Architecture & IA: Expanding the Metaphor - WIAD 2016 - Milwaukee
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World Information Architecture Day (WIAD) 2016 - Milwaukee. Presentation exploring Architecture & Information Architecture: 1) What is IA & how do we explain what it is? 2) What metaphors do we use to explain IA? 3) What are the limitations to the most popular metaphors? 4) How can we (and why should we) expand the metaphors we use? Talk given: Feb 20, 2016
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Architecture & IA: Expanding the Metaphor - WIAD 2016 - Milwaukee
- 1. ARCHITECTURE & IA Expanding the Metaphor Jessica DuVerneay @jduverneay
- 2. PEOPLE EMPOWER PEOPLE The Understanding Group improves the user experience of digital places by using information architecture to plan places that are: • useful, • scalable, • and delightful. Founded in 2011, we have the most experienced team of information architects in the world. We have offices in Ann Arbor and Grand Rapids, MI. We structure our projects as collaborative efforts, both within our team and across to yours.
- 3. WE ARCHITECT PLACES MADE OF INFORMATION
- 7. What is IA & how do we explain what it is? What metaphors do we use to explain IA? What are the limitations to the most popular metaphors? How can we expand the metaphors we use?
- 8. WHAT IS IA?
- 9. choreography ontology taxonomy arrangement of the parts particular meaning rules for interaction among the parts The Nature of Information Architecture
- 19. METAPHORS
- 20. The metaphors we use constantly in our everyday language profoundly influence what we do because they shape our understanding. They help us describe and explore new ideas in terms and concepts found in more familiar domains.” - Earl Morrogh “Information Architecture: An Emerging 21st Century Profession”, 2003
- 24. .
- 25. . is to make places, not just spaces. The reason to work with an architect
- 26. . Places where strategy shapes the structure to ensure good fit between what you intend…
- 27. . experience it …and how people
- 28. Do you use physical architecture as a metaphor to explain or discuss information architecture?
- 31. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, 2004
- 34. If you use physical architecture as a metaphor to describe IA, what strengths or limitations have you found?
- 35. Strengths • All humans have experiences in built spaces • User needs are important in both • Workflows are important in both • Wayfinding is important in both • Seemingly easy mapping by professional roles • Context is important in both
- 36. Limitations • Not everyone is familiar with architecture, and the philosophy of architecture is hard for people to grasp, and may turn some people off if discussion is too theoretical • Architecture is a licensed profession, anyone can be an IA • There are many misalignments between websites & physical places - examples: places are bounded by physics where as websites are not; places are built with form and space, websites are built with links and nodes. • Time takes on a different meaning in both constructs - an average website lasts 3-5 years where as building ideally last hundreds of years. • “The objective of IA is not the production of environments for inhabitation, but for understanding.” - Jorge Arango
- 37. Hypothesis 1: The discussion of IA and the utilization of built world examples is largely referential to western architecture from the past 100 years.
- 38. .
- 40. Photo Credit: Adrian Torkington, Salk Institute
- 44. So, what’s wrong with that? Those buildings are cool.
- 45. Hypothesis 2: This is problematic.
- 47. Sustainability Specifically, what new material facilitated the profound shift in forms and sensibility? What do the history books say? Reinforced concrete? Plate glass? The answer is neither of these, nor any of the other usual explanations, but abundant and cheap fossil fuels. These powered the weekend commute to the house and kept warm in winter the large, flowing spaces enclosed in thin un-insulated concrete walls and slabs, with vast expanses of single glazing. It was also a related material − and later, oil derivatives − which waterproofed Villa Savoye’s and all other flat roofs and terraces. Later too, petrochemicals provided the neoprene gaskets, epoxies, mastics and sealants, as well as the synthetic carpets and fabrics. And it was fossil fuel-derived electricity that lit and air-conditioned modern buildings, which often spurned natural light and ventilation. Modern architecture is thus an energy-profligate, petrochemical architecture, only possible when fossil fuels are abundant and affordable. Like the sprawling cities it spawned, it belongs to that waning era historians are already calling ‘the oil interval’. Although histories of modern architecture still overlook this critical fact − failing to note what is, literally, blindingly obvious − any future history must surely begin by noting this relationship, which is axiomatically unsustainable. - Peter Buchanan “The Big Rethink”, Architectural Review
- 49. “The problem…is also that these structures lack an authentic connection to nature and the very cultures in which they exist. This, in turn, leaves us feeling disconnected, isolated and longing for true connections to each other and our communities.” - Monica Gray “The Problem With Architecture Today”, 2014
- 50. The Big Rethink But first it is useful to briefly take stock of the current architectural scene… much, if not most, of what is being built today is pretty dismal and does little to heal the fragmentation of our cities wrought over the last century. …Most of what we now see as exceptionally stupid design concepts – such as the ubiquitous, a-contextual, energy guzzling, airconditioned glass box – were initiated by architects and once hailed as exemplifying Modernist ideals. …No amount of the desperate fad for jazzing up facades in syncopated ‘barcode’ patterns and other jittery rhythms, and jollying up with strong colours can conceal the tawdry, mean-spiritedness of the design and the flimsy thinness of much construction. (Even inoffensive seems beyond us.) These faults are largely the inevitable consequence of the rhetoric of cheap and ‘efficient’ utilitarianism promised by Modern architecture. - Peter Buchanan “The Big Rethink”, Architectural Review
- 51. increased isolation increased disparity increased pollution increased illness economic collapse ecological collapsehttp://www.handsoffmydinosaur.com
- 53. As the field matures, and as more of our daily interactions involve information environments, we must become also increasingly proactive in our role as agents of cultural and political change.” Jorge Arango “Architectures”, Journal of IA, Sep 2011
- 54. ROOM FOR IMPROVEMENT - A HUNCH
- 60. Hypothesis 3: We can become better practitioners of IA by expanding our metaphor and the architectural examples we reference to include ideas from natural and indigenous architecture.
- 62. If we use physical architecture as a metaphor to describe IA, what other types of architecture should we reference, and why?
- 63. local interdependence customization earth integration quality affordability community hand made bespoke idea centric people
- 64. local interdependence customization earth integration quality affordability community hand made bespoke idea centric people
- 65. local interdependence customization earth integration quality affordability community hand made bespoke idea centric people global independence uniformity urbanism efficiency economy industry machined mass production material centric profit
- 70. local interdependence customization earth integration quality affordability community hand made bespoke idea centric people global independence uniformity urbanism efficiency economy industry machined mass production material centric profit
- 71. local interdependence customization earth integration quality affordability community hand made bespoke idea centric people global independence uniformity urbanism efficiency economy industry machined mass production material centric profit
- 72. Our goal must be not to disparage, deny the threats under which we live, but to boldly go forward toward a new practice, an understanding that may save us from what many past and present follies are now dumping in our laps…If we take it up as a goal, it will spread like fire to other minds and other fields… Information architects should adopt this as a goal. We are uniquely qualified to get it done, so let's do it.” Brenda Laurel Closing Keynote 2015 IA Summit
- 73. Dan Klyn - Origins of Pattern Language: Learning from Christopher Alexander (IAS 2016 Workshop) • Theoretical bases for Christopher Alexander’s ideas • Survey and comparison of the many attempts by people working in digital to apply Alexander’s teachings to information systems and interfaces • Business models within which Alexander’s work has worked more and less well • Contrasting Alexander’s practice model with those of “typical architects” • Mapping Christopher Alexander’s ways of thinking and making into The Understanding Group’s IA practice. We'll get hands-on with: • Trees and Semi-lattices as a requirements modeling structures • Describing the problem/solution ecologiesa of complex information spaces using patterns from A Pattern Language, as well as certain patterns we detect and formalize together in the session • Understanding and applying Alexander's fifteen geometric properties of wholeness to information architecture and interface design
- 74. Reading List Information Architecture Understanding Context, Andrew Hinton, Book Making Sense of Any Mess, Abby Cover, Book The Understanding Group’s (TUG) Newsletter & Blog Architecture & IA “Architectures”, Journal of IA, Jorge Arango, Journal Article Criticism of Typical Architecture “The Big ReThink”, Architectural Review, Peter Buchanan, Article Series The Death and Life of Great American Cities, Jane Jacobs, Book Natural Building The Hand Sculpted House, Ianto Evans, Book
- 76. WIAD 2016 Lunch Discussion 1. Discuss your most commonly used IA or UX metaphor 2. Identify a strength & a weakness 3.Explore how you might seek to further examine & expand your metaphor
Hinweis der Redaktion
- I’m Jessie DuVerneay I’m an IA at The understanding Group aka TUG, and have been for the past 5 years or so. TUG is the worlds only consultancy focused on improving the world through information architecture. We are a global sponsor of WIAD, and evangelists for all things IA.
- We work with organizations of all sizes who need help making better online places. We use information architecture as a lens to help them make great online environments for their users and customers.
- I’ll introduce myself in terms of my involvement with this event, as I have a long history of involvement in WIAD 2012- global director for the first ever WIAD 2013 - Spoke in Ann Arbor on taxonomy 2014 - was in LA for their IWAD as a sponsor with TUG 2015 - Watched it remotely form home on video - co-chair of IA summit last year 2016 happy to be involved as a speaker this year - of all the things I've done this is by far the scariest! :)
- The big picture of WAID has always been local connections, global impact and i hope to give you all some ideas on both of these topics. The theme this year i particularly liked, Information Everywhere, Architects Everywhere, and saw it as a direct invite to start taking some of my deep thoughts about architecture and IA public. Thank you to Joe Elemendorf for organizing this day for us all, and for inviting me to speak.
- I’m, going to cover these questions today: What is IA & how do we explain what it is? What metaphors do we use to explain IA? What are the limitations to the most popular metaphors? How can we expand the metaphors we use?
- What is IA? There is a long time debate people affectionately called - defining the damn thing Many practitioners and thought leaders in the field have put answers into the ring Since I’m not going to assume all of you have a shared working definition of IA, I want to start by exploring some definitions I like to use
- When I’m talking with other practitioners or highly informed clients, I use the “Fancy” definitions: IA Institute has 3 definitions: The structural design of shared information environments The art and science of organizing and labelling websites, intranets, online communities and software to support usability and find-ability an emerging community of practice focused on bringing principles of design and architecture to the digital landscape.[1] 4) Friend Jorge Arango co-author of the most recent version of the Polar Book book says: “The Structural Integrity of Meaning Across Contexts” 5) TUG uses this diagram to explain the overlapping of ontology, taxonomy and choreography
- In layman's terms: we create places made of information we create better user experience through the strategic organization of information we help websites not suck
- But there are other way to talk about IA, especially with people who are new to the field, are practicing it but don’t even realize it, and to clients. Examples of our work and Case studies - “in this project i did this, that, the other thing” List of deliverables: i make sitemaps, wireframes, personas, user journeys, taxonomies, content maps, roadmaps
- At TUG, we use a pretty nifty model to explain how we frame problems and then solve them called PASS: Programming: We understand your business Analysis: We understand your users Synthesis: We work together to strategically create a place that works for everyone Specification: Then we document what needs to be built
- Sometimes we explain ourselves by using models. Many many contentious models around this exist: Some put IA as a part of User Experience Design Others put it in a layer between other practice areas And yet others are purely self- referential I find value in looking all of these models, but have yet to find one that I 100% agree with.
- A way I find that is particularly useful is through the use of anecdotes and metaphors. My childhood house is an example I use for the completely un-indoctrinated. Here is the floorplan of the house I lived in on weekends with i went to visit my mom from the ages of 12 - 17 or so.
- Use case: mom has to do laundry
- Use case: mom has to go get groceries
- Use case: mom has to put groceries in the kitchen
- You can see the problem here I mean, besides mom being the only one doing all the housework… Yeah… my bedroom was actually a hallway. i lacked privacy, and no amount of cool bedding or lights could make it seem like a normal, usable space for a teenager. My mom’s key workflows were interrupted because of bad architecture. Information architects make sure this kind of goofy place making doesn't happen online.
- Let’s look a little closer at Metaphors. IA is a new field, relatively, and it can be hard to explain - to ourselves and to our customers and clients. As we can only understand something in relevance to something else we already know, metaphors help us make that tangible connection.
- I like this quote - I found it in a great book called “Pervasive Information Architecture” by Andrea Resmini and Luca Rosatti, and it think it gets at why using metaphors helps us explain IA. “The metaphors we use constantly in our everyday language profoundly influence what we do because they shape our understanding. They help us describe and explore new ideas in terms and concepts found in more familiar domains.” - Earl Morrogh
- A really common metaphor for IA is a transit hub - airports, train stations, bus stations, etc. This is kings cross station in London. As you can see, context, information, information hierarchy, controlled vocabularies, integrated systems of words, signage, and way finding aids all help this be a place made of information, and in many ways like a complex website. But contrary to popular belief, IA is not always just about words, taxonomies, and navigation.
- Another metaphor for IA is the tailor. My friend and mentor, co-founder of TUG and IA heavyweight Dan Klyn wrote: “Your project is a piece of cloth. Architecture is where the cuts go; architects hold the scissors. Design is making the resulting parts be the best parts they can be, solving the problems defined in the act of cutting. When information architects do their metaphorical scissors work, and when they do it well, they set user experience, interaction, and graphic designers up for success. If you allow that design is ordering the parts of the product or service to attain the project’s goals, you want a skillful architect to be present from the project’s inception to ensure the parts of the system are defined in ways that afford great design solutions.” In this metaphor, you can see the crucial role of strategy in information architecture.
- Another metaphor is the conductor. Often at the center of the project, the information architect is the person responsible for coordinating thought and alignment across the business, working with the users, working with the visual designers and the content strategists, and ensuring the product the developers build is the right place for everyone. Does this sound like information architects taking on the role of the product manager? Well, we can and often do. And conversely, product managers often act as the information architects. Same with the UX team. Unless you have the opportunity to work with a firm that does exclusively information architecture, someone, explicitly asked to or not, is acting as the information architect at your company or organization. While there are many more metaphors people can and do use to explain information architecture, for the sake of keeping the day on track, let’s look at one more metaphor…
- The built world is the most prevalent metaphor. The anecdote about my mom’s house and the weirdness of it being a glorified hallway uses this metaphor. Here’s a picture of RONCHAMP, a church by the noted 20th century architect Le Corbusier. Floor plans lead to elevation drawing, lead to a scale model, leads to the building, in the same way a strategic brief might lead to a sitemap, might lead to annotated wireframes, might lead to a website.
- We tend to use this metaphor at TUG, quite a bit. Our main value proposition is that organizations can expect better user experience for their customers if they start with information architecture. We even say: “Architect before you build”. And we’re in good company in using this metaphor: Lou Rosenfeld and Peter Morville - original authors of the Polar Bear Book - Information Architecture for the World Wide Web - used the architecture metaphor with clients to highlight the importance of structure and organization of website design.
- If done correctly, information architects create places where strategy shapes the structures to ensure a good fit between what you intend…
- …and how people experience it.
- A few months ago, I was curious how many other practitioners also use the built world metaphor as a way to discuss what we do, and what the strengths and weaknesses of this metaphor are. I put out a simple survey to my peer group, and got some good insight. Turns out, of my immediate professional network, it’s a pretty common metaphor. Out of 80 responses - 65% of self-labeled IAs who responded sometimes or often use the built world as a way to explain IA in conversations with clients or with other practitioners. Of course this isn’t an exhaustive survey, but it’s a good first look.
- Winchester mystery house, a sprawling mansion in California is a great example. There are many legends about how this sprawling house came to be, but the most entertaining is the one in which the owner of the mansion, the winchester gun heiress and widow, believed that she was haunted by the ghosts of the people who her husband’s guns had killed. A psychic told her that she was being haunted by these ghosts, and that she needed to continue to build rooms for these tortured souls or she herself would die. The once-functioning house spiraled out of control - rooms built upon rooms with no rhyme, reason, or plan. In sum, the massive house evolved over ages with no intentional architecture, making many of the parts of the house confusing, uncomfortable, and un-navigable. This makes the house really popular when explaining metaphorically the importance of IA, wayfinding, strategy before structure, and deciding the What before How. How many of you have worked on sites or systems where microsite upon microsite upon subdomain upon subdomain is tacked onto a core site - with no rhyme, reason, or though to meaningful integration of places? What started off as a reasonable and useful endeavor has grown into a menacing monster of a non-place.
- Dead-end staircases = (like an information page with no CTA!) Part of the house you cant get to = (a subdomain not linked in any meaningful way in navigation, or pages hidden deep within a site no one can navigate to though they are the most important part of the site) Doors to nowhere = (navigation that makes no sense) hard to traverse hallways leading to useless rooms (search and filters that return bad results) So do i think the built world an apt metaphor? i sure do. Much of what we do isn’t just making taxonomies or sketching up wireframes. It’s much more about figuring out what type of place to build, and why. Who uses it, and how should things be structured.
- Information architects also want to build durable, stable structures that help people feel safer, and solve problems. Not rickety messes that fall apart with normal use and that are not sustainable. Think of the information architecture as the frame of your information environment, and understand that a place is only as good at its foundational elements. Make sure your frame and foundation is stable by having good information architecture, and your website will be durable, sustainable, and will even scale well over time.
- Here are a few local architectural examples from Tom Elemendorf, a local UX practitioner and trained architect. What are these places for? Who are they for? What will they do there? How do you know? Which one of these places gets you excited about placemaking? How might you use the following local examples to explain to your boss, or a client, or your team something about how you are doing work, or what works needs to be done, on a digital product or service? —————————————— War Memorial - Often overlooked by many due to the shiny newer Calatrava addition beside it, but this much earlier addition sitting atop the art museum is one of the better examples of modernism in the city. It features large cantilevered pillbox offices surrounding an open courtyard. It’s a really neat space, and has a special sort of magic at night when you wander around it. https://www.flickr.com/photos/peterhess/8654481770 Calatrava wing of Art Museum (nicknamed “the turkey carcass” by those who oppose it) - This is, hands-down, the most iconic structure in Milwaukee. I’m not a fan, but it’s loved by many for being new and flashy, disliked by others for being a decorative hallway. There are some interesting spaces inside, but my personal favorite is to pretend that I’m walking inside the rib cage of some creature (given the repeated structural ribs that define the interior space) - By Dsv - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=2113202 Greek Orthodox church - A church in Wauwatosa (just west of Milwaukee) that was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright in the period of his career when he was experimenting with non-orthogonal lines. This place is a bit strange, but is worth mentioning. http://ericksonphotography.net/?p=396 Milwaukee Central Public Library on Wisconsin Ave - A gorgeous library fit to serve as the set for any movie requiring a classic library full of leather-bound books. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Milwaukee_Public_Library_interior_lobby_and_ceiling_2012.jpg Boat house - Someone built a house that is just a boat sitting in the middle of the lot. Gets my vote for most likely to be mentioned by Robert Venturi if referencing Milwaukee architecture (if he would actually hear about this place, it’s pretty well unknown and tucked away in an East Side neighborhood). I wish i had a picture, because I don’t know if you’ll be able to find anything else about this place.
- I asked 80 people via survey to answer this question: “If you use physical architecture as a metaphor to describe IA, what strengths or limitations have you found?” I got back some great answers…
- First the strengths: All humans have experiences in built spaces User needs are important in both Workflows are important in both Wayfinding is important in both Seemingly easy mapping by professional roles Context is important in both
- Limitations Not everyone is familiar with architecture, and the philosophy of architecture is hard for people to grasp, and may turn some people off if discussion is too theoretical Architecture is a licensed profession, anyone can be an IA There are many misalignments between websites & physical places - examples: places are bounded by physics where as websites are not; places are built with form and space, websites are built with links and nodes. Time takes on a different meaning in both constructs - an average website lasts 3-5 years where as building ideally last hundreds of years. “The objective of IA is not the production of environments for inhabitation, but for understanding.” - Jorge Arango
- And there is another limitation… bear with me, because here is where i get weird. Hypothesis 1: The discussion of IA and the utilization of built world examples is largely referential to western architecture from the past 100 years. And as an aside - I might call it modernism or contemporary or post modern, and for all you architectural buffs, I’m not referring specifically to the school or style of architecture most commonly associated with those terms, but rather, I’m referring to all typical architecture of the 20th and 21st centuries from here on out. So, am I on to something or am I just waving my hands around? To answer my own questions, I collected some data: I asked in my initial survey: “Which examples of physical architecture (architects, works of architecture, architectural movements, themes, or time periods) do you reference when explaining or discussing information architecture?”
- …Survey Says: Check out the world bubble from the survey results. What patterns do you see? Do you see plain old “house”? the “Winchester Mystery house” is pretty high up in there too. Let’s check out some of the other buildings and architects that people most commonly reported using to explain IA.
- Frank Lloyd Wright - Fallingwater People use this to talk about context and how places we make should integrate with the larger environment or ecosystem in which it exist. People also talk about how while this building is beautiful, because of arrogant design at the expense of stable structure, it’s falling apart much sooner than desired.
- Louis Kahn - Salk institute, San Diego, CA Another brutalist favorite to reference when talking about IA. I did visit this place in person, and it was completely magical.
- La Corbusier - Villa Savoye The architect behind the church referenced earlier. He’s definitely made beautiful places, that as information architects, can be used to show how planning can lead to delightful experiences. But he's also said some odd or outdated things like: “A house is a machine for living in.” Architectural critics have also suggested that his take on how cities should be structured was destructive to the idea of a communal human-serving cities, alienating people from one another, and elevating the car over the human. Taken even further, some of Le Corbusier’s urban plans have been tied to systemic racism as his separated housing projects took little account into the actual needs of the inhabitants. Some critics have tied his lack of respect for the actual needs of people as “a utopian vision that become pathological in practice.” This is also strange: “He was on the fascist end of the political spectrum for a while, at one point working for Mussolini” Ok! Enough beating up on this guy. Next!
- Frank Gehry, Disney Concert Hall, LA - It’s a matter of personal preference to some extent, but I just hate this building and place it makes - Gehry is a great example of a star-chitect who makes whatever he wants in the space he’s hired to fill. I had the same experience with all of his buildings in Barcelona Spain, in Los Angeles, and most recently in Chicago. To me, this is a great metaphor for a digital agency that prioritizes visual design and branding over information architecture, and ends up with a flashy, sexy, trendy award winning website that makes no sense and is completely useless once the branding campaign is over. Maybe I'm just cranky.
- So there are some of the most popular buildings used to describe IA metaphorically. What about the writings of our field? A quick look at books, literature, journal articles and popular talks says: Same deal - I primarily see examples of typical architecture from the past 100 years, and mostly in the western world. I love this image here- it’s a map of 20th century architecture. I’m not surprised to find most all of our examples of the built world we use to discuss IA can be found on this chart.
- So, what’s wrong with that? Those buildings are cool. Sure those building are cool. But if hypothesis 1 checks out (Hypothesis 1: the examples we use in IA examples is largely referential to typical western architecture from the past 100 years. ) … and it does, I have another hypothesis:
- Hypothesis 2: This is problematic. And heres where I get super weird, and probably a little dogmatic. You can probably already pick up my distaste for modern / post modern / contemporary / typical architecture. I have some reasons; please bear with me while I explain:
- First, the lack of diversity is blindingly obvious Where are the ladies? Where are the People of Color? Where are the indigenous people? Where are the non-western ideas, the patterns and structures? … and what does that mean when we loose these voices from our example pool? What happens when the systems we put in place and the examples we revere exclude so many voices? That’s never worked out poorly before… haha just kidding. History has shown us, it never works out well.
- The quote above is a scathing indictment of typical architecture, and I’d love to read it to you but out of interest for time and to keep the depression levels hovering only at moderate levels this morning, I’m going to pass. Check out the bolded words for some giggles.
- Like many of our websites that we build today that last for 2-4 years max, much of the architectures from the past 100 years have not been particularly sustainable either. Not only do they fall apart too quickly, but they also have been linked to ecological issues such as increased pollution, massive energy burn, and more subtle things such as sound and light pollution and increased human illness as a result of reliance on cars.
- And the critique goes on. Here is another critique of architecture: “The problem…is also that these structures lack an authentic connection to nature and the very cultures in which they exist. This, in turn, leaves us feeling disconnected, isolated and longing for true connections to each other and our communities.” This is about the built world, but if we agree to the metaphor, could we hear this as criticism of ourselves who create places for humans today? No? Maybe? Yeah? ZING!
- I’m getting close to being done with the sad panda bit, but a little bit more. Some architects, including the noted critic Peter Buchanan - the author of the revolutionary journal series called the Big Rethink, (which you should read) are starting to come forward in stern condemnation of the type of patterns, systems, and strategies that have been driving the practice of architecture of built places over the past 100 years. And this is an emerging conversation that is worth some reflection for those of us who make and are responsible for creating the places people spend time in online. Again, the whole quote is great, but just scan the bolded words…. [PAUSE] Total bummer.
- Perhaps it’s not fair to base all of the collapse of of our ecosystem and ecology and economy on architecture, for sure, but there is an emerging internal critique in architecture communities, and in increasing call to get involved and be part of the solution for those practicing architecture. So, I’m done with the hand wavy soap box part of the talk.
- Lets think about some of the inferred and explicit values of these types of structures and buildings - what was important to the architects? To the people paying the architects? [Read List] Did their values impact their structures, and did their structures impact the world? Sure. Do these values rub off on our minds when we use the built world as metaphors for the world we do as information architects? Are these our values? Are these our only values?
- I agree with this.
- Time out, story time. this is your unicorn chaser from all the gloom and doom in the last bit. My husband and i took some time off to travel, and by sheer happenstance we stayed in this beautiful, handmade earthen, cob house in british columbia, CA We felt amazing, it was unlike anything else I've ever felt I felt calm, I felt peaceful, I felt whole, I felt healthy, I felt connected. This sounds stupid, but the earth was hugging the house and the house was hugging me. Before i spent time in the cabin, i was basically…
- … this guy. you can ask my husband its true.
- And after, I'm basically this guy now.
- It was, simply put, transformative. I wondered how being in a place could have such a massive effect on me. Over time, it came to me. The values of the place I was in directly impacted my experience of the place and in turn, over time, my continued experience impacted who I was. Christina Wodtke made this point at Midwest UX a few years ago and I finally understood what she meant: Places make us who we are.
- In the interest at seeing behind the curtain of how these beautiful and welcoming places get made, over the past year, I’ve been dabbling in the dark arts of natural building. Digging in the dirt, making buildings from mud in the forrest. Working on culling some principles from natural building and thinking about how they apply to the work I do as an information architect. And pardon the pun, but the ideas I have are still muddy.
- Which leads me to what is my 3rd hypothesis - we CAN learn a lot and become better practitioners of IA by expanding our metaphor and the architectural examples we reference.
- For the first time in my life, I was in a very lovingly architected place. A place that exposed values incredibly counter to the other, more modern contemporary urban and sub urban places i was used to existing in my whole life. What are these values? [Read List] And the best part? We can include these values in the work we do in digital place making.
- Lets check out some examples of natural and indigenous architecture.
- Before we go on - its important to note, natural building is merely a re-surgance of ancient architectural wisdom. Modern natural builders (like me) don’t get a ton of credit for innovation - they only get al little credit for resurfacing and evangelizing tried and true approaches to architecture. People have been architecting their own wonderful, human-centered places for generations. Perhaps, in someways to look forward, we need to look back. A great example: Taos Pueblo, a UNESCO world Heritage site - the oldest continuously inhabited structure in North America. It houses families, serves as centers of commerce, religion, and culture, and has done so for over 1000 years. Yes, 1000. It’s contextually relevant, human centered, sustainable, evolving, and lovely.
- Another example: Musgum huts of Camroon Made with local natural materials, made by the community, ornament served as a function to allow for repairs, contextually useful as they utilize thermal mass - keeps warm at night and cool during the day. Anticipates water runoff when it rains, and is flexible in structural planning, allowing for additions to the structure to accommodate a growing family.
- Using the models we most commonly reference, the typical modernist examples, we are only getting 1/2 the picture. If we are going to use the built world as a metaphor to explain what we do, and to derive strategies that inform our work, we need to consider and expand our collection of reference materials. Now, Im not being a totally technophobe here or saying we all need to go live in dirt huts (not a bad idea, but not exactly realistic for many of us). Neither set of these values is inherently better or worse than another, but if we don't pause to consider the implications of being overly reliant on only one half of the example set, we are missing a large part of the picture, and may find ourselves facing the same issues built world architects are now partially owning.
- Another, perhaps more academically rigorous approach to this idea: To be better IAs, we can even just look at where architecture is going now. Remember that graph at the beginning? Check out this green area in the bottom right corner.
- Sustainability Movement Natural Capitalism World Village Internet What does that look like?
- The best architecture in the world right now is taking a look at both sets of values, and choosing when to prioritize one over the other intentionally and with purpose. The best architecture seeks to meet the needs of not only the organizations funding them, and the users using them, but also the needs of the entire system in which we are all situated. You know…the earth… all of human society, those things. Example: Earth buried visitor center in ireland at the cliffs of mohr.
- Another example: Earth ship in Taos New Mexico blending earth with technology, and recycled materials, cognizant of the issues of our society.
- And one more - David Adajye’s MEMO - the Mass Extinction Memorial Observatory. This is public monument and archive calling attention to the massive extinction of species on our planet in an ecologically sound, community reviving, sustainable and forward thinking way. Definitely google this project. The other architects are doing it, so we should too. I’m challenging all of you in this room to consider your metaphors, their benefits, their limitations, and to think about how you might expand your metaphors to be a better practitioner.
- And now I get to brag a little. At TUG, one of the biggest things that we do differently than other consultancies or UX teams is that we often prioritize the values on the left. Not at the expense or total abandonment of the values on the right, but there is definitely a slight tip to the left. Thats why I work there. While we are practicing information architecture we don't just see ourselves as people making websites, we see ourselves as people making places that can make people feel good. Places where people are successful, happy, welcomed, safe, and valued. What we do as information architects, if we do it well, will be part of the solution to some of the world’s big, wicked problems. Maybe I'm a hippy, maybe I'm delusional, but it sure feels good to do something all day that I think can at the very least move the needle.
- Some parting words from Brenda Laurel at the IA Summit last year: “Our goal must be not to disparage, deny the threats under which we live, but to boldly go forward toward a new practice, an understanding that may save us from what many past and present follies are now dumping in our laps…If we take it up as a goal, it will spread like fire to other minds and other fields… Information architects should adopt this as a goal. We are uniquely qualified to get it done, so let's do it.” How might you do this, besides expanding your metaphor? I hate talks that set out this big feel good goal, and then give you nothing to work with. So I wont do that to you :)
- Some things you can do to build your skills. There are people in the community working with these ideas currently. Option #1: Dan Klyns’s workshop at IAS16 Exploration of the work of work of Christopher Alexander - an architect who bucked the trend of modern and post modern architecture. A favorite of natural builders, who try to make places that had “quality without a name” - and trying to figure out how strategies Alexander used to build wonderful places for people translate to the digital world.
- Option 2: Reading List
- So, that’s it! Thank you so much for listening and spending your Saturday here. In the spirit of both expanding our metaphors and in the spirit of fostering local connections with global impact at World IA Day, I’d like to suggest a short lunch discussion topic:
- Happy to take questions at lunch or email me at jessica@understandinggroup.com @jduverneay on twitter or on linkedin even better - follow @understnding on twitter or sign up for TUGs newsletter I’ll be posting my slides through TUG’s newsletter shortly, so sign up and stay tuned! Thanks! :)