"A successful information architect understands the way users access information, but also realizes that there are other variables and important factors that need to be taken into account when doing the job." Okay, so this seems really obvious to me, but apparently it comes as some surprise to some people that considerations other than those purely related to customer tasks and goals are involved in the decisions about how web applications are designed. In any event, Jeff Lash's Digital Web article should disabuse you of this particular belief. Read the article...

From an October 2001 A List Apart article, "Structuralists see the web as a vehicle for information: the web is a tool to simplify the lives of over-stressed human beings.... Presentationalists, on the other hand, believe that the web is for conveying experience—a medium for entertainment and artistic enrichment." Read the article...

A List Apart article by Curt Cloninger, "The war is not between commercial sites and experimental sites. It's not between "Bloggers" and "Flashers." This war is between usability experts and graphic designers." Read the article...

In this 23 July 2000 Alertbox, Jakob says, "Websites must tone down their individual appearance and distinct design in all ways: visual design, terminology and labeling, interaction design and workflow, information architecture" Read it...

On 24 July 2000, Michael Sippey of Stating the Obvious responds with this, "Standard methods of exchanging and delivering information will open up opportunities for Internet application developers to provide more distinct user experiences for more distinct target markets. If there's a market for a particular type (or brand) of user experience, information standards will only help create that market, by helping users avoid information-based application lock- in (a la Microsoft Office), and forcing developers to cater to the user interface and functionality needs of their particular audience." Read the rebuttal...

By Jef Raskin, "I am often embarrassed when supposedly technically savvy authors abuse terms such as information, digital, and binary, seemingly unaware of their precise meanings and implications. If our field is to advance, we must, without displacing creativity and aesthetics, make sure our terminology is clear. As a curmudgeon, I am delighted to point out that the popular term, Information Design, is a misnomer. Information cannot be designed; what can be designed are the modes of transfer and the representations of information. This is inherent in the nature of information, and it is important for designers to keep the concepts of information and meaning distinct." Read the article...