I want to first thank Don for enthusiastically welcoming the idea of my graduate students in Information Architecture posting to the IAOC blog---a blog that I have come to read often and respect quite a bit. I first thought of having my students post here because online communication is essentially about the movement and transmission of information in electronic environments. What better topic for the blog than one that asks students to investigate how information in various media (on- and off-line) is organized, structured, and distributed.

Students are going to be posting about information architecture, in general, citing and linking to sources that they find in various information architecture-related blogs, news stories, and things they come across in their daily lives. They are also going to be posting responses to each of the 10 books we are reading this semester:

Bowker, G, & Star, S.L. (2000). Sorting things out: Classification and its consequences. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press

Brown, J.S. & Duguid, P. (2002). The Social Life of Information. Boston: Harvard Business School Press.

Kress, G., & van Leeuwen, T. (1996). Reading images: The grammar of visual design (2^nd ed). London: Routledge.

Lakoff, G. & Johnson, M. (2003). Metaphors we live by. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.

Lessig, L. (2005). Free culture: The nature and future of creativity. New York, NY: Penguin.

Lupton, E. (2004). Thinking with type: A critical guide for designers, writers, editors, & students. New York, NY: Princeton Architectural Press

McCloud, S. (1994). Understanding comics: The invisible art. New York: Perennial.

Nardi, B.A. & O’Day, V.L. (2000). Information Ecologies: Using Technology with Heart. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

Reynolds, G. (2008). Presentation Zen: Simple Ideas on Presentation Design and Delivery. Berkeley, CA: New Riders. (recommended, though will be invaluable)

Tufte, E. (2006). Beautiful evidence. Cheshire, CT: Graphics Press.

Turchi, P. (2004). Maps of the imagination: The writer as cartographer. San Antonio, TX: Trinity University Press.

Each week one or two students has been assigned as the discussion leader (see the course schedule for the order the books will be read). As part of their role the student(s) will incorporate into their post a series of questions meant to inspire discussion. The questions will be addressed in class, but they will written broadly with the hopes that an online discussion amongst the students, myself, the IAOC community, and other readers, will emerge on this site. We hope you will engage us, challenge us, and help us think more and more critically about information architecture, online communication, and our ideas, overall.

Starting next Week Bill Wolff brings his Information Architecture class online to the IAOC Blog. He and his Rowan University students will blog as they learn about, use, and review new Web 2.0 applications such as the micro-blogging tool, Twitter, the social networking utility Ning, the semantic web app, Twine and Blern, a site that recommends online content based on the interests each member demonstrates while reading and interacting on various web 2.0 sites.

In his introduction to the class, Wolff challenges students to “think in new ways about language, technologies, society and how we interact with them all.” Join in the challenge right here on the IAOC Blog.

Don Dunnington

The IAOC is sponsoring the Internet PR Chat Series produced by Patron Saint Productions for over a decade. The Internet PR Chat Series is a free Friday workshop for online PR professionals. The class runs Friday afternoon from 12 to 1 p.m. Eastern Time. We teach a lesson in the first half hour, then open the lines and discuss ongoing campaigns the second half hour.

The Internet PR Chat Series will be held on Skype this year. Please send your Skype name to me to enroll, and I will send a schedule of topics. It all starts Friday here at IAOCblog.com.

STEVE O’KEEFE
Executive Director, Patron Saint Productions, Inc.
Adjunct Professor, Internet Public Relations, Tulane University