Information Architecture

Definitions of "Information Architecture"

The following list was compiled in early 2001

• R. E. Wyllys
  Discusses ideas associated with the phrase "information architecture" and relates them to aspects of the library- and information-science (LIS) professions.
• Angshuman Das
• Sacha Cohen
  To find out exactly what it takes to succeed in this intriguing job, I spoke to Mattie Langenberg, principal of the Chicago-based Schema Studios, and creative director Michael Brooks. Here are their thoughts.
• Stephen Downes
  At the North American Web Developers' Conference earlier this month, Bebo White - the designer who built the first web server in North America - talked about the changing role of the webmaster.
• Argus Associates
  An information architecture is composed of organization, navigation, indexing and searching systems.
• Jon C. Wretlind
  Information Architecture is a method of design, not a style. It is a method developed from the disciplines of industrial design, and borrows much of its ideals from the neo-modernists. Therefore, instead of calling what I do for a living "graphic design," which is limiting, I call it "information architecture."
• Christina Wodke
  You know when you're on a website and you see a bunch of navigation choices to click on? I'm the one who decided what the choices are, what they are called and where they take you when you click
• Peter Morville
  What is information architecture? Is it a nascent field or a flash in the pan? What does an information architect do? Are you an information architect? Am I? Is that the right label for our discipline? Do labels and definitions matter?
• Louis Rosenfeld
  "Information architecture involves the design of organization and navigation systems to help people find and manage information more successfully."
• v-2 Organisation | interface + usability | Information architecture, finite yet unbounded

Some more recent musings on the topic: (compiled in August 2003)

• Boxes and Arrows: (Not) Defining the damn thing
  by Louis Rosenfeld
  Discussions of how we should label ourselves and define our work are like flu epidemics. They break out from time to time, follow a fairly predictable course, and often make us want to barf.
• AskTog: It's Time We Got Respect
  by Bruce Tognazzini
  

  We must have a single, universal name for our profession, regardless of whether we are doing the interaction design of a traditional computer application, a web site, or a computerized product, from an oven timer to a jet aircraft

  The name must:

  1. Be perceived as powerful.
  2. Be clear, offering enough specificity that outsiders know either at a glance or following the briefest of explanations what we do for a living.
  3. Be memorable, so once heard or learned, people will forever know what we do.
  4. Be broad enough that it allows us the latitude to impact every aspect of our products, rather than resigning us, as have some titles of the past, to being mere decorators, brought in to cover over the holes after the damage has already been done.
  5. Be universal enough to enable all of us who deal with human-machine interaction to use the same title on our resumes and business cards, helping establish that all-important brand.