Who is this person, an information architect?

I was most surprised that in search conducted on Australia’s primary job/career sites, there were 2 advertised information architects!  Yes, they actually used that term.

Out there in industry, the term is not well known.  In a recent survey of 900 or so multimedia companies in Victoria, only 20 said they provided information architecture as a service.  Yet, they were doing this (hopefully) as part of their design work.

In the area I work, that’s in education and training, the term is not widely used or known.  Instead, the term used is instructional designer.  I explain to the client that it’s the wrong term for an online environment as we are dealing not with text on paper, but a three dimensional space - which is why architecture is the correct term. The paper-based analogy (metaphor) effects so much of the client’s view of online design, and part of the IAs work is to convince them that the website is not a brochure, an online training resource is not a textbook, that content and structure are integrally related in three dimensions (not two).  Several years ago, I was at a conference where the best metaphor I had heard for an online space was - theatre.

So not only do we need to educate industry about our profession, we need to educate them that the IA role and understanding is essential to a successful online product.