Last Saturday an eight-hour marathon was held at Sala delle Lapidi of Palazzo delle Aquile in Palermo, with nine speakers talking about this year’s WIAD topic: “Architecting Happiness”.
Great interest was shown by the general public, professionals in the field, and people intrigued by the topics discussed. The task of “Information Architecture” is to connect contents and users, organizing information so make it accessible and easy to understand, in order to improve the final users’ experience. Anthropology, Marketing, UX Design are just a few of the interconnected disciplines involved.
Our approach to WIAD has been of having Palermo familiarize with topics and experiences of international import: to mention but a few, Eugenio Menichella spoke of the “emotional return” of sport companies’ and institutions’ investments, and Stefano Dominici carefully analyzed the relations between stakeholders and clients.
The event was a success also online: over 200 access of the live streaming and an all day long bustling live tweeting at the hashtag #wiadpalermo.
Lunch-break was an occasion to express how one can architect happiness through food: during the street food tour, organized in collaboration with StrEat Palermo Tour, a large group of participants was accompanied through the streets and alleys of the old town, between a sweet-wine and cheese aperitivo in the old Arab market of the Vucciria and a full street-food meal with local gastronomic delicacies.
We are all very satisfied for having brought WIAD in Palermo for the first time, and this encourages us to bring in the city new and stimulating adventures.
A special thanks go to all the supporters of the event: Banca Nuova, The Information Architecture Institute, Architecta – Società Italiana di Architettura dell’Informazione, AMG Print, B&B l’Olivella, Edizioni Precarie, and Tenute Orestiadi.
For all those who missed WIAD, or would like to listen again some of the talks, they have all been uploaded on our Youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/wePUSHvideo
