[Sigia-l] So, how did you become a [Information Architect|UsabilityEngineer|Interface Designer|etc.]?

[Alexander Johannesen]

On 6/27/05, Ted Han <notheory at gmail.com> wrote:
> I phrased my initial question in an attempt to avoid this particular
> confrontation. 

It is not an confrontation; it is me pushing the discussion further. Sorry. :)

> I'm not interested in which is more important in IA, i
> think it's somewhat immaterial.  After all i think everyone on the
> list agrees that it's members are talking about something of substance
> and that they have jobs with titles which relate to this matter of
> substance. 

But hang on; you're saying that you like the IA part of a label
because it makes people have a different view of you than if you were
just "webmaster" or "linguisist" or whatever. I'm not disputing that,
although I find it a too simplistic view of things. What I'm saying is
that IA appears nowhere in my title nor pet/nick names nor official
work contract nor what I call the work I do, yet people come to me for
all things IA and usability related. None of this comes through what
labels I have, but from the work I do and results from them. If I
*did* have IA as part of my label, what would change? Maybe I'll be
more employable as a contractor, who knows ... I don't find that too
important to me right now. I'm simply interested in knowing what would
change? Would *my* context change? And this rethorical questions
points straight back at an earlier discussion; does a label make an
item *better*, even by linguistic standards?

Short summary : It's not about labels; it's about people and what and
how they do things. Labels is a mirage in which people who require
titles and easy fast digestive "something" can hide behind. Like Anne
said: it's not about titles, but about skillsets. How you *advocate*
those skills is really the crux. I mean, Jakob Nordan sure makes a lot
more money than me, so if I slapped 'usability guru' in my title this
unfair balance of income would be fixed, right?

> Whether it's the chicken or the egg which is paramount
> doesn't help me in the slightest.  And yes, if i wanted a title, i
> would have gone straight into grad school.  ::shrugs::

What I'm saying is that I'm an information architect (if I was forced
to give it a label on a perticulary rainy day), and you can be a
information architect PhD if you like, or bachelor of information
architecture, or Licensed information architect or whatever. Like Ziya
says, I wonder how anybody would read a non-licensed professional
writer.

> > My story in coming to IA is long and bouncy. I'm not an IA by wanting
> > to solve a given problem in certain fields accompanied by a long hard
> > education with letters added to my title and such. It came through
> > seeing the need and a want to do things better.
> 
> I think people in the "real" world really do a disservice to academia
> with statements like this. 

If academia feels my statement above as a disservice, my respect of
academics needs downgrading, which I really don't see necessary. (see
below)

> The politics, business, and all manner of
> other things are just as full of meaningless titles and nomenclature.
> Good academics are in their fields just as you put it, by "seeing the
> need and a want to do things better."

Yes, true, and there are bucketloads of not-so-good academics who
stand on the shoulders of giants, doing below-par work and muddling
the field, too, by the nature of those very credentials. There's good
and bad in every camp. Don't see why that should be an argument for
any standpoint, really.

Besides, what I was saying is that I didn't *choose* a career path (be
it academic or professional in nature) to do these things, it happened
naturally. An important factor of education is choice (yours or
parents or others), and I feel that it is very *important* that there
are people who call themselves IA by natural selection (hehe :) as
well as those who call themselves IA by governed education. We need
both desperately, no matter what the label might be.


Regards,

Alex
-- 
"Ultimately, all things are known because you want to believe you know."
                                                         - Frank Herbert
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