About the Kinetic Information Association
A professional home for people like you
The Kinetic Information Association brings together content, data, semantics, IA, technology developers, and related professionals through education, community, and shared standards.
We are building a professional home and a credential for the people who structure knowledge in an AI-mediated world.
Why we exist
The work moved to the center, but the support fell behind
Many professional associations disbanded, and trade groups of the old CMS era were built around tools, not practices.
The people who structure knowledge so it can be trusted and reused have no shared standards, no industry-standard credentials, and lack job descriptions that name what they do.
At the same time, your work became more critical. Every enterprise building AI depends on structured, meaningful knowledge, and that's built by people. Kinetic Information Association exists to close that gap.
What makes us different
What we can do that others can't
We're independent. As a vendor-neutral nonprofit, our standards and credentials answer to the profession, not to a platform trying to sell something. When many communities in this space are run by vendors, that independence matters.
We connect disciplines that usually stay apart. Content, data, semantics, IA, technologists, and other professionals rarely share a table. We're intentionally bringing them together, because AI-era knowledge work needs all of us.
We give the work a name, and we name the skills associated with that work. We're defining a shared body of practice and a credential, so this work is recognized instead of invisible.
What we believe
Our guiding principles
- Human judgment matters. It's the engine of good knowledge work, and it gets even more valuable as machines do more of our work.
- Many disciplines, one practice. Content, data, semantics, IA, and technology developers share work that should be connected. Treating them that way is the point.
- Tool-agnostic. We teach principles that hold up across platforms, but aren't specialized for any one product or system.
- Trust comes first. We keep our methodology work separate from commercial interests.
Association structure
How we're organized
We're one nonprofit with two parts:
- The Kinetic Information Association is the community that anyone can join, from newsletter subscribers to credentialed members. If you join us, you're joining this Association.
- The Kinetic Council is the working group of active volunteers and partners who shape the standards.
Community today
Where our community is at today
We're early days, and we're active, with 25+ active volunteers, 100+ professionals in our Slack channel, and 350+ newsletter subscribers.
We'd rather show you a sustainable, active community today than a polished promise for tomorrow.
Legal status
The legal basics
Kinetic Information Association is a Delaware nonprofit corporation, tax-exempt under Section 501(c)(3) (EIN 33-2470742). Contributions are tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law.
We are not registered (yet) in other countries, but have representation across North America and Europe.
Get involved
You can help build this
We're early enough that your voice can greatly shape what this becomes. Start with the newsletter and go as deep as you want.