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The actual reflections
and projections panel made this pain quite clear. During my
5-minute blather, I mentioned that I'd like to see more talks
addressing business at the next year's ASIS. This thought
definitely caught hold of the conference goers, as it was
the most-followed-up point during the Q&A.
The primary issue
was, "How do we sell information architecture?"
As a new discipline, IA seems more like nice-to-have than
necessity--we survived many years without it, right? Particularly
with the market downturn, it's feared we'll all find ourselves
line-itemed out of work.
I don't have the
answer (if someone out there does, please let me know), but
I do have some suggestions.
Read. Read
books on marketing. Not just any of them--most of them are
hogwash. But a few have definitely risen to the top as worth
noting. Crossing
the Chasm, The
Innovator's Dilemma, Rules
for Revolutionaries all come to mind. Read business
magazines. BusinessWeek is almost always worthwhile. For internet-specific
pubs, the Industry Standard and Red Herring have set themselves
apart from the pack. You'll realize that "business-speak"
is far from impenetrable (in fact, it's remarkably straightforward).
And while understanding
what these publications have to say is important, what's more
important is that this is what the money people read. You'll
get insight into what they think. And, perhaps most crucially,
you'll have common points of reference--if you cite an article
in BusinessWeek or The Wall Street Journal, you're taking
steps toward convincing the money people that you're not some
high-minded tweedy academic--you're clearly interested in
the pragmatic realities of the market and maybe your approach
to work will help them with their bottom line.
Don't try to
sell "information architecture." The field is
too young, and almost no one is buying. A phrase like "information
architecture" will more than likely simply scare away
potential clients who aren't familiar with the term.
Do try to sell
your experience. Make it clear that you know how to design
Web sites. Make it clear that your experience and training
means that you won't make the foolish mistakes that an outright
neophyte would make. Say things like, "I can produce
a Web site that will [sell more widgets, get more pageviews,
reduce employee training costs, whatever] through my experience
with information architecture." It's a simple twist,
but a key one. Sell the end result, not the process.
I'm sure there
are tons more good strategies for approaching this issue.
If you've hit upon any, let
me know.
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