Vancouver bound
January 11, 2006
The ASIS&T Information Architecture Summit just accepted my session proposal, so I'll be venturing up to Vancouver from March 23-27 to give a presentation entitled "Stone Age Information Architecture." Here's a rough sketch of what I plan to cover:
What can pre-literate societies teach us about information architecture? While we tend to think of complex information systems as the province of technological societies, in fact tribal cultures employ remarkably refined systems for managing their collective intellectual capital. This presentation will explore the little-studied world of tribal information systems, including folk taxonomies (not to be confused with “folksonomies”), categorization systems, and methods of projecting shared information spaces into the outside world. Surveying the anthropological literature and related fields, we will explore the heritage of ancient information architectures in search of patterns that may shed light on our own approaches to organizing information. Ultimately, we will look for clues to the future of information architecture through the filter of our distant cultural past.
I'm looking forward to seeing Vancouver, one of those places I've always wanted to visit (especially after spending five weeks in Victoria a few years ago). I'd welcome any recommendations on what to do/see/eat/drink while I'm up there. And if you're headed up that way, I'm always up for coffee and/or cocktails.
File under: User Experience
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GLUT:
Mastering Information Through the Ages
New Paperback Edition
“A penetrating and highly entertaining meditation on the information age and its historical roots.”
—Los Angeles Times
