[Sigia-l] Card sorting

[derekrogerson]

..|  do tell

I'm sorry. My meaning is there are a great number of books which address
entry-level techniques (some go to multiple editions). It's a shame that
IA mires itself at the lowest rung of its very tall ladder. 

More unfortunate is that most IAs (or usability, interaction, even
design people) feel their proficiency with such things like
card-sorting, library science, even information science (home of the
quantitative deliverable) should carry some distinction in the
big-picture sense of things. But as far as accomplishment goes, truly
creating info architectures which do the difficult job of 'structuring
without consciously aiming for particular end' is at a much higher level
than any of the elementary and entry-level instruction you'll find in
various books, seminars, or white papers. What does Ziya say? "Nullius
in Verba"? The very nature of 'how-to' negates any possibility of aiming
without conscious end so what you end up with is just 'copy' or worse:
vain transcription which ignores 'use' as the true origin of experience
and its operator.

You have to be smarter than your average bear to avoid being
stuck-in-the-mud of elementary teachings. Even worse is becoming quite
good and familiar with the entry-level stuff but refusing to move up
(like a big fish who does nothing but try and eat down the little fish).
You can create a whole industry, a fish-farm of sorts, out of a little
wisdom -- much like a drug pusher who won't tell the clients they'd be
much better off (and society as a whole) if they'd just transcend living
hit-to-hit (a deliverable culture) and lived-up a bit. Sure card-sorting
and knowing your ABCs are neat little tricks. Executives
all-over-the-world are in love with the ROI-lift when you alphabetize
something at work.

Be Well, Derek