Metodo

International Studies in Phenomenology and Philosophy

Series | Book | Chapter

194104

Dutch uncles, ducks and decorated sheds

notes on the intertwingularity of meaning and structure in information architecture

Dan Klyn

pp. 119-129

Abstract

On what basis can and ought one assess the relative merits of a given work of information architecture? In 2009, Jesse James Garrett pointed to the non-existence of such a normative theory and the community of practice's consequent inability to indicate "what good means' as evidence that information architecture is not a proper discipline. Garrett's rallying cry was for a wholesale reframing of that community in terms of User Experience Design, with human engagement as its center. In this chapter, I draw from the work of architects Denise Scott Brown and Robert Venturi to counter-propose a co-occurring reframing of the mostly-digital sense- and place-making work of information architecture in the normative terms of architecture, where the appropriate interplay of meaning and structural form comprises the basis of what good means.

Publication details

Published in:

Resmini Andrea (2014) Reframing information architecture. Dordrecht, Springer.

Pages: 119-129

DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-06492-5_9

Full citation:

Klyn Dan (2014) „Dutch uncles, ducks and decorated sheds: notes on the intertwingularity of meaning and structure in information architecture“, In: A. Resmini (ed.), Reframing information architecture, Dordrecht, Springer, 119–129.