The Three Circles of IA 3.0 from semanticstudios.com

There is a lot of effort being made in community of IA practicioners, academists and enthusiasts on explaining the role and field of Information Architecture . Is the IA part of Enterprise Architecture or User Experience design? Or is IAstill defined under Information Systems architecture, as it was 20 – 30 years ago? Like related to Business Processes and Data modelling or maybe Information Systems planning?

Well, I am sure that definition (form) will follow deliverables (content) of IA practice. The more practical/useful/recognized deliverables by IA practicioners will be created, the closer the definition will come. What you see, is what you get, right?

However, it is great that some initiatives are emerging that gathers Information Architects together in explaining and discussing IA field. One of the initiatives, made by Peter Morville and IA Insitute,  is The Explain IA contest where people like you can submit their creative work (photos, illustrations, definitions, diagrams, videos …) that contributes in explaining IA role. As a little teaser, best works win really useful prizes.

Interested in IA? Contribute as well. I have contributed too, check it out.