The emphasis on the social design of complex information environments is evident in this definition from the Information Architecture Institute:
- The structural design of shared information environments.
- The art and science of organizing and labelling web sites, intranets, online communities and software to support usability and findability.
- An emerging community of practice focused on bringing principles of design and architecture to the digital landscape.
An IA Curriculum
In their evaluation of various IA curricula, the Graduate School of Library and Information Science at the University of Texas at Austin, developed these learning objectives for their own proposed curriculum:
- Understand and apply theories of information organization and retrieval as they relate to managing
electronic resources. - Have a basic knowledge of a Web programming language and the software design process.
- Design, implement, and analyze data from social research projects.
- Understand and apply the concepts of user-centered design and Web site usability.
- Research, plan, and manage IA projects.
- Be familiar with key aspects of the application of electronic information resources in educational
and/or business environments. - Develop and practice the soft skills of working in a team environment, critical thinking, and problem
solving. - Effectively communicate ideas and concepts (both orally and in writing) on many different levels of
understanding, from end users to clients to corporate sponsors.
It’s instantly recognizable as a discipline within the field of library science, but certainly a learning designer would feel comfortable with these objectives.
To Read
These have been selected from the IA Canon:
- Lackoff, G. (1999). Women, fire, and dangerous things: What categories reveal about the mind.
- Rosenfeld, L. & Morville, P. (2002). Information Architecture for the World Wide Web.
- Wodtke, C. (2003). Information Architecture: Blueprints for the Web.
- Morrogh, E. (2002). Information Architecture: An Emerging 21st Century Profession.
- Gilchrist, A. (2003). Information Architecture: Designing Information Environments for Purpose.
- Wurman, R.S. (1997). Information Architects.
