[Sigia-l] Why Are You an IA?

[Mike Livingston]

I've worked in many roles. After attaining a Psych degree (interest:
cognition) and working with the criminally insane for 5 years, I decided
there was nothing in that field (that I was aware of) that I wanted to
do for the rest of my life. So I returned to school and picked up a
degree in English (professional non-fiction writing). 

My first job after school was as an editor of software documentation. I
immediately became fascinated with document design: everything from type
to information mapping (before I'd even heard about Information
Mapping). In 1995 I was tasked with making my company's user conference
proceedings available on the Web. Interest in the Web and HTML took me
to studying SGML, but I couldn't convince my manager of its usefulness. 

I managed teams of editors and production staff for software doc and
instructor-led training materials, where I designed book layouts and, in
my free time, studied XML and dabbled in XSLT and XSL-FO. When the
company wanted to put our instructor-led training materials into a CMS,
I helped design and write the schemas and maintained the stylesheets.
This was a good time to pick up some formal online training in
information design. 

Soon after helping to transform a dictionary from the CMS to InDesign, I
became interested in taxonomies and in semantic technology. I wrote a
proposal suggesting how the company might augment the controlled
vocabulary used to create the dictionary and use it to facilitate search
across the several information silos and even automate related topics.
That earned me responsibility for the controlled vocabulary. 

Following a reorganization, I found myself in a group tasked with
publishing topical books related to geographic information systems. I've
mocked up a redesign of the group's Web storefront and am currently
involved in projects to create ebook channels, produce and distribute
higher-ed academic labs, and develop a companywide content management
strategy. 

I can't stress enough how beneficial it was to have that early
experience working with the criminally insane.

-mike

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Mike Livingston
Information and Knowledge Management Coordinator
ESRI * 909*793*2853   ext. 1101
mlivingston at esri.com
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