Information Architecture and the Economics of Social Media

I was reading a wonderful book by Peter Morville and Louis Rosenfeld called Information Architecture for the World Wide Web. The book is a treatise on the philosophical underpinnings of information archiecture (IA) with emphasis on its political economy, for lack of a better term. This means the book deals not only with an explanation of IA, its best practices and preferred methodologies, but also addresses how to sell it within an organization with soft and hard benefits such as return on investment. The science and practice of IA is multi-dimensional, and is explored by the authors. I highly recommend this book to anyone in the business of managing, organizing or selling information (and really, who isn't today?). Judiciously, the authors have left out any discussion of specific technologies to implement a given information architecture.
My main interest right now is to understand how the principles of information architecture can be applied to the benefit of my customers. I believe that the principles of IA can be applied to creating online communities engaged in the exchange of valuable information and simultaneously creating a sense of community. We recently had the opportunity to apply principles of information architecture for our project with CareSeek in the health care space, and with iLoveBolly a social network in the entertainment space.
The paragraph below is a direct quote from the above book on the participation economy of online communities:
"The major challenge faced by every online community is how to get people to participate. Participation requires a balance of give (creating content) and take (consuming content). It's difficult to ensure reciprocity between givers and takers; it's often human nature to lurk and learn, while creating good information takes time and hard work. If everyone consumes and no one produces, online communities fail. Those responsible for online communities therefore have a harder job than Ben Bernanke (the head of the U.S. Federal Reserve Board). Beyond tweaking economic performance, they have an even larger job: to create the economy from scratch. And since they can't force people to participate, a healthy online economy must therefore err in the direction of free market principles -- enabling, not overmanaging -- the creation of content in a way that keeps up with its consumption.
IA provides the rules that define the economy's infrastructure. The right information architecture can then grease multiple levels of transactions in the participation economy by supporting different levels of participation that fit with human nature, and by monetizing that participation so that members clearly understand what their content creation and consumption is worth.
We will be glad to answer any questions you have or help you in any way we can -- just ask us.
Cheers,
Sunit.
PS. The above is a variation of my blog which first appeared on Help Change Healthcare.