Research

The Information Architecture Institute has been performing research on the field and profession of Information Architecture. This research initially was used to help assess the needs of practitioners of IA and has branched out into investigating perceptions of IA by those that buy, want, and need IA as well as those that train and mentor information architects. This research helps IAI prepare our resources for all members of the field to use in their own practice.

It is the goal of our research to:

Support the Institute in achieving its goals by maintaining an accurate picture of the information architecture community to focus, to guide and to inform our day-to-day activities.
Support the IA community by maintaining an accurate picture of the context in which information architects work to focus, to guide and to inform their approach to meet the needs of their customers.

IAI has the following ongoing projects:

Research The Business View of Information Architecture

How does the business community perceive information architecture?
What models appropriately represent information architecture's return on investment?

Research The Information Architecture Community

What tools do IAs need to do their jobs?
What obstacles do information architects face?

The Institute publishes its research on this website in summarized as well as more raw formats to best serve all of the users.

In addition to our own research, the IAI provides two annual IA Progess Grants to encourage researchers and practitioners to investigate IA-specific issues and to publicize useful work that furthers the information architecture body of knowledge. Read about our 2006 IA Progress Grant Program.