Information Architecture for the World Wide Web, Second Edition

The Dream Team

The projects and programs of today are lucky to have one information architect involved. In the coming years, as sites become increasingly mission-critical and the industry matures, we will see teams of specialists, blended to meet the unique challenges of each context.

Given a web site or intranet of sufficient value and complexity, Table 15-1 shows some of the information architecture specialists we’d want as part of our dream team.

Table 15-1. Information architecture dream team

Position title	Description
Strategy Architect	Responsible for overseeing design of the overall information architecture and working with other teams to ensure good integration. Familiarity with the business context and an ability to establish relationships with senior management are critical.
Thesaurus Designer	Develops classification schemes, controlled vocabularies, and thesauri. Requires education, experience, and a passion for detail.
Controlled Vocabulary Manager	Manages evolution of controlled vocabularies, including addition, modification, and deletion of preferred and variant terms. May coordinate a team of indexing specialists.
Indexing Specialist	Tags content and services with controlled vocabulary metadata. Requires detail-orientation and commitment to quality and consistency.
Interaction Designer	Works in the gray area between information architecture and graphic design. Creates navigation schemes and page layouts with a focus on user interaction.
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