[Sigia-l] The Menace

[noreen whysel]

My mom always stressed the reverse of the can't say something nice adage, 
which is to avoid being mean and spiteful just for the sake of being mean 
and spiteful  -- less about being good for goodness' sake, but rather not 
being mean for meanness sake.

As to the original post in this bewildering thread:  While I don't know the 
original poster well enough to know if he was just being mean for meanness 
sake, I did note his fear of the implications of an established clique 
further establishing or promoting themselves by creating a non-profit forum 
with a fancy name.

I don't share this fear, by the way.

I joined AIfIA because I love the idea of being part of a group that is 
defining the kind of work that has been a common thread (though not 
necessarily the bulk) of my 11 year career.  There have been a lot of times 
where I found myself fighting for IA considerations without a vocabulary or 
industry standard to stand behind me.  AIfIA seems to be working toward that 
missing piece.

As for booksellers being in charge:  As in many young fields, those who 
define it by publishing books that all of us in the field are buying, 
quoting and referring to as "bibles" have become industry leaders by the 
virtue of their being quoted by practitioners, interviewed by the media and 
invited to speak at various industry conferences.  And as someone who does 
have experience developing non-profit boards, you absolutely MUST have board 
members who have the name and credentials that give the organization 
credibility and inspire new members to join, active members to contribute 
and media attention to inform and inspire the employers and project 
managers, who will eventually get and keep us employed.

Eventually, people like my previous boss who was overly focused on system 
architecture, his boss who was overly focused on pretty pictures, the web 
strategest in the next cube (or in my case, even my husband) will come to 
understand that there is a need for IA.

Noreen Whysel

<snip all this back and forth about the perceived Menace>



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