IAC: Information Architecture Conference

Session type: Pre-Conference Workshop

  • Mapping Service Ecosystems

    2019 IA Conference

    March 21, 2019

    In today’s world, we’re dealing with ever expanding multi-device multi-screen multi-service ecosystems across multiple channels. Most of these ecosystem profiles have their own user behaviours, user needs, interaction models and design patterns. Amongst all that, we need to move away from our traditional methods, and learn new ones that enable us to better understand the big picture. In this half day workshop you’ll learn about the importance of initially focusing your design practice on the overall service ecosystem rather than the small design details that are a byproduct of the constant switching of products and channels. Understanding an ecosystem is not (just) about visualizing and diagramming it. Being able to identify and apply the right lenses to the visual representation can become a key sensemaking tool in identifying the overall business and customer experience strategy. You’ll also learn that alongside solid research, facilitation and collaboration are the other key ingredients to the success of an ecosystems mapping exercise.

    What topics will be covered?

    • Core concepts of systems thinking and how it differs from our traditional ways of representing and understanding complexity.
    • Framing, boundary setting, and its importance in identifying the scope of an ecosystem.
    • The most common types of ecosystems and a methodology for ecosystems mapping.

    Cornelius Rachieru
    Cornelius Rachieru

  • Product Management for Information Architects

    2019 IA Conference

    March 21, 2019

    IA experience is wonderful preparation for product management, but the role of a product manager involves mastering additional skills related to software development, engineering, technical architecture, finding product-market fit, going to market, funnel optimization, revenue modeling, experimenting with hypotheses, managing products through lifecycles, sunsetting features, saying no to stakeholders, getting teams into alignment, and more. In this workshop, Christian will explain how IA skills provide a great foundation for product management work, and then provide the basics and pointers for how to develop the complementary skills (such as those mentioned above) to qualify for product leadership roles.

    Christian Crumlish

  • Designing Beyond Screens

    2019 IA Conference

    March 21, 2019

    We carry a screen with us at all times, yet technology is already moving beyond the screen. We must architect and design beyond screens to ensure we continue to serve in human centered ways, wherever, whenever and however interactions evolve. IA and Design leaders need to be at the forefront for the strategy for the intersection of people and technology, and we can be the leaders to take us beyond creating screen architectures and designs – instead driving towards truly holistic and integrated experiences that seamless connect to our whole lives. In this workshop, I will provide ways for human centered designers to advocate for that involvement, and we will build a flexible foundation to allow our work to continually evolve across technologies vs. being tied to a particular channel or device. We will use specific examples and hands on activities to learn tools and methodologies that can be used across stakeholders, functions and divisions in order to successfully become leaders in creating and supporting interactions beyond screens.

    Samantha Starmer
    Samantha Starmer

  • Designing and Building Taxonomies for the Real World

    2019 IA Conference

    March 20, 2019

    A good taxonomy is one that meets the needs of its users. A great taxonomy is one that includes the needs of its users and business goals as a single strategy. Anticipating the immediate and long-term business goals of your organization along with the needs of end users is essential for product success and sustainability. This is true for e-commerce, government organizations, enterprise portals and other complex information environments. This workshop is based on hard-won lessons working with many different taxonomies, ontologies, and organizations from small ecommerce sites to large fortune 50 enterprises. We will immerse you in the tactics of designing, building and maintaining taxonomies in practice.

    Portrait of a woman with shoulder-length hair wearing a sweater.
    Dana Bublitz

  • Data Management for Content Designers

    2019 IA Conference

    March 21, 2019

    Content design is the process of identifying and arranging content – words, images, charts, links, diagrams, etc. – that meets user and business needs. If you create information resources like websites, apps, or intranets for others to use, you’re doing this already. A critical first step in designing effective content is to figure out what you have, and if it’s any good. Content Inventories and Content Audits are the core tools that UX Designers, Product Designers, Information Architects, and Content Strategists use to understand the scope and quality of a product’s content. Most people in these roles, however, have not been trained to effectively manage the large data sets that the content collections of today’s websites represent. This means that instead of making informed, data-driven decisions, we often make best guesses based on what we’ve been able to cobble together in inefficient spreadsheets. This workshop will help you more effectively structure, manage, and draw insight from Content Inventories and Content Audits in Google Sheets. We’ll use real-world examples and plenty of hands on practice to help you:

    • structure data for efficient use and reuse
    • manipulate content data programmatically with core spreadsheet functions and formulas
    • use pivot tables to extract nuanced insights from large content sets
    • manage permissions and sharing features for effective cross-team collaboration
    • create documents with attention to the visual design details that make them easy to use, maintain, and understand
    • learn to apply the principles of good data management in Inventories and Audits to the scores of other tasks that come to you in the form of spreadsheets

    Andy Fitzgerald