There is no doubt that networking is vital to career advancement for most professionals. According to Forbes, professional networking allows you to exchange ideas, get noticed in your industry (which can lead to new opportunities), improve your creative intellect, grow your confidence, develop long-lasting relationships, and more. At the Professional Science Master’s program, we give our students tools and opportunities to meet other professionals in their fields.
We partnered with the World Information Architecture Association (WIAA) to help Information Architecture (IA) advocates and practitioners learn from one another and network. The WIAA is a global community empowering local communities and leaders who share the common goal of teaching, learning, and shaping the future of IA. This partnership is facilitated by MBS User Experience Design and Product Design faculty and coordinator Rupa Misra, who is an active member of the WIAA.
With support from the Rutgers PSM Program, the WIAA hosts a series of weekly virtual discussions about prominent issues in the information industry. In these talks, called the W IA Café series, industry professionals share their expertise. Each talk covers a different area of IA, exposing the audience to new topics and ways of solving problems. The series also serves as a fantastic opportunity for MBS students to connect and network with others virtually—making networking easy.
The W IA Café has welcomed speakers from inside and outside the United States, allowing students to expand their networks internationally and hear global perspectives.
Here are some examples of recent lectures.
Taxonomy and Terminology in Practice
This discussion was given by two prominent speakers, each with more than two decades of experience in the information industry.
- Bonnie Brown Real – Senior Information Architect, DocuSign
Bonnie Brown Real is a Senior Information Architect at DocuSign. She has expertise in developing structured language and scaled systems to elevate experiences, train AI models, and connect problems to solutions.
- Erin Smith – Customer Experience Consulting, CX Uplift
Erin Smith, a seasoned leader in Product Experience, focuses on crafting extraordinary customer experiences through cross-functional collaboration, and optimizing systems, content, and customer interactions.
In this lecture, the two speakers discussed the “what,” “why,” and “how” of taxonomy and terminology in practice. To learn more, read Smith’s recap.
Balancing human and machine agency in AI-augmented experiences
- Silvia Podesta – Designer, IBM Client Engineering
Podesta is a strategic designer with a background in UX and service design. In her work at IBM Client Engineering, she helps clients co-create innovative solutions with a human perspective at their heart. She is also the author of a book on digital design for small businesses.
Podesta tuned in from Copenhagen, Denmark to discuss a complex and timely issue: how to balance human and machine agency in AI-augmented experiences. Podesta used case studies to illustrate examples of how to introduce co-agency between humans and AI in user experience design.
For these discussions, listeners tune in from all over the world. There is always ample time for a Q&A, allowing the audience to ask questions about their area of interest or seek advice on solving a problem. This is an excellent opportunity to get insight from an expert.
These talks are available on the WIAA website, along with more resources on IA. The WIAA also hosts World IA Day, the largest global conference about Information Architecture. Mark your calendars—the next World IA Day will be held March 2nd, 2024.
To learn more about upcoming talks, follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram. You can also find them on the MBS events page.