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My Name is Russ. I’m Running for the Information Architecture Institute Board of Directors

Written by Russ on September 5, 2008 – 1:32 pm

And I’m running on a platform with Matthew Milan and Livia Labate.

Over the past few weeks, we have spent a lot of time together working through some of the key issues that we think are real, real important and that are in the best interests of the membership of the Information Architecture Institute.

Unlike many election (ahem, POTUS), this isn’t an “us versus them” thing. We’re not “against” anyone, per se, we’re simply like-minded on things from a high-level perspective and we are passionate about the organization and the members. There is absolutely nothing but respect and appreciation for those who are current board members or who have been board members in the past.

I’d say we would all agree that the IAI has had nothing but a positive impact on us, and we want to give back.

That said, I’m posting, verbatim, my Bio and Position Statement, as submitted for candidacy to the IAI Board of Directors. Here goes…

Russ Unger’s Bio

I have been working on websites since 1993—when there was only Notepad to code with and Mosaic was the only browser around. That was when I found that my interest in User Experience Design and Information Architecture began to flourish.

Since then, I have worked with a number of major brands on large-scale Intranet and Extranet applications. I have also worked off-line, creating unique biometric (fingerprint reader) applications and have been responsible for creating user interfaces for mobile. I have also taught courses in Web and Interactive/Flash Design.

I have been active in our community as an editor for Boxes and Arrows and have recently explored the role of author. In addition, I am currently co-authoring a book on User Experience Design with Carolyn Chandler for Peachpit Press.

I am a mentor for the IAI and have worked with several mentees to assist them in their careers.  This experience has allowed me to revisit and renew my appreciation for people who are just starting out in their careers and what we, as an organization, can do to further support them.

I am the current Event Coordinator for the IDEA Conference.  I have actively pursued and landed several sponsors for the conference through my personal contacts.  I have assisted in identifying various speakers and have encouraged many to become speakers. I have supported the effort for many months and have learned a great deal about the Information Architecture Institute and conference planning and marketing.  This has been a lot of effort—and a lot of fun.  I would like for my involvement to continue beyond IDEA and feel I would be a valuable member to the board.

Position Statement: Vision, Empowerment & Transparency

Matthew Milan, Livia Labate and I are running on a common platform in the hopes of being able to make a more meaningful impact to the Information Architecture Institute if we are elected.

We believe that the IAI needs to be a more transparent organization.  We need to open a dialog with our members, encourage their involvement and find improved methods of making people aware of what is happening within the organization.

We believe the IAI should take a leadership role in educating our membership, people who are new to the workforce, new to working within our field and the companies that will hire them.

We believe that the IAI needs to get better at marketing and selling Information Architecture. We need to, as an organization, provide the services to companies who want to hire our members and begin practice areas where our coaching would be invaluable.  Likewise, we need to train our members how to do this within their companies.

Finally, we strongly believe that the IA Institute should have a clear vision of its role within the User Experience community and more importantly how it contributes to the advancement of the field of Information Architecture. With strong vision comes strong capability, and we have a duty to our membership to provide this role.

The Information Architecture Institute is an organization that our founders and previous boards of directors have built-up and established as one that is well respected. I am constantly reminded of how proud I am to be a part of the IAI every time I meet or engage another member of this thriving community.  My goal is to continue to guide our organization into a long-term future of sustainable growth.

We are at a critical time in our growth and evolution as an organization.  To me, the highest priorities are to establish a more transparent organization with a long-term vision that empowers our membership. We have an incredibly gifted member base, many of whom are very interested in becoming more active, helping to grow and shape our organization.

Moving forward with the doors wide open, it is crucial that the IAI continue evolving as a transparent organization.

IAI members need the ability to become as aware and active within the organization as they choose to be—with ease.  Support can come in ways large and small: through publicly displayed meeting minutes, open-attendance Board of Directors meetings or other methods, such as via Twitter, Directors blogs, etc. An increased transparency of our on-going efforts and activities is something that we can be proud of, and reach out with.

We need to identify new ways to empower our members further by helping them in the field, where it counts the most.  As a dynamic organization of professionals, we do a fantastic job of being at all of the places where we all are supposed to be.  We need to get better at being at the places we currently are not at.

Now is the time to use our membership’s successes to help them open doors into other industries and start reaching out to organizations where the relationships are as untapped as the mutual benefits.

A few introductory approaches to this could include:

  • Encouraging our membership to present at other industry conferences; selling is one thing, educating and sharing knowledge on the value of Information Architecture throughout the business world will create true long-term strength.
  • Improving upon the established marketing of the organization and help our members “Sell IA”.
  • Engaging beyond our members, to the companies who are interested in working with us. These companies need coaching and education that foster understanding common career goals, paths and placement of these roles as pillars of their organizational structure. We can help them “Sell IA” to the companies they work for.
  • Expanding IAI outreach to aide and assist the people in our field who are (or will be) new to the workforce. We should start in the college years by speaking to students and counselors.  We need to help them understand what skills companies value, and to help them locate jobs.  We need to coach them on appropriate types of work product and examples to be able to show and highlight experience and growing expertise.  As a mentor, these particular issues strike close to home; many of our members who are new to the workforce are communicating that they are having difficulties finding their first jobs.

The IAI can continue to expand and lead with a clearly defined vision for our future, initiatives to empower our members by providing appropriate marketing, training and tools that meet their needs, and by becoming a more transparent organization that we all have the power to engage and influence.

I hope to be a part of this.

Contact Information
I would be happy to further explore our position in greater detail.  Please feel free to contact me via any of the methods below.


Posted in Community, IAI, Information Architecture |

2 Responses to “My Name is Russ. I’m Running for the Information Architecture Institute Board of Directors”

  1. I think therefore IA (Livia Labate) » Running for the IA Institute 2008 Board of Directors Says:
    September 5th, 2008 at 3:24 pm

    [...] While considering that, very kind people nominated me for the Board of Directors elections, which kick-started fantastic discussions with my peers and friends. The most fruitful, however, have been with Matt Milan and Russ Unger. [...]

  2. Rotkapchen Says:
    September 5th, 2008 at 3:30 pm

    No MY name is Russ… But then most of you are too young to remember What’s My Line? Except if you saw DiCaprio in “Catch Me if You Can”

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