[Sigia-l] Rant about bad IA practice

[Marty Vian]

Stewart,

I¹ve been a lurker on this list for a year (I know‹ gutless), but couldn¹t
keep quiet any longer.

You want to make sure we have empathy for ³real users² and conceptually I
couldn¹t agree more. However, the constructs and tools you¹re slamming are
useful in many circumstances and misused in others. Evolution¹s messy.
Problem is, I can¹t help but hear in your rant the kind of projection you¹re
accusing others of. The insidious, ³... I personaly have never even heard of
it before...³  suggests that YOUR experience is the one you design around.
I¹m all for critical examination of long held beliefs, but to tick off a
list of things you personally think are useless, suggests you¹re taking a
position instead of suggesting we design ‹ for a particular situation, with
the appropriate tools. Conventions & innovations alike.

The truth is we will be designing for more and more niche oriented audiences
who are learning to expect options to deliver their particular brand of
information. Some live on del.icio.us, some think its too precious, and some
think it¹s a typo. We would do well to understand the implications of the
long tail on IA. Even as generalization is part of our discipline, we need
to watch overdoing it, even on behalf of the ³average user² ‹ there isn¹t
one.

And I¹m pretty sure it¹s not a competition to out-criticize Jakob Nielson.

‹ vian