World IA Day Boston is taking place on Saturday, February 27 from 2:00pm to 4:00pm EST!
This year's theme for World Information Architecture Day is Curiosity.
Cu·ri·os·i·ty: the pleasure of asking, exploring, experimenting, discovering, learning, and understanding. In a profession that brings order to chaos, where is there room for curiosity?
“An architect who needs complete and consistent requirements to begin work, though perhaps a brilliant builder, is not an architect.” - Mark W. Maier & Eberhardt Rechtin, The Art of Systems Architecting
Despite the challenges of 2020, we’re excited to keep up the tradition of WIAD Boston. This year, we’ll be meeting in the virtual world with a slightly different format to keep up with the current times. Our afternoon will include a combination of lightning talks and group discussion so that we can connect as a community despite our physical distance.
Venue, parking and transit
This year's gathering will take place via Zoom for a more intimate, participatory event. Instructions to access Boston’s event will be sent to registered attendees via email.
An automated live transcript & captions will be provided using Otter.ai.
We hope to make this event as inclusive and accessible as possible. If you have any other accessibility requests or concerns, or if you would like to help, please contact the event organizers at boston@worldiaday.org.
Program/Schedule
World IA Day Boston will take place via Zoom starting at 2:00pm EST. We’ll be done in time for you to watch a global keynote with Cassini Nazir and attend a Q&A session at 5pm EST, if you’d like.
- 1:45 - 2:00pm EST: Join early to mingle in Zoom topic rooms
- 2:00 - 2:55pm EST: Welcome & lightning talks with Rishma Mendhekar, Bhavik Mistri, Christina Goodwin, and Thelma Van
- 3:00 - 4:00pm EST: Facilitated Debrief and Crowd Storming with Douglas Ferguson, Founder and President of Voltage Control
- Afterwards: Watch the global keynote with Cassini Nazir (live Q&A session begins at 5:00pm EST; see global keynote site for other time options)
February 24 through 27: Many other WIAD events around the world will be taking place online!
Mingle in Zoom topic rooms
Join us early to chat and get to know other WIAD attendees!
Welcome & lightning talks
Welcome
Welcome and World IA Day Boston leadership updates with Dan Zollman and Jason Reynolds.
Creating Curiosity About Inclusive Practices: Pushing the Boundaries of Traditional Accessibility Practices at Mentra
Rishma Mendhekar, Design Lead, and Bhavik Mistri, Product Designer, at Mentra
Mentra is a hiring platform transforming the recruiting process, making it inclusive for neurodiverse individuals (https://mentra.me). As an organization whose primary user group is neurodiverse, inclusivity and universal design are at the foundation of what we do and are seen in every step of the product development process. The Mentra design team will be sharing how we push the boundaries of standard accessibility practices, how other Mentra teams incorporate inclusivity into their work, and how prioritizing inclusivity within a product can elevate your users’ experiences.
Quick Tips for Successful User Experience & Content Strategy Collaboration
Christina Goodwin, Experience Director at Rightpoint
Curious how to improve collaborations between UX and CS? These quick tips are based on over a decade of experience and aim to help Content Strategists and UX Designers enhance their collaborations - how to understand each other’s needs, concerns, goals, and most importantly, how much they overlap.
Diversity of Thought in Design
Thelma Van, UX Designer and Product Designer
Not knowing is the freedom that produces diversity of thought. This freedom gives us the ability to be curious about and incorporate the thoughts of others. Our aim should not be to create diverse designs, but rather to become diverse in our thinking. We begin not with research, but with authentic experiences that allow us to collect stories from various backgrounds. Because these stories shape our thoughts, they inevitably impact who we are as designers. Diverse thoughts produce user experiences that owned by none yet serve all. The end result is diversity and inclusivity in design.
Facilitated Debrief and Crowd Storming with Douglas Ferguson
Douglas Ferguson, Master Facilitator, Founder, and President of Voltage Control, will lead a discussion and ideation using breakout rooms and Voltage Control's Control Room app.
