Articles by Month: August 2003

What to make of ECM mergers and acquisitions

Tony Byrne has written an article on ECM mergers and acquisitions, focusing on the recent changes at the big end of the market. To quote:

Well, with rare exceptions, industry consolidation never happened, and only this year have the dire predictions subsided. Indeed, most of the CMS firms around in 1999 remain with us today, and if anything, their ranks have swelled.

Yet, mergers and acquisition (?M&A?) activity is happening, perhaps even with greater velocity than ever. The difference is this: for the most part, individual products aren?t disappearing, they?re just changing owners. So what in fact is going on? And what does M&A activity mean for prospective software buyers?

Posted by jamesr at 11:21 AM | Permalink
Categories: Content management

Analyzing card sort results with a spreadsheet template

Joe Lamantia has written an article on analyzing card sort results with a spreadsheet. To quote:

This article explains how to quickly derive easily-read, quantitative results from a card-sort activity by entering data into a spreadsheet template that is adaptable to any set of cards and categories.

Posted by jamesr at 10:45 AM | Permalink
Categories: Information architecture

KM disasters & KM victories

We are all convinced about the great benefits of KM – but scared when it comes to reporting back. Einstein is always a good quote ….not everything that counts can be counted…. But often this is not sufficient.

In April 2003, EKMF [1] run a theme to discuss approaches, methods and tools for measuring the impact of KM initiatives.

Posted by jamesr at 05:15 PM | Permalink
Categories: Knowledge management

Validation just got better

There have been some good improvements to the W3C Markup Validator. To quote:

The big news in this version is internal support for custom and customizeable error explanations. This means an end to digging all over the net drying to figure out what an error message means; just turn on the "Verbose Output" option and the explanation will be displayed inline with each error message.

When the W3C Markup Validator is running in "Fussy Parsing" mode it will complain about all sorts of things that are technically legal in HTML, but which is known to be problematic in practice and probably not what you wanted.

[Thanks to the Web Standards Project.]

Posted by jamesr at 03:28 PM | Permalink
Categories: Web development

Weblogging problems solved

Sorry folks for the lack of weblogging in recent times. One reason was that we were having some problems with Movable Type, making it very difficult to post new entries.

It turns out that our webhosting organisation was setup to time-out CGI scripts after 30secs. This has now been modified, and all is working well (fingers crossed).

Posted by jamesr at 03:21 PM | Permalink
Categories:

Patterns help introduce patterns (or any new idea)

Mike lee has written a weblog entry about using patterns to introduce new ideas. To quote:

Over the weekend, while revisiting some citations on patterns, I landed on Mary Lynn Manns' and Linda Rising's Introducing New Ideas into Organizations, which is a web page of papers and resources on the patterns of practice they and many others used over several years to introduce the concept of patterns for software design in organizations. As you might imagine, any radically new way of thinking is a tough sell, and their collection of patterns (123 page PDF) for introducing patterns is really a comprehensive cookbook of tactics that can be used to sell any new technology-related ideas in an organization.

[Thanks to pixelcharmer.]

Posted by jamesr at 03:17 PM | Permalink
Categories: Knowledge management

Better search engine design: Beyond algorithms

Peter Van Dijck has written an article on better search engine design, focusing on some practical steps that can be taken using MySQL. To quote:

A useful search engine is more than a search algorithm. This article explains how to create a search query analysis tool, a best bets feature, and a basic controlled vocabulary. We'll use MySQL for the examples.

[Thanks to currybetdotnet .]

Posted by jamesr at 06:01 PM | Permalink
Categories: Search tools

Classification and Movable Type

Tanya Rabourn has written a weblog entry on Classification and Movable Type. This is of particular interest to me, and something that I am seriously considering implementing. To quote:

Two new MT plug-ins have come into being since I posted about the way I use the category field here. They offer two different ways of classifying posts. MT-categoryfaceted by Timothy Appnel is a bottom-up method and MT-subcategories by David Raynes is hierarchical and a top-down method. Take your pick.

Posted by jamesr at 05:45 PM | Permalink
Categories: Weblogs

Sharing information between agencies

Thomas R. Davies has written an article on the challenges of sharing information between agencies. To quote:

Almost everyone at the top of the government heap seems to be baffled by this disarmingly simple issue [sharing information between agencies]. It's true that there are formidable obstacles: stovepipe systems, lack of funding, turf concerns, existing policies and priorities. But, apparently, government leaders would rather tackle the challenges of failing schools, rising health care costs and finding money for homeland security before taking on the information-sharing bugaboo. Can it really be more difficult to get everyone to disseminate data among themselves than to eliminate billion-dollar budget deficits?

[Thanks to CMS Watch.]

Posted by jamesr at 11:42 AM | Permalink
Categories: Content management, Knowledge management

Synonym rings and authority files

Karl Fast, Fred Leise and Mike Steckel has written an article on synonym rings, with specific examples relating to their use in search engines. To quote:

Synonym rings and authority files are simple tools that can bridge the gap between natural language and complex controlled vocabularies (taxonomies and thesauri) quite nicely.

Posted by jamesr at 10:27 AM | Permalink
Categories: Information architecture, Search tools

Preserving critical knowledge in the 21st century

Amy Casher and Eric Lesser have written an article on preserving knowledge. To quote:

Changes in workforce demographics, labor migration patterns and economic conditions are causing organizations to face the challenge of retaining critical knowledge that is departing the organization. This paper probes the knowledge retention crisis that faces many organizations today, providing insights into driving trends and guidance on the actions organizations can take to tackle this issue.

[Thanks to elearningpost.]

Posted by jamesr at 09:28 PM | Permalink
Categories: Knowledge management

A thesaurus interchange format for the semantic web

The SWAD-Europe project has produced an interesting thesaurus interchange format for the "semantic web". To quote:

The Thesaurus Interchange Format (TIF) enables the development, integration and deployment of thesauri on the semantic web. The TIF is an RDF schema, based on the concept-oriented thesaurus model.

[Thanks to Catalogablog.]

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

Knowledge management systems and the large law firm

Cynthia Gayton has written an article on KM in large law firms. To quote:

Law firms, which are overwhelmingly established as partnerships, can easily dismiss ROI numbers related to publicly traded companies. However, it may be useful to compare them with another type of professional services company--- accounting firms --- in particular Ernst & Young. According to Tim Curry, Global Chief Knowledge officer, their leadership in KM is due in large part to their investment in KM. He finds a direct "correlation between excellence in KM and business success."

[Thanks to Excited Utterances.]

Posted by jamesr at 03:56 PM | Permalink
Categories: Knowledge management

The myth of discoverability

Scott Berkun has written a blog entry on the myth of discoverability. To quote:

The myth of discoverability, in concise form: The belief that all good user interfaces make all things in the website or product utterly and extremely discoverable, and any design that makes an element (button, link, etc.) less than extremely discoverable, can?t possibly be very good, and should be thrown away, to the embarrassment of the designer.

Posted by jamesr at 01:13 PM | Permalink
Categories: Information architecture

Field studies: The best tool to discover user needs

Jared M. Spool has written an article on the value of field studies as a requirements-gathering process. To quote:

While techniques, such as focus groups, usability tests, and surveys, can lead to valuable insights, the most powerful tool in the toolbox is the 'field study'. Field studies get the team immersed in the environment of their users and allow them to observe critical details for which there is no other way of discovering.

[Thanks to elearningpost.]

Posted by jamesr at 08:39 PM | Permalink
Categories: Intranets, Knowledge management, Usability & user-centered design

Gathering requirements: The crux of the matter

P.G. Daly has written a brief article on intranet requirements gathering. To quote:

Perhaps the most important piece of any application development project is requirements gathering. After all, if you're not clear on where you're going, how will you know when you get there? So why do most intranet teams spend so little time focusing on developing the skills necessary to do this piece well?

[Thanks to elearningpost.]

Posted by jamesr at 08:34 PM | Permalink
Categories: Intranets

IntranetRoadMap

I've just received an e-mail notifying that the website IntranetRoadMap has just been updated and redesigned. Definitely worth a look:

The Intranet Road Map is an intranet guide, portal and tutorial for those creating a corporate intranet or those wanting to improve an existing intranet. To begin the intranet tutorial, select Start Road Map or select Introduction from the Table of Contents above.

Posted by jamesr at 07:27 PM | Permalink
Categories: Intranets

Breadcrumb navigation: Further investigation of usage

Bonnie Lida Rogers and Barbara Chaparro has summarised the results of their further research into the effectiveness of breadcrumb navigation. To quote:

In this study, we designed the tasks such that navigational efficiency would be optimized through the use of a breadcrumb trail. Despite this, only 6% of the page clicks were accounted for by the breadcrumb. While 40% of the participants used the breadcrumb trail, usage was lower than that of other navigational means, such as the main navigation bar, the Back button, and embedded links.

Breadcrumb users were found to use the Back button less often than users who did not use the breadcrumb; however, no differences were found in the efficiency measures of total pages visited, navigation bar clicks, embedded link clicks, or time to complete the search tasks. It is not known if all participants understood the function of the breadcrumb as a navigational tool. Future studies should investigate whether a simple understanding of the purpose of the breadcrumb trail or minimal training impacts usage and/or efficiency.

[Thanks to InfoDesign.]

Posted by jamesr at 01:03 PM | Permalink
Categories: Information architecture

Faceted Movable Type

Tanya Rabourn has written a blog entry about combining Movable Type and faceted navigation, which is something that I've been idly considering for a while now. To quote:

I made the decision to go with a faceted classification scheme for two reasons. The first reason is due to the limitations of category construction in MT. Each post can have any number of categories applied and one is selected to be the "primary" category. There's no way to make hierarchical relationships among them, though.

Posted by jamesr at 12:55 PM | Permalink
Categories: Information architecture, Weblogs

Card sorting on the surface

Donna Maurer has written a blog entry about card sorting, in which she questions how much it actually reveals about user thinking. To quote:

In my last few big card sorts, I have noticed that participants don't really look at the cards and try to form sensible groups based on how the information should be grouped to help them achieve a task. Instead, they try to get rid of most of the cards as quickly as possible. Usually this involves looking at a card, thinking that it is not something they are interested in and trying to group it with similar things they aren't interested in. If they find something they are interested in, it is usually because it is in their own information domain.

This is a really interesting discussion, and one that is vitally needed. What I find strange is that on the various IA mailing lists, there are plenty who "hate card sorting", but when the question is asked: "so, what do you use instead?", there is nothing but silence...

Posted by jamesr at 12:46 PM | Permalink
Categories: Information architecture

Design patterns: An evolutionary step to managing complex sites

Jared M. Spool has written about the use of design patterns in relation to user-interface design. To quote:

When your organization's web site or intranet has hundreds of contributors, how do you ensure that every page is high quality and extremely usable? Especially, if these contributors have never designed a web page before?

This is a problem that many of our clients are facing and they've tried a myriad of solutions, such as centralized approval processes, standardized templates, and style guides, all without success. However, the one solution that really excites us is now gaining a lot of attention -- design patterns.

[Thanks to John Castley and Belinda Lego.]

Posted by jamesr at 09:23 PM | Permalink
Categories: Usability & user-centered design

The role of private & public spaces in knowledge management

Victoria Ward and Clive Holtham have written an article on the role of private & public spaces in KM. To quote:

In most dimensions of knowledge management social and personal issues are highly relevant. The effectiveness of physical space for knowledge work is dependent on what is physically delivered through architecture, construction and facilities management. It is at least as dependent on personal and conceptual space - territoriality, privacy, and intimate communications.

Posted by jamesr at 06:02 PM | Permalink
Categories: Knowledge management

10 tips for driving innovation by managing knowledge

Megan Salch has published a list of 10 tips for driving innovation by managing knowledge, drawn from a report published by the American Productivity & Quality Center (APQC).

Posted by jamesr at 05:58 PM | Permalink
Categories: Knowledge management

Good practices for managing knowledge

A story on the Knowledgeboard looks at good practices for managing knowledge. To quote:

Organisations implementing Knowledge Management generally have two objectives. First they nurture the creation of new knowledge in order to speed up innovation and gain a competitive advantage. Second, by sharing existing knowledge they try to increase efficiency, i.e. prevent the wheel from being reinvented too often.

Three practices to achieve these goals are described: knowledge bases, Yellow Pages and communities. This analysis is based on Beep, an on line knowledge base with good practices and a literature review of some of the most important KM books. The cases described come from large multinationals, as they are at the forefront of KM developments.

Posted by jamesr at 05:53 PM | Permalink
Categories: Knowledge management

How I would implement weblog in business

Lee LeFever has written a short article on the value of weblogs to share knowledge. To quote:

In retrospect- a Weblog could have been extremely valuable to me and the company. Using a Weblog, I could chronicle the daily activities, learnings, experiences and developments of the community. As the community grew and interest spread, the Weblog could have become the best single resource for understanding the internal workings of the community, why it works, what we'd learned, what the manager does, what the members think, etc. I could have reserved 30 minutes a day to post what I'm thinking, doing, learning.

[Thanks to elearningpost.]

Posted by jamesr at 01:29 PM | Permalink
Categories: Knowledge management, Weblogs

Running into link checking limits

I apologise for the lack of blogging this week. I've just started with a new client, conducting an intranet review. This has meant I've been off in Canberra on one day, and then spending all today in their Sydney offices, working through an expert review.

While I've been writing up my notes, I've had Xenu Link Sleuth running in the background. This is a great piece of freeware, and a very easy way of quickly identifying broken links on a site.

Unfortunately, I appear to be expecting too much out of it. The intranet I'm checking has over 57,000 pages of content, and Xenu seems to be unable to produce it's report on the results.

Any suggestions on an alternate (free) link checking tool that will cope with an intranet of this size?

Posted by jamesr at 03:42 PM | Permalink
Categories: Intranets

Update regarding Brisbane events

The Choosing the Right CMS seminar will be going ahead as planned, and there are still places left for this.

The Intranet Peers in Government forum has been delayed due to lack of numbers. The new dates will be 16 & 17 October.

Hope to see you all there.

Posted by jamesr at 08:01 PM | Permalink
Categories: Conferences & presentations

Three laws of nonsense

I just had yum-cha to celebrate a cousin's birthday. The food was good, but much better were the discussions I had with my uncle, Noel Thompson. He has been working for many years in large organisations (such as BHP and James Hardie), and has been doing a lot of thinking about leadership, innovation and business processes.

He wrote down for me on a scrap of paper what he called the Three Laws of Nonsense, as follows:

1. The source of nonsense is that for every piece of nonsense there exists an irrelevant frame of reference in which the item is sensible.
2. The persistance of nonsense comes from rigorous arguments from inapplicable assumptions.
3. The diffusion of nonsense results from the fact that people are more specialist than problems.

These are pretty amazing rules, and I think they have a huge relevance in the field of knowledge management at the moment. Since he didn't invent the rules, I'll have to go off and do some hunting around for the original reference...

Posted by jamesr at 03:55 PM | Permalink
Categories: Knowledge management

E-learning needs analysis

John Sloan discusses the importance of e-learning needs analysis. To quote:

It is important to establish right at the beginning that e-learning technology is not a total solution. Even its most ardent advocates will argue that e-learning technology is only part of the package. Regardless of the goals you set for this strategy, chances are that you will be looking at both technical and non-technical training assets. It is worth noting that, while IT departments have been leaders in the adoption of e-learning technologies, as much as 74 percent of computer skills/IT training is delivered via instructor-led classroom means, 18 percent is delivered via computer media (asynchronous technology) and only 4 percent by instructors connected to learners from remote locations (synchronous technology).

[Thanks to elearningpost.]

Posted by jamesr at 04:15 PM | Permalink
Categories: E-learning, Knowledge management

Over a thousand on our announce-list

Even after I've just culled the addresses that bounced, we have over 1000 people who have voluntarily signed up to our papers announce-list. Which is pretty good, I think...

Posted by jamesr at 10:49 AM | Permalink
Categories:

What is the purpose of a CMS tender?

The second CM Briefing for this month is on the purpose of a CMS tender. To quote:

There are real problems with many tenders released, and it is valuable to revisit the purpose of a CMS tender. This article presents a range of important goals of a tender document.

Posted by jamesr at 10:43 AM | Permalink
Categories: Content management

Beyond "Efficient dissemination of timely information"

The first of my two smaller CM Briefings for this month is on intranet goals. To quote:

The intranet goal "to efficiently disseminate accurate information" is meaningless, and must be replaced. This article explores the reasons why.

Posted by jamesr at 10:38 AM | Permalink
Categories: Intranets, James' articles

Knowledge management for front-line staff

I've just published my latest KM Column article on knowledge management for front-line staff. To quote:

The front-line environment is unique within an organisation, and must be understood when implementing knowledge management initiatives.

Feedback is always appreciated.

Posted by jamesr at 10:34 AM | Permalink
Categories: James' articles, Knowledge management

Upcoming seminars (latest update)

While the Techniques for Building a Better Intranet workshop in Sydney later this week is looking good (just a few places left), the numbers for the Brisbane events are still very low.

We'll be making a decision on Friday whether we need to cancel or postpone these events. So if you'd like to have them happen, you'll need to get your registrations sent across in the next day or two.

The Brisbane events:

• Intranet peers in government (Brisbane, 20-21 August)
• Choosing the right content management system (Brisbane, 22 August)

Posted by jamesr at 06:16 PM | Permalink
Categories:

A social network caught in the web

Lada A. Adamic, Orkut Buyukkokten, and Eytan Adar have written an article on social network analysis (SNA), as used in a University environment. To quote:

We present an analysis of Club Nexus, an online community at Stanford University. Through the Nexus site we were able to study a reflection of the real world community structure within the student body. We observed and measured social network phenomena such as the small world effect, clustering, and the strength of weak ties. Using the rich profile data provided by the users we were able to deduce the attributes contributing to the formation of friendships, and to determine how the similarity of users decays as the distance between them in the network increases. In addition, we found correlations between users' personalities and their other attributes, as well as interesting correspondences between how users perceive themselves and how they are perceived by others.

[Thanks to commoncraft.]

Posted by jamesr at 10:06 AM | Permalink
Categories: Knowledge management

An essay on W3C's design principles

Bert Bos has written an essay on W3C's design principles. To quote:

The Web is all about helping humans communicate, but what hopefully becomes clear from this essay is that writing specs also is a form of human communication. There is one word that summarizes nearly all the fancy keywords of this essay, and that is: usability.

Posted by jamesr at 11:15 AM | Permalink
Categories: Web development

Open source for content management

John Brand reports on a Meta Group report on open source content management. To quote:

Our research has shown that organisations adopting open source content management technologies will find an increase in overall development and support costs (up to ~30 percent) long term. This is due to users demanding better integration with legacy applications, business processes, and administration capabilities. The belief that content management is a distinct and isolated application, or that open interfaces/APIs will inherently provide business value, is flawed.

By 2005, only 5 percent of Asia-Pacific organisations will have adopted a comprehensive open source content management framework, with another 5 percent supporting a partial open source approach, based on the entrenchment of legacy applications deployed during 2003 to 2005

This is not a positive article on open source software. I haven't seen the source research, so I won't argue with it, but I find it interesting that most of the problems that they highlight with open source products (difficulty of integration, support costs, limited capabilities) I've seen with most of the commercial products too. Content management is still a brave new world, and I think everyone still has a long way to go...

Posted by jamesr at 11:22 PM | Permalink
Categories: Content management