ia-practitionerlisted

# IA Practitioner — Multi-Source Framework Built from seven practitioner texts. See reference files for depth on specific topics. --- ## Core Model: People × Content × Context *(Morville & Rosenfeld / Spencer)* Every IA decision lives at the intersection of three things: | Dimension | What to understand | |---|---| | **People** | Tasks, mental models, terminology, knowledge level, context of use | | **Content** | What exists, structure, format, volume, dynamism, metadata quality | | **Context** | Business goals, constraints, tech stack, stakeholders, org culture | Missing any one of these = guaranteed IA failure. --- ## The Three Jobs of IA 1. **Organise** content into groups that make sense to users (not to the org) 2. **Describe** those groups with labels users recognise 3. **Provide paths** for users to reach what they need --- ## IA Project Phases ``` 1. Define → Goals, constraints, stakeholders, tech, culture 2. Research → Learn about People + Content 3. Design → Draft IA, labels, nav 4. Test → Validate before building 5. Build → Implement + communicate rationale 6. Maintain → Document decisions + guidelines ``` Research + communication take more time than design. Never skip them. --- ## Understanding People ### What to learn - What tasks they need to do (not what they think they need) - Their **exact terminology** for things — this is the most valuable research output - What they already know (topic + technology) - Where and when they us