Content, Structure, and Findability

Learn how content strategy and information architecture work together in this online course on content structure, navigation, metadata, governance, and findability.

4 weeks · Starts October 13, 2026, Tuesdays at 11 AM Eastern

This course explores the close relationship between content strategy and information architecture. You'll learn how content decisions influence structure, navigation, and findability — and how IA provides the framework that allows content to scale, adapt, and remain meaningful over time.

You will learn to:

• Explain how content strategy and IA work together

• Analyze content types, structure, and governance needs

• Design IA that supports content reuse, consistency, and growth

• Identify content-related risks that affect IA quality

Certificate: Earn a World IA Association Certificate of Completion when you complete the course requirements.

Enroll in Course 2

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Session schedule and topics

1

Week 1 — October 13

Understanding Content in IA: Content as a design material, content types and lifecycles, content-first vs. structure-first approaches

2

Week 2 — October 20

Content Modeling and Structure: Content models and relationships, metadata, designing IA for scalability

3

Week 3 — October 27

Governance, Maintenance, and Systems Thinking: Content ownership, governance models, designing for change and longevity

4

Week 4 — November 3

Integrating Content Strategy and IA: Case examples, common pitfalls, practical takeaways for cross-functional teams

5

Feedback session — November 8

Gather learner feedback and discuss takeaways.

Instructor: Grace Lau and Julia DeBari

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About the instructors

Grace G. Lau

Grace Lau is an information architect and content strategist practitioner with nearly two decades of experience designing information environments across healthcare, media, and technology. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science with a minor in Geography from UCLA and a Masters in Library and Information Science from UCLA's Graduate School of Education and Information Studies.

She currently serves as Content Manager on the Digital Content Team at Blue Shield of California, where her work spans content governance, content strategy, search engine optimization (SEO/AEO), and information architecture across product lines. Her career has included work with organizations such as Disney, Perficient, and PatientPop.

Grace is co-president of the World Information Architecture Association (WIAA) and executive director of DIA Design Guild, a community supporting new and transitioning technology professionals through an apprenticeship program. She co-founded DIA Design Guild to address structural gaps in how practitioners enter the IA and UX fields. Her writing includes the article series "Taxonomy of Spices and Pantries," published on Boxes and Arrows, and she has presented at World IA Day Los Angeles, the IA Conference, and has been a guest speaker at universities across the country.

Julia DeBari

Julia DeBari is a 2025 Fulbright Specialist and senior UX practitioner with more than 25 years of experience designing human-centered products and services across technology, travel, and enterprise software. She holds a BA in Human Ecology and an MA in Organizational Leadership. Her career has included senior roles at Adobe, VMware, Dell, and TripIt, and she has taught user experience design across bootcamps, universities, and mentoring platforms — bringing the texture of working practice directly into the classroom.

Beyond client and classroom work, Julia strengthens her professional contributions through active community engagement. She serves as board chair of both Tech Fleet and DIA Design Guild — nonprofits dedicated to advancing professional development and supporting practitioners entering and transitioning into the UX and IA fields. Her peer-reviewed research appears in She Ji: The Journal of Design, Economics, and Innovation.