• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content

IAC: Information Architecture conference

IAC: Information Architecture conference

  • IAC23 New Orleans
    • Tickets & Registration Info
    • Conference Theme
    • IAC23 for Everyone
    • Venue – InterContinental
    • Experience NOLA
    • COVID-19 Policy
  • Program
    • Schedule
    • Speakers
    • Workshops
    • Poster Night
    • Career Center
    • Activities for First-Timers
    • Social Activities
  • Sponsor IAC23
  • About
    • Code of Conduct
    • Vision & Values
    • Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging
    • Scholarships
    • Past conferences
    • IAC Advisory Board
    • Privacy Policy
  • Contact
    • IAC23 Volunteers
  • Log in
Home / Archives for Backstage

Backstage: Behind the scenes at IA Summit

Hear about our theme and other subjects of interest from the hard working volunteers who bring the IA Summit to life.

Meet the IAC21 Diversity Student Scholars

Please welcome this year’s Diversity Student Scholars! IAC Scholars share in the prestige and opportunities that become available when they are selected.  The Scholarship Program has three primary purposes:

  • To nurture and sustain the professional development of the scholars,
  • To establish a network of scholars over time who become mentors to other promising newcomers, and
  • To support the information architecture and user experience design communities.

The IAC Scholarship Program is sponsored by organizations like:

  • Rosenfeld Media
  • Balsamiq
  • Three Cats Studio

People of the IA community who have made donations include:

Valentyna Akulova
Dani Armengol
Marcia Bates
Anita Cheng
Erica DeJoannis
Clayton Dewey
Karl Fast
Chad Garrett
Dan Gleason
Rebecca Harper
Rosie Hay
Jordan Higgins
Noah Iliinsky
Shannon Janus


Amy Jiménez Márquez
Joslyn Layne
Dalia R. Levine
Andrea Liede-Sevsek
Karen T. Lin
Erin Malone
Lilach Manheim
Stuart Maxwell
Catherine Mills
Kimberly Morrow
Tig Newman
Fabricio Novak
Shoji Ohashi
Jeffrey Pass
Renoir Pope

Rachel Price
Michael Priestley
Lisa Remlinger
Jose Rojas
Andrea Rosenbusch
Tania Schlatter
Jennifer Shirey
Samuel Sipes
Carol Smith
Alastair Somerville
Larry Swanson
Amber Swope
Tracy Taylor
Danielle Vargas
Ivan Wilson


Alice Chung
I am thrilled and grateful to attend IAC21. Prior to starting my MLIS graduate program, I had no idea this field existed. I am very interested in improving information access in a business setting. I am also excited to learn how professionals translate information architecture theory into practice, and gain insight into the ways that taxonomy and knowledge management may be utilized in their work. Furthermore, I am curious about the types of employment opportunities available, and the skills necessary to fill those roles.

Celia Diaz
My name Celia was given to me from my grandmother; giving me the opportunity to continue a legacy. Growing up as a young Latin daughter instilled many stereotypes a girl must follow, getting a degree not one of them. My parents spent zero effort in my academia, and I learned at a young age, through my own efforts the value of education. My interest revolves around creativity and inclusion. I want my designs to be noticed by the global impact they make. I want to work on diversifying the designer’s perspective when they design for human computer interaction. In this field there are not many individuals from my ethnic background that can provide a personal perspective into the field.

Raga Kavari
I am eager to attend this year’s conference because there is so much that I have yet to learn. I am particularly interested in learning more about creating accessible user experiences for people of all backgrounds. I am excited to have the opportunity to interact with and learn from the network of scholars that I will get to hear from during IAC21.

Priyanka Kumari
Learning about IA

Jennifer McKnight
Information is like candy; I love candy. I also love sharing my candy, because it might make others happy as well. Nowadays, we have plenty of candy; we need to get better at sharing it.  For me, information architecture equates to making people happy. The world needs more “happy”, and I am excited to learn the science behind it.

Kunnath Rahul
I am excited about the talks and workshops in agenda of IAC21. Excited to join the event.

Linda Ramirez
Linda is a born “UXer.” While working in content marketing, she found herself thinking there was more to understanding the customers’ needs and delivering solutions designed for “everyone.” As any curious UXer will do, she took the initiative to find out what. Through connections made at the Orange County (CA) UX Meetup, Linda began to shift her focus and her skills toward UX research and design. The Covid shutdowns slowed her transition, but did not deter Linda, as she continued to take on freelance projects and a couple of pro-bono gigs for non-profits to build her skills. She presently is in a hybrid content marketing and user research role with the intent to transition full-time to UX with a content and IA focus soon.

Mohamed El Sobkey
I am student in the computer science and engineering department at the Faculty of Electronic Engineering at the University of Menofia. Interested mainly in artificial intelligence and focused on Machine learning specially Deep learning. Organized and detail-oriented, work well under pressure and deadlines. Enjoy working with a variety of people, and have a great attitude. looking for a creative, challenging, growth-oriented position. I have the ability to learn many things in a short time. Also, interested in technological trends as Cyber Security, Big Data, Cloud Computing, Digital Marketing, and Entrepreneurship, focused on cybersecurity, especially ethical hacking and penetration testing. I am an ICT HCIA-Associate certified. I am looking forward to future co-operation. best regards to all. 

Sofiia Sveshnikova
I am excited to attend the IAC21 to learn and grow, hmm sounds boring. Okay, let me rephrase…I am excited to be here to become a sponge, almost like “square pants” and to be soaking knowledge and advice from speakers and people on the conference from our online space. I want to become a UX designer and I believe this is the right place to sharpen my potential and to gain tools and tricks on how to use it the best. Happy to be here!

Tiffany Tesoro
I feel so grateful to be selected as an IAC21 Scholar! It’s important now more than ever to nurture an intersectional perspective when it comes to digital spaces and IAC21 is a great place to continue that growth. I’m excited to develop my understanding of emerging technology applications and implications as well as connect with others in the IA community.

Elizabeth Gould
Elizabeth is a User Experience Designer and aspiring Information Architect who won’t back down from an unsolved problem. Her career began 13 years ago at Kent State University Libraries in a fast-paced and ever changing work environment. Elizabeth simultaneously managed three different departments while enrolled in graduate school. Her work is focused on University Libraries’ end-user needs and optimizing organizational workflows.

As well as Priyanka Sanghavi and Grecia Pichardo.

The Information Architect with an identity crisis: Grace Lau

This blog post introduces another of the co-chairs for IAC21. When not planning the conference, Grace Lau is also the co-president for World IA Day, the nonprofit entity behind World IA Day (the annual event), and co-founder of DIA Design Guild, LLC, a design consultancy uplifting aspiring and transitioning UX designers and researchers. 

Why did you get into Information Architecture?

15 years ago I learned about information architecture (IA) and felt there was finally a concept for making sense of the world. Initially, I saw it in terms of navigating the web and over time have come to know IA as a construct to understand the associations and perspectives that biases create. The way concepts are identified, related, and defined (information architecture) has a direct influence on not just wayfinding and navigation, but also one’s understanding and treatment of the world. For instance, how people work and collaborate, how misunderstanding begins, and how mental models are created are all based on a society’s, a culture’s, or even a person’s prescription of order. 

One might ask: how do you make sense of the world, if you can’t make sense of your self? Establishing labels, defining them, and creating meaning and understanding from these concepts – those who create the labels and the space for others to understand them – set the tone and the power dynamics. This is the vested power in information architecture.

Information architecture is about identifying concepts. The journey of understanding my identity has wavered throughout the years as the labels expanded from personal to pan- identities, from Chinese, Chinese American, American-born Chinese (ABC) to Asian, Asian American, and Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI), from hyphens to acronyms. 

Information architecture is about understanding how concepts are related. From Massachusetts where I was born to California where I have established myself as an adult, I am constantly reminded to define myself, to affirm my relationship and association to places and people. Grace isA, isPartof, <instance: place, community, organization>. 

Information architecture empowers me to ideate, iterate, and innovate my own identity. Instead of the one being labelled, I as an information architect create understanding and determine labels through building bridges. There’s so much power that comes in having an identity, an identity that is given and taken away based on a label or a name. It’s interesting yet ironic how much society is built around titles and roles, how a denial or perpetuation of a label can spell the difference between an oppressed or liberated sense of identity and being.

How did you become a co-chair of the IA conference?

As an introvert, I have been pulled into great “hallway conversations” about the information architecture and ontologies of pants, sandwiches, and television dramas at prior conferences, and these have been inspiring discussions about our craft and its practice. But it is this wider view of labels, who creates them, who lives within them, who lives under them, and what they do with, to, and for us as individuals and to our greater community that drives me to engage more deeply in the IA community that I call home. I trust that Teresa, Cassini, and Claire and I working together could ignite these conversations at this preeminent conference to this level.

What do you do as a co-chair?

Short answer: Lots of coworking sessions and late nights over Discord. 

Long answer: I wasn’t sure what was expected of a co-chair. The IAC advisory board said, design the conference you want to see. And with this wider lens of the power of IA, that is what we have set out to do.

Planning a conference is hard enough any other year. Since the close of IAC20 in April, we have been organizing the logistics of this virtual conference in the midst of a global pandemic, taking into account time zones, social movements, and civil unrest in an election year. 

“We’re in this together” is probably one of the most tired phrases of the pandemic. Each of us as co-chairs, and each of our 20+ volunteers have experienced this year differently, with different stressors, successes, and sorrows. We have worked together to ensure that each other has felt supported and had the resources necessary to create the conference we desired. 

I focused on marketing communications and supported my co-chairs with curation, sponsorships, and conference experience. We identified systems and untangled how information was gathered and reused upstream and downstream. 

Above all, we created a safe space for volunteers to share and connect. I intend for this sense of unity to transcend to the speaker and attendee experiences. We feel we have opened the aperture of the power and responsibility of IA with this year’s line-up of speakers and workshops. We expect IAC21 will carry forward the momentum of prior years’ discussions about the responsibility we carry as practitioners to do no harm, and further our introspection as a professional community into the harm that has been done and amplify our work to right the wrongs.

What’s next for you?

After the conference, and a long nap, I’ll continue to be involved in the community through World IA Day. Together with a global board of directors, I will be researching and working on ways that we as a global community can build up a greater awareness and understanding around information architecture’s power to provide a stronger societal impact. Abby Covert, Dan Klyn, and others founded World IA Day. I’m standing on their shoulders to move it forward.

I’ll also be focusing on developing DIA Design Guild, a design consultancy I co-founded to provide mentoring and apprenticeships for aspiring and transitioning user experience designers and researchers. I’m working with 8 apprentices now on a variety of open-source and nonprofit projects. These early-career practitioners will be well positioned to carry forth this good work, because they are being mentored and guided by the thought leaders of this community of practice, many of whom I have come to know through IAC.

The future is what we make of it and who we inspire to continue to create it. 

Where can people find you?

  • @lauggh on Twitter, Instagram
  • linkedin.com/in/gracelau
  • ladiadesign.co

Acknowledgements

Grace wishes to acknowledge the many individuals who contributed to the writing of this article with advice, feedback, and encouragement (in no particular order): Teresa Nguyen, John Khuu, Jennifer Du, Alesha Arp, MaShana Davis, Christine Lau, Mingxuan Ren, and Jessica Shakarian. The first draft of this article was written on February 12, weeks after the death of 84-year-old Vicha Ratanapakdee who was assaulted in San Francisco, California. This post is published 5 days after the deaths of the 8 people, 6 of Asian descent, in Atlanta, Georgia. Their names were: Soon Chung Park, Hyun Jung Grant, Suncha Kim, Yong Ae Yue, Delaina Ashley Yaun, Paul Andre Michels, Xiaojie Tan, and Daoyou Feng.

The Reluctant Information Architect: Claire Morville

Why did you get into Information Architecture?

I didn’t get a choice. I was born into IA. My first words were taxonomy and wireframe. My first pet was a polar bear. Okay, I’m joking, but as you’ve probably guessed, my dad is Peter Morville.

What you may not know is that I’ve spent most of my life avoiding information architecture. During my childhood, IA was that annoying, ever-present dinner topic that prevented me from talking about volleyball, friends, and the fun things in life. As a teenager, I refused to be interested in anything my dad did for work. I was the daughter who wanted to do anything but follow in her father’s footsteps. I needed to find my own path, so I went away to college to study computer science.

But that wasn’t the right fit, so when I stumbled upon an undergraduate major at the University of Maryland iSchool that integrated technology and design, I was thrilled. I called my dad to tell him about this new field I’d discovered. He said “Claire, that’s great, but you do realize this is that stuff you’ve ignored all your life? This is what I do.”

I was crushed. But, as much as I wanted to resist, I knew it was the right path. I love organizing, structuring, planning, and designing. So that’s how I became a reluctant IA.

How did you become a co-chair of the IA cConference?

In 2019, I volunteered with the DCUX Conference, where I met Vanessa Foss. We discussed low student engagement in professional conferences such as IAC, and I suggested she create the new position of student co-chair. I argued student engagement won’t happen without student leadership. One thing led to another, and here I am.

What do you do as a co-chair?

I’m grateful for my fellow co-chairs (Grace Lau, Teresa Nguyen, Cassini Nazir) because together with Kunverj and our amazing volunteers, we are responsible for planning and delivering the conference. It’s a huge amount of work.

One task that’s fun is choosing keynote speakers. I’m proud to have identified and invited Rebekah Bruesehoff to be our opening keynote. At first glance, she has little to do with IA. But, when you consider the consequences of classification, who is better to speak to its dangers than a transgender youth activist who’s also a Marvel superhero?

What’s been your funniest moment in IA, so far?

The co-chairs and curation team were reviewing workshops for the event, and the word “ontology” appeared several times. Everyone but me seemed to know what it meant, so I swallowed my pride and asked. Instead of an explanation, I was met with blank stares. After an eternity, someone said “I know what it means, but I can’t explain it.”

All of a sudden, everyone grabbed their “polar bear books.” They didn’t even have to leave their chairs. They all had it on the desk next to them. I couldn’t decide if I should laugh or cry. Sometimes it seems impossible to escape my dad even after moving hundreds of miles away to college. Of course, the moment became even funnier when we found the polar bear book doesn’t even define “ontology.”

What’s next for you?

Upon graduation in May, I hope to start my career at the intersection of user experience and crisis management. I’m currently working at the Crisis Technologies Innovation Lab at Indiana University where I have become aware of all sorts of opportunities to apply UX methods to improve disaster planning and emergency management. I may be a reluctant IA, but when it comes to using IA to help people survive and thrive, I’m all in.

Where can people find you?I’m on Twitter (@morvilleclaire) and LinkedIn and can’t wait to meet you at IAC!

Toward a more diverse, equitable, and inclusive IAC21: our action plan

Following up on an article from June 25, 2020, we want to let you know how we’re taking action for the 2021 information architecture conference to be more diverse, equitable, and inclusive. We ask that you hold us accountable and make suggestions for how we can continuously improve our efforts. 

Our action plan

Diversify our scholarship criteria

Since 2018, the IAC’s Scholarship Program has offered around 30 full scholarships—covering the cost of registration, airfare, and hotel—mainly to people of color. Vanessa Foss, Kunverj and IAC Advisory Board member, says that this initiative was born out of the need for more representation and to build awareness of the participation of people of color in the information architecture field. This year, we will continue our efforts with these same goals in mind, but we will expand our criteria to further highlight diversity, equity,  and inclusivity within the field. Our scholarships will be available to:   

  • Students identifying as black, Indigenous, or a person of color (BIPOC) 
  • Students identifying as LGBTQIA+
  • Students with a disability
  • Anyone whose employment has been affected by COVID-19 or other circumstances

Create meaningful mentorship opportunities

Mentorship comes in different forms and at different times. The IAC is a space where mentorships are formed and continued. We have offered many opportunities for mentorship including portfolio reviews, 1-on-1 career advice sessions, and group mentoring. Besides these options, we want to ensure that we create meaningful opportunities to connect, learn from one another, and to continue to foster and build on these relationships well after the IAC. To do this, we will:

  • Establish a pledge for mentors and mentees to stay invested during and after the conference.
  • Create conference circles or birds of a feather sessions to encourage peer-to-peer learning. 
  • Create a roadmap for the mentor-mentee relationship to aid relationship development beyond the conference.
  • Update our selection criteria for mentors to ensure a diverse selection of mentors.

Provide speaker support for new or novice IAC speakers

Speaking in front of a new crowd at an unfamiliar venue can be difficult, even if the topic is familiar. Recognizing this, now almost 10 years ago, Adam Polansky recognized this and started an effort to support new or novice speakers to the conference. This year, we will continue to support speakers at every stage of the process—from putting a submission together to rehearsing a talk. As we develop our speaker support program, we will all be able to share our plans for guiding speakers and presenters in adapting their content to the virtual environment.

Reimagine the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Roundtable

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

We will continue our efforts, started in 2018 and continued in 2019, to offer a safe space to discuss issues, ideas, and solutions surrounding diversity, equity, and inclusion as they relate to the IAC and the field. Going virtual allows us to experiment and to offer a series of virtual roundtables. We will encourage first-time conference attendees and newcomers to the field to take part in the discussion to bring a fresh perspective. Following the sessions, we will compile the feedback from each DEI roundtable, translate these outcomes to action, and share this information with the community via the IAC blog.

Update our code of conduct and provide safe ways to report misconduct

The possibility for bad actors exists at every conference. With that, your mental, emotional, and physical safety is one of our priorities and will help to make a great experience, even for a virtual conference. The IAC Code of Conduct is reviewed annually to address any gaps or changes that are needed. We offer an anonymous reporting form in the case of misconduct. 

Broaden our community

Representation matters always! IAC continues to recognize the need to diversify its community to ensure it has a variety of perspectives, experiences, skill sets, and knowledge. In the past, IAC has proactively reached out to Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) to increase student participation. However, we recognize outreach alone is not enough, and this year, we hope to expand IAC’s connection to all institutions of learning. To do this, we will:

  • Deepen our existing relationships with HBCUs.
  • Establish new relationships with community colleges, high schools, bootcamps, and other non-traditional information architecture, user experience, and design programs. 
  • Identify and share information on non-traditional programs with the community.

Continuously improve with your help

We will provide ways for you to offer feedback on our efforts. The DEI Roundtable is one avenue, but in the meantime tell us what you think about our plans and your prior experience with IAC, or provide suggestions for future improvements. 

Planning to attend IAC21? Learn more about our theme. 

If you’d like to help, please sign up to volunteer for the IAC21.

Written by MaShana Davis with contributions by Cassini Nazir, Grace Lau, Teresa Nguyen, and Agnes Kiss.

How to Craft Your Proposal

What does it take to submit a proposal to IAC19?
We’re looking for new voices and new ideas. We will choose a mix of hands-on, practical, “you can bring it back to work next week” sessions together with thought-provoking theory-driven talks.

Proposal Structure

Start with an idea worth sharing with the community.
Provide a short description of the talk.
Tell us the takeaways participants should expect.
Tell us a little bit about you.

Content we are looking for

Conference Theme

We want gateways to be at the heart of every conversation. What does gateways mean to you? How do you incorporate that into your thinking and your work?

Suggested Topics

Information architecture has evolved, in practice, throughout the ages. Some of those changes have been flashpoints in our profession. What is the right job title for what we do? Is UX really IA? Is IA really UX? And now, more than ever, we stand on another threshold. The age of digital design is evolving so rapidly that our collective skills are vital to the success of emerging technologies.

A few sample topics to get you started:

  • Approaches for modeling large-scale information environments
  • Connecting information architecture with strategy and design
  • Ethics and social responsibility in the practice of information architecture, experience strategy, and design
  • Bridging academia research and real-world practice
  • IA in the enterprise
    • IA and content management systems
    • Improving data modeling with information architecture
    • Improving marketing communications with structured content
    • Improving product design with information architecture
    • Practicing IA in a culture of agility
    • IA frameworks, process, and practice
    • IA theory and science
    • Information architecture in 2100
    • Methods for building consensus
    • Methods for framing strategic objectives
    • Modeling human behavior for immersive digital experiences
    • Organizational dynamics of IA and UX teams in large public- or private-sector organizations
    • Research in information architecture and user information interaction behavior
    • Selling information architecture in the enterprise
    • The future promise and challenges of structuring physical-digital space: augmented and virtual reality
    • The value proposition of information architecture in a culture of design and software engineering
    • What information architecture can learn from other disciplines

    Resources for Writing a Great Proposal

    Not sure what a great proposal looks like? We’ve gathered a few resources to help you.

      • It’s All About the Details: What the IA Summit Taught Me About Submitting to a Conference (IA Summit 2015)
      • Giles on Crafting a Proposal (IA Summit 2013)
      • Conference Proposals that Don’t Suck
      • How to write a kick-ass conference proposal
      • What Your Conference Proposal is Missing
      • How to Write a Conference Speaking or Session Proposal that Gets Chosen Every Time
      • Sample proposals for O’Reilly Conferences
      • How to write a compelling proposal

    Need additional help?

    Ask for help from our community on Slack or Twitter.

    Submit your proposal by 11/11

  • Go to page 1
  • Go to page 2
  • Go to Next Page »

Sponsor IAC

We’re looking for organizations who share our commitment to building and sustaining programs that drive a more inclusive industry. Learn more on the Sponsor IAC23 page or contact us directly at info@theiaconference.com for more information.

Thanks to this year’s sponsors!

Logo for sponsor Optimal Workshop
Platinum sponsor
Optimal Workshop
Logo for sponsor Factor Firm
Gold sponsor
Factor Firm
Logo for sponsor Last Call Media
Silver sponsor
Last Call Media
Logo for sponsor Design for Context
Scholarship sponsor
Design for Context

Logo for sponsor A Book Apart
In-Kind sponsor
A Book Apart
Logo for sponsor Balsamiq
In-Kind sponsor
Balsamiq
Logo for sponsor MURAL
In-Kind sponsor
MURAL
Logo for sponsor OOUX Masterclass
In-Kind sponsor
OOUX Masterclass
Logo for sponsor Rosenfeld Media
In-Kind sponsor
Rosenfeld Media

Logo for sponsor UX Camp DC
Community sponsor
UX Camp DC
Logo for sponsor World IA Day
Community sponsor
World IA Day

The information architecture conference ©2022

Privacy Policy ⋅ Code of Conduct