connecting*the*dots

Every once in a while, a Sci-fi movie comes around the bend that actually makes you think:

• Bladerunner did it for me in ‘82
• Brazil even more so in ‘85
• And then came Gattaca in ‘97

Well, this November, the year of 2002, Steven Soderburgh has brought another gem into the fold. Solaris will probably only do 10% the gate of his remake of Oceans Eleven, but hey, that’s straight up mathamatics; only 10% of that audience will even ‘get’ this brilliantly directed and acted pseudo-remake of Andrei Tarkovsky’s epic 1972 film of the same title.

The beauty of this film, as with all great sci-fi films, is that the most challenging questions surrounding our humanity comes into play:

• Who are we?
• Where do we come from?
• Do we have control over our destiny?
• Is intelligence equitable to Godliness?

Solaris weaves through each of these questions (and more) with a plodding tempo and soundtrack, reminiscent to a heartbeat, providing the backbone of a humanistic journey of self-discovery; both on film and in the theatre itself.

Solaris will not provide answers, only pose questions and possibilities. It’s up to you to invest your intellect to come to your own conclusions. Be one of the 10%. It’s definitely worth the investment.

The gist of the recent AIfIA debate centers around the proactive rock stars of the information architecture profession who have been defining the field for the past few years. And you know you hate them on one level or another.

C’mon, they’re librarians!

They’re the same people that shushed us in middle-school and watched over us in detention. They’ve no sense of humor about the title Moby Dick and would rather sort books than get a ray of sunlight. Now, while we work away on projects of all types—trying to hone our overall interactive skills and live a balanced life, their dreams of librarian stardom have kicked in… hard.

The little IA theory has gained so much traction over the past two years, any conversation of Big IA has lost it’s validity backstage within the community; Information architecture has become a discrete entity, separated from interaction design, UI design and information design.

Sure, it’s part natural evolution, but doesn’t anyone remember the time frame of this transformation? It began take hold about six months prior to the great consultancy collapse of 2001. During the La Jolla IA convention, I spent time listening to a woman from (now defunct) Scient going on and on about how interaction design comes into play when you work on a web application and information architecture when you work on a web site and sometimes… you need both on one project.

Sure, that makes sense in the rigid definition we’ve assigned such skills and titles, but in reality it made more dollars and cents than anything else.

Most consultancies billed out IA’s and ID’s at a rate of over $250 per hour at the time. The bloated industry was calling for specialists, and our Rock Stars (management included) were more than willing and able to provide it… for a fee. Now the ultimate venue, the MSG of IA, has supposedly arrived in the form of AIfIA.

With the industry all but collapsing on itself over the past two years, some things have become apparent, with the most visible being that the true need for such specificity is rare.

Just look at some of the specific IA shops that have since shut their doors. Big IA or User Experience Designers (UX) are needed now more than ever (in this economic climate).

So why is it that Mr. and Mrs. Crabtree haven’t yet emerged from the sorting room and observed the big picture?

To me, it seems that they might be so enthralled with the information architecture moniker, that they would rather lead the IA troops into the business world overly prepared to created a bottom up, contextually navigated, collaborative filtered on-line realm when the outside world is nowhere near ready.

It’s like bringing a canon to a fist fight; you’ll probably be knocked out before you can load your 100lb charge.

Creating a UX foundation, working top-down, if you’d like, detailing the specific roles once the real ROI goal — user/client experience — is defined, might make more sense than pushing IA as the end-all-be-all, but hey, I’m just a 9-5 working IA/ID/UX garage band guitarist… what do I know?

My career as an IA started with a lecture from Moses himself.

Richard Saul Wurman came to the Fashion Institute of Technology in 1998 to give a presentation on the past, present and future of information architecture. After the lecture, me and my newly acquainted crew from Organic-NY headed back to the office with a passionate drive to better our work in the interactive space.

I mention this because I find it extremely interesting to see Wurman’s vision of IA evolving before our very eyes. Yes, Wurman did proclaim that (paraphrasing):

"A new breed of workers called information architects would take on the challenge of handling the tsunami of information crashing upon our shores."

But Wurman himself was, and still is, much more than what our community has tried so desperately to establish over the past few years as the definition of ‘information architect’ proper (i.e. one who improves search/findability, through labeling, categorization, thesauri development; a librarian extraordinaire).

Wurman envisioned information architecture as a design solution in the information age; an intrinsic quality of the design process itself. Sure, that can be translated into the library science model of IA that we accept now, but is that definition due to the evolution of the work or to the ‘leadership’ of our community?

It’s not an easy question to answer, but a valid one to ask none the less.

So what will be the agenda of AIfIA moving forward concerning the role/responsibilities of IA’s in the workplace? How will IA be positioned regarding return on investment? Where will the line be drawn in reference to IA’s estranged cousins (UX and the ID’s)? Should there really be one professional stance as IA/ID graduate programs come to fruition?

If Wurman really is the father of IA, as Christina suggested by quoting him, let’s respect his vision (pre-internet/hyperlink), build upon our evolution and seriously think about the future of our profession. I do hope AIfIA provides an open and collaborative think tank and doesn’t turn into Derek’s worst nightmare.

Michael Moore is the man.

Well, not "The Man" (that would be the racist, greedy, loathsome punk he’s tirelessly chasing down), but he is one righteous cat. Damn, it’s refreshing to hear a man speak from his heart and not from the corner of his mouth. If you hadn’t guessed by the title of this entry, I saw ‘Bowling for Columbine’ last night. I’m (almost) at a loss for words, but I’m now provoked and really upset.

Top 10 things that struck me after watching "Bowling…"

10) Work for Welfare is a joke
9) Right wing Christians (or anything else right wing) live a scared life
8) Dick Clark has as much compassion as real skin left on his face
7) If James Nichols had Osama bin Laden’s bankroll… he’d be more dangerous
6) You probably won’t get shot in Canada
5) Marilyn Manson is more intelligent than most of our leaders
4) You can get a rifle when opening a bank account in the US… really
3) I’d probably consume raw sewage before ever working for Lockheed Martin
2) This country was built on fear, violence and oppression. Sounds like a modern day TVlineup, eh?
1) Charlton Heston needs to be put out of his misery… with a rifle

I realized most of these points before going to the movie (except for the part about Dick Clark…what a… dick), but the presentation was worth it’s weight in gold.

I don’t consider myself to be left or right, like the masses that will debate the credibility of this film for the near future. I try to formulate my opinions based on the situation at hand. But to a righty, that’s a lefty. To a lefty, it’s a non-committed vote. To me, it’s the only way to remain sane in this twisted society we live in.

Michael Moore has the courage of a warrior and the conviction to follow up. Thank God. Hopefully, my brother’s documentary gets picked up and he can follow in Moore’s enormous footsteps.

Righteous cats.