IAMAH

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IA_at_MAH

• Educating Information Architects in Malmö

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From where?

• Malmö University
• located in Malmö, Sweden
• about 20.000 students
• Computer Science Department
• Small department with varied backgrounds
• Theoretical Computer Science
• Cognitive Science
• Philosophy
• Software Engineering
• Computer Engineering
• HMI/HCI/HII
• Pedagogy

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Who am I?
Linus de Petris Director of the Information
Architect programme

• From computer engineering and automation
• to computer science
• with a shortcut through philosophy
• with almost everything about the web in between
• now lingering in a fuzzy middle ground between
  CS and IA.

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What is the vision?

• Vannevar Bush, July 1945 - As We May Think
• Urging scientist to pursue the massive task of
  making more accessible our bewildering store of
  knowledge
• Claiming that instruments are at hand which, if
  properly developed, will give access to and
  command over the inherited knowledge of the ages

http//www.theatlantic.com/doc/194507/bush
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Is it accomplished?

• In 1968 Douglas Engelbart made THE DEMO
• What was remembered and what did we learn?

Come ona mouse!?
http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mother_of_All_Dem
os
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What went wrong?
At MAH, four of us started to make plans
What on earth are they talking about?
It was starting to get clear that a new kind of
professional was needed
Users/ Clients
Design
Business
Engineering
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Another observed problem

• ACM (Association for Computing Machinery)

http//www.acm.org/education
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Meanwhile

• Information Science has had a journey of its own
• Computer science and information science split
  paths
• This made many computer scientist to disregard
  the web
• I think it is time to merge the two paths again

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Even more problems

• Possibly a Swedish problem?
• Youths are not interested in technology and
  science
• The industry is (re)hiring seniors for
  Computer/IT-projects

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Innovation not invention

• We are not inventing new skills, etc.
• Were refining them
• Its about problem solving
• Abstraction
• Decomposition
• Organization

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But!

• The problem is not yours!
• Listening
• Observing
• Communicating
• So, what we wanted was a Computer/Information
  science education with basic requirements.

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We ended up with this

• Information Architect, 180 ETCS
• BSc in Computer and Information Science
• A three year bachelor's programme
• Basic requirements to start
• First enrollment was last year (2006)

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Defining IA

• Oh, nohere we go again!
• I agree that it may not be needed for business
  right now
• But for the academia to be able to fully embrace
  IA and for IA to have a lasting future, it is of
  absolute importance

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Populist view of an IA
An IA is someone who design web page navigation
Too narrow!
An IA is someone who
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Architecture for books
Malmö Public Library
Stockholm Public Library
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Architecture for information?
http//www.opte.org/
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Architecture for information?
http//www.wikipedia.org/
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Information Architect
Data store
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someone who can
Lead feasibility studies, inception processes
Communicate among clients, users, designers,
engineers
Create models of information systems
Organize information to be accessible, usable,
findable
Evaluate implementation result and live operation
Refine design based on user experience
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IA An Emerging 21st Century Profession

• As Earl Morrogh puts it in his book from 2003
• Responsibilities
• Design and Design Management
• Project Management
• Research
• Mediation
• Subject Areas
• Project Planning and management
• Information systems and management
• Information searching and retrieval
• Information and communication technologies
• Human factors
• Research methods

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Defining IA

• Time to get active!
• On a piece of paper, write down what you think
  are
• the one most important responsibility
• and
• the one most important subject area
• for an Information Architect

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Course Structure

• First two years
• Two courses in parallel 10 ECTS each
• 10 ECTS project combining the courses

Course 1 practical
Combining project
30 ECTS
Course 2 theoretical
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Pedagogical model

• Project driven learning
• The project as such make explicit the knowledge
  needed
• Hopefully the project also makes it fun and
  interesting

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1st semester courses

• Information Design basic course
• Data, information and knowledge
• Philosophical foundations for information science
• Ethics
• Design Theory
• Basic Course in Information Technology
• Learn to get fluent with information technology
• Introduction to web technologies

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1st semester project

• Innovation in 1 cubic meter exhibit with show
  cases(what is the most important innovation, IT
  related)
• Visualization poster assignment(managing data
  and presenting information)
• Interactive visualization 1st web
  assignment(getting credibility with a digital
  representation)

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2nd semester courses

• User Experience User Models
• Foundations for User Experience
• Cognitive Science
• Web and Portal Construction
• Databases SQL, E/R-modeling
• User centered web design
• Web technologies continued

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2nd semester project

• ½-Live web project with real clients
• Amnesty Sweden, legal experts group
• MMT, Environmental Science Department, Malmö
  University
• (MMT would become something like MES, Malmö
  Environmental State)
• Lagunen, a cooperative marina in Malmö

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Design and Creation
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Redesign and Tuning
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3rd semester

• Distributed Information Systems
• System Models/System Architecture
• Data modeling
• XML
• Information design models
• Quality SE
• Paradigms in Programming
• UML, user stories, conceptual graphs,
  prototyping,

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3rd semester project

• Feasibility study
• With real clients including
• Real project ideas that they dont have the time
  to evaluate
• 6 project groups deliver 6 feasibility studies in
  January

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4th semester

• Architecture for/Development of e-services
• Information Security
• SOA and Web Services
• In deep study of individual choice (IA related of
  course)
• Information design applications
• e-business e-government
• HCI/HII
• Start to build a personal portfolio

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4th semester project

• Continuation of feasibility studies
• Inception, design, prototyping, implementation
• The students get to apply knowledge, tools, and
  methodologies
• We estimate that 3 of 6 feasibility studies will
  go ½-live

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5th semester election courses

• Students choose two of four courses (no project
  this term)
• Business Organization
• Business and Business management
• Innovation Law
• Project Management
• Theoretical and practical course in project
  management
• Web Measurement
• Analytical, architectural and infrastructural
  foundations for analysis of web traffic to
  support refinement or (re)design
• Mobile systems
• Limitations, accessibility and real-time aspects
  of design and programming for mobile systems.

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6th semester

• Two courses in parallel 15 ECTS each
• Exam Project
• Professional practice stationed at a company
• BSc Thesis
• Topic of own choice (again, related to IA of
  course)

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Thanks! Questions and comments Did I just
describe an IA, and possibly a way to educate the
same? Or an IA is someone who?
e-mail linus.de.petris_at_mah.se