I Get to Be Batman
I love all of the work we do, but I’m especially stoked about our newest new business. Earlier this week we kicked off a project with Rebecca Bernstein and her team at University at Buffalo. An aggressive, five-month timeline of what I call extreme IA, as we develop, test, and refine structures for eight websites. It’s a special treat for me in three ways:
First, the project gives us the opportunity to really explore how the needs, expectations, and behaviors of site visitors have changed over the years. I’ve been producing university sites way before mStoner was founded in 2001 (Mosaic and NetObjects Fusion, anyone?), and I’ve learned a lot. This project gives me the opportunity to validate some of what I’ve come to expect, but also hopefully to flex and adapt my understanding to new trends and possibilities.
Secondly, this work allows me to use a new way to develop information architecture. We’ll be using Indi Young’s Mental Models as our framework—I’ve been a fan of her work for years, and this project provides time and budget to do justice to Indi’s process.
Finally, the expert-on-expert factor. I don’t know anyone who’s won more awards for eWork in higher education than Rebecca, and she’s got an incredibly bright, talented team by her side at UB. The chance to come to the table with them and share ideas, debate, discuss, push, pull and hopefully arrive at moments of collective brilliance … very cool. Rebecca and I were talked yesterday, and she commented that it didn’t feel like she’d hired a vendor—it was more like she expanded her team. Or, to riff on our lunchtime discussion during immersion earlier this week, it’s like the Justice League of America. Each of us a superhero in our own right (or own mind), bringing a special skill, talent, and approach to the task-at-hand.
I get to be Batman. Why? Consider the character: incredibly wealthy and handsome man, strength and brawn and fighting skills beyond belief and bolstered by cool gadgets and immense technological resources, haunted by a tragic past, only slightly to the right of the villains he pursues, and looks great in form-fitting latex and a cape. The parallels between us are staggering.
We’ll be sharing what we learn by blog, so stay tuned for some exciting stuff. Same bat time, same bat channel …
Discuss this article
