{"id":180,"slug":"polar-bear-book-rosenfeld-morville-arango-2015","title":"Information Architecture: For the Web and Beyond, 4th ed. (Rosenfeld/Morville/Arango, O'Reilly 2015) — the canonical IA reference","kind":"reference","scope":"business","status":"current","audiences":["claude-code","candid-team"],"topics":["knowledge-base","information-architecture"],"reference_body":"**Claim:** The \"polar bear book\" — *Information Architecture: For the Web and Beyond, 4th edition*, Rosenfeld / Morville / Arango (O'Reilly, 2015) — remains the canonical IA reference. No 5th edition exists as of May 2026.\n\n**Definition from the text:**\n\n> \"Information architecture (IA) is a design discipline that is focused on making information findable and understandable\" across products, services, communications, and channels.\n\n**Source:** <https://www.oreilly.com/library/view/information-architecture-4th/9781491913529/>\n\n**Confidence:** Verified.\n\n**Caveat:** The 4th edition is **pre-mobile-first-indexing**. The four pillars (organization, labeling, navigation, search systems) remain canonical; specific examples and screenshots are dated. Use for principles; don't cite for 2026 examples.","rationale_body":null,"metadata":null,"links":{"outgoing":[],"incoming":[{"slug":"research-brief-ia-multi-vertical-service-business","title":"Research brief: Information architecture for service businesses with multiple verticals (piece 6 of 15)","kind":"reference","scope":"business","link_type":"relates-to"}]},"created_at":"2026-05-22T19:40:49.024Z","updated_at":"2026-05-22T19:40:49.024Z"}