“Connecting people from diverse disciplines, countries and cultures is a strategic imperative, not only for AIfIA but for the information architecture community as a whole. Our competitive advantage derives from our very ability to build bridges and span networks. This argument alone should provide ample incentive for us to nurture an international perspective within the practice, but there are all sorts of idiosyncratic reasons why information architects should reach across borders.”

“Aside from people, information is the single most valuable asset for business. At every level, in every department, for every company, information is critical. The better the information, the more successful the company and the people within it can be. Improving products and services, understanding markets, improving internal process and communication — information is the catalyst that allows people to see the best course and to make substantive change, as well as often being the deliverable itself.”

“Bower birds are artists, leaf-cutting ants practice agriculture, crows use tools, chimpanzees form coalitions against rivals. The only major talent unique to humans is language, the ability to transmit encoded thoughts from the mind of one individual to another. Because of language’s central role in human nature and sociality, its evolutionary origins have long been of interest to almost everyone, with the curious exception of linguists.”

“Aside from people, information is the single most valuable asset for business. At every level, in every department, for every company, information is critical. The better the information, the more successful the company and the people within it can be. Improving products and services, understanding markets, improving internal process and communication — information is the catalyst that allows people to see the best course and to make substantive change, as well as often being the deliverable itself.”

“Browsers have supported the PNG bitmap format for quite some time. But still, even though PNG files can either be made smaller than GIFs or, alternatively, can contain more colors, lots of Web designers keep using JPEGs and GIFs. In fact, even designers who (for other reasons) don’t care about old browsers still often haven’t made the switch to PNG. Is it just about being stuck with the old ways or is there a good reason not to switch? Sadly, it turns out there is a reason not to switch: gamma ‘correction’ gone wrong.”

“Business blogs are taking off. Are you up to speed? Learn how your business can harness the power of weblogs to improve communication and efficiency at this hands-on workshop… Who’s behind it? 37signals and Coudal Partners — both pioneers in the corporate blogging world — will lead the full day discussion.”

“After years of creating paper prototypes and user interface schematics, Gabe began to assemble a library of commonly-used interface elements. This eliminates the need to re-create buttons, menus, windows, or fields from scratch. These interface elements mimic real, platform-specific interface standards in order to communicate a level of detail that most schematics lack. This, he found, made it easier for clients and test subjects alike to feel comfortable with designs in progress. Gabe has now made this library available here and encourages those who are software or web designers to download, use, and expand this set of interface controls and windows.”