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Column Two
News and opinion on all things KM & CM |
James Robertson
Step Two Designs
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Written by James Robertson Step Two Designs |
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Articles by Month: May 2003
Metadata GlossaryVictor Lombardi has pubished a very useful Metadata Glossary, covering a range of terms including:
[Thanks to ia/.] Posted by jamesr at 11:24 AM
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NASA Usability Engineering TeamThe Usability Engineering Team at NASA Glenn Research Center have published a usability resource site, which contains a variety of useful things, including:
[Thanks to ia/.] Posted by jamesr at 11:20 AM
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Image search enginesMichael Fagan has released a page on image search engines, just type in your keywords, choose your image sources, and click go ... [Thanks to Inter Alia.] Posted by jamesr at 10:12 AM
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Content management and information architectureTony Byrne from CMSWatch interviews Lou Rosenfeld on the relationship between content management and information architecture. To quote: I think it's really hard to separate the two because with both types of users -- people working with the content versus people using the content -- you can't really talk about the needs of one without the others' considerations being involved. While both IA and CM specialists typically look at much the same content, we come at it from different directions. Posted by jamesr at 05:52 PM
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How search can help you understand your audienceMartin Belam has written another article based on his experiences on the BBCi project, this time on how search can help you understand your audience. To quote: One thing that becomes abundantly clear from even a cursory examination of the search logs at BBCi is that the BBC has an extremely diverse audience, who may be looking for the same information, and for information that we have, in a myriad of different phrases, dialects, and even languages. Without realising it we set up barriers in our site to users finding the information they require, merely by the language we use. Posted by jamesr at 05:45 PM
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e-Government Metadata Standard - Version 2The UK Cabinet Office has released a new version of their e-Government Metadata Standard (e-GMS). To quote: The e-GMS sets out UK Government policy covering the core set of data elements needed for effective retrieval and management of official information. [Thanks to Content-Wire.] Posted by jamesr at 05:40 PM
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Knowledge management in the NHSUK's National Health Service (NHS) has published a site titled Knowledge management in the NHS. To quote: The last few years have seen the publication of a whole raft of health policy documents that have promoted reform towards a more patient-centered service, with direct implications for knowledge management. You'll probably also find their knowledge management glossary to be helpful... [Thanks to David Gurteen.] Posted by jamesr at 08:09 PM
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HCI Bibliography: GuidelinesThe HCI Bibliography has collected together a list of design guidelines, which currently contains 16 entries, and was recently updated. Posted by jamesr at 07:36 PM
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Web Style GuideLynch and Horton have apparently released the fully text of their book titled Web Style Guide (2nd edition). To quote: The guidance we offer in Web Style Guide has always been grounded on the functional aspects of design. In this second edition we extend our focus on functionality with additional sections on Web site accessibility, Cascading Style Sheets, and flexible page design. We include additional sections on information architecture, site maintenance, and multimedia design. And we have added illustrations and updated our Web site examples to reflect current best practices. Posted by jamesr at 07:34 PM
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Section 508In the United States, the accessibility of electronic systems in Government is mandated by Section 508. To quote: Section 508 requires that Federal agencies' electronic and information technology is accessible to people with disabilities. The Center for Information Technology Accommodation (CITA), in the U.S. General Services Administration's Office of Governmentwide Policy, has been charged with the task of educating Federal employees and building the infrastructure necessary to support Section 508 implementation. Using this web site, Federal employees and the public can access resources for understanding and implementing the requirements of Section 508. Posted by jamesr at 07:21 PM
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Java Look and Feel Design GuidelinesThanks to recents posts on CHI-Web, this is another set of design guidelines: the Java Look and Feel Design Guidelines. To quote: Java Look and Feel Design Guidelines, second edition, provides essential information for anyone involved in creating cross-platform GUI (graphical user interface) applications and applets in the JavaTM programming language. In particular, this book offers design guidelines for software that uses the Swing classes together with the Java look and feel. Posted by jamesr at 07:18 PM
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Oracle Browser Look and Feel (BLAF) GuidelinesOracle has released a set of look-and-feel guidelines for use in their applications. To quote: The BLAF Guidelines are a set of specifications regarding common UI components, templates, flows, and general heuristics. These specifications should be used to develop html-based Oracle products to provide a consistent user experience regarding look and feel of applications, flow of applications, layout of pages, and interaction of components. Using the guidelines to design your application will also ensure a consistent suite of applications and tight product intergration. Posted by jamesr at 07:09 PM
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Using a style guide to build consensusWhitney Quesenbery has written an article on using a style guide to build consensus. To quote: Style guides are often requested as a way to promote a common look and feel but do little to address the real problems in the way user interfaces are developed. In many situations, a collection of rules for visual design and the use of controls can seem like a band-aid; promoting surface-level consistency rather than solving the real usability problems. Even when a good style guide is created, it is often ignored after release. Worse, the style guide can become a weapon where a user-centered design process is needed. In either case, the style guide has failed to produce the desired effect. What?s missing is a consensus on the scope, ownership, or content. Solving this problem requires a change in the way style guides are developed, distributed, and used. Three suggestions for teams developing style guides are to start early, to make the emerging style guide widely available, and to plan for long-term maintenance of the guidelines. Posted by jamesr at 07:05 PM
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Rough prototype samplesShelley Evenson released a while back a PDF showing sample rough prototypes, along with some explantory text. This is a useful and asthetic PDF, but be warned: it's 6.7MB in size... Posted by jamesr at 12:53 PM
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Vex - a visual editor for XMLJohn Krasnay has just released a new Java-based visual XML editor. While I haven't downloaded it yet, there is a tremendous need for better tools in this area, so I wish him the best of luck. To quote: VEX is a Java Swing application that provides a word processor-like interface for editing XML documents. It is targeted toward users of XML schemas like DocBook and XHTML that represent human-readable documents. Posted by jamesr at 11:52 AM
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The quiet death of the major re-launchJared Spool talks about eliminating the major re-launch of sites. Although he focuses on websites, I don't see what this shouldn't also apply to intranets. To quote: Sites re-launch all the time in spectacular fashion. But this is starting to change. Jared points out how the best design teams are slowly evolving their sites, not drastically overhauling them. Posted by jamesr at 11:11 AM
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Open source content management arrivesAn article on The Register discusses the increasing interest in open source content management. To quote: According to a recent CIO survey of 375 IT professionals, the IT community is growing more comfortable with the open-source development model, reporting that open source will dominate their Web server application platforms and server operating systems within five years. Posted by jamesr at 10:26 AM
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Social Network FragmentsDanah Boyd and Jeff Potter have collaborated on some research into something they are calling Social Network Fragments. These use e-mail conversations to identify social relationships, and to visualise them. To quote: Social Network Fragments is interested in exploring the structure of an individual's social network, as conveyed through one?s email behaviors. The relationship between actors in one's network says a great deal about the individual, revealing how one segments their social circles to reflect different facets of personal life and social identity. In this project, we use visualization techniques to reveal the patterns embedded in the immense social data accumulated during one?s digital email interactions. This research provides users with a visual landscape for self-awareness, so that they may understand how they construct and manage their digital identity. [Thanks to elearningpost.] Posted by jamesr at 10:02 PM
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CM Briefings: CMS usability / Roles in an intranet teamAs it's the middle of the month, here's my latest two CM Briefings:
Feedback always appreciated... Posted by jamesr at 07:21 PM
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Open-source CMS: Prohibitively fractured?Tony Byrne of CMSWatch has written an article on the current state of open source CMSs. To quote: Linux and Apache continue to win hearts and minds. Interestingly, however, the major open-source content management projects have not advanced as rapidly as their commercial competitors in the past two years. It's puzzling and a little disappointing. This is not to say that there hasn't been a lot of work going on. Just the opposite: depending on which list you consult, you can choose from among 45 to 75 or more active open-source CMS projects out there. People are working quite a lot, but towards what end? Posted by jamesr at 12:38 PM
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Views and forms: principles of task flow for web applications (part 1)Bob Baxley writes about the fundamental principles of task flow for web applications. To quote: The hypertext environment of the Web presumes a style of unfettered browsing and exploration that is not particularly conducive to the full and valid completion of specific tasks, operations, or database transactions. Creating web applications that support the full and valid completion of specific tasks, operations, and database transactions, therefore requires some understanding of how to manipulate the medium to that purpose. To wit, the following few thousand words serve to describe both the fundamental building blocks of HTML-based web applications as well as the three ways in which those blocks can be arranged to provide various types of task flows. Posted by jamesr at 10:45 PM
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Six tips for improving your design documentationRyan Olshavsky has written an article outlining six tips for improving your design documentation. His tips are:
Posted by jamesr at 10:42 PM
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A few more KM standardsWith a bit of help, I've made a few updates to my earlier list of knowledge management standards. Getting there, more help still needed... Posted by jamesr at 10:37 PM
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List of stakeholders?I'm back in Caloundra again, wading through a whole pile more stakeholder interviews. While they are certainly tiring, some really interesting and useful information is surfacing, and I'm starting to get a good understanding of how the Council functions. When I first turned up last week, an early task was to determine the list of stakeholders to interview. In the past, my clients have had very strong opinions about this process, but this time, they were looking for guidance. While it was pretty easily sorted out, it did make me think that I should write up an article giving some suggestions and allowing clients to prepare in advance. While I will do more thinking before I write said article, here is my off-the-cuff list of candidates for stakeholder interviews:
So, have I missed anyone? Posted by jamesr at 09:31 PM
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Knowledge continuity managementAnne Field has written an article about knowledge continuity management, which looks at the challenges of retaining knowledge in an organisation, even after a valuable staffperson has left. To quote: If the idea sounds familiar, it should. Knowledge continuity management is an offshoot of the field of knowledge management. Where knowledge management concerns capturing and sharing know-how valuable to colleagues performing similar jobs throughout a company, knowledge continuity management focuses on passing critical knowledge from exiting employees to their replacements. [Thanks to elearningpost.] Posted by jamesr at 08:52 PM
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Techniques for Building a Better Intranet (Melbourne, Australia)I've been booked up to run another Techniques for Building a Better Intranet in Melbourne on June 25. Last time worked very well, and I have plans to further refine the program. Numbers will also be strictly limited to 12, to ensure a highly-interactive session. Posted by jamesr at 06:59 PM
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Open prototypingCarson Reynolds at the MIT Media Labs has started a new blog called Open Prototyping, where he exposes the design process for the interest of all. For example, has has just published some prototype interfaces (developed using DENIM) for a "homeostatic package manager" for Linux. All very cool. [Thanks to ia/.] Posted by jamesr at 02:45 PM
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Tabs using CSSOskar van Rijswijk writes about using CSS to create tabs (such as the ones on Amazon). He also points to a site by Joshua Kaufman called the CSS Tabs project. All good stuff... Posted by jamesr at 11:07 AM
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W3C releases ten working drafts for XQuery, XSLT, and XPathRobin Cover reports on the recent release of ten working drafts for XQuery, XSLT, and XPath by the W3C. To quote: Through collaborative and coordinated effort between W3C's XML Query Working Group and XSL Working Group, a collection of ten updated working draft specifications has been issued for public review and comment. XQuery 1.0 and XPath 2.0 Data Model and XQuery 1.0 and XPath 2.0 Functions and Operators are in Last Call WD status through June 30, 2003. XPath 2.0, XSLT 2.0, XQuery 1.0, and other specifications are dependent upon the data model, functions, and operators defined in these two WDs. Other working drafts include XQuery 1.0 and XPath 2.0 Formal Semantics, XML Path Language (XPath) 2.0, XSL Transformations (XSLT) Version 2.0, XQuery 1.0: An XML Query Language, XML Query Use Cases, XML Query (XQuery) Requirements, XSLT 2.0 and XQuery 1.0 Serialization, and XQuery and XPath Full-Text Requirements. How is one to keep up with all of this? Posted by jamesr at 11:02 AM
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CSS Zen GardenIf you would like to see an amazing demo of CSS in action, have a look at the CSS Zen Garden, which showcases what can be done with just CSS. Truly beautiful! [Thanks to Simon Willison.] Posted by jamesr at 10:51 AM
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Sun unveils JavaHelp 2.0 BetaSarah Leritz Higgins writes about the release of JavaHelp 2.0 in Beta form, the next step in platform-independent help systems. To quote: After several years of fits and starts, Sun Microsystems recently announced the release of the long-awaited JavaHelp 2.0 Beta. For the uninitiated, JavaHelp is an online Help delivery mechanism designed specifically for Java applications. JavaHelp leverages the "write once, run everywhere" mantra of Java itself, and thus is ideal for Java applications. [Thanks to InfoDesign.] Posted by jamesr at 10:40 AM
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XML, Meta Data and Other Paths to Unstructured DataRobert Blumberg and Shaku Atre have written about the role of XML and metadata in managing unstructured data (ie. text). To quote: Even though the ROI of mining unstructured data is unproven, given the potential value of this data, organizations should consider embarking on this strategic journey. In today's economy, making unstructured data available to decision-makers at all levels of the organization is required just to remain competitive. [Thanks to InfoDesign.] Posted by jamesr at 10:37 AM
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Buddy systemAt Caloundra City Council, the Customer Service Officers (who staff the front desk and call centre) have come up with a great way of keeping their intranet up-to-date. It's called the buddy system, and it works something like this: Volunteers within customer service are partnered up with key staff within the different business units. They then discuss how the arrangement will work, including who will do what, when contact is made, and who updates the intranet. The customer service staff then take the initiative, and keep in touch with their assigned buddies, to find out whether there are changes or updates that they need to know about. The decision was made to conduct all of these communications via e-mail. In this way, the customer service staff, who really need to know what's happening (because customers ask them questions), drive the proccess. This has been working very well, and the business units have become increasingly pro-active in passing across information. When a new piece of information is identified, this is forwarded to the rest of the customer service staff, and added to the intranet. I think this is a great way of sharing knowledge in an organisation as disparate as a Council... Posted by jamesr at 06:38 PM
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Questions for senior managers?I've just finished my first day at Caloundra City Council, up here in sunny Queensland. As ever, it's tremendously interesting to learn about a new organisation, and the unique challenges facing it. Already, the project plan has shifted somewhat. Instead of spending the coming two days working through an expert review of the intranet, I'll be devoted soley to stakeholder interviews. This makes a total of five full days consisting soley of interviews, in response to a desire by the project sponsors to involve all the key people (which is not a bad goal, by any means). This time around, I'm interviewing more senior management than I've done in the past, and I had to come up with a new set of questions. These are very different to my normal questions, and have ended up as follows: Questions for the CEO (30 mins):
Questions for senior management (30 mins - 1 hour):
You thoughts or suggestions on this? Posted by jamesr at 09:40 PM
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NSW Government Content Management surveyI'm pleased to finally reveal that we've been selected by the NSW Office of Information Technology (OIT) to conduct a whole-of-NSW-government review of content management systems. The research activities will be completed by June 30, and will consist of two surveys (one high-level, one detailed) along with interviews. A range of topics will be explored, such as:
If you are in a NSW Government agency, you can you please complete the initial 15 minute survey. Thanks in advance. Posted by jamesr at 05:39 PM
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4th edition of The CMS ReportCMS Watch has just released an expanded 4th edition of the very well-respected The CMS Report. To quote: We are pleased to announce the latest edition of The CMS Report. Now weighing in at 176 pages, the report outlines how to develop a CMS strategy and gather requirements, and compares 25 major European and North American CMS vendors in detail. The new edition explores the difference between "Web" and "Enterprise" content management, and discusses the implications for you, the buyer. Also, a new section reveals vendor pricing tactics, and how to negotiate the best deal... Posted by jamesr at 10:05 AM
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KM Column: Where is the knowledge in a CMS?I've just released my latest KM Column article:
Feedback is always appreciated... Posted by jamesr at 06:45 PM
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Knowledge management in educationThe Institute for the Study of Knowledge Management in Education has released a free report titled Knowledge Management in Education: Defining the Landscape. To quote: This monograph describes the opportunities and challenges faced by those working to improve the use and sharing of information in education through practices that have come to be known as knowledge management. Posted by jamesr at 02:57 PM
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"Do not bother contacting us for 72 hours"When I got into work this morning, I was presented with this message from Slashdot in my news aggregator: Your RSS reader is abusing the Slashdot server. You are requesting pages more often than our terms of service allow. Please see the FAQ link for more information, and if you email us, include your IPID MD5. Apparently I've committed some deadly crime, but can someone tell me what it is? All I've been doing is regularly checking for RSS updates (automatic in my news aggregator), just like for every other feed... Can someone shed some light on this? Posted by jamesr at 09:59 AM
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Business benefits of web standardsTristan Nitot has written an article summarising the business benefits of web standards. To quote: "More with less" seems to be the mission impossible for web designers: Addressing more customers, a broader audience, more diversity in terms of browsers, more accessibility, users asking for more speed, while spending less to maintain or redesign a web site. Caught between a rock and a hard place, web designers face a formidable challenge. Yet they are finding an unsuspected ally in the battle: web standards. [Thanks to the Web Standards Project.] Posted by jamesr at 09:55 AM
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New home for CSS support chartsNetscape devedge has taken up the challenge of maintaining the much-used CSS support charts. These list which CSS1 and CSS2 features work in the different browsers. While the lists don't include the latest browsers, there are plans to bring them up-to-date shortly... [Thanks to the Web Standards Project.] Posted by jamesr at 09:47 AM
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Knowledge in a Click!Robert J. Ambrogi provides a handy summary of KM resources on the web, from a lawyer's perspective. To quote: For lawyers looking to locate knowledge about this burgeoning field of knowledge management, the obvious place to turn is the Web. A growing number of sites provide entrée to legal KM. Here is a sampling. [Thanks to beSpecific.] Posted by jamesr at 07:13 PM
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Sydney IA Hour - May 8thFrom Eric Scheid: Who: IAs and like-minded folks While I can't make it this time around (I'll be in Caloundra), I've been to past evenings, and I can highly recommend getting together with this very interesting bunch of people... Posted by jamesr at 06:55 PM
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Authoring Tool Accessibility Guidelines 2.0The W3C recently released a new draft of their Authoring Tool Accessibility Guidelines. To quote: This specification provides guidelines for Web authoring tool developers. Its purpose is two-fold: to assist developers in designing authoring tools that produce accessible Web content and to assist developers in creating an accessible authoring interface. Posted by jamesr at 06:18 PM
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Sleuthing out dataFred Hapgood has written an article on automated classification systems, from a CIO's perspective. Provides a good summary of the marketplace, worth a read. To quote: More and more, the problems that earn CIOs their paychecks revolve around making it easier for users to explore huge volumes of data. They do this through finding known objects in huge search spaces, assembling top-down overviews that summarize the important points of a topic, and helping searchers decide what they really want when their initial search ideas are confused, misguided or ambiguous. Posted by jamesr at 06:13 PM
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More advice regarding recordkeepingThe Victorian Electronic Records Strategy (VERS) has just released some very salient advice on electronic records. There is now advice in the areas of:
It's good to see some more written about the recordkeeping implications of e-mails and databases... Posted by jamesr at 03:58 PM
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Evaluating usability testing methods: the Practical Review System (PRS)John S. Rhodes has written a very thought-provoking proposal regarding ways of evaluating usability testing methods, in which he outlines the Practical Review System (PRS). To quote: The purpose of this article is to explain the Practical Review System (PRS). The PRS is an outline of 28 characteristics that can be used to understand any usability method, thereby allowing any individual to decide between methods. This solves many of the problems associated with understanding and explaining usability methods. I think this is a great idea, and well overview. John is currently calling for active participants to help out with the project, and I've certainly put my name forward... Posted by jamesr at 03:14 PM
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More on the BBCi search interfaceMartin Belam writes more about the very interesting BBCi search interface. To quote: The previous iteration of BBCi Search had the best links offset in a box above the tabbed interface, and we found that they were effectively in a blind spot, which is why they were moved into the run of the results. [Thanks to High Context.] (Site note: Martin, you need to make yourself more visible on your blog. I only found your name by discovering an e-mail address on the about page.) Posted by jamesr at 10:47 AM
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