October 26, 2010 – The Internet isn’t new, but for some, navigating sites with ease doesn’t come easily. For those who have it mastered, they fly like the wind across links and site maps. But who are the people behind the scenes making your daily navigation a snap? An article titled “So You Work On The Internet. But What Do You Do?” reveals a much closer look.
Five occupational activities are listed and defined, and this should give us a better understanding of “how” the Internet operates or who is operating it.
1 – Information Architecture (IA). The structuring and classifying of information. The front end of defining a taxonomy to the back end of how to implement a website’s functionality and code.
2 – User Experience (UX) Design. A user’s perception and emotive connection with a website falls into this catagory. If users find what they are looking for easily, and then become repeat visitors, this person has done the job correctly.
3 – Programming/Coding/Engineering/Developing. One can say that these are all the same. Different programs are utilized, but the end result is the same.
4 – Design. This is the graphical look and feel of a website or application.
5 – Content Strategy. These folks plan the type, frequency, tone and delivery schedules of content on a website. SEO, social media, UX and media knowledge all fall into this category.
These titles are well behind the scenes of the internet, but are vital to its existence. They are not the glory jobs that some people have, but if it were easy, everyone would be doing it.
Glenn Black
Sponsored by Access Innovations, the world leader in indexing and making content findable.
