Overview: The Information Architect
In recent years, the area of information architecture has gained credibility as a specific field of study. People come to this field with backgrounds in graphic design, information and library science, journalism, usability engineering, marketing, computer science, technical writing, architecture, product management, and many more areas.
Real World Information Architecture
A vast majority of web resources are developed by people with limited knowledge of information architecture. You don't need a staff of professional web designers to create an effective information environment. Instead, you simply need an understanding of your website goals, the technical resources available, the content, and the needs of your audience.
Three Circles of Information Architecture
In the "real world" the key is understanding and addressing the information ecology consisting of context, content, and users (Morville & Rosefeld, 2007, 25).
Context. Regardless of whether you're developing for a school, library, museum, nonprofit, business, or other group, your information architecture must be aligned with the goals and culture of your organization. What are the politics and issues facing the organization? What are the constraints of the project?
Content. Consider the types of information that will address the goals of the organization and website. What documents, applications, resources, and data do users need? How should this information be organized and accessed?
Users. Who will be using the materials at the website? What are their needs and interests? What's their reading level and background? What experiences do they have with this type of information?
Read Chapter 2: Practicing Information Architecture, Chapter 13: Education, and Chapter 15: Building an Information Architecture Team in Information Architecture for the World Wide Web, 3rd edition by Peter Morville & Louis Rosenfeld.
Read the off-site article Unraveling the Mysteries of metadata and taxonomies by Christina Wodtke to explore one person's experiences as an information architect.