Environmental Assessment Tools Paper Published, Supported by an IA Progress Grant

December 01, 2005 02:17 PM

Information architects suffer from an incomplete tool set; they lack a full set of capabilities for undertaking strategic planning and management of information environments. Up to this point in time much of the focus in the information architecture community has been placed on the tactical needs of the discipline. Tactical tools provide powerful capabilities at a point in time, but aren’t designed to take a longer view of an information environment and assess or manage it in a sustainable manner.

A range of robust tools have been developed to help identify, assess, manage and mitigate environmental development challenges. The paper Tools for Information Environments: Exploring Environmental Assessment Tools for use in Strategic Information Architecture — by Matthew Milan and supported by an IA Institute Progress Grant — describes two of the more intriguing tools: Backcasting and Cumulative Effects Assessment. Both provide unique ways to help understand and assess the impact of projects which are undertaken in complex environments.

Download the Tools for Information Environments paper (130K Acrobat PDF file)