As we wrangle with the focus of World IA Day, "IA for good," we should start by asking: what does it mean to be good in the context of IA, user experience, content strategy, and design? In this post-fact era, does the truth matter--and does good matter? It does--not in how we shift our loyalties, but in how our users shift their instincts. Inconsistency affects us and destroys trust--in brands, governments, wisdom, and ourselves. The most good IA can do is to empower the impact of our users. Design is a force multiplier and we can fuel that good. Keynote at World IA Day Boston, #WIADBOS, #WIAD18, February 24, 2018, in Cambridge MA.

1. Empowerment in an era
of self-validating facts
Margot Bloomstein
@mbloomstein
#WIADbos / #WIAD18
World IA Day Boston, February 24, 2018

2. Is the media our magic mirror?
©Cayuga Productions and CBS

3. Our internal truths trump external data.
©Cayuga Productions and CBS
3 | #WIADbos | @mbloomstein

4. Rudy Giuliani, August 15, 2016, Youngstown Ohio Trump Foreign Policy Speech

5. ©Scott Olson Getty Images; from Fox Business with Neil Cavuto interview

6. ©Scott Olson Getty Images; from Fox Business with Neil Cavuto interview

7. ©Scott Olson Getty Images; from Fox Business with Neil Cavuto interview

8. ©Scott Olson Getty Images; excerpt from August 15, 2016 foreign policy speech

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Inconsistency may not affect our loyalty,
but it undermines our ability to evaluate
and trust.

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Do we live in a post-fact era?

11. Insert gut check cycle image
©CBS

12. Insert gut check cycle image
©National Enquirer

13. Insert gut check cycle image
©Mary Ann Chastain, Associated Press

14. Insert gut check cycle imageCoached skepticism, false equivalency,
increased acceptance of air quotes
©Fox News

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Bill Kovach and Tom Rosenstiel, Blur: How to Know What’s True in the Age of Information Overload. Bloomsbury, New York, 2010, p. 45

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Bill Kovach and Tom Rosenstiel, Blur: How to Know What’s True in the Age of Information Overload. Bloomsbury, New York, 2010, p. 47

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expertise  homophily  self-interestexpert advice homophily self-interest

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63% of the general population finds it
difficult to differentiate between real and
fake news.
Source: 2018 Edelman Trust Barometer

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Only 48% of Americans say they believe
climate change is mostly due to human
activity.
Source: Pew Research Center “The Politics of Climate”

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Only 40% of Americans say they have a
“great deal of confidence” in science.
Source: AP-NORC Center study Confidence in Institutions: Trends in Americans’Attitudes toward Government, Media, and Business

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Inconsistency undermines trust—
externally and internally.

22. 22 | #WIADbos | @mbloomstein22 | #WIADbos | @mbloomstein
Does this information align
with my viewpoint?

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Do I feel good about
this brand?

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Does this brand make me
feel good about myself?

25. We see what we what we already believe
(and test accuracy against how we think)
©Cayuga Productions and CBS

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ValidationDeliberation

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Courage in our
convictions
Belief

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Courage in our
convictions
Belief

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“Feels right” empirical fact
>

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©Jana Birchum for The Austin Chronicle; from March 12, 2017 panel Good Night and Good Luck: Media in Election Years at SXSW

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How we form our beliefs affects our
reality more than what we believe
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Cultural predisposition > confirmation bias
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Vaccine hesitancy study source: Smith, David, Katie Attwell, and Paul Ward. “The Unhealthy Other”: How Vaccine Rejecting Parents
Construct the Vaccinating Mainstream, Vaccine Volume 36, Issue 12, March 14, 2018, p. 1621 – 1626.

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Empowerment reflects and rebuilds trust

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Empowerment reflects and rebuilds trust
because design can be a force multiplier
for good

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Do lies matter? Or do we twist reality to
convene with our version of the truth?
35 | #UIEVS | @mbloomstein
©Michael Ochs/Getty Images

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Voice
Volume
Vulnerability

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Voice

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Invest in original content
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Pair with analysis of outside research
39 | #WIADbos | @mbloomstein

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Voice
Volume

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Users can appreciate slow experiences.
they’re engaged,
anticipating,
creating memories.

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Courage in our
convictions
Empirical
proof

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© Yunghi Kim, Contact Press

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Voice
Volume
Vulnerability

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COOK’S ILLUSTRATED EXAMPLE

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COOK’S ILLUSTRATED EXAMPLE

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Host opposing viewpoints
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ADD OUTSIDE YOUR BUBBLE

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COOK’S ILLUSTRATED EXAMPLE
©Cook’s Illustrated

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Empowerment  Insight

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Margot Bloomstein
@mbloomstein
margot@appropriateinc.com
http://cards.appropriateinc.com
 TRUSTWORTHY BOOK COMING SOON 
THANK YOU