Information Architecture Institute Australia

One of the issues IAIA will be looking into is the accreditation/qualification of IAs in Australia.

At present, most of us “claim” our IA status.  We’ve been working in industry in this role for a number of years, and thus we call ourselves that.  There are others in industry who do this job, but don’t call themselves IAs - rather, business systems consultants, user design analysts, designers or whatever.

But what of people who want to learn the trade, and become an IA.  Where do they go?  They can go to some adhoc courses provided by committed IAs, seek out some online information or DIY study.

In the latest Screen and Media Training Package (this is for vocational education and training), there is a specific unit of “competency” Design Information Architecture.  From a cursory search, there doesn’t seem to be much evidence that this is currently being taught in the TAFE colleges, although TAFE Tasmania looks like going down the track.  Charles Sturt University is the only university that runs some post-grad courses in IA.

It’s really not good enough.  Imagine building architects calling themselves just that, and then practising their craft!  There’d be some very shonky buildings, and industry would go spare.  So, why not apply the same standards in IA?

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.