Toward a More Inclusive IAC

Dear Information Architecture Community,

These are increasingly turbulent times. As we, the IAC21 co-chairs, meet to plan next year’s conference, we can’t help but reflect on the current protests and uprisings in the United States in response to the deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Tony McDade, and countless other Black lives taken from this world by the police and other forms of brutality. We mourn and grieve these losses and recognize that the pain felt by the African-American community is a continuation of the deep trauma resulting from over 400 years of systemic oppression, exploitation, and violence. As co-chairs, we acknowledge that we — and, quite likely, most of the members of the IA community — have not experienced the kind of systemic racism faced by the African-American community.

From its beginning IAC has been shepherded by Vanessa Foss of Kunverj, who writes:

“As the director of the IA Conference and as an African-American woman, I have noticed, not only over the recent years, but from the very first conference (when it was known as the IA Summit), the lack of diversity, especially when it came to black participants. So, about three years ago, together with the IA community, a scholarship program was started, in order to increase awareness about Information Architecture and participation by people of color. So far, about 30 full scholarships have been granted to people of color. We also plan to implement a mentorship program this year. I am proud of the progress that we have made so far and I am firmly committed to building on this foundation as we march forward together.”

Here are some things that IAC has been doing to address racial inequities:

1. As Vanessa mentioned, IAC’s Scholarship Program has offered about 30 full scholarships to people of color since 2018. The full scholarship, which will continue in 2021, includes the cost of tickets, airfare, and hotel.
2. Beginning with IAC20, IAC has proactively reached out to Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) to increase student participation. Outreach alone isn’t enough. This year we now have a first-ever student co-chair who will help to deepen university outreach.
3. IAC held a Diversity & Inclusion Roundtable in 2018, creating a roadmap aimed at bringing more diverse speakers and attendees. More needs to be done. In addition to bringing this back in 2021, we are, more importantly, looking at ways to translate these ideas into action.

This isn’t enough. As co-chairs, we will uphold the work already started to make the conference be more diverse and inclusive. Throughout our conference planning, we’ll post regularly on our progress. We don’t know what tomorrow looks like, much less what next year’s IAC might look like, but we all have profound work ahead.

Tell us what you think. And keep us accountable.

— Grace G Lau, Claire Morville, Cassini Nazir, Teresa Nguyen

P.S. If you’d like to help, sign up to volunteer: bit.ly/IAC21-Volunteer.

Grace Lau

Grace Lau is an information architect and designer based in Greater Los Angeles, California. She supports the information architecture community through organizing events and mentoring. She co-founded DIA Design Guild, a design community and collective for new and transitioning tech professionals to learn and develop UX skills on real-world projects.

Her first IA Summit was in 2007 Las Vegas. She is also the co-president of World IA Day.

Claire Morville

Claire is a senior at the University of Maryland iSchool, studying information architecture and user experience. Her experience includes wedding planning, web design, and a paid internship in user experience at the Federal Aviation Administration. As the first-ever student co-chair for the IA Conference, she is bringing new voices and energy into the field. She hopes to increase student participation as attendees, speakers, volunteers, and leaders. Claire’s interests include volleyball, visual design, disaster planning, and crisis management. She is excited to use her experiences to help students progress in this field and meet the people in this community.

Cassini Nazir

Cassini Nazir is a designer of conversations, curricula, and interfaces.

He is a Program Director and Clinical Associate Professor in New College at the University of North Texas where he teaches classes in design thinking and interaction design.

In spring 2020, he was Designer-in-Residence for the SMU Masters in Design and Innovation (MADI) program.

Prior to joining UNT, Cassini taught at The University of Texas at Dallas, where he directed two research labs. He was founding director of the ATEC Usability Lab, which fosters collaborative research with community partners and offers experiential learning to students. He was also Director of Design for the ArtSciLab, a transdisciplinary research lab helping the arts, science, and technology communities by pursuing initiatives of societal urgency and cultural timeliness.

His academic projects include collaborations with art historians, biochemists, brain scientists, futurists, materials scientists, new media artists, and a university press. He has worked with industry partners such as Intuit, Toyota, Sabre, DFW Airport, and projekt202.

Teresa Nguyen