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The truth is there is nothing basic about technology anymore. Simple terms like computers and servers have been replaced by virtualized machines and the cloud. Storage has been replaced by data lakes and pools. The terms often present a challenge for even the most seasoned technical resource. Depending on whom you ask, some technology terms can be defined in different ways.Information Architecture is truly a search-and-discovery mission, with the goal of finding all of the necessary information and organizing it in a useful way. The goal is to present a finished product that the audience or recipient can understand. A task completed by an Information Architect will be so well defined that not only is it scalable for growth, but also repeatable based on the type of business. So what is Information Architecture? It depends on whom you ask.

The Information Architecture Institute defines Information Architecture as the practice of deciding how to arrange parts of something to be understandable. In the case of technology, this arrangement is based on known data, facts, or information.Let’s take a closer look at the word “architect.”Merriam-Webster defines architect as the manner in which the components of a computer or computer system are organized and integrated.This is really a two-fold task, organizing and integration. For example, you would not group internal employees with external customers. However, an integration tool may be needed if employees are assigned to work with external customers.

To illustrate, let’s look at an unfinished puzzle in a box. The object of this project would be to sort the pieces in such a way that you could put together a complete picture. Hobbyists may sort out similar colored pieces or pieces that appear to make the frame of the picture. After some period of sorting and organizing, the pieces are placed together to make a complete picture. An Information Architect’s role can be very similar. Let’s consider another illustration by viewing this as a role in a project and walkthrough the responsibilities associated with it.

An Architect has been placed on the project team for Company XYZ. The project consists of organizing existing or new information for a high growth company. Although this project may sound daunting, we’ll only focus on the Information Architect tasks.

Solid communication and writing skills are needed as an Architect. As the information provider, being clear and understandable is the key. The Architect will be using these skills to define how the information will be organized.As an Architect, tools will be selected for presentation, modeling and workflow to define the User Experience. The User Experience (UX) defines a person’s entire experience using a particular product, system or service. The first requirement for a great user experience is to meet the exact needs for the usage of a product or a service. These tasks are also handled by an Information Architect.

An intermediate to advanced understanding in the technology field, including networking, is very important. In the technology field, you will need to be familiar with the different terms and components of the given environment. You will be detailing the known information in such a way that it is easy to understand. You may also discover new information in this process that will need to be documented as well.This research can be conducted through vendor and software reviews as well as online research.

As we learned earlier, one of the key aspects of Architect is to design based on given or discovered information. A new method or workflow may need to be clarified or redefined as to how an organization shares, manages and monitors information. As with most information, it is not static, so the Architect will need to determine a workflow for making it repeatable or scalable.

An Information Architect is instrumental in designing and defining how to best organize information across every channel and touchpoint throughout a company. The goal is to make the information easy to find, access and leverage. By digging into this information technology, these puzzle pieces will start to come together. These pieces consist of touch points that may include storage, security, servers, and applications. Some of the more challenging pieces in the box may be networking protocols and understanding how to gain access to various environments, applications, files, multiple project tools and more.

It is truly an art of organizing systems in such a way that the User Experience (UX) has a solid workflow that is easy to understand and follow. The structure and content of the given system is designed by navigation and labeling structure that enhance the user experience. Thus, the finished product of an Information Architect is a well-definedsystem, project or service.

About the author

Cheryl Adams is a senior cloud data and infrastructure architect. Her work includes supporting healthcare data for large government contracts; deploying production based changes through scripting, monitoring, and troubleshooting; and monitoring environments using the latest tools for databases, web servers, web API and storage.

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