Nature - Intertwingled: Information Changes Everything - page 4

Of course, it's my own fault. Since turning 40, I've been making myself uncomfortable on pur-
pose. At an age when it's easy to fall into a rut, I've run my first marathon, tried the triathlon,
and tackled new consulting challenges that terrified me. Now, I'm writing and publishing a
topic, and carrying a bed on my back. And I invite you to join me in discomfort. Because it's not
just my age. It's our age. It's the information age, a time when learning how to learn (and un-
learn) is central to success. Instead of hiding from change, let's embrace it. Each time we try
something new, we get better at getting better. Experience builds competence and confidence, so
we're ready for the big changes, like re-thinking what we do.
Information in Systems
When I graduated from college in 1991, I had no plan, so I moved in with my parents. I worked
by day (mind-numbing data entry) and messed around on my computer at night. One Saturday,
while browsing the public library, I stumbled upon a tattered old topic about careers in library
science. As I learned about libraries, I thought about the networks - AOL, CompuServe, Prodigy
- I'd been exploring. They were a mess. It was hard to find things. Could librarianship be prac-
ticed in these online computer networks? That question sent me to graduate school at the
University of Michigan.
In 1992, I started classes at the School of Information and Library Studies, and promptly began
to panic. I was stuck in required courses like Reference and Cataloging with people who wanted
to be librarians. In hindsight, I'm glad I took those classes, but at the time I was convinced I'd
made a very big mistake. It took a while to find my groove. I studied information retrieval and
database design. I explored Dialog, the world's first commercial online search service. And I fell
madly in love with the Internet.
The tools were crude, the content sparse, but the promise irresistible. A global network of net-
works that provides universal access to ideas and information: how could anyone who loves
knowledge resist that? I was hooked. I dedicated myself to “the design of information systems.”
Thus, when I left library school, I knew what I wanted to do. But there were no jobs. So I became
an entrepreneur, working with Lou Rosenfeld and Joseph Janes to grow Argus Associates. We
taught people how to use the Internet, we built networked, hierarchical, text-only information
systems using the Gopher protocol. And when Mosaic, the first graphical browser (pretty pic-
tures but no back button), was released, we began doing what folks today would recognize as
website design.
We dabbled in everything from coding to content, but specialized in helping our clients to struc-
ture and organize websites. There wasn't a name for this work, so we called it “information ar-
chitecture” and set out to establish a new field of practice. At first we relied heavily on the meta-
phor. We talked about architectural plans and blueprints and invoked wayfinding and the famil-
iar frustration of getting lost.
In time our explanations grew more concrete. We focused on the organization, labeling, search,
and navigation systems of websites that help users complete tasks, find what they need, and un-