IA Summit 09 - Plenary
Jesse James Garrett Slams One Door and Opens Many More
by Jeff Parks on 2009/04/05 | [5 Comments]
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IA Summit 2009 Podcasts
The IA Summit was held in Memphis, TN from March 20-22. Boxes and Arrows captured many of the main conference sessions (see schedule).
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The IA Summit Closing Plenary
Jesse James Garrett is a noted figure in the IA community, not only for his ground breaking book Elements of User Experience, but for the essay that galvanized the community in 2002, IA Recon .
In this IA Summit Closing Plenary, given without slides while wandering amidst the audience, Jesse examines what he has learned at the conference, he thoughts on the nature of the discipline and the practitioner, and gives bold, perhaps even shocking advice for the future direction of information architecture.
The following is an outline of some of his key points; please download the audio or watch the video for the complete experience.
Looking Back
Jesse revisits the turbulence of the first IA Summit in Boston, lamenting that he does not see this same turbulence in the IA community right now. Warning that “the opposite of turbulence is stagnation,” he looks back at the Great Depression and compares our grandparent’s feelings of scarcity to the community’s continued reliance on categorization in its various guises (e.g. taxonomy, thesauri, etc.) for its identity.
Moving On
Thanking IA leaders and the organizations that have nurtured Information Architecture, he declares that it is time to move on from the past. Leaders in IA, including himself, are notable based upon what they say about their work, not by their actual work and asks, “Do you know good IA when you see it?”
He is surprised that we don’t have schools of thought around IA. We have many ways to talk about our processes, but not about the “product of our work, a language of critique.” Until we can talk about the qualities of IA, we cannot judge the quality of the work.
No Information Architects
One of the desires of the IA community is to command respect. However, the overall value will take time to manifest itself, only reaching critical mass when “someone from this room” ascends to be CEO of an organization and creates a culture that respects the user to decimate the competition.
Jesse then puts forth his declaration that Information Architects and Interaction Designers do not exist. “There are, and only ever have been, User Experience Designers.”
He continues by breaking down UxD, examining how each element implied in the title illuminate his hypothesis – that the ephemeral and insubstantial CAN be designed independent of medium and across media. The web is just clay, he implores, and we can use many materials to create experiences.
Synthesis & Cohesion
Engagement is paramount, within any medium and across mediums. “Designing with human experience as an explicit outcome and human engagement as a specific goal is unique in human history.”
The varieties of engagement (e.g. the senses, mind, heart, and body) and other elements that influence the experience (e.g. capabilities, context, constraints) create the environment in which we work. UxD produces experiences that cross all of these elements, and mapping these experiences is incredibly challenging. The main goal is to synthesize them and create cohesive experiences that honor them.
Discovery, not Invention
With perception covered by visual designers, sound designers, and industrial designers, cognition and emotion are the manifest destiny of IA. User experience is not about information, rather, it is always about people and how they relate to information.
By structuring the information, User Experience Designers structure the tools that humanity uses. And, as a result, we influence how people think and feel. The final result is that those tools, in turn, shape humanity. We should embrace that responsibility.
Jesse predicts that UxD will take it’s place among fundamental human crafts. He posits that we are discovering the realities of people, their tools, and experiences rather than inventing them. With only ten years under our belts, we’ve only just begun that discovery, and he hopes that there will always be more.
Video by Chris Pallé and The UX Workshop
photo by Jorge Arango
Thanks to Chris and Jorge.
These podcasts are sponsored by:
The American Society of Information Science & Technology: Since 1937, ASIS&T has been THE society for information professionals leading the search for new and better theories, techniques, and technologies to improve access to information.
The IA Summit: the premier gathering place for information architects and other user experience professionals.
The theme of the event this year, Expanding Our Horizons, inspired peers and industry experts to come together to speak about a wide range of topics. This included information as wide ranging as practical techniques & tools to evolving practices to create better user experiences.
Boxes & Arrows: Since 2001, Boxes & Arrows has been a peer-written journal promoting contributors who want to provoke thinking, push limits, and teach a few things along the way.
Contribute as an editor or author, and get your ideas out there. boxesandarrows.com/about/participate
Readers' Comments (5)
Richard Dalton
17 Reputation points
Posted 2009/04/05 @ 19:15PM with
If you agree with Jesse’s stance on “UX Designer”, consider signing this to show support: itsjustux.org
uxdesign .com
2 Reputation points
Posted 2009/04/06 @ 22:28PM with
Listened to JJG’s Plenary this morning via i/pod. Always insightful, interesting, provocative (enough) and engaging. As every IA knows language matters, as the shaper of models clarifies thought. So I was glad to hear him reclaim and validate user experience design. I didn’t expect his take on use of “users,” given recent trends. And glad most of all for maintaining focus where it belongs: on people and our various modes of apprehension. Useful distinctions, admonitions, “new” idea-relationships, and renewed emphasis on the work itself, rather than talk about it. Tons of ‘grist for the mill.’ Thank you Jessie!
Nick Trendov
-3 Reputation points
Posted 2009/04/08 @ 06:05AM with
Simple observations expressed clearly combined with a recognition that other diciplines cover most of the user experience already. Oh, he also notes ”... it is always about people and how they relate to information.” .
A huge difference from what is normally posted.
That’s a breath of fresh air.
Cheers,
Nick
www.neuropersona.com
joe gannon
1 Reputation points
Posted 2009/07/09 @ 17:58PM with
I think the goal of IA has always been to make information usable and create a real experience. But I also do agree that the role of the IA seems to have evolved. However the industry seems to have been splintered into many different camps. There are those who just make mockups in Visio, others do HTML prototypes, some test, others don’t. The documentation process seems in many cases to either over document or under document. And the worst part of this whole thing is when projects are done with little or no usability process. And if you see how the market is going, most positions now expect programming expertise on top of UX.
lou suSi
0 Reputation points
Posted 2009/12/06 @ 13:01PM with
fantastic plenary session … i wish i could’ve been there to receive those words from Garrett … i feel that our field, like many disciplines that fall under the umbrella of design, doesn’t yet fully understand the severe importance of what it is we bring to the world … and, as Garrett said here in this podCast and videoCap … its NOT about respect and power and a ‘seat at the table’ ... we need to destroy the table and start over … we need to redesign it all, starting with the table … and we’ll only gain respect from those in the profession, a quiet wink or a nod or a comment on a blog or portfolio … this is all we should need, is our community acknowledgment and the satisfaction of advancing the experience and the value of user experience design as an amazing and fundamentally essential discipline
i work in an environment that doesn’t eve know what they have in me as a design professional … the challenge to educate and bring the team along to even begin to understand that i’m not just coloring in and ‘making pretty’, supplying that all essential professional need for ‘frosting’, that challenge alone is exhausting but well-worth the fight … i’m still struggling with that in the full hopes to also deliver the good experience, the best experience, in the form of amazing deliverables and proven user-centered design processes … and in the shape of a patient, professional ux leadership guidance with every twist, turn and shimmy on the journey i will bring a virgin team on through the forest ( perhaps a gentle wolf in ux design clothing { thick-rimmed glasses, dark turtle-neck and a laptop } ) ...