# Eric Reiss > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Eric_Reiss > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Eric_Reiss.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Reiss > Source revision: 1351513772 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) {{Short description|American information architect}} {{about|the web design author|the [Silicon Valley](/source/Silicon_Valley) [entrepreneur](/source/entrepreneur)|Eric Ries}} thumb|280px|Eric Reiss in 2010 '''Eric Reiss''' (born 1954; died July 2025 [https://www.facebook.com/dorthe.reiss/posts/pfbid02DVmQa57C83dkbhh8P16fHyQ5FGBz4R5nmDut8c8p7eRzBuDxffS5dDEe3pz7ijBCl]) was an American business and information architecture theorist, consultant and author, known for his work in the field of [information architecture](/source/information_architecture), usability, and service design.Resmini, Andrea, and Luca Rosati. ''Pervasive information architecture: designing cross-channel user experiences.'' Elsevier, 2011.Haller, Thom. "Overview: Information architecture." ''Bulletin of the American Society for Information Science and Technology'' 39.1 (2012): 8-8. In 2010, he was named in a blog as "One of the Top 10 European Content Strategists to Watch".Boye, Janus. [https://www.boye-co.com/blog/2011/3/20/10-european-content-strategists-to-watch "10-european-content-strategists-to-watch"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210201193909/https://www.boye-co.com/blog/2011/3/20/10-european-content-strategists-to-watch |date=2021-02-01 }}, ''Boye & Co'', March 11, 2011. Retrieved September 3, 2011. == Biography == === Early life and education === Born in [San Antonio](/source/San_Antonio%2C_Texas), [Texas](/source/Texas) in 1954, his family relocated to [St. Louis](/source/St._Louis%2C_Missouri) prior to his first birthday when his father accepted a position at [Washington University School of Medicine](/source/Washington_University_School_of_Medicine). Reiss is the son of two prominent physicians who played pivotal roles in bringing about the nuclear test-ban treaty of 1963 (see [Linus Pauling](/source/Linus_Pauling) "Activism"). His Viennese-born father, Eric Reiss, M.D., performed early and groundbreaking research on [parathyroid hormone](/source/parathyroid_hormone) (PTH). His mother, [Louise Zibold Reiss](/source/Louise_Reiss), M.D., was the director of the [Baby Tooth Survey](/source/Baby_Tooth_Survey), which collected baby teeth to demonstrate that radioactive [Strontium-90](/source/Strontium-90), traceable to fallout from above-ground nuclear explosions, had entered the U.S. food chain.Hevesi, Dennis. [https://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/10/science/10reiss.html "Dr. Louise Reiss, Who Helped Ban Atomic Testing, Dies at 90"], ''[The New York Times](/source/The_New_York_Times)'', January 10, 2011. Accessed January 10, 2011.Sorkin, Michael D. [http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/obituaries/article_bc5094d0-34b1-5c14-b4b0-fd8251cb7990.html "Louise Reiss: headed historic Baby Tooth Survey in St. Louis"], ''[St. Louis Post-Dispatch](/source/St._Louis_Post-Dispatch)'', January 7, 2011. Retrieved January 10, 2011. His family moved to the [Chicago](/source/Chicago) suburb of [Highland Park](/source/Highland_Park%2C_Illinois) in 1964. He was active in theatre and the performing arts while at [Highland Park High School](/source/Highland_Park_High_School_(Highland_Park%2C_Illinois)) from 1968–1972. During this time, Reiss started restoring player pianos and jukeboxes. He formed his first company, Reiss Player Piano Service, at age 16. Reiss returned to [St. Louis](/source/St._Louis%2C_Missouri) to study at [Washington University in St. Louis](/source/Washington_University_in_St._Louis) in 1972. A ragtime pianist, Reiss was Musical Director on the [Goldenrod Showboat](/source/Goldenrod_(showboat)) on the [Mississippi River](/source/Mississippi_River) levee during much of 1975, where he also participated in the National Ragtime Festival along with Trebor Tichenor, Dave Jason, [Terry Waldo](/source/Terry_Waldo), and the Black Eagle Jazz Band. In 1976, he received his BA degree, having studied Performing Arts and Political Science. === Career in Scandinavian theater world === After his graduation, Eric Reiss moved to [Copenhagen](/source/Copenhagen), [Denmark](/source/Denmark) to become a [stage director](/source/theatre_director) at the [Royal Danish Theatre](/source/Royal_Danish_Theatre). He was originally apprenticed in the fall of 1976 to Danish director [Sam Besekow](/source/Sam_Besekow), where he assisted with the production of [Eduardo De Filippo](/source/Eduardo_De_Filippo)'s play ''Saturday, Sunday, Monday''. In early 1977, Reiss was granted full director status by the theater. In 1977, his original play, ''Marionettes'', was awarded first prize at the Illinois One-Act Play Festival.Chicago Tribune, August 28, 1977. "One-act plays have revival in Illinois" Not available online. Reiss had a 10-year career in the Scandinavian theater world, published the first Danish-language adventure game (Skabet),Infoseek, Sinclair [http://www.worldofspectrum.org/infoseekid.cgi?id=0006979 "Skabet for the Sinclair Spectrum"], Retrieved September 3, 2011. and had a short stint studying [Egyptology](/source/Egyptology). In 1986, he migrated from theater to professional writing. He wrote his first book, ''The Compleat Talking Machine'',{{cite book |last1=Reiss |first1=Eric L. |title=The compleat talking machine : a collector's guide to antique phonographs |date=2007 |publisher=Sonoran Publishing |location=Chandler, Arizona |isbn=9781886606227 |pages=249 |edition=5th |oclc=182561635 }} about [vintage sound recording and playback devices](/source/Phonograph). === Career in business-to-business communications === Starting in 1986, Reiss 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](/source/World_Wide_Web) a few years later, Reiss combined his knowledge of theater, communication, and computers to build interactive business tools. In early 1997, he developed an on-line communications concept for his employer, Cross-Border Communications. The resulting microsite, ''Rick's Café'', was an interactive precursor to a blog and was subsequently voted Macromedia Site of the Week. Reiss was CEO of the Copenhagen-based FatDUX Group ApS, which designs online and offline interactive experiences. He is a past president of the Information Architecture Institute, served as Chair of the European Information Architecture Summit - EuroIA from 2005-2014, and is on the Advisory Board of the [Copenhagen Business School](/source/Copenhagen_Business_School) (Department of Informatics) and the Romanian Institute of Information Architecture. Between 2009-2011, Reiss was an Associate Professor of Usability and Design at [IE Business School](/source/IE_Business_School) (formerly Instituto de Empresa) in [Madrid](/source/Madrid), [Spain](/source/Spain), where he received several awards for his teaching, including the "Best Professor" prize in 2009.Resmini, Andrea. [http://www.fatdux.com/blog/2009/03/25/el-pato-y-el-profesor/ "El Pato y el Profesor"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110829014203/http://www.fatdux.com/blog/2009/03/25/el-pato-y-el-profesor/ |date=2011-08-29 }}, ''FatDUX blog'', March 29, 2009. Retrieved September 3, 2011.Kiprin, Borislav. [http://borislavkiprin.com/2010/04/06/eric-reiss-web-dogma-06/ "Web Dogma 2006"], ''[Borislav Kiprin](/source/Borislav_Kiprin)'', April 6, 2010. Retrieved September 3, 2011. == Personal life == Reiss was 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 1998–1999. Other acting credits include the Danish film Miraklet ''i Valby'' (1989) and off-screen dubbing for [Lars von Trier](/source/Lars_von_Trier)'s ''[Dancer in the Dark](/source/Dancer_in_the_Dark)'' (2000). Reiss and his wife Dorthe made their home in [Copenhagen](/source/Copenhagen), [Denmark](/source/Denmark). He holds citizenship from Denmark, Germany, and the United States. == Work == thumb|320px|Eric Reiss at Polish IA Summit Warsaw, 2010. Reiss was the author of ''Practical Information Architecture'' ({{ISBN|0-201-72590-8}}), ''Web Dogma '06''.Danzico, Liz [http://www.boxesandarrows.com/view/dogmas_are_mean "Dogmas are Meant to be Broken"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060918184020/http://www.boxesandarrows.com/view/dogmas_are_mean |date=2006-09-18 }}, ''[Boxes and Arrows](/source/Boxes_and_Arrows)'', May 31, 2006. Retrieved September 3, 2011. and ''Usable Usability'' ({{ISBN|978-1118185476}}). He also contributed to several other books and publications, including ''Designing Web Navigation'' ({{ISBN|978-0-596-52810-2}}), ''Pervasive Information Architecture'' ({{ISBN|978-0123820945}}), ''Designing the Conversation'' ({{ISBN|0-321-88672-0}}), ''Speaker Camp'' ({{ISBN|0-321-96112-9}}) and commentary to the online Encyclopedia of Human-Computer Interaction.Hassenzahl, Marc [http://www.interaction-design.org/encyclopedia/user_experience_and_experience_design.html "User Experience and Experience Design"], ''Encyclopedia of Human-Computer Interaction'', Ongoing publication. Retrieved September 3, 2011. == Selected publications == * Reiss, Eric L. ''The compleat talking machine: a guide to the restoration of antique phonographs,'' 1986. * Reiss, Eric L. ''Practical information architecture: a hands-on approach to structuring successful websites.'' Pearson Education, 2000. * Reiss, Eric. ''Usable usability: simple steps for making stuff better.'' John Wiley & Sons, 2012. Articles, a selection: * Reiss, Eric. "[https://web.archive.org/web/20140801164658/http://asist.org/Bulletin/Feb-08/FebMar08_IA_Reiss.pdf IA column: It's not what you think, but how you think]." ''Bulletin of the American Society for Information Science and Technology'' 34.3 (2008): 47-50. ==References== {{Reflist|2}} ==External links== {{commonscat}} * [http://fatdux.com/meet-the-team/ Eric Reiss, Content Strategist, CEO FatDUX Copenhagen. CEO, the FatDUX Group] at fatdux.com. {{Authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Reiss, Eric}} Category:1954 births Category:Living people Category:American computer programmers Category:Information architects Category:Web developers Category:Highland Park High School (Illinois) alumni Category:Washington University in St. Louis alumni Category:Academic staff of Copenhagen Business School Category:People from San Antonio --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Eric Reiss](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Reiss) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Reiss?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.