March 1, 2005:  Stop the Pendulum; I Want to Get Off


Although Gerry McGovern makes good points in his latest article and
elsewhere, I'm really uncomfortable with this statement:

   "The natural home of the intranet is in communications."

I'm not sure that any single department can be the home for a
multi-departmental intranet or, for that matter, a large public web site.
Can Communications really be responsible for the accuracy of the highly
technical documentation that Product Development is churning out?  Can it
manage the tuning of the intranet's search system without some help from IT
staff?  Can Communications (or any one business unit) conceive of--much less
assemble and manage--the kind of multi-disciplinary team required to design
and manage a truly quality information system?  What about organizations
which don't have centralized Communications departments?

Maybe I'm not clear on what a "natural home" means.  I do know that much of
the Web's success can be explained by its decentralized nature--in effect,
web sites exist because they don't require a single home or owner.  If this
wasn't true, wouldn't the Web have been nipped in the bud by some
centrally-administered enterprise application years ago?

There are really many natural homes for different aspects of our information
systems, from design to branding to evaluation to the workflow of content
creation and publication.  Some of these aspects benefit greatly from
central control, such as branding; others require local and even multiple
owners because they simply couldn't or shouldn't be owned by one unit.
Content creation is a good example.

I realize that provocative statements have their uses.  They're easily
consumed, digested, and remembered.  They make for nice quotes in other
people's PowerPoint presentations.  And they are certainly useful to forward
to lunkhead managers who won't listen to similar pleas that their own
employees have been making for eons.

But it's way past overdue to acknowledge that complicated problems require
more subtle, complex, and often hybrid solutions.  In the case of intranets
and other large web sites, degrees of centralization and local control can,
must, and already do co-exist in countless combinations.  The challenge is
to step back and look for opportunities for improvement through two things:
more rational centralization where it makes sense, and more rational
decentralization where it makes sense.  The alternative is to continue with
an either/or mentality, swinging continually from failed attempts to impose
central control to failed efforts to empower departmental and individual
employee autonomy.


BLOUG PERMALINK & COMMENTS
http://louisrosenfeld.com/home/bloug_archive/000340.html

LINK MENTIONED
Gerry McGovern's latest column ::
http://www.gerrymcgovern.com/nt/2005/nt_2005_02_28_communications.htm

March 2, 2005:  User Experience Education


Tom Smith's diagram (95Kb GIF) is yet another illustration of the
multidisciplinary nature of user experience.  His network diagram shows
connections between multiple fields, methods, and thinkers, clustered like
so:

   * Knowing the technology (e.g., content management)
   * Knowing what you have to work with (e.g., content inventory)
   * Knowing how the mind works (e.g., mental models)
   * Knowing what people really want (e.g., story boards)
   * Knowing what people really have done (e.g., log file analysis)
   * Knowing what users actually do and think (e.g., ethnography)
   * Knowing what users want to hear (e.g., marketing)
   * Understanding users are not alone (e.g., social networks)
   * Knowing how you are doing (e.g., metrics)
   * Knowing how this all fits together (e.g., ROI)

The obvious implication of Tom's and similar UX illustrations is that one
person can't be expected to demonstrate expertise in all these areas;
organizations need to invest in multi-disciplinary *teams* if they're
serious about UX.

The less obvious implication is really a question:  why have so few academic
institutions jumped on this opportunity?  Seems to me that UX education is
natural for liberal arts programs.  By definition, they're
multidisciplinary.  Many are looking to reach students interested in new
media.  And applied UX would provide an obvious path to partnerships with
and, eventually, funding from the private sector.

I don't mean to ignore what an uphill battle liberal arts institutions will
face in forming UX programs.  Many academics view design of any sort as a
vocation.  Existing kernels of UX understanding and offerings are often
contained within a single academic department; this might scare off
potential partners from elsewhere on campus.  Colleges and universities
certainly are at least as susceptible to silo-ization as the private sector.

But in a time when higher ed is hurting for funding, I'm wondering if we'll
soon see more academic provosts coming around to at least repackaging or
otherwise "productizing" existing course offerings as a UX program.

In the meantime, I'll keep dreaming about an Amazonized course catalog that
unearths interdisciplinary paths and other interesting patterns that might
lead to self-designed UX curricula among other things.  Which, ahem, leads
to another question:  would a college first need such a souped-up catalog to
support a UX curriculum?  Or would it already need to have drunk the UX
Kool-Aid before it was capable of developing such a catalog?

Sorry for the ramble; and thanks to Tom for his thought-provoking diagram.


BLOUG COMMENTS AND PERMALINK
http://louisrosenfeld.com/home/bloug_archive/000341.html

LINKS MENTIONED
Tom Smith's UX curriculum diagram ::
http://dev11.otherworks.com/theotherblog/images/UXCurriculum.gif
Other UX diagrams :: http://www.lukew.com/ff/entry.asp?156
Amazonized course catalog discussion ::
http://louisrosenfeld.com/home/bloug_archive/000326.html

March 3, 2005:  IA Wisdom


Greetings from the IA Summit 2005 in Montreal!  Nugget from Lee Strickland's
IAI pre-conference seminar talk (which is happening as I type) on Homeland
Security and Information Architecture (paraphrasing here):

"We always have enough money to create another stovepipe.  We never have the
money to do the hard work of changing the organization."

Great talk; I hope it will be put online.


BLOUG PERMALINK & COMMMENTS
http://louisrosenfeld.com/home/bloug_archive/000342.html

LINKS MENTIONED
IA Summit 2005 :: http://www.iasummit.org/2005/
Lee Strickland :: http://www.cip.umd.edu/principals/bios/stricklandbio.htm

March 4, 2005:  RIA and Log Analysis


Interesting discussion at dinner last night with Jorge Arango and Livia
Labate about RIA (rich internet applications) and the move away from the
page model.  One of them made an interesting point:  if pages go away, we
might lose our ability to measure user behavior by analyzing useful
page-based data like search logs.

Damn.  So just as web analytics are maturing, this happens?

Of course, the page model--and pages themselves--aren't going away soon.
Amazon isn't going to suddenly abandon all those nice measurable pages that
it lives and dies by, and redesign itself in Flash.  But there are these
interesting and, as Gene Smith calls them, disruptive trends that are
shaking things up, including RIA, RSS and Atom, and now Ajax.  So expect to
see more and more content and functionality built outside the page model.

I wonder if RIA designers could sign an oath to build in kinds of "trip
wire" mechanisms to help approximate and capture the types of events
currently contained in logs?  I'm guessing the answer is that it's not
technically possible, which makes me worry about the future of log analysis,
a really useful tool that we've only scratched the surface of.  Damn.


BLOUG PERMALINK & COMMENTS
http://louisrosenfeld.com/home/bloug_archive/000343.html

LINKS MENTIONED
RIA :: http://www.macromedia.com/resources/business/rich_internet_apps/
Gene Smith on the Page Model ::
http://atomiq.org/archives/2004/10/beyond_the_page.html
JJG on AJAX ::
http://adaptivepath.com/publications/essays/archives/000385.php

March 4, 2005:  Event Notes


(Sorry for the loads of blogging lately; nice to emerge from the February
doldrums.)  Bunch of event news to share:

If you live in the greater LA/San Diego/Tijuana megalopolis, come to hear me
on enterprise IA and/or Steve Krug on web usability.  We'll be in San Diego
April 7-8; early registration deadline is one week from today (March 11).

If you're in southeast Michigan or northwest Ohio, you should attend the
first Internet User Experience event, March 14-15.  Sponsored by local
chapters of CHI and UPA, as well as UXnet (yeah!).  Kudos to Dave
Mitropoulos-Rundus for organizing.

Hanging out in the Low Countries?  Interested in design for global use?
IWIPS 2005 (aka 7th Annual International Workshop on Internationalisation of
Products and Systems) looks interesting:  July 7-9, Amsterdam.  (If you want
more on this topic, Peter van Dijck has been blogging some great stuff
lately.)

And greetings from the IA Summit, where my brain is quickly filling up with
lots of good stuff.  Guess I'm just a conference slut.

BLOUG PERMALINK & COMMENTS
http://louisrosenfeld.com/home/bloug_archive/000344.html

LINKS MENTIONED
Enterprise IA Seminar ::
http://louisrosenfeld.com/presentations/seminars/eia/
Web Usability Seminar :: http://www.sensible.com/workshops.html
Internet User Experience :: http://www.iue2005.com
IWIPS 2005 :: http://iwips.org/confsites/2005/
Peter van Dijck on i18n ::
http://poorbuthappy.com/ease/archives/category/information-architecture/i18n
/
IA Summit 2005 :: http://iasummit.org/2005

March 8, 2005:  Do we need Anti-Captology?


At the IA Summit, BJ Fogg's opening keynote on persuasive design was, er,
quite persuasive.  For those of you not familiar with BJ's work in
captology, here's the definition (link below):  "Captology is the study of
computers as persuasive technologies.  This includes the design, research,
and analysis of interactive computing products created for the purpose of
changing people's attitudes or behaviors."

Een zee wronk hands, captology could be dangerous stuff.  I was glad that BJ
tempered his enthusiasm with at least a little discomfort over captology's
ethical implications.  Made me think of Einstein's famous letter to
Roosevelt explaining the Bomb's feasibility, not something that sat well
with his pacifism.  And it made me wonder if we need to develop a new field
called anti-captology?  There are analogies from other fields, ranging from
LIS's advocacy for information literacy to journalism's media literacy.
Does society need to inoculate itself against the (highly likely) potential
of captological abuse?


BLOUG PERMALINK & COMMENTS
http://louisrosenfeld.com/home/bloug_archive/000345.html

LINKS MENTIONED
Captology :: http://captology.stanford.edu/
Einstein's letter ::
http://www.nuclearfiles.org/redocuments/1939/390802-einstein-roosevelt.html
Information Literacy :: http://www.infolit.org/
Center for Media Literacy :: http://www.medialit.org/default.html

March 10, 2005:  Alternative Interfaces to TV Programs


Jim Leftwich has designed and built just about everything, from ultrasound
machine interfaces to airplanes.  His Summit talk was a personal travelogue
through thirty years of mind-boggling changes in the world of design.  Note
to all concerned:  an afternoon of brainstorming with Jim would make for an
ideal 40th birthday present.

Jim's talk made me wonder:  has anyone designed an interface to a specific
time segment of TV programming (e.g., "tonight" or "next week") that can
help us visualize what's on and navigate to programs by means other than
time slots and program titles?  In other words, a visualization of what's on
tonight by local-national-global coverage, political leanings, target
audiences, genre, etc?

I'm fairly TV-ignorant, so slap me down if Tivo or something else already
provides this.  But considering the breadth and scope of programming, not to
mention the commercial opportunities, new overview interfaces to segments of
TV programming seem like a great challenge for designers.


BLOUG PERMALINK & COMMENTS
http://louisrosenfeld.com/home/bloug_archive/000346.html

LINK MENTIONED
Jim Leftwich :: http://www.anigami.com/jimwich.html

March 10, 2005:  UXnet Around the World


Keith Instone has blogged four UXnet-related events taking place globally
(Ann Arbor, Michigan; Austin, Texas; London UK, and New York, New York), all
next week, March 14-16.  The details are here:

   http://uxnet.org/blog/2005/03/uxnet-around-world-march-14-16.html

March 11, 2005:  PeterMe on Content Genres


I'm not sure which librarians Peter Merholz managed to piss off--especially
as I'm a librarian who Peter pisses off regularly--but I certainly enjoyed
his IA Summit presentation on content genres.  Peter pointed out the power
of common genres (e.g., press releases, recipes) as useful design elements
that come with precise user expectations.  These expectations can be
leveraged in the design process; for example, specific genres suggest
certain types of contextual navigation.  It's useful stuff that fits in well
with my thinking on content models, which I guess I'd better write up soon.

I left Peter's presentation with two thoughts:

1) Linking content genres sequentially:  In certain situations, it could be
highly beneficial to link content genres sequentially.  These situations
might involve workflows that are both task-rich and genre-rich.  Paying
one's taxes might be an example--perhaps tax forms constitute some of the
most hated content genres--or preparing a meal (shopping lists, product
ingredients, recipes) is another.  Both would lend themselves to clear and
useful sequential contextual linking.

2) Creating new content genres:  Most (if not all) document types that would
qualify as genres come to us from the print world.  As the digital age
marches on and print subsides, the value of these genres may decay.  How do
we create useful new genres that exist in purely digital contexts?  If it's
possible, it would be powerful.  The answer might lie in determining if
there are content genres out there that live solely in digital format, and
learning how they got established so firmly.  These digital genres may have
emerged organically, but perhaps they can be domesticated or we can steal
their DNA and churn out new ones.  Can anyone think of a content genre that
was born digitally?

As far as angering people, maybe the rub is that this particular concept may
be tacit knowledge.  Once it's expressed, it's easy to say "oh yeah, it's
obvious, I've always known that".  In fact, this is true of 90% of
information architecture, but that doesn't diminish how valuable it is to
come up with the language to describe a concept, and the courage and
wherewithal to convert a tacit concept to a public meme.  Thanks to Peter,
now more people can actually discuss and, better, act on an idea that was
buried in our minds.  And the rest of us can wish we'd done it first...


BLOUG PERMALINK & COMMENTS
http://louisrosenfeld.com/home/bloug_archive/000348.html

LINKS MENTIONED
PeterMe Making People Mad Again ::
http://www.peterme.com/archives/000460.html
PeterMe on Content Genres :: http://peterme.com/assets/document_genres.pdf
(2.9Mb PDF)

March 14, 2005:  The Journal of IA Failures


Something I'd like to see:  reporting on IA failures, and what was learned
from the carnage.  Failure stories are a literary genre in and of
themselves; even the most dispassionate, technical ones are hard to put
down.  That's what makes them such great learning tools.

For example, it's enjoyable in a really sick way to read books like Jon
Krakauer's "Into Thin Air," a chronicle the May 1996 Everest climbing
disaster which claimed twelve lives.  Another morbidly fun read:  "Deaths in
Yellowstone:  Accidents and Foolhardiness in the First National Park".
Chances are if you're a mountaineer, you've read Krakauer's book; if you
stumbled on the latter at the Yellowstone gift shop, it'd be hard to put
down "Deaths in Yellowstone".  And both books would surely teach you
something.

"Deaths..." catalogs its mishaps in two categories:  1) Death by Nature
(e.g., geysers, bears, poisonous plants, avalanches); and 2) Death by Man
(e.g., Indian battles, stagecoach incidents, suicides, structural fires).
Is your interest piqued?

It's fun to imagine how we might do this in the IA world:
   * Death by Deliverable (e.g., client interprets a black and white line art
wireframe to be the final deliverable)
   * Death by Technology (e.g., managers believes Autonomy's marketing hype
and lay off their IAs)
   * Death by Metric (e.g., IA gets caught not knowing Jakob's simple but
handy ROI justification formula)
   * Death by Branding (e.g., field of IA allows itself to be continually
mistaken for usability, for knowledge management, etc. until it fades away)

....and so on.

Hey, IAI, Boxes and Arrows, and Digital Web:  how about it?  The Journal of
Information Architecture Failures; what do you think?  I'd be glad to
personally contribute some first-hand accounts of content carnage,
stakeholder strife, consulting collapse, and other breakdowns along the IA
road.


BLOUG PERMALINK & COMMENTS
http://louisrosenfeld.com/home/bloug_archive/000349.html

LINKS MENTIONED
Into Thin Air (Krakauer) ::
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0385494785/qid=1110574348/sr=2-1/ref=
pd_bbs_b_2_1/102-7320986-0397769
Deaths in Yellowstone (Whittlesey) ::
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1570980217/qid=1110574232/sr=2-1/ref=
pd_bbs_b_2_1/102-7320986-0397769
Jakob Nielsen's ROI formula :: http://www.useit.com/alertbox/20021111.html
IAI :: http://iainstitute.org
Boxes & Arrows :: http://www.boxesandarrows.com
Digital Web :: http://www.digital-web.com/

March 21, 2005:  Happy Times for IA?


It's been a couple weeks now, but yet another IA Summit observation:  just
about everyone I spoke with who was even toying with changing jobs was
entertaining multiple offers.  And just about everyone I spoke to who was
recruiting IAs--even from respected organizations like Yahoo!--was
struggling to find talent.

It's certainly good news for the field, but are we simply in for another
boom and bust cycle?

Surprise:  I'm an optimist.  The field seems healthier than it was four
years ago for at least a couple reasons:
   1)  The need to make an ROI case for IA seems to have diminished.  No, it
hasn't gone away, but the most evolved organizations seem to be in a hurry
to hire IAs, not question information architecture's value.  Perhaps this is
an evolutionary trend akin to that experienced in other areas of initially
unclear value, such as psychotherapy or even public education.
   2)  There is a healthy balance--really a symbiosis--between IAs working
in-house and those at agencies, consulting firms, and working solo.  Four
years ago, we all seemed to be outside our organizations; when things hit
the fan, we ran inside for cover.  Now both areas seem to be growing and
supporting each other.
   3)  There's obviously more content out there than ever before.  And the
content that was good a week ago has now gotten stale.  IAs can help in both
situations.
   4)  Enterprise-class search engines, portals, and CMS are simply too
expensive to install without human support and configuration.  Not that it
doesn't happen.  But IAs are useful in these situations too.

Despite these warm and fuzzy thoughts, the field will certainly face
challenges.  For example, if we don't take the lead in figuring out how to
integrate emergent approaches like folksonomies with traditional, controlled
IA approaches, those traditional approaches--and we, their purveyors--might
find ourselves marginalized.

Also, our professional association is facing the challenge of maturing.
It's not yet clear how IAI will evolve from exciting cradle of new ideas to
stable maintainer of useful services.

More on both of these issues in the coming weeks.  In the meantime, if
you're looking for work, check out the IAI Job Board.


BLOUG PERMALINK & COMMENTS
http://louisrosenfeld.com/home/bloug_archive/000351.html

LINKS MENTIONED
Bloug on folksonomies ::
http://louisrosenfeld.com/home/bloug_archive/000330.html
IAI :: http://www.iainstitute.org/
IAI Job Board :: http://www.iainstitute.org/jobboard/

March 25, 2005:  Visiting San Diego


The Steve Krug/Lou Rosenfeld spring 2005 road show kicks off in San Diego,
California on April 7 and 8, two weeks from now.  If you don't already know
Steve, he's the author of the much-lauded "Don't Make Me Think!".  Steve's
workshop covers all you really need to know about web usability.  I'll be
teaching a seminar on how to develop and implement information architectures
in large, politicized enterprise environments, a topic that's getting
increasing attention.

We'll also organize a happy hour the evening of April 7 open to anyone in
the broad user experience community (or communities); details TBA.  And
we'll continue our tour in Boston (May 12-13) and Denver (June 2-3).  Please
spread the word, and, better yet, consider attending.


BLOUG PERMALINK & COMMENTS
http://louisrosenfeld.com/home/bloug_archive/000352.html

LINKS MENTIONED
"Don't Make Me Think!" :: http://www.sensible.com/buythebook.html
Steve's workshop :: http://www.sensible.com/workshops.html
Lou's seminar :: http://louisrosenfeld.com/presentations/seminars/eia/

Quiet here at Bloug lately; just completed a busy two weeks that included
moving the family back to Michigan, short trips to both coasts, and filing
our tax return.  Glad to be back home, where spring's a poppin', but
thinking ahead to the next trip.  It'll be Boston, May 12, where I'll teach
another enterprise IA seminar.  Steve Krug teaches his web usability seminar
the next day.  This Friday (the ides of April) is our early registration
deadline, so if the taxman hasn't totally drained you, please consider
registering for one or both of our seminars.


BLOUG PERMALINK & COMMENTS
http://louisrosenfeld.com/home/bloug_archive/000355.html

LINKS MENTIONED
Lou's seminar :: http://louisrosenfeld.com/presentations/seminars/eia/
Steve's seminar :: http://www.sensible.com/workshops.html

April 13, 2005:  IA in Germany


Over the past few years I've been in contact with a few information
architects from Germany.  They're in a frustrating situation: while IA is
gaining acceptance in many other countries, German companies just don't seem
interested.  Is this simply an issue of time lag, where we'll see a healthy
demand for IA emerge in Germany a few years from now?  Or are there deeper
cultural or linguistic issues that will always make IA acceptance
problematic in one of the world's largest, most complex economies?

I'd love to hear your theories on what's up (or down) with IA in Germany.
I'd also like to point you to a hopeful sign:  with the IAI's support,
German information architects are organizing a two-day symposium this May in
Frankfurt with Eric Reiss as keynote speaker.  The details and press release
follow; please help spread the word and point German speakers to this page:
http://www.iatagung.de/ .

---

What:  First national symposium for IA in Germany
When:  May 28-29 (Sat-Sun), 2005
Where:  InterCity Hotel, Frankfurt
Who:
   * Organized by members of the IA Institute in Germany:  Britta Glatten,
Deborah Gover, Jochen Fassbender, Piet Kopka, Wolf Noeding and James Kalbach
   * Keynote speech will be given by Eric Reiss ("The business value of IA")
in English.  Otherwise, all presentations will be in German
   * Total of about 6 additional presentations and talks

Press Release:

Information Architecture now in Germany

Information architecture, a discipline that has existed since the middle of
the 1990s, is now beginning to take hold in Germany.  While North America
has already enjoyed large conferences with hundreds of eager participants
for years, information architecture has hardly been noticed by the German
Internet and IT industries.

Information architecture--not to be confused with computer
architecture--deals first and foremost with the structuring of content so it
can be found.  Though the findability of information is not limited to the
Internet, the Web and Intranet design are generally of primary interest to
information architects.  In particular, information-rich services profit
most from good information architecture.

The German members of the IA Institute (www.iainstitute.org) are organizing
the first nation-wide IA Symposium in Frankfurt.  This will take place on
May 28-29, 2005 with the theme "Information Architecture in Germany--Chances
and Perspectives."  The program consists of talks and panel discussions,
including a keynote speech from Eric Reiss, renowned information architect
and author.  Additionally there will be plenty of networking with other
professionals and the chance to meet people with similar interests.

For more details see www.iatagung.de


BLOUG PERMALINK & COMMENTS
http://louisrosenfeld.com/home/bloug_archive/000356.html

LINKS MENTIONED
IAI :: http://www.iainstitute.org
German IA Symposium :: http://www.iatagung.de/

May 1, 2005:  IA in Chile


IA may be struggling in Germany, but the Chileans are moving ahead.  AI
Chile (Arquitectura de Informacion) recently launched, according to one of
its organizers, Javier Velasco.  I was impressed by the people I met at my
IA talk at the Universidad de Chile back in 2003, so I'm really excited by
this development.


LINKS MENTIONED
IA in Germany :: http://louisrosenfeld.com/home/bloug_archive/000356.html
AI Chile :: http://www.aichile.org/ai_acerca/nosotros.htm

BLOUG PERMALINK & COMMENTS
http://louisrosenfeld.com/home/bloug_archive/000358.html

May 3, 2005:  Updated Enterprise IA Roadmap


I've finally found a little time to update my Enterprise IA Roadmap.  (The
first version dates to August, 2003).  Although it's the basis for the
design section of my EIA seminar, I'm hopeful that anyone who is dealing
with the "silo" problem might find it useful, seminar or not.  If nothing
else, it's a decent straw man to get people thinking differently about how
to organize information inside a large, distributed, and politicized
enterprise setting.  In other words, if the progression of steps I've laid
out in the Roadmap doesn't work for you, at least you'll have a starting
point to react to and improve upon.

Below are some basic about using the Roadmap.  There is a lot crammed into
those little boxes though; I'll be glad to elaborate in this Bloug entry,
and hope to learn more from you so that the next version might be even
better.

* What's the Enterprise IA Roadmap?  A diagram that helps information
architects and other designers make their enterprise's content easier to
find regardless of which department maintains it.  The goal is to integrate
content from across departmental "silos" in ways that make sense to users.

* How does the EIA Roadmap Work?  It breaks down the universe of IA design
into four distinct tracks and numerous sub-tracks, and plots concrete steps
within each track over time.  Rather than suggesting specific phases, the
Roadmap describes a continuum of actions, ranging from "Very Soon" tasks
that can be performed by one or a few information architects with minimal
resources to "Way Off" actions that require coordinated, funded EIA teams.

* Use the EIA Roadmap to...
   - Break the large problem of enterprise findability into small,
digestible, actionable steps that lead to realistic goals and quick wins
   - Identify and sequence specific ways to help users find information
across departmental silos
   - Demonstrate that "silver bullets" (e.g., a search engine or metadata)
are part of a bigger picture of interdependent steps that should be
considered first
   - Make the case for the resources required to tackle broad EIA challenges,
and utilize those resources more effectively

* Don't Use the EIA Roadmap as...
   - A project plan; instead, use it to create a project plan for the
near-term actions that your organization needs to undertake
   - A source of truth:  instead, use it as a straw man that you should react
to and modify to suit the needs of your own organization and its users


BLOUG PERMALINK & COMMENTS
http://louisrosenfeld.com/home/bloug_archive/000359.html

LINKS MENTIONED
EIA Roadmap v2 (57Kb PDF) ::
http://www.louisrosenfeld.com/home/bloug_archive/images/EIAroadmap2.pdf
EIA Roadmap v1 (46Kb PDF) ::
http://www.louisrosenfeld.com/home/bloug_archive/images/EIAroadmap.pdf
EIA Seminar :: http://louisrosenfeld.com/presentations/seminars/eia/

May 4, 2005:  Boston Happy Hour--May 12


Steve Krug and I will be hosting a happy hour next Thursday evening (5/12)
after my seminar and we hope you'll join us.  Our generous sponsors are
Avenue A|Razorfish and mediumbold.  We'll be at Casablanca, which is right
downstairs from the Brattle Theater (40 Brattle Street) from 6 pm to 8 pm on
Thursday, May 12th.

We're inviting people from the Boston area information architecture and
usability communities to join us, so this will be a great way to meet your
local colleagues.  Space is limited, so if you're coming you need to RSVP by
emailing rsvp@...

BLOUG PERMALINK & COMMENTS
http://louisrosenfeld.com/home/bloug_archive/000360.html

LINKS MENTIONED
EIA seminar :: http://louisrosenfeld.com/presentations/seminars/eia/
Avenue A|Razorfish :: http://www.avenuea-razorfish.com/
mediumbold :: http://www.mediumbold.com/

May 10, 2005:  Google Acquires nForm


Well, not exactly, at least not yet, but they ought to at least hire nForm
to implement this great idea from nForm's Gene Smith:

"Last year at work we were kicking around a product idea (codename:
Shreveport) that would log users' outbound search terms as well as the
results they select.  And through some algorithmic mojo these things would
create ad hoc communities of interest, where you could find people with
similar interests based on what they searched for.  It would also enhance
recovery, findability and discoverability of information by 'attaching'
search terms to URL..."

Read on; brilliant stuff.


BLOUG PERMALINK & COMMENTS
http://louisrosenfeld.com/home/bloug_archive/000361.html

LINKS MENTIONED
Gene Smith on Search Tagging ::
http://atomiq.org/archives/2005/05/search_tagging.html

May 18, 2005:  Another Enterprise Roadmap


James Melzer has developed an impressive roadmap for Enterprise Content
Management in Context (268Kb PDF).  After your initial review you may be
overwhelmed, as I was, but don't worry:  take a deeper look and you'll find
it quite useful.

James' roadmap is designed to show how enterprise content management and EIA
fit together in the US federal government environment (you'll find it useful
for other types of enterprises as well).  It's a great way to get the
diverse types of people involved on the same page:  records managers,
enterprise architects, information architects, librarians, content managers,
IT staff, and managers.

Read James' blog entry for more details and comments.


BLOUG PERMALINK & COMMENTS
http://louisrosenfeld.com/home/bloug_archive/000362.html

LINKS MENTIONED
James Melzer's Roadmap (268Kb PDF) ::
http://www.jamesmelzer.com/EIAinContext.pdf
Discussion on James' site ::
http://www.jamesmelzer.com/bearings/archives/2005/05/enterprise_cont_1.html

May 19, 2005:  Experimenting with Tagging


Do you use del.icio.us?  And are you interested in enterprise information
architecture?  Then consider tagging your EIA bookmarks with the tag
"enterprise_ia".  If at least a few of us start doing this, then, as the tag
gods suggest, we'll all benefit from each other's research by monitoring the
tag at "http://del.icio.us/rss/louisrosenfeld/enterprise_ia".  Please spread
the word to anyone who you think might be interested.

I'm hoping others do this for more than the purely selfish reason of being
interested in enterprise IA.  My RSS aggregator currently includes tag feeds
for "information architecture," "user experience," and many of their common
variants.  I've found that monitoring these tags is a sort of useful way to
keep up with these two areas.  But only sort of.  I'd really prefer to track
more specific topics (like enterprise IA or search log analysis), as I
assume I'd be exposed to fewer, more specialized, and therefore more useful
results.  Unfortunately I haven't found many sufficiently precise tags in
del.icio.us land.

One of my concerns with folksonomies is that many taggers tend to tag a bit
too broadly.  How do we solve this problem?  I'm hoping that a little
coordination among people with a shared interest--as I'm suggesting with
"enterprise_ia"--might go a long way (assuming we generally agree on what
EIA actually is).  But even if this somehow succeeds, it doesn't strike me
as a scalable long-term solution.  What are other ways of encouraging
precision in folksonomic tagging?


BLOUG PERMALINK & COMMENTS
http://louisrosenfeld.com/home/bloug_archive/000363.html

LINKS MENTIONED
del.icio.us :: http://del.icio.us/
RSS feed for EIA :: http://del.icio.us/tag/enterprise_ia
Lou's blogroll :: http://www.bloglines.com/public/LouisRosenfeld
RSS feed for IA :: http://del.icio.us/tag/ia
RSS feed for UX :: http://del.icio.us/tag/ux

May 22, 2005:  IAI Retreat in New York Metro Area


I missed out on the first IAI Retreat, held in Asilomar, California, which
people are still talking about seven months later.  And unfortunately I'll
probably miss the next one, which takes place October 7-9, 2005, in
Briarcliff Manor, New York (just a quick train ride north from NYC).  But
you don't have to; lead organizer Anders Ramsay assures me there are still
several open spots.  It's relatively inexpensive and highly participatory;
in fact, you might consider making a presentation while you're there.


BLOUG PERMALINK & COMMENTS
http://louisrosenfeld.com/home/bloug_archive/000365.html

LINKS MENTIONED
Last Year's IAI Retreat :: http://iainstitute.org/news/000374.php
Upcoming IAI Retreat  :: http://iainstitute.org/news/000431.php

May 23, 2005:  Righteous Griping on Enterprise Search


Peter van Dijck and I participated in the Enterprise Search Summit last week
in NYC.  We both came away feeling the search engine vendors still don't
think a whole lot about how their products work for end users.  Which is
sad.

Search engine vendors should provide best bets functionality, especially in
an enterprise environment.  But many vendors still don't offer this basic
tool, and, as Peter found, some don't even know what the term "best bets"
means.  Read on...

PS  Feel free to download my keynote presentation on enterprise findability.


BLOUG PERMALINK & COMMENTS
http://louisrosenfeld.com/home/bloug_archive/000366.html

LINKS MENTIONED:
Enterprise Search Summit :: http://www.enterprisesearchsummit.com/
More on best bets (from the IA Wiki) :: http://www.iawiki.net/BestBets
Peter van Dijck's comments ::
http://poorbuthappy.com/ease/archives/2005/05/20/2683/enterprise-search-stil
l-a-technology-conversation
Lou's keynote presentation (1.2Mb PPT) ::
http://louisrosenfeld.com/presentations/050517-ESS.ppt

March 23, 2005:  IA Summit 2006


It's never too early to mark your calendar for the IA Summit.  This one will
take place in lovely Vancouver, BC, Canada, March 23-27, 2006.

Also, you can help shape the key topics that will be covered at the Summit
by completing a survey (link below).  Unfortunately, I'm running behind in
my PR bloggage; I think the survey will be closing tomorrow morning.


BLOUG PERMALINK & COMMENTS
http://louisrosenfeld.com/home/bloug_archive/000367.html

LINKS MENTIONED
IA Summit :: http://iasummit.org/
Summit Topics Survey :: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.asp?u=565131084889

May 24, 2005:  How Many of Us?


A colleague from Joe knows writes:

"Hi Lou:
 
"I have a simple--but not easy--task ahead of me.  I'm trying to quantify
the size of the U.S. market that includes information architects, web
designers, and UI and UX specialists.  Beyond looking at their respective
associations, where might I go for this information?  The U.S. Department of
Labor does not yet have a number, even for IAs.
 
"Can you help point me in the right direction?"

Great question.  And I'm not sure where to begin.  Any advice out there?



BLOUG PERMALINK & COMMENTS
http://louisrosenfeld.com/home/bloug_archive/000369.html

LINKS MENTIONED
Joe knows :: http://www.joe-knows.com

May 26, 2005:  Taxonomy Experts


Seems like I get asked for names of taxonomy specialists frequently, so I
thought I'd just publicize my list here on Bloug.

   * Katherine Bertolucci, Isis Information Services ::
http://isisinform.com/
   * Joseph Busch/Ron Daniel, Taxonomy Strategies ::
http://taxonomystrategies.com/
   * Seth Earley, Earley & Associates :: http://earley.com/
   * Jean Graef, Montague Institute :: http://www.montague.com
   * Fred Leise, ContextualAnalysis :: http://contextualanalysis.com/
   * Marcia Morante, KCurve :: http://kcurve.com/
   * Tom Reamy, KAPS Group :: http://kapsgroup.com/
   * Amy Warner, Lexonomy :: http://lexonomy.com/

Some I've worked with closely, others I've just heard of.  They're all
independent consultants based in the US, so naturally the list is far from
complete.  Send me more and I'll add them.


BLOUG PERMALINK & COMMENTS
http://louisrosenfeld.com/home/bloug_archive/000368.html

May 27, 2005:  Denver This Time


Yep, another enterprise IA seminar (in Denver, 9am-5pm, June 2), followed by
another everyone's-invited happy hour (at the Celtic Tavern, 18th & Blake,
6-8pm, June 2), followed by Steve Krug's web usability workshop (9am-5pm,
June 3).  And yep, I blog essentially the same announcement for each of the
six cities Steve and I visit each year.  I'm by no means tired of the
seminars or the happy hours, just these announcements (as I'm sure you are
too).  Sorry; but I'm not sure there's a better way to do it.

There are still some seats open at both seminars, so last minute shoppers
are welcome.


BLOUG PERMALINK & COMMENTS
http://louisrosenfeld.com/home/bloug_archive/000370.html

LINKS MENTIONED
EIA seminar :: http://louisrosenfeld.com/presentations/seminars/eia/
Happy Hour info :: http://www.joe-knows.com/e-news/web_gurus.html
Web usability workshop :: http://www.sensible.com/workshops.html

June 5, 2005:  Moving up the Food Chain


I have this fantasy that in about ten or twenty years, companies will hire
"information guys" as senior managers just like they hire "numbers guys" and
"process guys" today.  Am I just dreaming?

It's not uncommon for organizations to bring on leaders whose expertise
trumps their lack of familiarity with a new employer's products and
services.  Might some smart IA-turned-CEO turn around Ford in 2020, before
moving on to a completely different business (say, Merck) a few years later?


BLOUG PERMALINK & COMMENTS
http://louisrosenfeld.com/home/bloug_archive/000371.html

June 7, 2005:  Information Architecture Columns


Great to see that Digital Web magazine is running a regular IA column,
"Information Architecture for the People," by Joshua Kaufman.  The latest
column is full of useful practical advice, and I'm looking forward to
Joshua's future columns.

I've been in list-making mode lately; what other regular IA features and
columns are there?  Here's my list of past and present columns; let me know
what I may be missing and I'll make additions:

   * Bulletin of ASIS&T's "IA Column" (Andrew Dillon; 2000-present) ::
http://www.asis.org/Bulletin/index.html
   * CIO Magazine's "A Closer Look: Critical Reviews of Corporate Websites"
(Louis Rosenfeld; 2000) :: http://webbusiness.cio.com/archive/closer.html
(don't laugh at the cheesy photo please)
   * Digital Web's "IAnything Goes" (Jeff Lash; 2002-2004) ::
http://www.digital-web.com/types/ianything_goes/
   * Digital Web's "Information Architecture for the People" (Joshua Kaufman;
2005-present) :: http://digital-web.com/types/ia_for_the_people/
   * Semantic Studios' "Semantics" (Peter Morville; 2001-present)
   * Web Review's "Web Architect" (Louis Rosenfeld, Peter Morville, Samantha
Bailey, Steve Toub; 1995-1999) :: whereabouts unknown since Doctor Dobbs
acquired Web Review's content (and what was the point of that?)


BLOUG PERMALINK & COMMENTS
http://louisrosenfeld.com/home/bloug_archive/000372.html

Jun 20, 2005:  Fall Seminars:  Washington, Chicago, Seattle


I'll have the details soon, but figured I should get the word out about dates
and locations
for Steve Krug's and my fall seminars ASAP:

* Washington, DC: September 15 (Lou), September 16 (Steve)
* Chicago, IL: September 29 (Lou), September 30 (Steve)
* Washington, DC: October 20 (Lou), October 21 (Steve)

As usual, I'll be teaching my seminar on Enterprise Information Architecture,
and Steve will
be teaching his web usability workshop.

Discounts will be available for early registration, volume registration (three
or more), and
for registering for both seminars. Please mark your calendars for now;
registration will be
open here soon. Hope to see you this fall!


BLOUG PERMALINK & COMMENTS
http://louisrosenfeld.com/home/bloug_archive/000373.html

LINKS MENTIONED
Lou's EIA seminar :: http://louisrosenfeld.com/presentations/seminars/eia/
Steve's web usability workshop :: http://www.sensible.com/workshops.html

My apologies; the October 20-21 dates are for Seattle.  I should have typed:

  * Washington, DC: September 15 (Lou), September 16 (Steve)
  * Chicago, IL: September 29 (Lou), September 30 (Steve)
  * Seattle, WA:  October 20 (Lou), October 21 (Steve)


> Jun 20, 2005:  Fall Seminars:  Washington, Chicago, Seattle
>
>
> I'll have the details soon, but figured I should get the word out about
> dates and locations
> for Steve Krug's and my fall seminars ASAP:
>
> * Washington, DC: September 15 (Lou), September 16 (Steve)
> * Chicago, IL: September 29 (Lou), September 30 (Steve)
> * Washington, DC: October 20 (Lou), October 21 (Steve)
>
> As usual, I'll be teaching my seminar on Enterprise Information
> Architecture, and Steve will
> be teaching his web usability workshop.
>
> Discounts will be available for early registration, volume registration
> (three or more), and
> for registering for both seminars. Please mark your calendars for now;
> registration will be
> open here soon. Hope to see you this fall!
>
>
> BLOUG PERMALINK & COMMENTS
> http://louisrosenfeld.com/home/bloug_archive/000373.html
>
> LINKS MENTIONED
> Lou's EIA seminar :: http://louisrosenfeld.com/presentations/seminars/eia/
> Steve's web usability workshop :: http://www.sensible.com/workshops.html