P1252428548POwVR

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INFORMATION ARCHITECTURE
Why would you want another job?
SUMEET AMBRE ERIC SNAJDR ROSS DURRER
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From Wikipedia
Information architecture (often abbreviated
"I.A.") is the practice of structuring
information (knowledge or data) for a purpose.
These are often structured according to their
context in user interactions or larger databases.
The term is most commonly applied to Web
development, but also applies to disciplines
outside of a strict Web context, such as
programming and technical writing. In the context
of web design (or design for related media)
information architecture is defined by the
Information Architecture Institute as the
structural design of shared information
environments. The art and science of organizing
and labeling 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
alternate definition of information architecture
exists within the context of information system
design, in which information architecture refers
to data modeling and the analysis and design of
the information in the system, concentrating on
entities and their interdependencies. Data
modeling depends on abstraction the
relationships between the pieces of data is of
more interest than the particulars of individual
records, though cataloging possible values is a
common technique. The usability of human-facing
systems, and standards compliance of internal
ones, are paramount.
WHAT IS INFORMATION ARCHITECTURE?
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What is an Information Architect?
From Wikipedia
Information architecture (often abbreviated
"I.A.") is the practice of structuring
information (knowledge or data) for a purpose.
These are often structured according to their
context in user interactions or larger databases.
The term is most commonly applied to Web
development, but also applies to disciplines
outside of a strict Web context, such as
programming and technical writing. In the context
of web design (or design for related media)
information architecture is defined by the
Information Architecture Institute as the
structural design of shared information
environments. The art and science of organizing
and labeling 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
alternate definition of information architecture
exists within the context of information system
design, in which information architecture refers
to data modeling and the analysis and design of
the information in the system, concentrating on
entities and their interdependencies. Data
modeling depends on abstraction the
relationships between the pieces of data is of
more interest than the particulars of individual
records, though cataloging possible values is a
common technique. The usability of human-facing
systems, and standards compliance of internal
ones, are paramount.
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Professional Resources for the Information
Architect
Journal of the American Society for Information
Science and Technology (JASIST) http//www.asis.or
g/jasist.html Annual Review of Information
Science Technology (ARIST), http//www.asis.org/
jasist.html Bulletin of the American Society for
Information Science and Technology
http//www.asis.org/jasist.html The ACM Digital
Library http//portal.acm.org Journal of the ACM
(JACM) http//portal.acm.org ACM Transactions on
Computer-Human Interaction (TOCHI) http//www.acm.
org/tochi/ Journal of Usability Studies
(Usability Professional's Association) http//www.
upassoc.org
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Professional Organizations for the Information
Architect
American Society for Information Science and
Technology (http//www.asis.org/) Usability
Professional's Association (http//www.upassoc.org
) Human Factors and Ergonomics Society
(http//www.hfes.org/) Society for Technical
Communication (http//www.stc-va.org/)
Association for Computing Machinery
(http//www.acm.org/) SIGCHI (http//www.acm.org/s
igchi/) American Society of Indexers
(http//www.asindexing.org) The American Center
for Design (http//www.ac4d.org/home/home.asp)
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Professional Organizations for the Information
Architect cont'd
http//iainstitute.org/

• - Information Architecture Library
• - Job board
• - Mentoring Program
• - Moderated IA discussion lists
• Design tools
• IA Wiki see http//iainstitute.org/pg/partners.ph
  p
• and more

http//www.boxesandarrows.com/
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Attention All Nerds
www.alden-conger.org/.../brette/pics/nerd.jpeg
Examples of topics from previous years -
Refining our craft Meeting, discussing and
sharing with other IAs our experiences. - Making
Connections Finding ways to make connections
between fields within the umbrella of information
architecture. - Crossing Boundaries Energizing
connections across geographic, academic, and
cross-disciplinary boundaries in order to drive
best practices and innovation in all of our IA
endeavors. - Breaking New Ground Strengthening
the foundation of the discipline and widening the
scope of IA practice. http//www.iasummit.org/20
07/previous.html
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Information Architect Openings
http//www.dice.com

• Information Architect Job (Location Chicago
  Compensation 110K)
• Provides internal and external knowledge works
  with timely, consumable and relevant unstructured
  and semi-structured content
• Background/Working Conditions
• Background in the concepts and application of
  standards/practices for capturing, organizing,
  managing, searching, retrieving, presenting and
  archiving unstructured and structured
  information/data, with a working knowledge of
  current data and content integration methods and
  an understanding of records management and
  information lifecycles
• Typical Work
• Information architecture and design
• Application development using FileNet P8,
  Mobius, J2EE, XML, and HTML
• Problem solving and communication skills

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Information Architect Openings
http//www.dice.com

• Information Architect Job (Location Alpharetta,
  GA Compensation 88K)
• Skills in wireframes and web applications
  desired
• Key job responsibility is to create, read,
  update and maintain wireframes
• Own and control the user interaction experience
  and information flow on the company websites
• Maintain a successful and compelling user
  experience
• Background/Working Conditions
• Experience with MS Office, MS Visio, Flash,
  DHTML, Director
• Prototyping tools
• Experience with writing for the web
• Web Development

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Information Architect Openings
http//www.dice.com

• IA/Usability Specialist Job (Location Fairfax,
  VA Compensation N/A)
• Support Sr. IA in collecting user and system
  requirements and convert them into simple,
  intuitive designs for web-based systems
• Develop wireframes, mockups, and prototypes for
  websites and web-based applications
• Organize information and functionality into a
  logical presentation layer
• Design attractive, intuitive, accessible
  websites
• Typical Work
• Work with wireframes and web design
• Use HTML, CSS, XML, MS Visio
• Interaction design/user design
• Educational Requirements
• BS in Human Factors, HCI, Information Science,
  Technical Communication
• Library Science, Graphics Design

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Website Design Comparison
http//www.2advanced.com
http//www.activision.com/en_US/home/home.jsp
http//www.blitzagency.com/
http//www.microsoft.com
http//www.adobe.com
http//www.bls.gov/
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Some IA Deliverables

• Content Inventory
• User Profiles
• Use Cases (User Scenario, Task Analysis)
• Process Flow (User Flow, Interaction Flow, User
  Interaction Flow)
• Site Hierarchy Map (Blueprint, Hierarchy Diagram,
  Flow Diagram, Site Architecture Map, Site Flow
  Chart, Site Wireframe, Web Map)
• Wireframes (Page Architecture, Low Fidelity
  Mock-Up, Page Schematic)
• Paper Prototype (Low Fidelity Prototype)
• Story Board (Blueprint, Schematic, Grey Model,
  Interaction, Interaction Wireframe, IA
  Requirements Document, Design Document)
• Style Guides

Retrieved from http//www.gdoss.com/web_info/inf
ormation_architecture_deliverables.php
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Skills/Tools of an Information Architect

• Drawing
• Computer Aided Design / Vector Drawing Programs
• Microsoft Visio (Windows)
• CorelDraw (Windows)
• Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop
• Macromedia Flash (windows, Mac)
• Concept Draw, Omnigraffle (Mac)
• Dia, Inkscape (open source)
• Prototyping Agile Development Tools
• Hyper text markup Language (HTML)
• RAD Tools Visual Basic, Borland Delphi
• User Interface APIs

http//iainstitute.org/tools/download/CavazzaWiref
rame.pdf
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Skills/Tools Continued

• Stylesheet Languages
• Cascading Style Sheets (CSS)
• Extensible Stylesheet Language Transformations
  (XSLT)
• Programming Skills ()
• Markup Language (HTML, XML)
• Scripting Languages (PHP, Perl, ASP.Net,
  VbScript, Javascript etc.)
• Soft Skills
• Effective Communication, Listening
• Creativity, Analytical Thinking, Problem Solving
• Team Building, Diplomacy, Leadership

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Information Architecture Career Paths
Entry Level Positions

• Web Designer/ Developer
• Documentation/ Configuration Management
• Information Engineer
• Architecture Analysts
• Data Architect
• Information System Developer
• User Experience Designer

High Level Positions

• Senior IT Architect
• Technical Director
• Lead Architect Specialist
• Senior User Interface Designer
• Program Manager
• Web Content Specialist