Tag Archives: cities

Metropolitan Information Architecture at the 2010 Information Architecture Summit

My other presentation at the 2010 Information Architecture Summit in Phoenix this week is with the formidable John Tolva at IBM and is focused on city-scale information architectures, the data we swim through in urban settings and how designers can and should lead in shaping this information’s collection, use and display in the system that is a city.

Metropolitan Information Architecture – Don Turnbull and John Tolva

2:00 – 2:45PM on Sunday, April 11 in the Phoenix Room

If the future of the world is cities, how can we design user experiences at
city-sized scales? With digital interaction, are we all living in facets of the
same virtual city or does location still constrain us?

This panel will review and discuss recent research and some upcoming designs
that are only beginning to unveil how our interactions with both digital and
physical environments are changing including:

  • How does the actual architecture of information & design synchronize
    with urban architecture?
  • What city constraints including urban decay, congestion & energy
    consumption affect design and how can design improve them?
  • How does mobile communication and web culture impact the streetscape?
  • What can designers leverage from virtual worlds, augmented reality, MMO
    games and urban design?
  • Who are the people and cities that have embraced data/networks as
    matters of physical design (rather than value-add services to residents)?
  • Is geography fate? What does location mean for UX?
  • When does social media start to change digital & physical social spaces
    of the urban network?
  • What will metropolitan experiences be like in 10 years? 20?

The twitter hashtag for this talk is #metroia. Feel free to send me questions directly via twitter/donturn too.

Originally, I wanted to call this talk Cosmopolitan Information Architecture, inspired by Wynton Marsalis’ definition of cosmopolitan as meaning “you fit in wherever you go”, which should be a goal for anyone shaping experiences for living in a community.