March 2023 Roundup
We bid our farewells to the busy-ness of March!
Events and Projects we’ve been working on
It’s been another whirlwind of things happening at DIA Design Guild this past month. With World Information Architecture Day at the beginning of the month to the IAC: the information architecture conference at the end of the year, DIA Design Guild has been busy supporting the events and communities around these events in the UX community.
#1. We went to conferences and events this past month. Wanna talk about that?
Here at DIA Design Guild, we’ve been active in either organizing World IA Day Los Angeles or supporting the IAC conference in New Orleans. Others have attended Deque’s axe-con virtual conference or CSUN’s assistive tech conference. So what’s good about all that learning? Let’s talk about what you learned and it’ll stay in your head longer.
If you went to an event or conference recently, or even if you haven’t, come join our monthly public meetup as we share our takeaways from attending recent events. We’re a safe, learning community. Who knows what new epiphany you’ll come away with?
See you Friday, April 14, 2023 at 4pm Pacific, online
#2. State of Information Architecture
Have we shared this? We have, right? We’ve been working with Optimal Workshop and World Information Architecture Association on a global survey about who’s doing information architecture, who understands the value of IA, and what future lies for this discipline. The survey is available in English, Spanish, Chinese, Italian, and Arabic.
Updates on our own initiatives
Aside from events and projects we’ve taken part in, we’ve been busy with our own initiatives too.
#3. Meeting the apprentices of DIA’s 2023 cohort
Last month we announced who’d be joining our 2023 apprentice cohort and introduced them very briefly with just their names.
This past month we got to learn more about their backgrounds and interests, outside their application and profile. The backgrounds and experiences
- Beula D'souza (Apprentice Bio) was a technical recruiter in her past life.
- Bianca Lindblad (Apprentice Bio) has sung in acoustic rock, electronic, hard rock, and metal. She is our first apprentice based in Sweden.
- Freddy Ramos (Apprentice Bio) has been passionate about food insecurity and has been working as a food distribution coordinator.
- Jacq Jade Lewis (Apprentice Bio) comes from a background in public health research.
- Jenny Ear (Apprentice Bio) was once a microbiology lab analyst.
- Jessica Rodriguez (Apprentice Bio) practiced as an occupational therapist for years before coming across UX.
- Kerry Sutherland (Apprentice Bio) has been a public services librarian for the past 18 years.
- Oghogho Ekhator (Apprentice Bio) had been working towards becoming a clinical psychologist before discovering the intersection of tech and research.
- Sharnya Govindaraj (Apprentice Bio), a former journalist, is studying how babies learn language in a PhD program in cognitive psychology.
- Sirikhwan Pamornkul (Apprentice Bio) has a day job as a payroll specialist but is learning about instructional design.
- Sulaimon Damilola (Apprentice Bio) has been teaching and copywriting before coming across content design in his work. He is our first apprentice based in Nigeria.
Overall, this year’s cohort is excited to grow their skill set, expand their network, and apply what they learn towards a mission or goal they’re passionate about. We’ve started asynchronous buddy check-in threads on our Discord where past, present, and new apprentices and mentors can get to know each other.
#4. Game Club
During February, the Game Club held its second game jam. We’ve been trying out a tool for making branching narratives called Twine and welcoming new apprentices to the game club. Read more to see how we made games centered around this month’s theme, “display”!
That’s all for now!
Until next time, may you be happy and healthy.
If you’ve made it down to this… here’s a sneak peek: We’re planning a relaxing summer retreat/workshop in August open for anyone who wants to visit the mountains in Southern California. Reply to this email or email grace@diadesign.io if you want to be one of the first to know.
