[Sigia-l] The Value of an IA discussion - from a newbie'sperspective

[A.J.Bull at iaea.org]

Hi Kathleen, 

In general, your message brings to mind the debate in Information Architecture of "Role vs. Discipline."  When I attended the IA Summit in Baltimore in 2002, I'd guess that about 10% of the people I talked to actually had the title of "Information Architect."  At the recent European IA Summit last October, it seemed like 70% of the attendees had the title.  

Among those in Baltimore there was a lot of commonality in terms of job responsibilities but not so much across titles.  It was then that I felt that my belief in Information Architecture as a discipline was justified.  Even though my current title is as a "Software Engineer" and I've never had the title "Information Architect" as such, I have been involved in making information easier to find in all of my jobs (some web-based, some not) and have schooled to learn the principles of what's currently called Information Architecture.  Therefore, I'm an information architect (intentionally small caps.)  

> Are you saying a career as an IA isn't viable or possible anymore? 

You can take this with a grain of salt given my slant but I think that Information Architecture will always be around because the fields of knowledge that it consists of will always be around:  info & library science, marketing, business analysis, visual design, and writing.  Info Architecture will continue to be called in a myriad of ways and we need to make use of our skills whatever it's called.  I'd say, if you've got the rest of your career mapped out and "Senior Information Architect" is your end goal in 15-20 years, well, be open to change. 

You are planning on attending the IA Summit in Vancouver, right?  That will be a good forum for you to interact with others to answer some of your questions and maybe even find some mentoring opportunities.

(Disclaimer:  I am in no way responsible for the organization of nor soliciting attendees for the IA Summit)

Tony Bull
Software Engineer
International Atomic Energy Agency

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