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World IA Day – Finding Inspiration

February 14/2012 Jeff Parks

ia IAI video WIAD

When I met with the new Board of Directors for the Information Architecture Institute in Iceland last year, we worked hard in taking the first steps to rethink the IAI and how to keep all future endeavours not only centred on the needs of the community and advancement of the discipline, but also to involve more of the global community in everything we offered.

Left to right: Dorian Taylor @doriantaylor, Andrea Resmini @resmini, Dan Klyn @danklyn, and Noreen Whysel @nwhysel). Fellow Board member Shari Thurow (@sharithurow) was unable to make the trip due to illness but was conference called into discussions.

Our newest members of the Board include Chris Baum @cb, and Laura Creekmore @lauracreekmore. Jessica DuVerneay @jduverneay was the global executive producer for World IA Day

Dorian Taylor sketched out an initial framework after researching the IAI in greater detail in advance of our trip, which evolved into the following structure:

This allowed us to stay centered on the needs of the community – a kind of persona for the IAI. If of interest, you can hear a conversation I lead with fellow Board Members about this path forward.

While the IDEA conference – initiated by past President Peter Merholz – was successful, we wanted to put everything on the table, taking an objective look at all projects and how new initiatives could benefit the IA discipline and the grassroots of the community, our members.

This was, and continues to be the focus for all programs including volunteers, mentoring, a new website for the IAI, etc. How do we get more of the global audience involved at a local level?

Learn about the decision to move away from the IDEA conference and create WIAD by the IAI in this post by Dan Klyn, World IA Day – Rationale.

After several meetings and months of discussions about all programs within the framework above, Abby Covert (@Abby_The_IA) came up with the idea for World IA Day!

The global event, which launched this past Saturday, featured sold-out venues with long waiting lists, which we had not anticipated (one of several changes we are looking to improve upon for next year). You can see photos from all 14 cities on the Flickr album created specifically for World IA Day.

Over the next few weeks we would appreciate feedback about your experiences. What worked really well? What failed? How can we support the IA community at this and other events in the future?

What I loved about this initiative was that it put the focus of the conversation back where it belongs – on the discipline and the opportunity to both network and learn from local professionals.

Our heart-felt thanks to all organizers, sponsors, and volunteers who made the first annual World IA Day such a great experience for all involved!

Jorge Arango (@jarango), Louis Rosenfeld (@louisrosenfeld) and Peter Morville (@morville) shared their thoughts on the discipline. These videos were shown at all 14 venues. Thank you gentlemen!