Do you work in the non-B2C environment?

I have started a Yahoo group to explore how our jobs in the non-B2C environment are different than those in the B2C environment. Perhaps the answer to this search is that they are not different, but I wanted to kick the idea around a bit anyway. We are at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/we-r-not-b2c/

IxD goes out on the town, w/ some local help!

The IxDG (http://ixdg.org/) organized a night on the town Montreal style. Some 27 of us managed to make it for the event, which started with a fun ride on the Metro to our destination along Rue St-Denis on the francophile side of town. We went to the restaurant Cafe Cherrier, where we had the restaurant to ourselves.
Good food and better company was the order of the evening, with great conversations all around.

Afterwards a smaller group of us walked through a beautiful residential neighborhood, where one of our local guides dazzled us w/ her knowledge of the architecture of row-houses (Montreal Brownstones) of this area. This was on our way to a chic, but sunday night empty, lounge, where we stayed for a bit. The Lounge, Cafe Merleis (sp?) is names after thsi amazing movie maker circa 1904, whose movies were playing on a flat panel in our section. Amazing stuff.

We then headed back to the Hotel where we made it just in time (I mean, just not in time) for last call downstairs. However, determined to make the evening, I mean morning last a group of 6 remaining souls caused a laughing, tearfilled raucous till about ... well (see time stamp).

Jorge has promised to put his many (my eyes hurt from the flash) pictures on flickr on some heading that goes like IA Summit and IxDG.

I REALLY want to thank all the locals who came and made this event so wonderful. Thank you Rebecca, Hans, Terry, and Sebastian. I can't wait to get the flickr article.

IA Institute/CMPros Face-to-Face update

The IA Institute/CMPros face-to-face is going to be in the main floor lounge at the Fairmont (Les Voyageurs, I believe). We'll meet at the IA Institute table in the poster session at 7:30 p.m. and head down. Remember, the CMPros are buying food.

DCIA Social Saturday

If you're from the Washington, DC metro area, join us for dinner Saturday night. DCIA (DC Information Architecture) is organizing this get-together. Meet in the lobby, and we'll plan to leave for the restaurant at 7:10 pm.

Nice Work if You Can Get It

Want to meet up with other job seekers who are new to the field? Read on.

I've been 'converted' to IA and am now looking for full time work doing it. My co-mentee and I are both career transitioners who are not recent grads, and we want to meet other folks who are here at the summit in similar situations with like aspirations.

Apprenticeship-seekers? Newbies? Less than the 4 years' experience every job board posting seems to require? Wannabes? Too Old/Experienced/Indebted/Motivated to be a traditional Intern? Novices?

I prefer the term "IA Neophyte." Come discuss at the reception tonight, Friday - I'll be in the corner farthest from the room entrance.

(If you are employed as an IA, feel free to share an anecdote on "The First Time I Got Paid For It.")

Cordially,
Sonya M. Smith Wong, M.L.S.

P.S. Alternatively, if you don't make it to the reception (or the summit), post a comment here to arrange a get together later in the weekend, or email me at sonya.smithwong at gmail dot com.

Sunday IxDG/IxD Dinner

[I have updated this w/ Metro directions in the extended entry]

So we have built an amazing plan for the evening of March 6th.
Conference attendees should meet in the lobby of the Fairmont Queen E at 6:45p. We'll be going to the restaurant from there.

It is important that people RSVP to me, dave (at) ixdg (dot) org as we will be updating a reservation for our selected restaurant. Here is the information:

Café Cherrier, at 3635 Rue St. Denis,
phone number 514-843-4308

As for now there are 32 people coming to this exciting evening for people interested in IxD.

We will be closing our RSVP period by EOD Friday to give the restaurant a final reservation count.

People who would like to eat dinner elsewhere, and then join us for some social time afterwards, we will be at the bar from 9:30 or so, onward.

I want to thank in particular Hans Samuelson and Rebecca Downey for putting in some amazing legwork to help organize this event.

CAFé CHERRIER
3635 St Denis
Montreal (Quebec)
514-843-4308

* From the Queen Elisabeth Hotel head towards the Bonaventure Metro station.
* Exit the hotel via the elevators that only go down.
* You are now in the Gare Central food court.
* To get to the underground from Gare Central - exit the food court, cross
the main area and go down a corridor at one end of the station (towards the
Bureau en gros/Staples business supply store).
(You'll go past a bank machine, a lingerie shop and the CN main offices)
towards a door leading to the outside.
Just before the door (on your right) is a set of stairs and a narrow, short
escalator.
Go down it and ta-da, you're in the underground city.
* At Bonaventure Metro - take the Orange Line heading towards
Henri-Bourassa.
Sherbrooke metro is the 5th metro stop after Bonaventure.
* Get off at Sherbrooke Metro.
* After you leave the wicket, the tunnel divides in two. Take the right
fork.
You want to head towards St-Denis exit.
The Rue de Malines exit is to the right (up three or four steps).
* Exit the metro onto Rue de Malines.
* Turn south (to your left).
* Walk west on Rue De Malines to Saint-Denis St. It's about 15 feet.
(If you end up on Berri - you've gone the wrong way).
You should be facing a park (Square Saint-Louis).
* Walk West (to your right) along Rue Saint-Denis until you reach Cherrier
(the next intersection).
(If you end up at the corner of Rue De Rigaud, or Sherbrooke, you've gone
the wrong way.)
* The restaurant is at the corner of St-Denis and Cherrier.

See: http://www.stm.info/English/metro/images/c10.gif for a map of the
neighborhood around Sherbrooke metro. I'm not 100% on the names of the metro
exits.

Note that the frequency of the trains on the Orange line differs depending
on the day (Weekdays, Saturday, and Sunday all differ) and the hour of the
day.

Last metro on Sunday night:
The last metro leaves Sherbrooke station at 0h52 (12:52) Monday morning**.
If you miss the last metro you will have to walk, take the night buses
(which means bus and still walk), or cab it. I *strongly* recommend someone
have a good map of Montreal on them if they want to walk. You should be able
to pick one up at any Info-Touriste stop in the city.

** Let's call it 0h45 or 12:45 to be safe.

A note on metro fares:
FARES 2005 (effective as of January 1, 2005)
Regular
CAM (Monthly Pass) $61.00
CAM hebdo (Weekly Pass) $18.00
Six-ticket strip $11.25
Cash fare $ 2.50
Tourist Card $ 8.00 / 1 day
$16.00 / 3 days

The six-ticket strip can be purchased anytime from any metro station
attendant (at the wicket). The CAM hebdo can be purchased at the same place
from Friday through Tuesday. You should be able to buy a Tourist card
year-round at Bonaventure station.

Reduced Fares:
Children aged 5 and under ride for free.
Children aged 6 to 11 pay a reduced fare (and require no identification).
Children aged 12 to 18 can pay reduced fare upon presentation of their
Reduced Fare Access Card**.
Students aged 18 to 25 can travel with a reduced fare CAM (monthly pass)
upon presentation of their Carte Privilege**.
Senior Citizens (65 and over) can pay reduced fare upon presentation of
their Reduced Fare Access Card**.

** These cards are photo id's available for a fee from the metro authority
with valid ID confirming your age. See the STM website for more information
.

Summit Committee Drinks Tonight

On Friday at 8:30 we're meeting at the hotel bar - Les Voyageurs - for drinks.

Gay and Lesbian IA social

There are a few of us that are going to meet at 8:15 pm after the Welcome reception tonight (Friday).

If you would like to join us, we are going to meet outside the reception room.

Just look for me, eddie james and the, hopefully, large group that will be surrounding me.

See you tonight.

Anyone working with DoD IDE's

I am starting a project on an Integrated Digital Environment (an extranet application) between NAVAIR, Sikorsky, and suppliers. Are there others who have worked on IDE's with other branches of the DoD who would like to meet? Please e-mail me and I'll organize the get-together. Thanks.

-- Dan (adrop@juno.com)

IA Institute face-to-face update

Just a reminder that the IA Institute (nee AIfIA) face-to-face at the IA Summit will happen Saturday, March 5 at 7:30 p.m. We're meeting at the institute table in the poster session.

The CMPros group will be joining us, and as a bonus they'll be buying appetizers for the group as thanks for the IA Institute's ongoing support (thanks, guys!).

The IA Institute mentors/mentees will be there as well.

The venue is still TBD, but I'll post it on the IA Summit blog and at the poster session (suggestions welcome). If you're planning to attend, let me know so I can get a rough headcount.

Also, since a couple of people have asked, this is a drinks and appetizers affair.

Saturday - Canadian IA/UX/IxD Breakfast F2F

We’re planning an informal breakfast meetup/F2F for Canadian UX/IA/IxD people on Saturday morning (March 5th) during the IA Summit in Montreal. This will be a great opportunity to meet fellow practitioners from across Canada and get some breakfast at the same time.

The plan is to meet in the lobby of the Queen Elizabeth at 7:00am on Saturday morning and head over to St. Viateur Bagel, which is one of the best bagel places in Montreal.

http://www.stviateurbagel.com/

There are a couple of locations within a 5 minute drive of the hotel, so we can cab it over from the hotel and easily be back for the 8:30 am opening plenary.

If you’re interested in going, drop me a line at mmilan[at]gmail[dot]com so we can get a feel for the number of interested parties. Of course we welcome IA Summit attendees who aren’t lucky enough to be Canadian and just want to grab some breakfast and talk about IA and the like!

Hope to see you there!

Matthew (mmilan[at]gmail[dot]com)

Yulblog Invites Bloggers For a Drink

For the past five years, a group of Montréal bloggers has been meeting face to face every month to catch up, have a drink, meet people they have been reading or discover new ones. We believe that to be the longest running such meeting. That group is called Yulblog and we'll be having a special celebration in a few weeks but in the mean time our regular night is Wednesday the 2nd, just a few days before the summit. If you are arriving early and are a blogger or simply interested in meeting french and english speaking writers, programmers, students, photographers and many others, you are invited to join us at La Cabane, right on The Main, one of the hubs of Montréal life. (details on time and place)

Driving from NYC to Montreal

I'll be driving from NYC to Montreal on Friday and would love to find company and share fuel costs. If you are interested please email me at patricia at 2far dot com. (Unfortunately I cannot offer a ride back since I'll add some vacation days).

Marc's Guide to Montreal

My friend Marc used to live in Montreal and he sent me this great list of things to do/see during the summit (remember this is Marc writing, not me):

Great location you got! Right downtown. I suggest you limit your outings to three parts of town: downtown, le plateau Mont-Royal, and Vieux-Montreal.

Downtown

Downtown you will not be bored by walking around Sainte-Catherine St.; stay off René-Levesques, where your hotel is, it's the financial district and restaurants/bars are generally not great there. I always like just to walk around and explore cities. I suggest you go check our McGill University: it's a really nice and old campus. Corner Ste-Cath. and Saint-Denis is pretty cool. You have to walk around on Saint-Denis, north of Saint-Cath. You will find good restaurants around there, corner Ontario and Rachel especially (but go with suggestions, if you can).

Speaking of restaurants, I was really poor when I lived there, so you will get the poor man's suggestions:

• for Montreal bagels (they are awesome-- better than New York, if you ask me): La maison du bagel, Fairmont bagel, Saint-Viateur bagel (plateau)
• for Montreal smoked meats (mmm): Schwartz's or Dunn's (downtown)
• good sushi place on Du Parc and Bernard
• if you feel fancy (and rich): L'Express is very French (great food, terrible service), and Toqué! is one of the best restaurants in Canada ($$$$$)

Other than that you should ask around: people are always really proud of giving suggestions in Montreal and there's TONS of great affordable food (lots of bring-your-own-wine, with no corkage fee). However, stick to the Frech-influenced cuisine, it's what Montreal has best to offer.

Le Plateau Mont-Royal

OK, plateau. It's a 20-30 minute walk, but there's a bunch of metro stations and busses (or cheap cab rides, if no traffic). You have to go there, no question. You go North on either Saint-Denis, Saint-Urbain, or Saint-Laurent up to about Mont-Royal Street. It's my favorite part of town (and where I used to live). Lots of great bars and restaurants. Prince-Arthur street is cute and great for shopping. My favorite bars there all closed, unfotunately, but there are a bunch of great new ones.

Bars: for dancing or hanging out 'Le Living' (on Saint-Denis and Rachel, I think) is kind of cool and the Saint-Sulpice (Saint-Denis, just north of Sainte-Cath.) is a huge and kind of cool too in a way.

You will find pubs and bistros just about everywhere, with lots of original beers (my favorite is "Belle Gueule Rousse"). One of the new hot places is Casa Del Popolo, never been there but I heard it's happening.

Vieux-Montreal

As for the Vieux-Montreal, it's such a short walk from where you are that you should check it out. It's best in the summer, but you will enyou just walking around 250-300 yr-old buildings. You basically just have to go south on Saint-Denis and you're there. You can walk around Saint-Paul, Saint-Jean, and Notre-Dame streets. It's a cool little area, but a bit expensive for food and drinks (plateau and downtown are WAY better).

Oh, almost forgot, for a french-neogoth experience try Les Foufounes Électrique (the electrical buns).

Don't forget: Stay off Crescent street!

AIfIA face-to-face Saturday evening

There will be an AIfIA/IA Institute face-to-face on Saturday night. Here are the details:

When: Saturday, March 5, 2005, 7:30 p.m.
Where: Meet in the poster session at the AIfIA table
Theme: Bring your IA baggage--we'll "sort it out" over drinks.

This is a great opportunity to meet people on the list, board members, advisors and other IAs. If you have questions or suggestions about a bar/restaurant, contact me at genesmith@atomiq.org.

DCIA Social Saturday

If you hail from the Washington, DC metropolitan area, then put Saturday evening dinner on your calendar. DCIA (DC Information Architecture) organizers are behind this one. Comment or email stacy at greenfx.net if you plan to come. We'll figure out details later.

IxDG dinner & gathering Sunday Night

If you are on the Interaction Designers Group mailing list, an interaction designer, or someone who just likes interaction design, you are invited to join us for dinner (non-sponsored event) on Sunday night.

So far there are some 10-15 people who are coming from the IxDG discuss@ list. I'm sure the number will grow at this point between now and Sunday night.

To help those of us who are organizing the event, please send an e-mail to dave (at) ixdg (dot) org. Also, if you have suggestions, please post them here as comments.

For more information about the IxDG you can go to http://ixdg.org/.

Roommate?

I'm seeking a roommate for the Fairmont for 3 nights (Fri, Sat, Sun). I happen to be a male non-smoker (westontt@gmail.com).

2005, the family-accessible Summit

I believe it’s the allure of Montreal… rumor says that some of the attendees will be bringing their spouses to this Summit. In fact, I’ll be making the trip with my wife, and I know a friend who’ll be on the same boat.

We could use this blog for our spouses to organize outings for walkin along the highlights of the city, and maybe elaborate a guide on “how to put up with those crazy Information Architects” :-)

Gay and Lesbian IAs

Any other LGBT IAs interested in getting together, discussing IA, and exploring Montreal? It would be fun to get together for dinner or going out afterwards during the summit.

Post here and I would be willing to coordinate it.

Woodworking

Anybody know of or interested in finding and exploring woodworking or furniture building resources in Montreal during down time?

Summit Committee Dinner

Summit Committee Members - early arrivers who'd like to meet Thursday.

We're gathering at 7 pm in the hotel lobby area. Then figuring out where to go for dinner. (The hotel restaurant is a possibility.) There may be up to 12 of us... don't know who exactly will be joining us.

***

On Friday at 8:30 we'll meet again at the hotel bar (probably Le Montrealais) for drinks.