Editor's Desktop

Editorship has its privileges, and one of those has been the opportunity to preview and engage with our intriguing and valuable special section on information architecture (IA). In “How We Create Meaning,” Laura Creekmore, the Bulletin's associate editor for IA, has brought together three very different approaches to creating meaning through design: organizational structure, voice and tone, and data presentation. Kate Garklavs and Victor Yocco & Ashley Pulli offer practical expert advice on voice and tone and social math, respectively. And in a piece that pulls together two of his major interests, James Joyce and Richard Saul Wurman, Dan Klyn explores organizational structure in IA while considering what might constitute a masterwork in its practice.

As Nadia Caidi stresses on her President's Page, the ASIS&T summits in information architecture (IA) and research data access and preservation (RDAP) are energetic and exciting events that emphasize practice in their respective fields, leavened with some more theoretical approaches. The special section described above deals, of course, with IA, but we have our regular RDAP Review column as well. In it Andrew Johnson describes the creation of the DataQ website to facilitate librarians who want to become involved in RDAP. DataQ is a service and resource for library personnel with questions about research data management and related topics.

In addition to reviewing some current initiatives, the President's Page also reports two important announcements: the Board's decision to create the post of communication officer and executive director Richard Hill's decision to retire after 30 years of service to ASIS&T. No date has been set, and Dick will serve until his replacement has been recruited.

Dick is, of course, the publisher of the Bulletin and thus my manager at ASIS&T for 20 of the 30 years he has served. If I tell you that Dick screens the [email protected] email address, winnowing out for me the important communications from you-the-reader or from potential authors, as opposed to numberless press releases and other stuff that comes there, you will partly understand the depth of my gratitude. But, more seriously, Dick has always been a source of common sense advice and ready, responsive support, which has made this job a pleasure. Both as editor and as a member of ASIS&T for nearly 50 years, I wish him well and thank him for his part in keeping a steady hand at the helm and helping the Association survive and flourish.