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IP View Rebecca Jones, Co-Editor - Intranet Professional One of the most rapidly developing fields impacting intranets and knowledge management is information architecture (IA). The last two issues featured Andy Breeding’s reports from the ASIS Summit 2000 on Information Architecture. ASIS has just changed its name to ASIS&T, American Society for Information Science and Technology, and is planning Summit 2001: “Practicing Information Architecture,” February 2-4, 2001, in San Francisco, California [http://www.asis.org/Conferences/Summit2001/]. Given the importance of IA to intranet and KM environments and the critical role information professionals can play in this area, this issue is largely devoted to demystifying IA. Lou Rosenfeld of Argus Associates [http://www.argus-inc.com], who with Peter Morville authored a definitive work on IA, Information Architecture for the World Wide Web [http://www.argus-inc.com/features/feature.shtml], discusses the ins, outs and cost-justification challenges of IA. Roy Tennant of California Digital Library [http://escholarship.cdlib.org/rtennant/] explores the competencies required for IA and the evolving roles for information professionals in this field. This isn’t so much a field requiring certified “information architects,” as it is a field requiring multi-disciplines and, as Roy says, those that can “learn as they breathe.” Another leading light to watch in IA, referred to by Lou during the interview, is Andrew Dillon. Professor of Information Science and Informatics at Indiana University, Andrew is also part of the Core Faculty in Cognitive Science, and adjunct associate professor of Computer Science and Instructional Systems Technology. In other words, he sees all sides of human interaction with technology. Like Roy, Andrew feels that the design of truly effective and usable systems relies on expertise and approaches from several disciplines and doesn’t believe that any one person needs to embody them all. Check out some of his work at http://argus-acia.com/people/dillon_profile.html and http://www.slis.indiana.edu/adillon/adillon.html. September’s KMWorld 2000 Conference in Santa Clara, California, featured a full track on “Knowledge Nets: Portals, Intranets, and Extranets,” as well as some very impressive sessions on taxonomies and IA. Many of the speakers have placed their presentations on the conference Web site [https://www.infotoday.com/KMWorld2000/presentations/default.htm]. Two presentations on taxonomies that are worth checking out are by Mike Crandall of Microsoft and Claude Vogel of Semio. Crandall’s “Using Taxonomies Effectively in the Organization” [https://www.infotoday.com/KMWorld2000/presentations/crandall.ppt] discusses MSWeb’s taxonomy management in detail and offers an excellent graphic of how a site’s information architecture, security, metrics, interface, and integration components all fit. Vogel covered automated taxonomies and the various quality-control methods for dealing with the mountains of content in a timely manner [https://www.infotoday.com/KMWorld2000/presentations/vogel.ppt]. Interestingly, the speakers focusing on taxonomy agreed that the market is now ready for international taxonomic standards, which may be developed and maintained in vertical industry group. Stay tuned for that one! One of the other quandaries for many organizations’ intranets continues to be meaningful measures. Dave Hook kicks off a two-part look at intranet metrics. This month he gives the factors to be considered. Next month he’ll describe those metric tools available, both for free and for fee. Believe it or not, the next issue is January/February 2001. Seems like 2000 just started, doesn’t it? In addition to intranet metrics, that issue will examine intranets in law firms as well as vortals—vertical industry portals. To those of you
in the U.S., have a happy Thanksgiving, and to those around the world,
we extend our wishes for a wonderful holiday season and a bright beginning
to 2001.
Rebecca
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