It's been two weeks since the 2014 Information Architecture (IA) Summit in San Diego (http://2014.iasummit.org/). I have been reading thoughts, take-aways, tributes and thanks (https://medium.com/information-architecture/6a4e6e0c22c5 ) as I absorb the experience for myself. I am struck this how my family's way of celebrating the holiday of Passover has similarities to the IA Summit. Once a year my immediate Jewish family gathers from its international corners for one big holiday in the sping: Passover. We are expected home for this holiday so we all make a pilgrimage to our parents. Over the years, we've put our own spin on the Passover story to incorporate what is important to us. Our family chose our Haggadah, the guidebook for the Passover Seder, carefully. Our edition has text in English, Hebrew, transliterations, songs in both languages, illustrations, and other notes to encourage discussion (http://www.haggadahsrus.com/ADN-classic.html) and participation. Language is a key part of the story of Passover. My family uses two different languages while we tell the story and we discuss meanings of words during the Seder. This year at the IA Summit there were amazing talks about from Jorge Arango about 'wordsy' and the semantic environment (http://www.jarango.com/blog/2014/03/30/give-hoot-mapping-caring-semantic-environment/), and how Language is Infrastructure from Andrew Hinton (https://speakerdeck.com/andrewhinton/language-is-infrastructure-ia-summit-2014). My family grapples with hard questions like choices and adversity as we go through the story of the Passover Seder. Often, we think about how we try to get out of tough situations. This year, at IAS 14, the panel about Designing for Villains discussed how to handle tough situations (http://www.greatnorthelectric.com/blog/2014/4/3/cut-with-a-kitchen-knife-thoughts-on-ia-summit-2014). During the Passover Seder, we ask questions to each other and attempt some creative answers and discussions. We let the text of the Seder evolve as we interact with it. We try to not let the narrative be static. We use it as a sign-post but we also incorporate puzzles, stories, props (a stuffed frog that goes "ribb-IT"). Stephen P Anderson's talk about paths and sandboxes (http://www.slideshare.net/stephenpa/from-paths-to-sandboxes) touched on these ideas during this year's IA summit. And Lis Pardi (http://www.slideshare.net/lispardi/grow-your-career-without-leaving-your-company) cleverly recreated a video snippet from Kung Fu Panda which would fit right in ( https://www.flickr.com/photos/12924056@N00/13654485734/lightbox/). One page in our Haggadah has a side bar with this anecdote from Nobel laureate Isidor Rabi and his mother (http://www.nytimes.com/1988/01/19/opinion/l-izzy-did-you-ask-a-good-question-today-712388.html). Every day after school, Dr Rabi's mother asked him if asked any good questions that day rather than asking what he learned. Every year, I make a point to read this anecdote out loud. I think it has helped me be unafraid to ask speakers questions at the IA Summit or any discussion. And to ask a question about the topic, not make a statement. The talks at IA Summit are top notch and so are the respectful discussions which follow. I come each year to the summit ready to ask some good questions. At the Passover Seder, we discuss why this night is different from all other nights. The community around the IA Summit often explains why this conference is different from all other UX conferences. At the Passover Seder, we sing songs in Hebrew and freedom songs like if I Had A Hammer and Go Down Moses. At the IA Summit, we sing a lot karaoke. I'm wondering if we should sing Devo's "Whip It" at the Seder this year (http://understandinggroup.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/IMG_5875.jpg). My family spends the Passover holiday gathering around a table. It's a very good thing we don't have to eat matzah at the IA Summit. But gathering folks for a meal is the unscripted beauty of how connections are made at the IA Summit. Especially when the meal takes place in the sunshine of San Diego. My family plays word games together like Quiddler, Banagrams, Boggle, Scrabble, etc in between the Passover Seders. At the IA summit, there is an epic game night. My family knows the Passover Seder has come to the end when we mention that we will do it all again next year. At the end of the IA Summit, we find out which city we all gather again the next year. It's the IA pilgrimage to wherever the next conference might be. I look forward to next year in Minneapolis (http://2014.iasummit.org/ias2015-landing-032014/). As soon as the details are announced for the next year, I quickly compare the dates to Passover, in order to make sure I go to both celebrations. I am never bored at the Seder of IA.
