Articles by Month: June 2003

XML for federation and content management services

Content-Wire reports on recent activities relating to ebXML and content management. To quote:

New enhancements and features in the Version 2.5 release include:

(1) Content based event subscription and notification;

(2) content management services, supporting automatic semantic content validation, automatic content cataloging, and plug-in support for user-defined content management services;

(3) a distributed registry based on a federated model. The Distributed Registry includes features for federated query support, linking of content and metadata across registry boundaries, replication of content and metadata among registries, and moving of content and metadata from one registry to another as needed.

I don't really know what this means in practice, but I will endeavour to find out and report back...

Posted by jamesr at 06:44 PM | Permalink
Categories: Content management, XML

Understanding information taxonomy helps build better apps

Jie-Hong Morrison has written an article discussing how information taxonomy helps build better apps. To quote:

Taxonomy represents the foundation upon which information architecture stands, and all well-rounded developers should have at least a basic understanding of taxonomy to ensure that they can create organized, logical applications. But before diving into the topic of taxonomy, let's look briefly at information architecture. That way, we can view taxonomy in its proper place within a broader field of study.

Posted by jamesr at 06:31 PM | Permalink
Categories: Information architecture

Inter-organizational communities of practice

Christine van Winkelen writes about communities of practice, and their particular role in bringing together different organisations. To quote:

Communities of Practice are formed by groups of people who come together to learn from one another face-to-face and virtually. This article explores how to design and sustain these communities effectively within organizations.

[Thanks to elearningpost.]

Posted by jamesr at 03:47 PM | Permalink
Categories: Knowledge management

ROI of Usability: A Collection of Links

Rashmi Sinha has posted an excellent set of links to articles on the ROI of usability. To quote:

It is hard to directly estimate the economic impact of usability. However, it is important to do so, both at the macro and the micro level. Products with bad usability can have impact in terms of wasted time, erros, unfinished tasks, frustration, and even medical problems such as RSI. A concrete calculation of usability impact is difficult, but is often needed by usability advocates within companies, independent consultants etc. Below, I am collecting links to articles and cost-benefit calculators for estimating the economic impact of usability.

[Thanks to Katie Harter.]

Posted by jamesr at 07:06 PM | Permalink
Categories: Metrics & ROI, Usability & user-centered design

Model of Attraction

Following on from the last post, Thomas Vander Wal has derived a simpler theoretical basis for navigation called the model of attraction. To quote:

The Model of Attraction (MoA) is a framework to think about the relationship between information and its users.

Posted by jamesr at 06:30 PM | Permalink
Categories: Information architecture

Information foraging

Victor Lombardi has created a quick list of resources on information foraging, which explores how users find their way through sites, based on cognitive theories.

[Thanks to Peter Merholz.]

Posted by jamesr at 06:22 PM | Permalink
Categories: Information architecture

A Sporting Gentleman's Guide to the Semantic Web

Ben Hammersley has provided his presentation materials for a talk on the semantic web. To quote:

Being the proceedings of a speech given in the noble city of Copenhagen, at the Reboot shindig, on 20th June by Ben Hammersley, concerning the newfangled technology known as RDF. With contributions from the floor, and a toast to the Queen.

[Thanks to Simon Willison.]

Posted by jamesr at 05:58 PM | Permalink
Categories: Information architecture

Whole of Victorian Government Web Content Management Requirements Definition Report

Multimedia Victoria has just released the results of a project to develop a standard CMS requirements definition for Victorian government agencies. To quote:

The Whole of Victorian Government (WoVG) Web Content Management Requirements Definition Report has been developed to provide a set of core and optional requirements to assist in the procurement of Web Content Management Systems by Victorian Government Agencies (this includes Departments, Agencies and Statutory Bodies).

The requirements can be applied to Internet, Intranet, Extranet and Knowledge Management environments. Emphasis in the requirements has been placed on the need for the Web CMS to be interoperable, scalable and re-usable, with a preference for nonproprietary, open standards.

These requirements apply to a complete Web CMS capable of managing content items from their creation through distribution and their delivery to end users.

The requirements definition report will further the business case for a WoVG content management solution which is a key recommendation of the Standard Corporate ICT Infrastructure Project (for details see www.egov.vic.gov.au/).

This is obviously a very interesting report, and one that I will have to spend some time browsing, particularly in the context of my current project for NSW OIT.

Posted by jamesr at 02:38 PM | Permalink
Categories: Content management

Searching the workplace web

Ronald Fagin et al have written an interesting article on designing intranet search. To quote:

The social impact from the World Wide Web cannot be underestimated, but technologies used to build the Web are also revolutionizing the sharing of business and government information within intranets. In many ways the lessons learned from the Internet carry over directly to intranets, but others do not apply. In particular, the social forces that guide the development of intranets are quite different, and the determination of a "good answer" for intranet search is quite different than on the Internet. In this paper we study the problem of intranet search. Our approach focuses on the use of rank aggregation, and allows us to examine the effects of different heuristics on ranking of search results.

[Thanks to Sandra Beach.]

Posted by jamesr at 01:18 PM | Permalink
Categories: Information architecture, Intranets, Search tools

Navigating the .gov.au sites

David Adams comments on recent research results on the usability of Australian Government websites. To quote:

Research by a Sydney-based interface usability consultant, The Hiser Group, has found users of government websites had a poor understanding of the structure of government bureaucracy, making it difficult for them to access particular information or services.

[Thanks to Eric Scheid.]

Posted by jamesr at 12:36 PM | Permalink
Categories: Usability & user-centered design

KM in Australian law firms

A recent survey by CCH and PA Consulting group on IT and KM in Australian law firms reveals some interesting results, including:

• Only 38% of firms surveyed believe that they have been successful in managing their knowledge
• A majority of firms, 85%, believe that they could create more value from their IT investments

[Thanks to excited utterances.]

Posted by jamesr at 11:20 AM | Permalink
Categories: Knowledge management

On Search: The Users

Tim Bray continues his series of articles on search engines, this time focusing on the users. The biggest thing to jump out at me:

Nobody Uses Advanced Search... Every search engine has an 'advanced search' screen, and nobody (quantitatively, less than 0.5% of users) ever goes there. This drove us nuts back at Open Text, because our engine was very structurally savvy and could do compound/boolean queries that look like what today we'd call XPath. But nobody used it.

What most people want is to have a nice simple field into which they will type on average 1.3 words and hit Enter, and have the result come back to them. So anyone who's building search needs to focus almost all their energy on doing an as-good-as-possible job given those 1.3 words and no other inputs.

This certainly accords with my experiences, and I will make reference to this the next time my recommendation to ignore advanced search provokes horror...

Posted by jamesr at 05:13 PM | Permalink
Categories: Information architecture, Search tools, Usability & user-centered design

Search engines: best bets

Tanya Rabourn has posted a blog entry on search engine best bets. In it, she points a useful article by Richard Wiggins, and an excellent graph of the search term distribution on her site.

Research at its best...

Posted by jamesr at 05:04 PM | Permalink
Categories: Information architecture, Search tools

Spell-checking in CMSs

On behalf of a client, I recently did a survey of the Australian content management system vendors, to find out whether they provided spell-checking capabilities in their products. This is what I found out:

Question:
Does your editing environment provide spell-checking as part of your standard CMS solution?

Vendors who responded: 33 / 60

Responses:

Posted by jamesr at 11:03 PM | Permalink
Categories: Content management

Unlocking hidden navigation: access keys

Stuart Robertson has written about the value of access keys on web pages. To quote:

ALL YOUR FAVORITE applications have shortcut keys. So can your site, thanks to the XHTML accesskey attribute. Accesskeys make sites more accessible for people who cannot use a mouse. Unfortunately, almost no designer uses accesskeys, because, unless they View Source, most visitors can't tell that you've put these nifty navigational shortcuts to work on your site. In this issue, Stuart Robertson unlocks the secret of providing visible accesskey shortcuts.

[Thanks to pixelcharmer.]

Posted by jamesr at 01:42 PM | Permalink
Categories: Usability & user-centered design, Web development

Tim Bray on search engines

Tim Bray has written the first of a planned series of articles on search engines. To quote:

This is the first of a series on search, by which I mean full-text search. Anyone who uses computers now uses search pretty well every day, so this is an important chunk of our technology spectrum. This piece covers the business and history angles; future instalments will explain how search engines work and the interfaces to them. I plan to conclude with a description of the next search engine, which doesn?t exist yet but someone ought to start building.

[Thanks to Jeremy Zawodny.]

Posted by jamesr at 01:32 PM | Permalink
Categories: Information architecture, Search tools, Web development

OWL Web Ontology Language: XML syntax

The W3C has released an XML presentation syntax for the OWL Web Ontology Language. To quote:

This document specifies XML presentation syntax for OWL, which is defined as a dialect similar to OWL Abstract Syntax [OWL Semantics]. It is not intended to be a normative specification. Instead, it represents a suggestion of one possible XML presentation syntax for OWL.

Like most of us, I'm personally not sure I understand what an ontology is in practice, but you can read more on the W3C site.

[Thanks to ia/.]

Posted by jamesr at 01:20 PM | Permalink
Categories: Information architecture, XML

Knowledge management for customer service

Jessica Jordan writes about the growing importance of knowledge management for customer service, in particular, developing knowledgebases for the use of front-line staff. To quote:

CRM systems have become the rule for customer service centers. Now managers are taking the next step; to arm their agents with a knowledge base that can deliver fast, accurate answers. They are reaping the benefits of integrating a true knowledge management system with CRM - such as decreasing escalation rates, shorter call times and increased first call resolution.

This is something that I have written about before, in the context of call centres.

Posted by jamesr at 10:10 AM | Permalink
Categories: Content management, Knowledge management

Specifying technology in a CMS tender

The second CM Briefing for the month is on specifying technology in a CMS tender. To quote:

While a CMS tender should focus on business requirements, technology issues will need to be specified, but in a way that ensures the best system is not knocked out of the running.

Posted by jamesr at 03:06 PM | Permalink
Categories: Content management

Stakeholder interviews as simple knowledge mapping

I've released another CM Briefing, on stakeholder interviews as simple knowledge mapping. To quote:

Stakeholder interviews are a very effective way of gaining an understanding of an organisation, and can be considered a form of 'knowledge mapping'.

Posted by jamesr at 03:00 PM | Permalink
Categories: Intranets, Knowledge management

Content management systems can damage search engine positioning

Chris Sherman of SearchEngineWatch writes about the impact of content management systems on search engine positioning. To quote:

Content management systems are great for maintaining large web sites, but many systems produce side effects with serious negative consequences for search engine positioning.

[Thanks to Jennifer Gawne.]

Posted by jamesr at 12:35 PM | Permalink
Categories: Content management

Bringing together content and data management systems: Challenges and opportunities

The latest IBM Systems Journal has a number interesting articles, including one titled Bringing together content and data management systems: Challenges and opportunities. (The papers are available as PDFs, some fairly large.)

[Thanks to Martin White.]

Posted by jamesr at 10:48 AM | Permalink
Categories: Content management

Web accessibility learning modules

California State University has released a series of web accessibility learning modules that cover a wide range of accessibility issues and approaches. To quote:

The growing reliance on the Web for providing courseware and campus information, necessitates that universities make their Web pages accessible to all, including the disabled and others who use alternative browsers or assistive technologies to access Web-based information. The challenge for the CSU is to provide training to university faculty and staff Web authors in the creation of accessible Web pages.

A precursor to building a sustainable training effort is the development of learning materials that can be used as the foundation for instruction in Web accessibility. These learning modules will provide valuable instructional materials for training efforts in Web accessibility. These modules not only describe web accessibility but how to achieve it with specific design and coding techniques.

[Thanks to elearningpost.]

Posted by jamesr at 10:04 AM | Permalink
Categories: Usability & user-centered design

Government reports on content management?

I'm currently working on a project for the NSW Office of Information Technology, doing a whole-of-NSW-Government review of content management. This will look at who has what, why they have it, and what their experiences have been. All very interesting.

I am also writing a series of draft recommendations for NSW agencies, when for they are considering a content management project. Part of this includes doing background research on what is happening elsewhere in the public and private sectors.

A question: is anyone aware of any government reports written on content management, anywhere in the world? (Agencies always like to make reference to existing work in the public sector.)

If you've come across anything, either e-mail me, or add a comment. Thanks in advance.

Posted by jamesr at 04:41 PM | Permalink
Categories: Content management

Content management seminar (Brisbane)

While in Brisbane, I'll also be presenting one of our content management seminars, details as follows:

• Choosing the Right Content Management System
  Friday, 22 August 2003
  Bardon Centre, Brisbane

  This one-day seminar provides a vendor-neutral introduction to selecting a content management system (CMS) that is right for your organisation.

Posted by jamesr at 04:35 PM | Permalink
Categories: Content management

Intranet seminars (Brisbane, Sydney)

I've just finalised the dates for my next round of seminars and workshops, with some in Brisbane, and another in Sydney. Details as follows:

• Intranet Peers in Government
  Wednesday & Thursday, 20 & 21 August 2003
  Bardon Centre, Brisbane

  This two-day facilitated forum provides a unique opportunity to meet with other hands-on intranet managers working in the public sector.

• Techniques for Building a Better Intranet
  Friday, 8 August 2003
  Mercure Hotel, Sydney

  This one day workshop will explore a range of practical techniques for improving the design and effectiveness of your intranet. Through a mix of presentations, discussions and exercises, you will come away bubbling with ideas about how to tackle your intranet issues.

  Techiques covered:

  • intranet goals and metrics
  • surveys & focus groups
  • expert evaluation
  • usage statistics & search engine logs
  • stakeholder interviews
  • workplace observation
  • process mapping
  • knowledge mapping
  • information architecture
  • content audit
  • card sorting
  • free listing
  • card-based classification evaluation
  • prototyping
  • usability testing

Posted by jamesr at 04:27 PM | Permalink
Categories: Conferences & presentations, Intranets

Communication missing from KM's core strategies

Jerry Ash (kwork.org) has written about the need for communication in KM strategies. To quote:

After a two-year review of literature written by the best thinkers in the Knowledge Management (KM) field, I kept thinking something important was missing. There seemed to be a gap somewhere in the emerging jargon, the theories, the strategies. It finally came to me. Communication. How strange.

[Thanks to David Gurteen.]

Posted by jamesr at 04:19 PM | Permalink
Categories: Knowledge management

First intranet peers get-together

I've just got back this morning from Canberra, where last night saw the first informal get-together of the Intranet Peers in Government group.

This went really well, I think. We had somewhere between 20 and 25 people along, and from the moment the second person turned up, the conversations about intranets started.

The atmosphere was very informal, helped by the lovely ambiance of the "library room" at King O'Malley's (which combines bookshelves with fine ale). People circulated between different groups, and the last person left at 7pm-ish, some three hours after we started.

If you are in the public sector, you are very welcome to join the list, and informal evenings will be coming to other states shortly...

Posted by jamesr at 11:16 AM | Permalink
Categories: Intranets

The structure of content and metadata

PeterV has written an excellent glossary of metadata terms, including:

• Unstructured content
• Ontologies
• A polyhierarchical taxonomy
• A thesaurus

Plus much more ... definitely a valuable resource for us all. Many thanks to Peter.

Posted by jamesr at 11:03 AM | Permalink
Categories: Information architecture

Can't find a favourite file?

Graeme Philipson has written an article for the SMH on classification systems and schemes. To quote:

A small industry has grown up around helping computers categorise information in a way that makes it more accessible and intelligible to humans. There are a number of software companies around the world that have developed a range of tools to help us order and track the information we store on our computers.

[Thanks to Eric Scheid.]

Posted by jamesr at 10:55 AM | Permalink
Categories: Information architecture

GNU wget

Thanks to some discussions on the Sigia-l, I've become aware of GNU wget, an open-source tool for taking a full copy of a website. To quote:

GNU Wget is a free software package for retrieving files using HTTP, HTTPS and FTP, the most widely-used Internet protocols. It is a non-interactive commandline tool, so it may easily be called from scripts, cron jobs, terminals without Xsupport, etc.

This could be very handy when taking a snapshot for a content audit, or for taking a copy of an intranet offsite to allow for a more convenient expert review...

Posted by jamesr at 01:09 PM | Permalink
Categories: Intranets, Web development

New mailing list: Aifia-metrics

A new mailing list has been established: Aifia-metrics, with the goal of establishing common metrics for assessing information-rich sites. To quote:

This list is for discussions of evaluation methods and metrics for information-rich websites and non web-based applications. The goal of the project is described below. Please join in the conversation!

Project Goals:

Currently, there are no standard methods and materials available for evaluation of information architecture. Usability questionnaires such as WAMMI (Website Analysis and Measurement Inventory) or QUIS (Questionnaire for User Interaction Satisfaction) are not suited to information-rich domains. Moreover, neither of the both can be used only after payment of a fee. Our goal is to propose some standard methods and questionnaires suitable for the use by Information Architects.

I think this is a great initiative, and I've just joined. (Metrics is something of a passion for me, as evidenced by my article on the topic...

Posted by jamesr at 03:15 PM | Permalink
Categories: Information architecture, Metrics & ROI

5 ways to get the most from in-house designers

Kim Goodwin presents some tips for managing in-house designers. Her five tips are:

1. Determine how you want to work together
2. Start every project with a ?contract?
3. Provide access to the right people and information
4. Be clear about constraints and trade-offs
5. Have the designers report to a top manager

[Thanks to InfoDesign.]

Posted by jamesr at 12:39 PM | Permalink
Categories: Interface design

A gallery of onscreen help

Usable Help presents a gallery of onscreen help, consisting of over 190 screenshots of different help systems. The aim is to allow help designers to see how others have approached similar problems and challenges.

[Thanks to InfoDesign.]

Posted by jamesr at 12:32 PM | Permalink
Categories: Interface design

Report: Productivity and Organisational Transformation

The National Office for the Information Economy (NOIE) has released a report titled "Productivity and Organisational Transformation: optimising investment in ICT". To quote:

The objectives of the study are

• to determine how to optimise organisational investment in ICT in different industry contexts; and
• to demonstrate the importance and potential of ICT in the transformation and enhanced productivity of Australian organisations;

through an in-depth examination of the outcomes of ICT investments made by Australian organisations in the commercial, not-for-profit and government sectors.

Thanks to Luke Naismith.

Posted by jamesr at 11:55 AM | Permalink
Categories: Knowledge management

Clever blogs

I'm pleased to report that an article on weblogs, written by me, has appeared in the latest edition of Image and Data Manager. Titled "Clever blogs", it provides an answer to the question "what is this thing called a weblog?", and explores the potential benefit for organisations and individuals.

I'll republish the full text of the article when I get a chance...

Posted by jamesr at 11:51 AM | Permalink
Categories: Weblogs

Content syndication: ready for the masses?

Tony Byrne writes an article about the challenges of content syndication. To quote:

We're big fans of content syndication in general and RSS in particular. But in the latest (June, 2003) issue of EContent Magazine, we investigate why syndication has not really taken off beyond the publishing industry and blog enthusiasts. Turns out there are a lot of reasons, among them: inadequate IA models, fear of losing control, and limited resources being directed to internal content integration priorities instead of external distribution. However, there's one important community that should be all over syndication: government entities...

Posted by jamesr at 11:03 AM | Permalink
Categories: Content management

Poor stats use are affecting policies

An brief article in Image and Data Manager presents the claim that poor stats use are affecting policies. To quote:

Key policy decisions made by government and public agencies are being put at risk by poor use of statistics. That claim was made by Dr. Nick Fisher, President of the Statistical Society of Australia (SSAI), at the launch of a national campaign to improve Australia's use of statistics.

Posted by jamesr at 10:54 AM | Permalink
Categories: Knowledge management

Linking vs. searching: guidelines for use

Dr. Bob Bailey writes about a literature survey on linking versus searching, with some interesting stats and results. To quote:

Sanjay Koyani at the National Cancer Institute and I did a quick survey of the available literature on linking and searching. We organized our findings into a series of observations and guidelines that may be helpful to designers dealing with similar issues.

Posted by jamesr at 10:50 AM | Permalink
Categories: Information architecture, Usability & user-centered design

Developing a content management system-based web site

Clare Rogers and John Kirriemuir write about the efforts of JISC in the UK to develop a CMS. To quote:

This article describes the development of a content management system(CMS)-based web site for the Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) [1], a UK strategic advisory body. After introducing the JISC, some of the motivations for developing a new web site are outlined, as well as an overview of the site mechanisms and some of the development issues. Navigational functions are described, followed by a more detailed examination of one section, projects and programmes. We examine some of the issues involving training and supporting CMS users, and conclude with observations on the future development of the web site.

It's great to see some actual casestudies written up for these sorts of projects (they are few and far between), and there are some very interesting observations. Well worth a read.

[Thanks to elearningpost.]

Posted by jamesr at 10:29 AM | Permalink
Categories: Content management

KM Column: So, what is a content management system?

I've just released my latest monthly KM Column article, as follows:

• So, what is a CMS?
  Gives a practical introduction to content management systems, and how they can benefit an organisation.

As ever, feedback is much appreciated.

Posted by jamesr at 03:06 PM | Permalink
Categories: Content management, James' articles

XML tagset and DTDs for journal publishing, archiving, and interchange

Robin Cover reports on the recent release by the US National Library of Medicine of an XML tagset and DTDs for journal publishing. To quote:

The intent of this DTD Suite is to 'preserve the intellectual content of journals independent of the form in which that content was originally delivered'. The tags defined here will be used to describe journal articles that originate with many publishers and societies but whose content will be stored in repositories, such as the NLM PubMed Central repository. Therefore, the Suite has been optimized for conversion from a variety of journal source DTDs, with the intent of providing a single format in which publishers can deliver their content to a wide range of archives.

Posted by jamesr at 10:02 AM | Permalink
Categories: Content management, XML

Why some reorganizations work and others fail

An article exerpted from the McKinsey Quarterly discusses why some reorganizations work and others fail. To quote:

One of the most powerful levers for change available to a chief executive is reorganization. At its best, it can sweep away inertia and cynicism, and energize employees with a common sense of purpose, thereby making it easier to implement a new strategy, to digest an acquisition or to improve productivity.

But reorganizations frequently fail, even when they draw on a wealth of practical experience and decades of intense academic research that have generated proven principles for organizational design.

Posted by jamesr at 11:44 AM | Permalink
Categories: Knowledge management

Another list of CMS products

Thanks to a post by Mathieu Verbeeck on the CMS-List, I've become aware of the Datamation Product Watch list of CMS products. At 160 entries, it has a reasonable cross-section of the market...

Posted by jamesr at 11:10 AM | Permalink
Categories: Content management