[Sigia-l] IA and medium

[George Olsen]

At 9:15 PM -0700 5/13/02, Dave Parker wrote:
>How is IA like
>exhibit design? or How is IA like Environmental Design? Can IA skills be put
>to good use in these fields?

These are the more fruitful sort of lessons. Both in terms of 
learning from (and maybe even appreciating) others who have boldly 
gone before, as well as realizing how we can apply our skills in 
areas that maybe haven't thought about using these skills previously.

>Can IA's sell themselves just as well to
>exhibit shops and museums?

Absolutely, although not necessarily under the "IA" title.

Again, let's separate the skills of IA from the title.

What's more likely is that IA-ish skills will become part of the 
arrows in the quiver of some newly-broadened existing title. But 
conversely, IAs who want to move into these new fields are gonna have 
to learn the appropriate domain-specific knowledge.

To draw a comparison: environmental signage has traditionally been 
nominally part of graphic design because it shares many of the same 
skills. But to move into this speciality, you have to learn a lot 
about signage materials that a typical designer never needs to learn.

Of course this is whether you're a broad IA or content IA will make 
much more of a difference. Broad IAs are going to have more 
opportunities to move into other field. Content IAs are going to have 
more opportunities to move into the specialized niches that Peter 
Morville talked about at the IA Summit.

-- 
______________________________________________________
George Olsen                           george at interactionbydesign.com
User Experience Architect                                     310-993-0467
                      http://www.interactionbydesign.com