Sept 26-27, 2008, Amsterdam, Netherlands
The Fourth European Information Architecture (IA) Summit’s focus is on “Redrawing the Map.”
The Map can be thought of in many ways:
- Are you re-drawing the way you communicate across your organisation with your deliverables and your user experience thinking?
- Have the boundaries shifted across Europe – do we now have a lingua franca – the Internet?
- Are you finding yourself drawing from other fields and disciplines to meet changing needs of your audience?
- What have you changed over the last few years in the creation of your deliverables? How have you re-drawn your IA?
The objective of the event is to bring together a number of disciplines and practitioner communities by providing a stimulating environment for debate and an opportunity for establishing cooperation.
If you are using techniques from related disciplines in your day-to day work or researching the latest ways to connect people and content, we would like to hear from you.
We are open to contributions from people with solid and relevant ideas, including areas that may be considered ancillary or outside of Information Architecture. If selected, we simply ask that you put in the time required to create a solid and professional presentation for the conference attendees.
We encourage submissions by students, developers and designers. We are looking for work of a specialised nature, work concerning new features, design elements, methods or processes, controversial topics, and work in progress.
We are especially interested in receiving submissions from speakers in our field who have not presented at conferences in the past, including academics, professionals in related fields and information architects who have not yet had the opportunity to share their knowledge.
We want to invigorate our conference with new thoughts. If you have a solid idea and proposal, but aren't an expert speaker, we can help. Our planning committee has experienced authors and presenters who can give a hand in fine-tuning your ideas and presentations.
How do you know if you have an idea worth pursuing? Imagine that you travelled to Amsterdam to attend the conference and sat in on your presentation? Would it hold your attention? Would it give you new focus or insight that you could apply to your work? Does it provide fresh perspective to what you think? If so, great. Go ahead and send along your proposal idea. Don't be shy...
Submissions are blind reviewed. Each proposal will be uploaded to the system separately from the profile of the presenter.
The proposals will then be reviewed by a team of experienced information architects and marked against the criteria of:
- Clarity of the proposal against the template provided
- Appeal to new or established IA practitioners
- Contribution to the profession
- Meeting the theme of the conference
- Solid practical or research merit
- Original, inspirational or thought-provoking content
- High-quality written and graphic presentation
- Contribution to IA practice, theory and community
- “Europeaness” of the submission
Once the proposals are assessed, the committee will take the best proposals and put them together in a cohesive programme.
Each type of presentation has a template provided with the required information.
- Presentations - talks that discuss principles and ideas, or provide insightful analogies and mind-opening explorations to open the minds of information architects
- Case Studies - specific examples showing the use of IA in completed projects
- Panels - differing opinions and discussion on the topics of the day lead by a moderator
Please note the IA Jam will replace the traditional Poster Session this year.
The guidelines for presentations should follow a similar form (300 word description) but describe:
- What core IA related issues are addressed?
- What the audience will learn/take-away from the presentation?
- How the presentation will reflect the theme?
- A brief bio including professional and speaking experience – in separate document for reviewing.
Download the Word templates for the Presentation and the Biography.
You are not required to use the templates, but need to cover all points from the templates in your proposal. Please remember to separate your proposal from your biography.
Case Studies demonstrate concrete information architecture solutions to challenging problems. The ideal case studies will place special emphasis on explaining and demonstrating the useful methods, tools, and metrics that were used to address the problem at hand. A case study should be for a project that is finished by the presentation time.
Supply a description of 300 words. The description should concisely detail:
- Type of site or application (e.g., entertainment, portal, intranet, content management or access control system)
- Problem addressed (successes and failures in the process)
- Solution applied (e.g., method, tool, metrics for evaluation)
- Measurable improvement to the site or application, either in terms of business metrics or user experience OR lessons learnt from the project
If possible, include the candidate site or application’s URL and/or screen shots reflecting the work.
Marketing pitches for agencies or their clients will not be permitted.
Download the Word templates for the Case Study and the Biography.
You are not required to use the templates, but need to cover all points from the templates in your proposal. Please remember to separate your proposal from your biography.
A panel is an ideal way to provoke discussion and opinion on the topics of the day. A panel usually comprises of 3-4 speakers and a moderator. The moderator introduces the topic and provides direction (and sometimes corralling) for the speakers on the topic. Each speaker has 5 minutes to present on his or her opinion of the topic and the moderator follows up with questions to the rest of the panel.
Each panel submission should be:
- 300 words describing the topic, the different facets of the topic and why this topic is applicable to the IA Summit
- The brief bios of the speakers and moderator of the panel including work and speaking experience.
What we are seeking:
All talks will be judged on the basis of the 300 word text summary and any additional material you would like to provide. They will be evaluated using the following criteria:
- Originality
- Contribution to the profession
- Soundness of rationale
Download the Word templates for the Panel presentation and the Biography.
This year the traditional Poster Session will be replaced with an IA Jam, where you as attendees are invited to participate.
Bring along your ideas from research to deliverables, anything you’d like to share that communicate IA principles at work.
Prepare to challenge, mystify and inspire your fellow IAs with:
- Case stories, projects you have worked on
- Innovative solutions you have come up with
- Favourite tips, tricks and advice
- Bring a problem you need help with or want to brainstorm with others
- Share new research and findings
- Show off interesting deliverables you’ve used to communicate design to co-workers and clients
The atmosphere will be casual with a drinks bar, nibbles, wifi connections - so simply bring your laptops, inventive wireframes, conceptual models and interesting artefacts and set them up.
The best 3 contributions will be voted by you and get their registration fees reimbursed!
We’re strictly interested in projects, processes, deliverables that provide ‘real learning’ so no commercial pitches recruitment or showcasing your company or technology please.
If you are interested in sponsoring opportunities please contact: Reinoud Bosman (reinoud.bosman at gmail.com).
Remember submission papers are not required, so come and participate in this opportunity for learning, merry making and fellowship!