From the dawn of time, IAs have contributed to the organisation of human knowledge through their user-centred design approach, investigating and analysing language, memory and behaviour to produce usable designs and engaging experiences. To get where we are today, at the top of the user-experience profession, has been something of a game of ‘survival of the fittest’. We’ve stolen from industrial design, borrowed from library science, and even bent patterns from theatre and environmental planning to our discipline’s needs. Some call us shameless thieves. Some call us digital mutants. Whatever we are, we’re certainly good at evolving. The question is, though, what’s next? What tools and techniques should we be stealing now? Or have we reached the peak of evolution and are now bound for extinction?

In this keynote address to Oz-IA 2009, Matthew exploref the evolution of the Information Architect, where we’ve been and where we’re going. He looked at IA practices, both old and new, the wars waging in other disciplines to adapt the secret success of involving users, and why our future might just depend on us becoming Agile.

For those who’d like a personal copy, please feel free to download the Flash/Prezi file:

Download: Zipped Prezi File (Flash) (66MB)