IA in substance if not in name. And developing that
literature in both substance AND name will take a long time. I would
say a decade or two.

Example. My own area of interest, information visualization, has
been around for a good fifteen years. There is just one journal
dedicated to the subject and it's only two years old. Most of the
work is scattered across a variety of journals, often under the
general label of HCI. Despite this, there is definitely a research
literature for the field. Of course, IV is going (mostly) from
research to application and IA is going (mostly) the other
direction.


--karl
http://www.livingskies.com/