Eric Reiss

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Eric Reiss is the author of Practical Information Architecture (ISBN 0-201-72590-8) and Web Dogma '06. He has emerged as one of the most influential figures on the European information architecture/usability scene. In recent years, Reiss has also been an outspoken critic of innovationists who do not differentiate between innovation and invention. Reiss argues that innovation is a later stage than invention and that it is always a planned activity and never accidental.

[edit] Biography

Born in San Antonio, Texas in 1954, his family relocated to St. Louis prior to his first birthday when his father accepted a position at Washington University School of Medicine. Reiss is the son of two prominent physicians. His Viennese-born father, Eric Reiss, M.D., performed early and groundbreaking research on parathyroid hormone (PTH). His mother, Louis Zibold Reiss, M.D., was instrumental in research studying the levels of Strontium-90 in milk secondary to nuclear fallout. His family moved to the Chicago suburb of Highland Park in 1964. He was active in theatre and the performing arts while at Highland Park High School from 1968-1972.

Reiss returned to St. Louis to study at Washington University in 1972. An accomplished ragtime pianist, Reiss was Musical Director on the Goldenrod Showboat on the Mississippi River levee during much of 1975. In 1976, he graduated with degrees in Performing Arts and Political Science after which he moved to Copenhagen, Denmark to become a stage director at the Danish Royal Theatre. In 1977, his play, Marionettes, was awarded first prize at the Illinois One-Act Play Festival.

Following a successful career in the Scandinavian theater world, publication of the first Danish-language adventure game (Skabet), and a short stint studying Egyptology, Reiss' first book, The Compleat Talking Machine (ISBN 1-886606-18-8) led to a major career change in 1986.

The talking machine book, which is now in its fifth edition (10th printing), demonstrated his ability to explain technical things in everyday language. Reiss has since worked almost exclusively in developing business-to-business communications materials and marketing strategies.

With the advent of PC-based multimedia in the late 80s and the World Wide Web a few years later, Reiss combined his knowledge of theater, communication, and computers to build useful interactive business tools. In early 1997, he developed a unique on-line communications concept for his employer, Cross-Border Communications. The resulting microsite, Rick's Cafe, was an interactive precursor to a blog and was subsequently voted Macromedia Site of the Week.

Eric Reiss is currently CEO of the Copenhagen-based FatDUX Group, which designs interactive experiences, both online and off. He is a past president of the Information Architecture Institute, serves as Chair of the European Information Architecture Summit, EuroIA, and is on the Advisory Board of the Copenhagen Business School Department of Informatics. Reiss is also Associate Professor of Usability and Design at the Instituto de Empresa Business School in Madrid, Spain.

Reiss is still active as a performer and musician, working regularly with Vivienne McKee's London Toast Theatre in Copenhagen. He was also a regular on the MTV-produced candid-camera show, Rent Fup, during the season 1998-99. Other acting credits include the Danish film, Miraklet i Valby (1989) and off-screen dubbing for Lars von Trier's Dancer in the Dark (2000).

Eric Reiss and his wife Dorthe make their home in Copenhagen.

[edit] External links

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