Section 16.1. A Time of Change

16.1. A Time of Change

We are living in the stone age when it comes to software for information architects. The products are crude, as is our understanding of what we really need. When people get together to discuss experiences with enterprise-wide applications to support web sites and intranets, pain and suffering are dominant themes. Many organizations become so distracted and discouraged by their first web application that they fail to explore the products in related categories.

This will change. In the coming years, all large web sites and intranets will leverage software applications from a wide variety of categories. We will not choose between automated classification software and a collaborative filtering enginewe will need both, and more. And information architects will play an integral roleworking closely with business managers, content managers, and software engineers to select, acquire, integrate, and leverage this sophisticated suite of applications. None of these people can successfully do this work alone.