karl fast

I joined Argus in the fall as the technology assessment specialist (and must confess to having been wholly silent on this list until today). My role was to build bridges between IA and IT--to help Argus create better designs by connecting IA with IT implementation issues and the software used for building information architectures (shameless plug: I'm giving a workshop on this IA&IT thing at Intranets 2001 in April). Peter, Lou, Samantha, and others at Argus felt IA should move in this direction as part of "defining information architecture."

When I got this job I was, in a word, ecstatic. I could hardly believe it. Never thought I would have the chance to work with such talented people, at a design firm that was at the leading edge of an emerging discipline.

But it was better than that, for I was being offered a job dedicated to expanding the definition of IA. My job wasn't about "doing IA," it was about "pushing IA in new directions and exploring the boundaries." Of course everyone at Argus did this as a natural part of their work, but for me it was *explicitly* part of my job. How great is that?! For me, a dream come true. Now I must search for a different dream. *sigh*

This is a sad time for everyone at Argus, and the IA community, but it is particularly hard for Peter, Lou, Samantha, and those who poured so much energy into growing the company (I can't speak for everyone at Argus, but I believe we are all thankful for your warm and encouraging posts; Christina's comments on elegenthack are particularly heartwarming for me since I held a similar view of Argus, hence my ecstasy at being hired). When you build a company you make sacrifices. Most entrepreneurs--and Argus was clearly an entrepreneurial company--will tell you they are tring to build something larger than themselves, something that will last. Today there is no longer a company called Argus. All the energy that went into creating Argus seems to have produced nothing.

Is that really true? Did all that energy amount to nothing? No. Definitely no. The truth that we all see--and must focus on--is that this energy did not vanish into the ether. Argus was not some unrealistic sell-some-pet-food-online dot-com. Those places created little lasting value. For many of them, all that's left are a few quicktime clips on AdCritic.com and legions of disgruntled day-traders.

As people on this list have acknowledged, Argus played an important role in defining information architecture itself. I do not mean to ignore the contribution of others in developing the field, for those contributions have been large. But I think everyone here agrees that Argus played a *unique* role in bringing information architecture to where it is today. The book is responsible for a lot of this but there was also the columns, the workshops, innumerable conference presentations, ACIA and, of course, the La Jolla conference last fall. La Jolla was probably the high point of the last 10 years for Argus, and it's hard to believe we went from there to here in just four months.

So Argus is no more, but IA lives on. Every one of us will continue exploring it. We will all continue "defining information architecture" in one way or another. I think that's a pretty damned good legacy.

And now you must excuse me, for I have a resume that needs polishing.

--karl

karl.fast@pobox.com