Behind on the Times & Things to Come

As blogs go, I’m woefully far behind on keeping up with mine.  This is such a common mantra with blogs that I’m not surprised it’s happening to me, and I’m sure you’re not either.

In the past month or so, that Information Architecture Institute Board of Directors election-thingy happened, and I, through the gracious acts of kindness of many people, was voted to the Board.

There were a couple of weeks of transition, and the officers all began their new roles on October 1st.  Of the “Open IAI” platform, myself and Livia Labate won.  Matthew Milan, who I cannot express enough admiration and respect for, did not make it, but I have a feeling that this will not curb his ability to be an effective influence as the times move forward and people start to think a little more deeply about Information Architecture.

After a lot of shuffling the deck around, I landed into the role of Director of Events and Marketing, which is a really good fit.  For a moment there, it seemed as if I might be president, which was a really cool thought, but the goals I would have wanted to achieve are still my goals.  The goals for the Board of Directors are still theirs and think we have some really interesting and challenging times ahead of us.

As members of the IAI, I urge you to ask us the hard questions and press for the transparency that you deserve. I can assure you that it is on its way and that are steps being taken quickly to start engaging the members.  Don’t be afraid to ask about the operations–you are members, after all, and you have a right to know what’s happening.

This isn’t me poo-pooing on anything, these are the same feelings that I had when running for the Board.  The strangest thing I’ve seen to date is how this organizations runs its elections–it seems to me that people should run for positions, not for a seat on the Board and then have to figure out the roles later.  I think that confuses things a bit and potentially has us stacked with a Board of people who could be perfect for 1 role but over-staffed in another.

And we’re working on that.  It’s an interesting endeavor and it’s nice to have an Executive Director on staff who is helping us identify things that we need to work on.

We also had a very successful IDEA Conference in Chicago.  We received some great, positive feedback, but we always want to hear more.  There is always room for improvement, and we want to try and have the kind of insight that could make an IDEA 2009 even better than this one–and to be honest, Jorge Arango set the bar pretty damn high.  Indeed.

I’ve been motoring through my book, with a tight schedule ahead. There are nearly 2 full chapters complete by me (and I’m starting on a third, quite literally, right now), as well as a couple more being completed by my co-author, Carolyn Chandler.

It’s busy, but we have focus, and I’ve made arrangements to make sure that this can happen and the book can be available for all the conference stops next year.

Which means that… With a little luck, I may be at SXSW, with a lot of luck at Interaction09, then the IA Summit in Memphis (potentially presenting and giving a couple of workshops on some key topics), and finally with a bit more luck, Voices That Matter in San Francisco in April of next year.

I’m not quite sure how I’m going to get to slow down once the book launches, with a schedule like that!

More than anything, I truly want to thank the community and my connections that I have made.  There are so many people around me that allow me to be much smarter just by being able to pick their brains.  The people that I’ve opend my home to, shared a cab with, shared a lunch with, or even shared a late night skype call honor me with their presence, and they definitely make me much more of the person that I want to be than I could ever hope to achieve on my own.

That, truly, is the beauty of being involved in social network.  There’s not a currency that I can think of that is much greater than that.