International Web Association (IWA)

Profile WSP-G3-013. Information Architect

This section is normative.

The profile sheet, listed below and described in appendix B, is an integral part of the document, “G3 Web Skills Profiles – version 1.0 – Generation 3 European ICT Professional Profiles”, official specification of 14 February 2013” [WSPG3-03].

Summary definition

Professional position primarily concerned with identifying and representing the structure of the information and functional components of a domain for the purposes of promoting traceability, functionality, and usability, adopting a user-centred design approach.

Assignment

The Information Architect identifies and represents the structure of the information and functional components of a domain, for the purposes of promoting traceability, functionality, and usability, adopting a user-centred design approach, and applying codesign (involving stakeholders and area experts) and participatory (involving a cross section of end users) methods.

Documentation produced

Accountable

  • Personas and scenarios
  • Report results obtained from the analysis phase: stakeholder analysis, benchmarking, free listing, affinity diagram, assessment of significance, card sorting, cluster analysis
  • Conceptual diagrams, formal or informal ontologies
  • Flow chart of the IT – operating structure of the domain
  • Wireframes and/or prototypes of the IT micro-architecture and main interactive components, together with the positions of UX-UI designer
  • Project plan
  • Functional prototypes
  • Graphics and style models and components
  • Analysis of the interactive user interfaces
  • Identify the stakeholders, users, and area experts
  • Identify the requirements and needs of the users and their resources, and where possible represent them by creating personas, scenarios, and case studies
  • Help define the IT and operating scope, through tools such as stakeholder analysis, benchmarking – competitive analysis, analysis of existing content, free listing, and other tools for drawing out knowledge from area experts and end users
  • Identify the conceptual elements and outline an ontology – informal or formal – of the basic purposes and concepts in the area from the perspective of a Semantic Web
  • Define the macro-architecture, which is to say the structure of the IT and functional components, through tools such as card sorting, affinity diagrams, cognitive-behavioural task analysis, and through appropriate clustering processes
  • Describe the information navigation tools for various channels and mechanisms, where necessary adapting the macro-architecture to the various usage contexts
  • Together with the UX-UI designer, describe the IT micro-architecture, which is to say the representation of the information from the perspective of all conceptual elements (ontology) and the most important functions, by producing templates in the form of wireframes, blueprints and/or prototypes; where necessary, the micro-architecture must be described for various usage channels, or, alternatively, a micro-architecture able to be adapted to various mechanisms must be designed (responsive design)
  • Identify the appropriate lexicon and terminology for user comprehension, complying with any potential terminological constraints (for example, legal or technical constraints), by creating controlled vocabularies, taxonomies, key words
  • Where necessary, identify appropriate tools to insert, screen, and structure user generated content (UGC)
  • A.4. Product or Project Planning: Level e-4
  • A.6. Application Design: Level e-2
  • B.5. Documentation Production: Level e-3
  • D.10. Information and Knowledge Management: Level e-3
  • Elements of library science and librarianship
  • Knowledge management
  • Communication theory and practice
  • Usability and accessibility
  • User experience design principles
  • Graphics and design principles
  • Various operating environments (e.g. Linux, Mac OSX and Windows) at the user-experience level
  • Tools for creating computer graphics maps (mental, conceptual)
  • Various page-layout and chart tools
  • HTML mark-up and related languages
  • Search engine operating principles
  • Natural content visibility and implementation scenario principles
  • Graphics and photo-editing programs, advanced level
  • Mobile sector constraints and benefits (usability and UX side)
  • XHTML and CSS languages (advanced)
  • Familiarity with graphic structures
  • Web semantics, ontologies and structured data, overall view, LOD – Linked Open Data
  • Multimedia sector principles (formats, audio and video techniques)
  • Scenarios and case studies of the Internet of Things
  • Completeness of the scenarios analysed, and of the user stories identified
  • Ability to produce a prototype to undergo UX testing
  • UXLabs Certified Information Architect (UCIA)
  • CITA-P (Certified Information Technology Architect Professional Certification)
  • CITA-M (Certified Information Technology Architect Master Certification)
  • Ability to manage diverse areas of knowledge and disciplines
  • Ability to summarise and interpret heterogeneous requirements
  • Diplomacy and deference to play an inclusive role, especially concerning graphics and design, which are highly subjective disciplines
  • Good knowledge of the national language or the language used by the working group – minimum level: C1 QCER.
  • Good knowledge of the English language – minimum level: B2 QCER

Responsible

Contributor

Primary duties

Assigned e-CF skills

Abilities, knowledge

Technical

Information Technology

For development

Area of application of the KPI

Qualifications and certifications

Personal aptitudes

Interpersonal and Organisational

Linguistic

Relationships and reporting lines

(This section is for informational purposes)

Interacts with

  • Web Project Manager
  • User Experience Designer
  • Business Analyst
  • Search Engine Expert
  • Frontend Web Developer
  • Server Side Web Developer
  • Web Content Specialist
  • Web Accessibility Expert
  • Mobile Application Developer
  • Knowledge Manager
  • Digital Strategic Planner

Reports to


Appendices

Appendix A. Glossary

 

Informational

For the purposes of information and not required for compliance.

Note: The content required for compliance is referred to as “normative”.

Normative

Required for obtaining compliance.

Note: Content listed as “informational” or “non-normative” is never necessary for compliance.

Appendix B. Profile Sheet Structure

The Web skills profiles are identified by an unambiguous code and are structured in reference to paragraph 4.2 of the official CEN reference document, “European e- Competence Framework version 2.0 – CWA Part II: User guidelines for the application of the European e-Competence Framework 2.0” [CWA-01].

 

  • Profile Title. Name – including the identification code – of the Web skill profile according to the unambiguous international catalogue from the IWA/HWG.
  • Summary definition. Lists the primary purpose of the profile. The purpose is to give all stakeholders and users a brief, concise description of the specified Web skill profile, written in a form understandable by ICT professionals, managers, and Human Resources staff.
  • Assignment. Describes the basic assignment of the profile. The purpose is to specify the working role defined in the Web Skill Profile.
  • Documentation produced. Describes the documents produced by the job description as manager (guarantee), representative (support), and employee (contribution).
  • Primary duties. Provides a list of typical tasks carried out by the profile. A task is an action undertaken to achieve a result in a broadly defined context and contributing to the definition of the profile.
  • Assigned e-CF skills. Provides a list of the skills necessary (taken from the e-CF references) to carry out the assignment. A skill is the outcome of the previous definition of the Profile and helps to differentiate profiles.
  • Abilities, knowledge. A list of abilities and knowledge necessary for the definition of the profile, subdivided into technical, IT, and improving abilities (strengthening the profile).
  • Area of application of the KPI. Based on KPI (Key Performance Indicators), the area of application of the KPI is a more generic indicator, consistent with the grade level of the overall profile. It applies for adding depth to the assignment.
  • Qualifications and certifications. These are the recommended, but not essential, qualifications and certifications for carrying out the activities in the profile. However, these qualifications and certifications may be used for developing knowledge of specific skills within the profile.
  • Personal aptitudes. A list of aptitudes supporting the abilities and knowledge, subdivided into interpersonal/organisational and linguistic. This section reports references to the QCER [CE-01], which promotes the understanding of specific language certifications, purely for informational purposes.
  • Relationships and reporting lines. A list of Web skills profiles and not with whom the profile discusses (relationships) or reports (reporting lines). This section is for informational purposes.
  • [CC-01] Creative Commons – Attribution – No derivative works – 3.0  (CC BY-ND 3.0)
    http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/3.0/
  • [CWA-01] CEN – European e-Competence Framework version 2.0 – CWA Part II: User guidelines for the application of the European e-Competence Framework 2.0 (September 2010)
    http://www.ecompetences.eu/site/objects/download/5999_EUeCF2.0userguide.pdf
  • [WSPG3-01] IWA – IWA Italy Web Skills Profiles Group

Appendix C. References

http://www.skillprofiles.eu

  • [WSPG3-02] IWA – IWA Italy – International Webmasters Association Italia

http://iwa.it