73. Dan Klyn

The Iowa Idea: Dan Klyn

“What has been will always be.”

Welcome to this episode of The Iowa Idea Podcast where I’m joined by Dan Klyn. Dan is a wonderful human. He teaches information architecture at the University of Michigan School of Information, is co-founder of World Information Architecture Day, past President of the Information Architecture Institute, and is a founding member of the teaching faculty at Building Beauty. In 2011 he co-founded The Understanding Group (TUG) with Bob Royce, and has worked as an information architect for 23 years. He’s currently enjoying a sabbatical year, writing the biography of Richard Saul Wurman.

Dan shares his deep curiosity about the architecture of information and the role it plays in supporting human well-being in keynote presentations, workshops, and architecture walks. Klyn’s writings have appeared in the Journal of Information Architecture, the Bulletin of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, and in the edited volumes Reframing Information Architecture (2014) and Advances In Information Architecture ( 2021).

In this episode, Dan and I dig into his family’s connection to Iowa, the spatiality of meaning, nerd out a little bit on James Joyce. I appreciated Dan’s framing of understanding – getting under the standing and how exploration, parallax, and vulnerability, can help us understand.

If the world of information architecture sounds interesting to you, check out IAC21. This year’s conference will take place in April and will be completely online. You can get $25 off your registration using the code iowaidea

It was an honor having Dan join me on the show. Thanks to Dan for his time and insights and his quest to help us understand. I hope you enjoy the episode.

About Dan

Dan Klyn teaches information architecture at the University of Michigan School of Information, is co-founder of World Information Architecture Day, past President of

the Information Architecture Institute, and is a founding member of the teaching faculty at Building Beauty. In 2011 he co-founded The Understanding Group (TUG) with Bob Royce, and has worked as an information architect for 23 years.

An inveterate speaker at digital design conferences, Klyn shares his deep curiosity about the architecture of information and the role it plays in supporting human well-being in keynote presentations, workshops, and architecture walks. Klyn’s writings have appeared in the Journal of Information Architecture, the Bulletin of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, and in the edited volumes Reframing Information Architecture (2014) and Advances In Information Architecture ( 2021).

He’s currently enjoying a sabbatical year, writing the biography of Richard Saul Wurman.

Links:

https://www.theiaconference.com/ ($25 off registration with the code “iowaidea”)

Credits

Episode produced by Spark Consulting Group (www.inspiredbyspark.com) in Iowa City, with support from Executive Podcast Solutions (https://www.executivepodcastsolutions.com/).

The Iowa Idea Podcast theme music written and performed by Paisley Bible (https://paisleybible.bandcamp.com/).