Authorization to Read: Granted

Work life is intensive! My time clearance for reading trade publications is on a need-to-know- basis only. In other words, no conference session, local event, article, or book chapter gets on my calendar unless I need to learn something NOW.

So, in preparing this year's Information Architecture Special Issue for the ASIS&T Bulletin, I sought articles with thought-provoking yet practical ideas for busy user experience practitioners. The approach paid off immediately on my current project, a government portal we're building at Ironworks.

I invite you to put these articles on your own calendar.  You may find yourself referring to them in unexpected ways in your projects… and even in your cocktail party chatter.

• The Information Architecture of Social Experience Design - The Ironworks project team had a brainstorming session on the calendar to address “adding social computing” to the portal. Christian Crumlish’s article gave us a framework and specific tips that enabled us to draft recommendations on the spot.
• The Debut of Usable, Influential Content - We had an urgent need to craft a set of “tone of voice” guidelines for our project. Colleen Jones’ article provided an armature and specific direction for our content strategy.
• An Internet Watered Down - When the project considers how to integrate mobile devices into its array of channels, we’ll refer to John Pettengill’s article for thoughts on leveraging the power of geolocation.
• Gaming the Design - As we design more interactive aspects of the site, Kellie Rae Carter’s and Dominic La Cava’s piece can serve as a reference for the smart and appropriate use of gaming tropes.
•  IA for the Rest of the World - For a website internationalization project I referred colleagues to Miles Rochford’s article and slidedeck. The notion of numeracy (as well as literacy) is an important consideration when IAs design for access by all.
•  Lessons from Slime Mold-  Kate Rutter’s article is simply brilliant. It’s a smart and funny treatise on how to “survive and thrive in ever-changing organizational environments” – with bonus videos of slime molds in action.