Keith Instone, lead information architect for the user experience team at IBM.com, spoke to students interested in Web site usability and design yesterday.

During a panel discussion, Instone discussed his previous employment with Argus Associates, a groundbreaking information architecture firm.

Also involved in the discussion was the newest addition to the Information Architecture and Knowledge Management staff, Karl Fast.

Both Fast and Instone were employed with Argus Associates, a company that credits itself with writing the handbook for the information architecture program. The company closed in 2001, but the two former employees have since continued to work as information architects.

While working with Argus, Instone was involved with many projects that helped better his career, including a “monumental” project with Ernst & Young, he said.

Fast said he was hired “to speak geek and librarian” to help the company become more efficient.

Graduate students and those involved with the IAKM program asked Fast and Instone questions about the emerging and vital areas of Web design, usability and knowledge management.

A master’s of science in information architecture and knowledge management prepares students to work with information-intensive organizations. The degree provides the latest information skills, technologies and education to students at Kent State.

Contact news correspondent Kelly Pickerel at [email protected].