SIGIA-L Mail Archives: Re: SIGIA-L: Dressing up in Lab Coats
Re: SIGIA-L: Dressing up in Lab Coats
From: Jesse James Garrett (jjg_at_jjg.net)
Date: Mon Feb 18 2002 - 01:14:59 EST
Andrew Hinton:
>One thing that does complicate the role that Lou delineates below is that so
>many of us have to *do* a lot of interaction design and usability stuff
>because we're the only ones in our teams aware of how, or the only ones
>willing or wanting to do it.
This is why ia/recon starts out by drawing the distinction between
the discipline and the role. I believe it is absolutely critical that
we define these as separate areas for discussion if we are to move
forward. Furthermore, I think we would really be best served by
focusing on the discipline, regardless of who practices it. Roles are
important, but I don't think arguing over roles is the most
constructive use of this community's energy. Few of us get to define
our roles anyway.
In other words, I don't think it matters too much whether an
information architect also does usability testing -- but I would
strongly resist any suggestion that usability testing is 'a part of'
the discipline of information architecture. (Same goes for
interaction design, Christina!) Identifying these as separate
disciplines is what allows us to talk about them in meaningful ways.
Louis Rosenfeld:
>For me, the "what" of information architecture has always been about
>"findability" (not surprising given my LIS background). How do we make it
>easier for users to find information?
One issue that I raise in part 2 of the essay is that designing for
findability is only one type of information architecture problem, and
that we need to start developing approaches that can be applied to a
broader set of problems. Relying on the tools and techniques designed
to solve this (relatively) narrow set of problems will only take us
so far.
___________________________________________________________________________
Jesse James Garrett I'm not ignoring you, I'm just writing my book:
jjg_at_jjg.net http://www.jjg.net/elements/
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