Friday, 11:30am, Grand Salon B
Technologies are considered disruptive if they challenge fundamental assumptions about how we do things. There is a fundamental assumption in information architecture that producers need to organize their content before consumers can access it effectively. This is so fundamental that it permeates virtually every aspect of today’s online experience, despite the rise of alternative systems such as social tagging and folksonomies. Website navigation, search, and even surfing itself all follow from this notion that content must be organized by one group of people for the benefit of another.
But what if content didn’t have to be organized in advance of its access, or even organized by producers at all? What if each consumer’s individual perspective could direct the organization of content, independent of the actions of other consumers? What if that process of organizing content was postponed until the very moment consumers indicate their specific needs? What effect would these technological changes have on the practice of information architecture?
The agents of this profound change are emerging semantic technologies. Machines are becoming increasingly adept at information architecture’s analytical tasks. They can break down content and describe it in minute detail for easier discovery and access. Machines are also capable of synthetic tasks, building content back up into brand new forms and structures. Moreover, the speed at which these technologies operate can reduce the time between organization and access from weeks and months down to seconds. Critically, they can involve consumers as architects in the process.
This presentation will briefly introduce semantic technologies before exploring how these technologies could challenge the foundations of information architecture and shape its future. It will include demonstrations of existing technologies that are already moving the Web towards more consumer-directed forms of information architecture.
SEAPKERS’ BIOS
Peter Sweeney
Peter Sweeney is the Founder & Chief Technology Officer of Primal Fusion Inc. A serial entrepreneur and inventor, Peter has 13-years experience in forming and growing Internet-based companies. In his current role at Primal Fusion, Peter directs R&D, product development, and market strategy for the company. Based in Waterloo, Ontario and founded in 2005, Primal Fusion is building an advanced platform of semantic technologies to power a more personally meaningful Internet for consumers.
Peter holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree from the University of Toronto. As a self-taught technologist, his research is directed to highly personalized and scalable semantic networks. Peter has patents pending in the areas of facet analysis, semantic synthesis, and adaptive classification systems. His principle collaborations are within Primal Fusion and with researchers from the University of Waterloo.
Robert Barlow-Busch
Robert Barlow-Busch is the Director of Product Design at Primal Fusion. In this role, he oversees all design activities to ensure the resulting products provide a strong user experience while aligning with Primal Fusion’s business goals. Robert is an experienced designer, information architect, and usability specialist. He has acted in both consulting and in-house roles for a range of industries that include start-ups and recognizable brands such as Sony and FedEx.
Robert is particularly known for his expertise in leveraging user research to drive product design and innovation. His thoughts have been published in books such as User-Centered Design Stories and The Persona Lifecycle. Robert is co-founder of the Waterloo User Experience Group (a local group of IxDA) and is an experienced speaker at conferences across North America, Europe, and Asia.