machines for making the future - ia summit 2016

Reframe IA 2016 | Marsha Haverty

Because we care about understanding…


A masterwork should have some internal capacity to allow the information architect to have a critical reading of/conversation with the system itself

Reframe IA 2016 | Marsha HavertyLacerada & Lima-Marques, “Information architecture as a discipline – a methodological approach”, Reframing Information Architecture

The system lives here

Reframe IA 2016 | Marsha HavertyLacerada & Lima-Marques, “Information architecture as a discipline – a methodological approach”, Reframing Information Architecture

But it should containepistemic structuresthat aren’t fully constrained by the procedural intent


Borrowing from biology systems theory, epistemic structures* are experimental structures that are formed from early concepts and serve as objects of inquiry

*Rheinberger,” Experimental Systems and Epistemic Things,” Toward a History of Epistemic Things

Reframe IA 2016 | Marsha HavertyLacerada & Lima-Marques, “Information architecture as a discipline – a methodological approach,” Reframing Information Architecture

And these epistemic structures in some way leave a trace


The traces could be critically ‘read’ by the information architect to reveal new understanding about the system’s underlying ontology


The information architect can query the traces of the system, uncover new understanding, adjust the structure of the system at theprocedural level


Because these things we architect are systems, we can’t pick them up and look at them in entirety to take deep, critical readings, and see new things that shape our concepts about thedomain ontology

We need them to be generative systems


We need masterworks of information architecture to be machines for making the future

machines for making the future - ia summit 2016

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