I find the practice of information architecture is mostly about convincing people that something needs to be done, rather than making diagrams or coding anything. Categories and structures are deep within us. An attempt to create a new architectural approach is an attempt to create a new shared fiction that…

In my last article, I asked if you could remember where your grandparents kept their telephone. Our brains are usually very good at this kind of thing, so most of us can. Not all spatial memories are so easy, though. I also asked if you knew where your most recent…

Wherever you are, please take a moment and think if you can remember where your grandparents kept their telephone. Close your eyes if you need to. Where was your high school locker? Where is your can opener in your house right now? Now, where is your most recent copy of…

You may not have an information architect on your team, but you definitely have information architecture in your experience. Information architecture (IA) isn’t commonly associated with accessibility, but a review of the literature shows that’s a huge mistake. …

Inspired by a question on Twitter, I want to provide an example of the power of structured content as we have leveraged it on Docs.microsoft.com. First, a little background: Microsoft Docs is the successor to MSDN, Technet, etc. and is the platform on which Microsoft is centralizing (nearly) all of its technical documentation, training…

Periodically, we’re taking a classic paper in information science and breaking it down into its argument, some clear examples, other perspectives from the field on the same issue, and what it can mean for an information architecture practice today. This week, we’re looking at Michael Buckland’s “Information as Thing.” [PDF] …