The Information Architecture Institute Leadership Seminar

Advanced IA: Topics for 2005 and Beyond

Thursday, 8:30 - 6:00
Friday, 8:30 - 12:30
Victor Lombardi, Jess McMullin, Louis Rosenfeld, Paul Ford, Christina Wodtke, Scott Hirsch, Lee Strickland
more information: http://iasummit.org/2005/preconference.htm

As the field of information architecture continues to broaden and flourish, IAs are called on to face an increasingly wide set of challenges. This seminar will connect leaders from a variety of disciplines to showcase directions for the field of Information Architecture, and provide a place for IA practitioners to share their own challenges and advances in the field with their peers.

This seminar will focus on the topics vital to information architecture in 2005, including:

  • Enterprise Information Architecture
  • Security
  • Semantic Web
  • Business Strategy
  • Globalization

The 1˝ day seminar at the start of the ASIS&T conference will enable participants to leave with a solid understanding of each topic. Session leaders will also provide practical, best practices approaches for participants to bring to their own projects.

For those who couldn't attend The Future of IA Retreat in October 2004, this will be an opportunity to participate in a similar informal, highly interactive forum providing an invaluable way to learn from others in the field. For those who did attend The Future of IA Retreat, this seminar will bring new and different speakers and more in-depth topics to consider as you plan for your future in information architecture. There will be numerous opportunities to learn about what others are doing as well as chances to contribute your own experience.

This seminar is intended for those already familiar with and experienced in IA. Attendance will be limited to 45 participants; early registration is suggested, as all previous seminars have sold out.

For more information, please check the Institute's website at http://www.aifia.org/news/ where updated session descriptions will be posted.

Speakers and Topics

Christina Wodtke and Scott Hirsch
Managing Up: The Business Strategy of Information Architecture
IA offers many strategic opportunities for businesses to leverage their information assets and promote efficiency, innovation, and new product development. Many IAs intuitively know their potential value to the enterprise, but lack the language and business savvy to manage up the hierarchy and influence organizational change. Christina and Scott will share how using the psychology of influence and the language of executives can help you get recognized by the decision makers in your company.

Louis Rosenfeld
The Enterprise IA Roadmap
Lou Rosenfeld presents a roadmap to developing enterprise information architectures. This roadmap enables information architects and managers to step back and plan their organizations' big picture IA strategy, and then focus in on a logical sequence of discrete steps that guide the development process.

Lee S. Strickland, J.D.
Homeland Security and Information Architecture
In recent months, the President, the 9/11 Commission and the Congress have addressed the alleged systemic failure of intelligence and have focused substantially on organizational solutions. In fact, this is a diversion from the real issues that include a fundamental misunderstanding of intelligence and, most significantly, a dysfunctional information space in which to conduct effective analysis of the terrorism threat. Lee Strickland will identify the problems in detail and discuss specific remediation efforts that could substantially improve our homeland security posture. He will advocate the importance of a tight integration between technology, the creation of an effective information architecture, and the academic discipline of analysis. He will conclude that reorganization, without addressing the root causes of failure, will be unavailing.

Paul Ford
Practical Application of the Semantic Web
Paul will show how to combine conceptual, IA, and technical skills to make semantic web products such as Harpers.org and his representation of the U.S. Federal Government.

Jess McMullin
Hands-On Scenario Planning: Looking to the Future to Shape Decisions Today
Scenario planning creates possible futures based on current trends. These scenarios guide strategic conversations and help make decisions in an uncertain world. For IAs, scenario planning increases our strategic insight and impact by helping us see the big picture and relate it to our day-to-day practice. This session will outline a step-by-step approach and provide hands-on experience with a scenario planning exercise.