Video and audio is part of the web, deeply ingrained in everyday browsing, whether it's a news site with audio reports, a social network with links, songs and videos suggested by friends and acquaintances, or the now-famous YouTube. As with many web technologies and trends, there are parallels between the ...
Monthly Archives: August 2009
August 30, 2009
Using audio and video on the intranet
Categorised under: Enterprise 2.0, Intranets
Tags: audio, communications, Intranets, rich media, video
August 30, 2009
Collaboration: questions to ask
Staff and business areas often identify a need for collaboration tools, without knowing what the best solution would be. They may have some familiarity with a handful of tools, but not know how others work. As discussed in the earlier article Successful collaboration requires support, there needs to be a ...
Categorised under: Collaboration, Enterprise 2.0
Tags: Collaboration, governance, needs analysis, questions, user research
August 30, 2009
Mitigating enterprise collaboration risks
There are many perceived and actual risks when collaboration tools are introduced within organisations. This table lists some of the key risks, and outlines options for mitigating or eliminating them. (Thanks to the participants of our 'Succeeding at collaboration' workshops for their input on this list.) RiskOptions for mitigating the risk Inappropriate ...
Categorised under: Collaboration, Enterprise 2.0
Tags: Collaboration, Enterprise 2.0, risks
August 27, 2009
Coupled vs decoupled CMS
Andrew Webb writes about coupled vs decoupled CMS. To quote: The technical infrastructure underpinning web sites has also evolved significantly since WCM was born. We have moved far from the early days of HTML pages and CGI scripts that add dynamic content often from a single database to platforms ...
Categorised under: Content management
August 26, 2009
Sanity check: the final short-list of CMS products should be similar
There are literally hundreds of content management systems in the marketplace. The goal of any selection process is to progressively cut these down until only one remains: the chosen solution. Regardless of which type of evaluation process is being followed, there is a final short-list of typically three vendors. These vendors ...
Categorised under: Content management
August 26, 2009
Insist on a good CMS demo in 60 minutes
Janus Boye makes some excellent recommendations on getting a good CMS demo in 60 minutes. To quote: It is not unusual for vendors to ask for several hours to do a product demonstration and then only reluctantly show the product towards the very end of the sales meeting. Even when ...
Categorised under: Content management
August 25, 2009
Factors impacting content migration
Apoorv has written an article outlining factors that impact content migration. To quote: Whether one is implementing a new system or moving from one system to another, content migration is always an important aspect. Each situation is unique and so each migration scenario will have its own roadmap. However, ...
Categorised under: Content management
Tags: content migration
August 24, 2009
How to combine multiple research methods: practical triangulation
Patrick Kennedy has written an article on using triangulation in user research projects. To quote: This is where the concept of “triangulation” comes into its own. Also known as “mixed method” research, triangulation is the act of combining several research methods to study one thing. They overlap each other somewhat, ...
Categorised under: Information architecture, Usability & user-centered design
August 24, 2009
KMWorld: sharing the latest on intranets
I'll be presenting at the upcoming KMWorld conference in San Jose, sharing details on this year's winners of the Intranet Innovation Awards. I'll also be running two workshops, on intranets and search. As a speaker, I've been given a discount code that will save you $200 on the registration. ...
Categorised under: Conferences & presentations
Tags: Intranets
August 21, 2009
The Global Intranet Strategies Survey closes in 10 days
A quick note to highlight that Jane McConnell's Global Intranet Strategies Survey closes in just 10 days. This is what Jane has seen so far: I've already looked at some early results from this year's survey. Some preliminary observations: - It looks like the intranet is definitely moving towards becoming ...
Categorised under: Intranets
August 21, 2009
Fluid Persona Format
Fluid have published their persona format, based on a competitive analysis of many other approaches. To quote: This persona format was created to organize information in the Fluid Personas. The format chosen was based on the competitive analysis of many persona examples below.
Categorised under: Information architecture, Usability & user-centered design
Tags: personas
August 21, 2009
BTpedia – BT’s corporate wiki
Mark Morrell has written about BTpedia, BT's corporate wiki. To quote: BTpedia was created in 2007. Beta testing with users has led to a small application becoming a critical place for people to share how to do things in BT. Without advertising or publicity it has grown to over ...
Categorised under: Conferences & presentations, Enterprise 2.0, Intranets
August 20, 2009
Intranets: defining IA and UX in the Enterprise-wide Information System (Part 1)
Patrick C. Walsh looks and information architecture, intranets and information management. To quote: In my view the EIS must consider all instances of information and knowledge transfer that take place within an organisation. This does not mean that it is possible to actually manage all transactions. For instance the tacit ...
Categorised under: Information architecture, Information management, Intranets, Usability & user-centered design
Tags: Information architecture, Information management, Intranets, user experience
August 20, 2009
CMS selection: reveal budget in the RFP?
Peter Sejersen asks the question: should we reveal the budget in a CMS tender? To quote: Vendors love when budgets are included in the RFP. This enables them to fit their proposal around the budget, naturally ensuring they spend every penny of it. As a customer you have to be ...
Categorised under: Content management
Tags: content management systems, evaluation, selection, tender
August 19, 2009
What makes an intranet valuable – Part 1
Andrew Wright has shared some of the initial results from the Worldwide Intranet Challenge. To quote: Interestingly 'Staff being able to contribute and interact with the intranet' is seen as the second least important quality of a valuable intranet by intranet end users. Interactive functionality such as wikis, blogs and ...
Categorised under: Intranets
August 18, 2009
Web teams, go meet your end-users
Peter Erik Bang Nissen highlights the importance of understanding user needs. To quote: One problem with this approach is, however, that many organisations omit the second part of “launch and learn”. Another is that as the organisation’s web presence matures, the quality of solutions comes to the fore. If users ...
Categorised under: Intranets, Usability & user-centered design
Tags: Intranets, needs analysis, user research
August 18, 2009
Three types of web content management projects
The CMS Myth writes about three types of web content management projects. To quote: We’ve identified three primary types of web content management projects. Consider this a starting point to determine how to right size the approach to a CMS project. Each type requires different staffing, planning, timelines and roll ...
Categorised under: Content management
August 17, 2009
Switzerland, England, Norway and Denmark
I'm putting the final touches to my next European trip in September. I'll have a packed schedule, visiting five countries in ten working days. These are the events announced so far, make sure you book quickly as I won't be back again until March 2010: Dates Location Event Detail...
Categorised under: Conferences & presentations
August 17, 2009
Social networking on intranets
Jakob Nielsen has also written about social media on intranets. To quote: As people embrace social media in their private lives, they naturally expect to use similar tools within the enterprise. This is especially true for younger workers who use these tools in everyday life. Open communication, collaboration, and content ...
Categorised under: Collaboration, Enterprise 2.0, Intranets
Tags: Intranets, social media, strategy
August 17, 2009
Social media on a global intranet – how do you choose?
Jane McConnell discusses social media on intranets. To quote: An intranet manager asked me recently how to prioritise ideas about social media for the intranet. They are a global organization and are currently attempting to bring all the local intranets under the same umbrella. They ran a workshop, and lots ...
Categorised under: Collaboration, Enterprise 2.0, Intranets
Tags: Intranets, social media, strategy
August 4, 2009
The five forces of enterprise 2.0 adoption
Michael Indinopulos has written about five forces of enterprise 2.0 adoption, drawing a line between the "Kumbaya Crowd" and the "Gordon Gecko Group". To quote: The Kumbaya Crowd and the Gecko Group share a common picture of what motivates individuals. They both think it's all about maximizing personal profit. The ...
Categorised under: Enterprise 2.0
Tags: adoption, Enterprise 2.0
August 4, 2009
Intranet best practices: driving user adoption
Sean R. Nicholson has written about driving user adoption for intranets. To quote: 1) Give your Intranet an identity – Just as with any Web site, your Intranet needs a strong brand that means something to your employees. Give your employees an opportunity to help choose the name and you’ll ...
Categorised under: Intranets
August 3, 2009
Why IT should not run a CMS selection project
Dorthe Raakjær Jespersen has written a post on why IT should not run a CMS selection project. To quote: This discussion often comes up during CMS selection projects, sometimes even after the process is well underway. The consequence is a delayed project, with much time wasted on meetings and emails ...
Categorised under: Content management
August 3, 2009
Training publishers to understand intranet standards
Mark Morrell outlines the training for intranet publishers that BT mandates. To quote: All publishers of formal content in BT must do the basic training courses before they can publish formal content on our intranet. Each course takes about 30 minutes to complete on-line and should be repeated every ...
Categorised under: Intranets
August 2, 2009
Book review: SharePoint Roadmap for Collaboration
Michael Sampson's first book, Seamless Teamwork, was a masterpiece of step-by-step instructions for teams using SharePoint. Working from a very practical starting point, it gave teams clear instructions on which elements of SharePoint to use, and how. By design, this book was very much "in the trenches", focusing on getting ...
Categorised under: Book & product reviews, Collaboration
Tags: Collaboration, roadmap
