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This article originated as a question from one of our course participants, a "usability specialist" at a financial services firm.
She went on to say,
"Based on my brief experience in this field (5 years), it seems that many information architects (IA's) are responsible for the presentation of information on a web site, but often don't have the time, tools, or skill sets to develop controlled vocabularies or thesauri. Also, because IAs are involved in such a wide range of projects, they sometimes aren't called upon to do taxonomy-related activities. For example, developing a transaction-based web application that allows employees to take customer orders requires a different set of deliverables than developing a [self service] web site that allows customers to browse, list, and purchase products."
"Based on my brief experience in this field (5 years), it seems that many information architects (IA's) are responsible for the presentation of information on a web site, but often don't have the time, tools, or skill sets to develop controlled vocabularies or thesauri.
Also, because IAs are involved in such a wide range of projects, they sometimes aren't called upon to do taxonomy-related activities. For example, developing a transaction-based web application that allows employees to take customer orders requires a different set of deliverables than developing a [self service] web site that allows customers to browse, list, and purchase products."
In this article we summarize the ongoing debate about the role of the IA, add our own perspective on its future, and summarize the responses.
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Created on May 5, 2005
