IA Summit in New Orleans!

Today was my last day at Chick-fil-A. Boy am I glad to be done there. I was doing way too much between Chick Fil A, Converse, and classes, and it was taking a toll on my health and the quality of my education. I am paying good money for this MLIS. I want to squeeze every drop of learning from it I can.  Now I can focus those eight hours a week on career development, and being better prepared for class.

This week, I have been preparing to go to IA Summit. I am really excited about this - someone at InfoCamp told me about it - it's the event where User Experience and Information Architecture professionals gather. Information Architecture is basically the structuring of information on the web so it makes sense and people can find what they're looking for. You could think of Information Architects as "web librarians." User Experience is about looking at your website (or any product, service, or place) through the eyes of the person using it - What are they trying to do? What do they notice? How does this come across to them? Then you can design or refine your thing so that it really serves the end user, and gives them a positive total experience. If you're curious, you can listen to the 30-second explanations on my Prezi, or visit the Information Architecture Institute, Usability Professionals Association, or Interaction Designers Association.

So  I registered and got the early bird rates, researched transportation and lodging (I love Megabus - round trip to Mobile for $4!!) made a budget, applied for funding, and started beefing up my professional presence online. I have the beginnings of a professional portfolio I made for class last semester. Check out my portfolio! (and let me know what you think...)

Oh and I'm also just excited because it's going to be in New Orleans. I've never been there before! I'm gonna get there a day early and do a little sightseeing. And I will definitely be blogging about it. I love writing about my travels! Just for fun, I dug up my old college blogs about Spring Break '08 in Athens, GA.  You can read them here and here.

Re-living some of the fun of InfoCampSC. Here are some pix.



IA Summit in New Orleans ||  1 - Getting There || 2 - French Quarter Buskers || 3 - Rain on My Parade || 4 - New Ideas, New Friends, & Bourbon Street || 5 - The Festival, the City, & the Way Home