World IA Day 2015 - Portland

SO WHAT IS INFORMATION ARCHITECTURE?

Our world is increasingly made of information, yet so much of that information is not as clear or accessible as it could be to those it is intended for. One way to think of it is in terms of 'Communication Design'. Every organization out there seems to say that they want to make their users happy, but who is really delivering on those promises? Who is really architecting for happiness?

On February 21, 2015 we want to ask the world to help us uncover answers to questions we believe to be critical to the future of what Information Architecture is and how we practice it:

• What Is Information Architecture?
• Can information affect happiness?
• What work are organizations doing to bridge the gaps we face as we transition from a primarily analog to a primarily digital way of life?

Agenda:

9:00 - 10:00 Spencer WilliamsArchitect and City Planner

Social Architecture and City System Design: Integrated, Iterative And Intuitive Placemaking

In this talk, we'll examine why current city systems have the designs they do and what kind of information is required to plan for people. Information Architecture and Architecture itself are synonymous. How can being in a building, a city and a community create happiness and how is that information communicated through interpretation of the responses gleaned from those experiencing it? This talk covers information-as-architecture, cities that are more than a collection of just these objects (sidewalks, intersections, etc) and what we can learn about this planning process that can be applied to nearly any industry.

10:00 - 11:00 Thubten ComerfordCo-Founder of Pitchlandia, Founder & CEO of WePost Media

Optimal Sequencing - Human Interaction Design

Have you ever had an interaction go off the rails and you had no idea why? Verbal and non-verbal communication is indeed a form of Information Architecture and if the above happened to you, the culprit might be ineffective communication design. How can you create more happiness for all? It means that it's possible to design interpersonal communication so you can articulate more than just words. This talk is centered around exposing some common mistakes we all make so that we can get at the most crucial element: effective human interaction. We will explore the essential components and learn ways to build confidence, clarify confusion and provide the most value-for-time ratio to ourselves, clients, customers, vendors, employees and, just about anyone we communicate with.

11:00 - 12:00 Jose CaballerChief Education Officer,The Skool + Director of Digital Strategy, Blind

AND

Chris DoCo-Founder, The Skool + CEO and Creative Director, Blind

Designing Powerful Facilitated Work Sessions

Brainstorming doesn't work. This talk is focused on how to design powerful, effective work sessions, which result in high-fidelity team interaction and create happiness for all involved. The most important takeaway will be how the design of the agenda extends beyond the work session, which will reveal techniques you can use right away. For example; shifting from follow-up design tasks to design experiments can be seen as a happier way of producing more innovative solutions. We will explain the best ways to document and track your ideas to help them become reality by engendering ownership from each team member and instill confidence across all stakeholders.

13:00 - 14:00 Sara Stowe

PHR; Talent Acquisition Manager

Culture Fit: More Than A Feeling

A bad hire is costly—financially as well as the impact on happiness and morale within the team. When we look back to understand what went wrong, it’s unlikely that the person wasn’t qualified or had the necessary skill set. More often, it turns out that they weren’t a “fit.” How can you really predict if someone is going to fit in and be successful? Does success at one company mean success at yours? Interview teams struggle to properly assess fit, and often rely on their “gut feeling.” Intuition is hard-wired for our survival, yes, but we’re also fallible human beings who have history, culture, experience, context which creates bias and, in hiring, makes the talent pool even more shallow. Understanding and articulating your company’s culture is at the crux of developing an approach to identify culture fit and the potential for success. It is the foundation of a structured approach to assessing talent, employer brand, engagement, talent development and performance feedback. Sara will walk you through her experience at Smarsh as they embarked on developing a program to assess fit, where “not-a-fit” trumps experience every time.

14:00 - 15:00 Rain DoveAndrogynous Supermodel and Public Figure

Identity Design: Breaking The Binary Gender Code

Genderqueer Supermodel Rain Dove will help audiences become more aware of identity design through a look at binary gender identity ('he' and 'she'), its origins and why this form of social design is no longer relevant. This person will discuss implementation of a new system of gender identity, which exposes the advantages of designing one's own identity for maximum happiness and thus a stronger engagement with the world around them.

15:00 - 16:00 Ken RubinVP Culinary Training, Rouxbe Online Cooking School

Not Enough Cooks In The Kitchen: Curating Food Culture with Technology & Design

How does technology and information design around food impact how we cook and eat? In a world marked by an increasing sense of culinary culture amnesia, cooking is a lost art and many have a fragmented and distant relationship to food. So, the world needs more cooks - people who craft their world through a lens of food, cooking and eating. Cooking is not only a potent symbol of empowerment, it is among the most human of all acts that stands at the center of an opportunity for widespread social impact. An increase in cooking has innumerable positive outcomes for individuals, communities and our planet. As an example, cooking literacy is at the core of how we will solve our public health and chronic illness crisis. In designing learning technologies and educational experiences to build confidence in the kitchen, I am on a mission to (re)produce food culture, and happiness, through active participation and engagement with others.

16:00 - 17:00 Joshua BurkhowGlobal Ops. Performance Management & Analytics

We Need All The Help We Can Get: Analytics For Happy People

Here’s a tip: make it a point, regardless of your industry, to familiarize yourself with the terms: “Big Data”, “Data Science” and “Analytics." Increasingly, the need for employing, analyzing and interpreting data is permeating nearly every discipline and there is no sign of it slowing. Believe it or not, there is a shortage of 150,000+ Information Professionals that are needed to dive into huge data sources, create new insights, and analyze all that data! In this talk, I’ll share what kind of valuable work these people do, how you can employ similar concepts in your own practice and ways to clarify your data strategy for happier, more confident data-driven decisions.

17:00 - 18:00 Cynthia OwensSenior Consultant, XPlane

What the F*CK is IA?: Learn About IA Through Visual Thinking

After a day of sessions, we will discuss some key visual thinking concepts and develop a PDX-specific answer to that compelling question. Learn how visual thinking will help create more happiness for all in the practice of developing IA.

18:00 - 19:00 Charles Adler-KEYNOTEDesigner, Kickstarter Co-Founder

Designing for the Unknown

The design of any system is an experiment. The design thinking and execution behind Kickstarter was no different. Yet everything has been done before, so how do we cross the chasm of these two extremes? Using Kickstarter as an example, we'll look into experimentation across multiple facets of the platform, applied models from blogging, web video and audio while also pressing the envelope with regard to collective fundraising, community, and transparency. Charles will share stories from the company's genesis, design decisions met along the way, and how creating happiness has shaped Kickstarter into what it is today - the largest funding platform for creative projects.

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ABOUT WORLD IA DAY

World Information Architecture Day is a free one-day conference hosted annually by the Information Architecture Institute and held simultaneously in selected cities all over the world. Each year, a new theme is selected, new cities are added, and our community continues to grow as more people from all across the world join this truly global celebration of Information Architecture.

http://www.2015.worldiaday.org/

ABOUT IAI

The Information Architecture Institute is a non-profit organization empowering local communities to shape the global practice of information architecture by providing places to share and opportunities to learn.

http://iainstitute.org/

FAQs

• You can reach the organizers at global@worldiaday.org or portland@worldiaday.org
• The conference, food and drink are all free and open to the public, but you must register and bring your ticket.