[Sigia-l] IA and medium

[Lyle_Kantrovich at cargill.com]

I don't think Information ARCHITECTURE is medium specific.

I DO think that Information ARCHITECTS ARE medium specific.  Disagree?  
How many IA's here have worked in non-interactive media?  How about 
non-web or non-Internet media?  Show me evidence that IA's often apply 
their skills across media, and I'll admit my opinion is wrong.  

Example: The field of Medicine isn't specific to humans, but you don't 
find many vets that regularly practice on their family members.  Sure, 
I'd trust a vet more than an auto-mechanic in an emergency, but they'll 
do a better job if they are familiar with large mammals versus a vet 
that only works with reptiles or fish.  

Example 2: Architects may specialize in architecting office buildings, 
manufacturing plants, or homes.  Sometimes you need a generalist, 
sometimes a specialist.  

Most IA's specialize in one medium or another -- the in-depth knowledge 
they have specific to that medium makes them more valuable on project 
teams.  Imagine being a "highly trained IA" who knew nothing about the 
web, or web design -- how good of a job could you do in implementing an 
enterprise IA for a large, diverse, multi-national company?

Christina's question is an excellent one.  Regardless or her opinion, 
she is clarifying whether or not the community at large all feels the 
same way.  Understanding what something isn't helps clarify what that 
something is.  Even if a question just confirms that everyone agrees, 
it's a good question.  Clearly we don't all agree on this one -- even 
better to understand why.

There are no dumb questions.

Regards,

Lyle Kantrovich
User Experience Architect, Cargill 

Croc O' Lyle: a personal web log on usability, IA, and web design
http://crocolyle.blogspot.com





-----Original Message-----
From: susan_z40 at yahoo.com [mailto:susan_z40 at yahoo.com]
Sent: Monday, May 13, 2002 8:42 AM
To: cwodtke at eleganthack.com; sigia-l at asis.org
Subject: Re: [Sigia-l] IA and medium


Hello Christina!

Of course IA is not medium specific!  What about
Melvil Dewey's classification system, or the Library
of Congress classification system, or Dublin Core? 
Those are all architectures for information.  

Gee Wiz, folks!  I'm always repeating to library
people that classification and collocation is not
limited to library land.  Now I'm telling all you
Web-heads that organizing information is NOT limited
to Web land.  

THINK OUTSIDE YOUR OWN BOXES, FOLKS!!

OK, I'm done now.

So, tell me honestly.  What am I missing that makes
Christina's question look so dumb to me?

Susan Zeyher