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In an interview with the author, Eric Reiss discusses his contributions to information architecture, including his recent book, which explores usability from two angles. He breaks down the topic into "ease of use," focusing on physical interaction, and "elegance and clarity," addressing psychological aspects, each with five simple subtopics. The analysis lends itself to client presentations and to teaching students. Reiss prompts all to look at how well any product functions and at any website to consider its success on aspects including function, ergonomics, convenience, logic and predictability. Contemplating the foundations of his work, he traces his interest in usability back to redesigning a rocking horse as a three-year-old. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For Thom Haller, an icy spinout in a new truck and frustration with a user manual raised the issue of perceptual affordance, design based on the perceived needs of a user. An object's design ideally serves its user, being visible and clearcut to avoid error, yet design snafus abound. The vehicle manuels's verbal references to four-wheel drive were circuitous and uncertain, and the illustration was no more helpful. Both failed to provide a direct answer to the user's's question about how to enable four-wheel drive or meet reasonable expectations for guidance. For informationarchitects, usability is primary,delivered through sensible and logical placement of information and understandable terminology.Our job is to make the complex clear, and the need is everywhere. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers the author's insights on the blog post of a student announcing that the term information architecture (IA) is dead. He states that he was not impressed on the writer's argument since the label IA was offered by Richard Saul Wurman for clarity, and that he saw the limits in the meaning of the word designer. He also says that he is not bothered if other people avoid the label IA, and that he uses the label "teacher" and "communication consultant" for the client's language. Moreover, he tells that he understands the importance of IA based from his experiences in a travel system. Furthermore, he mentions that they must spend time on educating others in the importance of information structure rather than decrying the death of IA.

The article discusses the author's views on being an associate editor for information architecture of the "Bulletin of the American Society for Information Science & Technology." He explains how he got the job of being an information architect. He also outlines the eight Ps of information architecture which guide him throughout his career including performance, perspective and presentation. He cites the book "Human Competence," by Thomas Gilbert to explain how information structure can help people do their jobs better.

This issue's special section delves into issues in information architecture and usability (IA/UX), ranging from the theoretical and conceptual to the practical. Authors explore the fundamental nature of information and evolving designs to support its complexity and translating patterns in semantic space to the screen and interface. The value of metaphors is shown for demonstrating information architecture to clients, while visual images can help illustrate the process. Last, an interview with Eric Reiss reveals the noted IA practitioner's thoughts on explaining usability to clients and his new publication. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents the author's account on the development of the web site www.plainlanguage.gov. When Thom Haller moved to Washington, D. C., he learned to familiarize himself with the language of government. The Plain Language Action and Information Network (PLAIN) began to put together federal resources filled with guidelines for writing clearly. The web site www.plainlanguage.gov succeeded at bringing clarity in one place but it was difficult in accessing the information. In 1998, he was teaching information architecture students who then got involved with the redesigning of the web site in 2002.