Academic Programs in Information Design: The Bentley College Approach    

The focus of Bentley College's information design programs is the user, addressing universal behaviors (human factors) and task-related behaviors (goal-driven needs). All too often in the past, professional communicators have rushed to design external information products (books, illustrations, online help systems, and the like) to support the information requirements of a system. Increasingly, however, solutions are found much deeper in the system design, a concept we call knowledge-infused design.

Gribbons, William M. Technical Communication Online (2000). Articles>Education>Information Design

The Care of Content: A Red-Pen-Wielder's Perspective

What is the world (wide web) coming to when even us blue-haired English teachers have something to say about the Net? After all, we're supposed to be consumed with the past--a time long before the binary code when writers still used quills, and men, unfortunately, wore tights. (Sorry for the visual.) Well, in defense of red-pen-wielders everywhere, I have to say that just ain't so. Technology, particularly that which furthers education, is our concern. And the Internet (yes, I just started a sentence with the world 'and') is a source of great conflict. On the one hand, it is a storehouse from which vast amounts of knowledge may be retrieved--it provides information that may otherwise be inaccessible. On the other hand, because of its nature as an abyss, it's an illimitable source for the plagiarist. So, ironically, something that should catalyze learning is actually, in a way, simply making it easier for students not to learn.

Blum, Daphne. Digital Web Magazine (2000). Articles>Education>Information Design

Educating the Information Architect

The good news is that the job market for information architects is exploding. Searches on sites like Monster.com regularly turn up 200 to 300 postings for "information architects." From consulting firms like Argus and Scient to e-businesses like LookSmart to Fortune 500's like Cisco, everyone is desperately seeking information architects. The bad news is that there's no established educational degree program geared specifically to meet the needs of aspiring information architects.

Morville, Peter. Argus Center (2000). Articles>Education>Information Design

Education for Librarianship and Information Studies: Fit for Purpose?    

As this issue of the journal goes to press, the Europe-wide professional bodies representing the Schools of Librarianship and Information Studies (EUCLID -- The European Association for Library and Information Education and Research) and the Library Associations (EBLIDA -- the European Bureau of Library, Information and Documentation Associations) will be meeting together for the rst time since they were both founded some 15 years ago. The meeting is intended to focus on the effects of profound social changes related to digitization, multiculturalism and the growth of the knowledge economy.

Johnson, Ian M. Information Development (2007). Articles>Education>Information Design

Lessons to be Learned

Ivy-covered halls are filling up again with eager students of the user experience fields ready to change the world (or at least to study out the recession). But are these programs really teaching them what they need to know?

Olsen, George. Boxes and Arrows (2002). Articles>Education>Information Design

Making it Fit: Teaching Online Information Design in Two Programs with One Course  

To serve students in an interdisciplinary minor in Interactive Media as well as our own concentrators in business and technical writing within the department, we developed a course in designing online information.

Worley, Rebecca B. and Deborah C. Andrews. CPTSC Proceedings (2003). Articles>Education>Information Design

Tidbits for Teaching Information Architecture  

Technical writing classes can be excellent launch pads for students to begin the journey of discovering what IA is and how it works. Following instructional design principles, educators must first determine what students know about IA and guide learners to what they need to know. This journey can begin by defining IA using the rich resources that exist in print and on the web. Following this, students are introduced to IA authorities, many of whom have tutorials posted on the web. The learning culminates in case histories that ask students to learn IA principles and apply them as part of a written critical analysis of web sites that is also part of an oral presentation.

Stern, Caroline M. STC Proceedings (2004). Articles>Education>Information Design

四个国家，四种未来：Tom Klinkowstein的地平线项目工作坊

过去的一年半，Tom Klinkowstein在四个国家和一些设计学生举行了一些工作坊的活动，叫做地平线项目，这个项目采用了NASA科学家John Anderson的方法。工作坊在纽约进行了半天，在土耳其伊斯坦布尔进行了两天，在中国上海进行了三天，在印度孟买进行了五天。

Klinkowstein, Tom. uiGarden (2005). (Chinese) Articles>Education>Information Design>Case Studies

Real World XML: Using Content Management Systems in Higher Education Course Catalogs

CMS is revolutionizing the way higher education handle online content. So why are most universities still managing their course catalogs by hand? Join David Cummings for an in-depth look at how XML can improve a university beyond its website.

Cummings, David. IDEAlliance (2005). Articles>Content Management>Information Design>Education

Designing the Total User Experience: Implications for Research and Program Development  

Information design has traditionally focused on usability as measured by functionality and efficiency in the execution of user tasks. Newer approaches to experience design and new communication technologies such as the so-called Web 2.0 platform and its Ajax engine emphasize total user engagement with the technology and richer collaborations among users. These developments complicate traditional notions of agency by highlighting the role of technology as mediator between and among users. A project in Tech-Mediated Communication at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, funded by the Society for Technical Communication, illustrates how these developments impact the development of novel and creative information resources, with several experiments in cross-cultural, community-oriented, and educational systems design. This work also emphasizes the need to develop research agendas and programmatic initiatives that support interdisciplinary collaborative design activities and thus help technical communicators to meet their collective responsibility to influence and shape the mediating technologies of the future by creating more engaging and more collaborative total user experiences.

Zappen, James P. and Cheryl Geisler. Programmatic Perspectives (2009). Articles>Education>Information Design>User Experience