[Sigia-l] IA research?

[Ed Housman]

Hmmm ... Info Architecture research, where are the frontiers?

Building websites and interfaces to the internet, from the
point of view of an architect, there may well be places where
research is needed.  

1. First of all we need to build an understanding of how
information works in society and in organizations, and how
it flows among systems and minds.  We have the dimmest view
of the nature of information.  There is not even a unit for
the stuff.  Does an encyclopaedia have more information than a phone
book, or a painting, or a melody, or a gesture?

2. Then there is the good old question of relevance.

3. And then there is the issue of information dissemination,
including advertising and propaganda.

the IA slant on these things, because of our focus on the interaction
of humans with the huge body of information on the internet, brings
my mind back to Vannevar Bush's idea of a "World Brain" back in the
40's, and the implication of that becoming a near-reality.

Oh, for those who know me, I had quadruple heart bypass surgery
four weeks ago and am doing fine.  Amazing how they can open you
up like a chicken, take an artery from your leg, and re-do the
plumbing around your heart.  Of course, it may have affected my
mind...

--Ed