1st Academics and Practitioners Roundtable
2013 Information Architecture Summit in Chicago, Illinois, USA
April 3, 2013 – Presentations and Discussion
Technological, economic, social, and cultural elements of change had thoroughly transformed the scenario in which information architecture operated in the late 1990s, and a reframing was necessary to move the conversation forward, consolidate intuitions into discipline, and help establish a common language and grammar for both practice and research in the field.
As a result of this roundtable, essays contributed were collected and compiled into a 2014 book, Reframing Information Architecture. (See more about the book at: Springer, Amazon).
Andrea Resmini
Jönköping University
The Information Architecture Institute
The Journal of Information Architecture
The primary goals of the workshop were:
The workshop welcomed both theoretical reflections and academic perspectives, case study-related best practices and insights from practitioners coming from such diverse backgrounds as information architecture, the liberal arts, architecture, information systems, design theory, library and information science, product design, interaction design, visual and information design, business and marketing, and service design.
Proposals were double-blind peer reviewed by a group of referees composed of both academics and practitioners with long standing expertise
in the field.
Following up on experiences in previous events, the workshop was mainly structured as a conversation. Participants were not required to just “lecture the audience”, i.e. simply present their papers, but rather workshop leaders provided a continuous thread for discussion around the themes and questions brought forth in the workshop outline and in individual contributions, and allowed free interventions and invited participants to introduce relevant concepts and insights from their contributions whenever appropriate.
The reason for this format was the desire to avoid simple replication of the content of the individual proposal in a social context, and move the conversation one step further, foster the development of novel reflections on the themes being discussed, and allow free-flow, brainstorming-like interactions.
Non-speaking attendance, appealing to researchers, educators or practitioners who might have an interest in the discussion but no formalized contribution to bring bring forward at this point, was welcomed, though limited by the availability of seats. Non-speaking attendees did not benefit from publication, nor actively participate in the conversation.
All attendees, both accepted authors and simple auditors, were required to register for the workshop. The nominal fee was used to cover the bare costs of the workshop.
