“CardSort is a software tool which helps Information Architects to conduct computer aided Card Sorting. It was created by Steffen Schilb in 2003.” (Steffen Schilb) – courtesy of iawiki

“(…) the full version was recognized more than the content only version, recognized more than the form only version. The interesting finding is that when the form version was recognized, it happened twice as fast as for the other versions. (…) this is because the cognitive processing of visual information happens faster than that for verbal information. While there is some truth to that, let’s play detective and identify what cognitive mechanism is the culprit here.” (Rashmi Sinh) – courtesy of victor lombardi

“It’s been five years, the Summit is pretty much a regular event now and writing a column about it has become a normal assignment for me too. Can we stop calling ourselves a new field now?” (Andrew Dillon – ASTS&T Bulletin 30.5)

“Information architecture (or IA) is the science — some would insist art — of defining the structure, organization, navigation, labeling and indexing of a Website. It is the role of the information architect to decide how a site should be structured, what kind of content it should host, and how to accommodate future growth. In short, information architecture defines the backbone of a Website.” (Subha Subramanian – sitepoint) – courtesy of xblog

“Ambient findability describes a world in which we can find anyone or anything from anywhere at anytime.” (Peter Morville – FAQ Findability)

“If information architecture is a fairly new field, then the practice of teaching information architecture is even newer. Often instructors are experienced information architects who have little to no teacher training, and they must teach students with a wide range of experience and learning goals. Learning objectives are one tool that can make information architecture courses easier for teachers and more rewarding for students.” (Wendy Cown – Boxes and Arrows)

“Two questions resound throughout the content industry: Why do Enterprise Content Management (ECM) projects take so long to implement? And why do they fail with such alarming frequency? While all enterprise-level IT projects prove to be difficult and risky undertakings, a deeper examination of the ECM challenge in particular will reveal an endemic inattention to – or at best belated appreciation of – its critical corollary: the need for Enterprise Information Architecture (EIA).” (Tony Byrne – EContentMag) – courtesy of stig andersen

“The article starts off by citing Greg Storey’s work to redesign the infamous Bin Laden President’s Daily Brief. It then moves on to describe what Information Architecture/Design is and how it can make a difference in understanding information and in the bottom-line for a business. IA/ID also is mentioned in the decision-making process for the Columbia disaster, and Tufte gets to rail a bit against Powerpoint. Tufte also dismisses Mr. Storey’s redesign of the PDB (way to exhibit solidarity, Ed). The article then moves onto another favorite pundit, Nielsen, and he gets to quote his $71B in lost productvity sound-bite.” (every breath death defying) – courtesy of victor lombardi

Chapter from ‘Designing Personalized User Experiences in eCommerce‘
“The framework laid out here for understanding the design implications of personalization does not answer any questions, however – it just raises awareness of how little we already know about users’ expectations from personalization. In fact, the web and its early navigation metaphor are still young and we do not understand it well enough yet.” (Keith Instone)

“The IA Library is a selection of resources related to the field of information architecture. The collection includes articles, books, blogs, and more.” (Asilomar Institute for Information Architecture) – courtesy of peter morville

“Maybe my error is in assuming that KM is a field like IA, when perhaps it’s really more an industry, dominated by vendors, where practice is almost a dirty word. Kind of like content management (although the CM professionals are getting uppity and organized). Perhaps there is more synergy between fields (e.g. IA and usability) than between a field of practice and an industry.” (Louis Rosenfeld et al.)

“As more web practitioners have assumed the title of Information Architect to describe the work they do, and as more information architects (and user experience designers and user interface designers and information designers) are multitasking on reduced staffs, information architects have uncovered a wide range of ways to view both the practice and ourselves practicing.” (Lynn Stott – Boxes and Arrows)

“Card sorting is a great, reliable, inexpensive method for finding patterns in how users would expect to find content or functionality.” (Donna Maurer and Todd Warfel – Boxes and Arrows)

Trip Report

“Is there an information architect who doesn’t love facets?” (Boxes and Arrows Staff)

Video of presentations at the Fifth IA Summit 2004 – including Poster Sessions and the presentation of Jared Spool (CMSReview) – courtesy of columntwo

Materials from the Fifth Annual ASIS&T Information Architecture Summit: Breaking New Ground / 27-29 February, 2004 – Austin, Texas (IA Summit 2004)

“Feel free to leave your comments on my blog!” (Javier Velasco – mantruc)

“I realized this is the first conference I’ve ever attended that actually has something to do with what I do.” (Dan Saffer) – courtesy of ia summit blog

“This is where you can download a version of the presentation (5.5 Mb) that we did during the IA Summit. We have also included the HTML deliverable that we created during the demonstration.” (Peter Boersma and Jacco Nieuwland)