I still don't know what Information Architecture is, and I've had trouble finding a working definition, at least one that works for me.  I'll probably bring that up in class.  I also haven't finished Beautiful Evidence yet, so more to come on that.  So, I was looking for something I could relate to class, and I found something in a book we read last week for Core 2.      

     Our class was charged last week with reading Interpretive Biography by Norman K. Denzin and some of  its lessons apply directly to our work in Information Architecture.  I think you can deduce what the book entails by its title, so I won't bore the readers with a thorough explanation of the text. 

     Early in the book, Denzin talks about the meaning of truth, at least as far as biographers are concerned.  He says that "Fiction is a narrative (story, account) which deals with real or imagined facts and facticities (Denzin 23)."  So, is Denzin saying that fiction can be factual?  Yes.  But Denzin continues, saying "all writing, as suggested above, is fictional (Denzin 24)." This realization was illuminating as I have had trouble grasping concepts of truth, fact, and fiction. If Denzin is correct, then we should look at all writing, truthful or factual as it may be, as inherently fictional.  Avoiding questions of absolute or relative truth, we need to remember that all writing is compiled for a reason by its author, and this author arranges his materials in such a way as to fulfil his purpose.  The very act of compiling a narrative is highly fictional as it attempts to prescribe order to a set of facts, data, events, information, etc. that may or may not lend itself to being framed.  Writing is an artificial framing of the perceived reality of an author.  With or without facts, writing is fictional  This realization should not cause us to trust writing less, but rather to look at it more criticially, and in all contexts. 

   We now have a premise to work with: all writing is fictional; we can apply this to visual data as well.  If we say that the act of writing is fictional, it stands to reason that any display of information that is manipulated in any way whatsoever by the author is also fictional.  If we put something on Powerpoint, for example, or a posterboard, write a research paper, or a blog post, one undeniable fact remains: we will always be leaving something out.  If we cannot present the whole truth, we are merely presenting part of the truth at best, and a less authentic version of the truth at worst.  Whenever we attempt to display data visually, we are creating a fiction.  Visual displays help us put disparite information into a workable, relatable context.  This is the same as writing a narrative. 

  I hope to explore this idea more in the future.