I have been cheerily ensconced in some big navigation efforts over the last 9 months, and there have been some major wins, and more importantly, some major-er lessons.

I have a working theory that being a successful IA/researcher/designer does not necessarily mean you must be good at vanquishing ambiguity in favor of clarity per se....it’s that you are cool with ambiguity, that you are open to it, and not afraid of it (you are brave, to borrow part of Abby Covert’s formula presented at IAC20).

I was all set to go teach a workshop on my newest obsession, using jazz improvisation techniques to become a better research facilitator. But that didn't happen, because #pandemic. Instead, I was able to give a talk about the subject.

I occasionally like to daydream about the very glamorous jobs I could have if information science was properly appreciated as a discipline — it usually involves something approaching Indiana Jones meets High Fidelity — but it still wouldn’t compare to Robert Taylor, who recruited Nazi and Soviet informants for US counterintelligence after WWII.

Latvia! Who knew that an IA career would take you to Latvia? Not I, my friends, not I.

What do you know, I just keep finding ways to talk to people about the art of improvisation, and how it has influenced my work as a designer and researcher.