[Sigia-l] PhD, correlation between IA and Technical Communication and Design

[Michael Albers]

Since I have a PhD in Technical Communication, I'll make a response.

If you do go to a TC program, make sure it has an IA area.  Check 
course listings & talk to the people who  teach them.  Essentially 
all will say you can do research in IA, but not all have someone who 
is qualified to teach it.  However, some of the programs do have a 
strong focus in the IA and techie areas.

Much of the current TC research is not focused on IA.  It's taking a 
solid swing to rhetoric and discourse analysis.  Not a bad area, but 
one that does not lend itself to practical application.  Read through 
the journals Technical Communication and Technical Communication 
Quarterly for  a taste of how the field is moving.

Honestly, if I had it to do over again (I started my PhD program is 
1995 when HCI or IA programs didn't really exist), I would probably 
go the IA or HCI route.

Mike

>Hi,
>
>I've been working in IT as a developer for about 12 years and have
>recently begun the transition to Technical Communication and Document
>Design (academically).I'll be applying for and starting a PhD in some
>variant of Tech Comm/Rhetoric.
>
>However, after hearing about the field of IA, I'm interested in any
>crossover, or if there are specific PhD programs that are famous for
>Information Architecture.
>
>My ultimate goal is to teach at a college level, so I'm looking for a
>PhD that will make me the most employable.


------------------------------------------
Dr. Michael J. Albers
Professional Writing Program
Department of English
University of Memphis
Memphis  TN  38152
malbers at memphis.edu