[Sigia-l] Serious Discussion of IA Research?

[Jared M. Spool]

At 04:59 PM 11/27/2004, bill pawlak wrote:
>I still have to question whether or not it's a "law" or on the same
>level as something like gravity is, though (which what was originally
>suggested as being needed...)

Maybe the problem is the word "law"

Gravity isn't a law. It's a property of nature.

Gravity predates any laws by millions of years. It operates without laws.

Newton's Law of Gravity isn't what makes gravity work. It only explains a 
natural behavior of objects.

In fact, Newton's law could be wrong. It's possible that it only works in 
our part of the universe. There very well could be other places where the 
law doesn't work at all.

So, Newton's Law isn't a law at all. It's a theory which has held up 
without disproof for a really long time. That doesn't mean it can't be 
disproved -- just that we don't know enough to do it.

Given that, I believe that there could be laws of information architectures 
-- theories so sound that it will take a really long time to disprove them.

Keep in mind that it took thousands of years before Newton "discovered" 
gravity (sitting in the right place at the right time). It may be beyond 
our lifetime before we get similar "discoveries". However, we won't get 
them if we don't start doing the work to uncover them.

Jared


Jared M. Spool, Founding Principal
User Interface Engineering
4 Lookout Lane, Unit 4d
Middleton, MA 01949
978 777-9123
jspool at uie.com
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