Sessions

“Diversity is going to the party. Inclusion is being on the party-planning committee.” [Verna Meyers]

Diversity and inclusion are imperative for anyone practicing information architecture. Categories, labels, and complex information spaces being built today will inherit value judgements by those who create them, impacting anyone else coming into contact with the frameworks that are built. On top of that, our society is changing as digital natives approach classification and naming differently from those who came before them.

Join a dynamic collection of adventurers, thought leaders, teachers, researchers, and other curious folks who will explore how Information Architecture needs to engender diversity and inclusion in complex information spaces. During this lively, highly participatory roundtable, the group will ground themselves in relevant philosophical and ethical frameworks as their peers (participants) share perspectives and experiences via lightning talks. Everyone will then work together with scenarios to brainstorm and co-create artifacts to support diversity and inclusion in IA.

An optional Day 2 Make-a-thon is being offered for those who want to take the results of Day 1 even further. At last year’s Ethics and IA Roundtable, participants produced a number of engaging and useful artifacts that they’ve continued to refine and present over the course of the year, including a board game, a draft code of ethics, and a scenario creation tool for ethical design (e.g. see bit.ly/2As5cWL). Join us and bring creative new ideas to life that you can develop, apply, and promote in your own practice.

The results created during this year’s roundtable will be presented at the Friday night Poster Session. Workshop participants will be invited to join in discussing the issues and the outcomes with other conference attendees in an enjoyable, relaxed setting.

Workshop attendees will:

• Have an opportunity to include their voice in how our field is shaped over time.
• Come away with a much deeper understanding of how IA is or is not inclusive, and what could be done to make changes.
• Create tools and artifacts to make available to peers and others interested in supporting inclusion in designing complex information spaces.