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Peter Morville: The InfoDesign profile
By Peter J. Bogaards (May 2004)
Each month, InfoDesign profiles a thought leader in the design industry, focusing on people who are identified with or show strong sensibilities to the design of information and experiences. This month, Peter Morville is our 'victim'.
Peter Morville is President and Founder of Semantic Studios, a leading information architecture and user experience consulting firm. He is widely recognized as a founding father of the emerging field of information architecture, and he serves as a passionate advocate for the critical role that findability plays in defining the user experience. Peter is co-author (with Louis Rosenfeld) of the best-selling book on the subject: Information Architecture for the World Wide Web.
Most Valuable URI
A9 (http://www.a9.com) - Books + Web = InfoNirvana.
Best PDF/PPT To Download
Information Architecture for Business and Technology (http://aifia.org/tools/download/IAforBizAndTech_6x8.pdf)
Best Read Book
"Out of Control: The New Biology of Machines, Social Systems and the Economic World" by Kevin Kelly (1995)
Person's Work To Follow
Bruce Sterling (http://blog.wired.com/sterling/). The distance between reality and science fiction grows shorter each year.
Favorite World Company
IBM (http://www.ibm.com/). For reinventing itself and doing cool research.
Best Non-profit Organisation
The Long Now Foundation (http://www.longnow.org/). For the big here and the long now.
Your Role Model
Stewart Brand. For making life interesting.
Book You Always Return To
"Click, Clack, Moo: Cows That Type" by Doreen Cronin and Betsy Lewin. My 5 year old daughter's favorite bedtime story.
Article You Always Return To
"Smart Sensors Focus on the Future" by Paul Saffo.
Best Recent Quote
"There's been a culture war between librarians and computer scientists. And the war is over. Google won." in "Search For Tomorrow: We Wanted Answers, And Google Really Clicked. What's Next?" - Peter Lyman.
I like this quote because it's provocative, not because I agree.
Company Never To Work For
Altria (http://www.altria.com/) Because I hate sneaky name changes even more than cigarettes.
Person Never To Work With
Person To Meet
My great, great, great, great grandfather.
Favorite Place on the Web
Q LTD - Because I finally got to work on a small, beautiful web site rather than a massive mountain of information.
First Site on Monday Morning
Google News ( http://news.google.com/).
Killer Usability Argument
"It's not rocket surgery." - Steve Krug (http://www.sensible.com/).
Lesson(s) Learned From .Com Burst
People live longer than companies.
Most Promising Technology
Teleportation. Because I hate flying. See also: "Beam Me Up" in Scientific American.
Best Software Application
Microsoft Outlook
Your Advice For A Talented UX Designer
Findability precedes usability. You can't use what you can't find.
Most Important Social Change
The Internet. It connects people around the world and dramatically reduces the percentage of my life spent in shopping malls.
Best Place on Earth