The first of the two CM Briefings for August is written by Tina Calabria on improving your intranet, task by task. To quote: If a redesign is not feasible, what are the alternatives? There are a number of ways to incrementally improve an intranet, such as redesigning a particular section of the site, or adding a new 'killer application'. One method that is certain to provide immediate business benefit is to improve the way the intranet supports key tasks. In fact, by selecting only one task at a time, improvements can be made in a manageable and cost-effective manner.

This is the first of what may become a series of CMS myths to be tackled (briefly) in this blog. CMS Myth #1: Installing a CMS must be hard In the beginning, content management systems were used to solve leading-edge problems. The web was new, and uncharted territories were being explored. Naturally, a lot of custom development and consulting went into deploying CMS solutions in this environment. Nowadays, however, many organisations have pretty simple needs. They want to publish a website, containing mostly static content with a handful of extra features (such as secure login, online events calendar). If you

I thought I would post a quick comment on a trend that I've been seeing in Australian public-sector organisations: knowledge management becoming records management. That is, the "knowledge management initiative" is handed across to the library/records management folk, who then implement projects such as: records management systems document management systems corporate taxonomies/thesaurii While these are all important things to do, they are obviously only a very small corner of knowledge management. Yet, in many organisations I've seen, this is all that's left of the initial enthusiasm about KM. In these situations, there is no focus on the people-related aspects (such

Donna Maurer looks at whether your intranet supports core business. To quote: On many intranets, a large proportion of the site is dedicated to allowing staff complete administrative tasks easily. Few intranets have the same focus on assisting staff with core business. This is a natural by-product in the evolution of intranets, with many starting as sites to distribute HR information and later extending to provide other administrative support. In addition, the background of staff in intranet teams is often in communications, web design or writing. Less frequently do intranet team staff come from core business areas and therefore lack

My KM Column article for July is on deploying a CMS. To quote: While selecting the right content management system (CMS) is crucial for success, it is not sufficient. There is also much that needs to be done during the implementation to ensure that the initial project is successful, and the CMS is viable in the long-term. Implementing a CMS is not easy. There are many aspects that must be addressed, and most of these are not related to the technology. Instead, they are focused on the people and process issues within the organisation. This article outlines a structured approach

My second CM Briefing looks at self-sufficiency in a CMS. To quote: While it is important to identify key functional requirements when selecting a content management system (CMS), some of the most important issues relate to how the CMS works, rather that what it does. In particular, the issue of self-sufficiency is one that should be addressed by all organisations looking to purchase a content management system.

The first of my two CM Briefings answers the question: have we seen the perfect intranet? To quote: We have been lucky enough to see quite a few intranets across a diverse range of intranets, in both the public and private sectors. Knowing this, we are often asked the question: so who has the perfect intranet? In most cases, the reason for asking this question is to find out who to visit, to see how to get an intranet right. Our answer, however, is: we haven't seen a perfect intranet. While this is often a very disappointing (or even disheartening)

Our KM Column article for this month is a case study written by Donna Maurer on the User-centred redesign of the FaCS intranet. To quote: Following a user-centred design process proved invaluable. Conducting extensive user research at the beginning of the project, and then involving staff in design and testing activities throughout the process ensured that by the final stages there were no major surprises. In many ways, this was a 'textbook' application of user-centred techniques to the redevelopment of a large Government intranet, and it serves as a useful model for other organisations looking to tackle the same issues.

This is something I was idly thinking about today, and I scribbled down some notes that I thought I would share. First off, I think it's because people aren't putting themselves in the shoes of their audience when they are presenting, and considering how (and what) to share that would be of interest. Then I thought about the sorts of questions I think the presenters should be trying to answer. Typically, what they cover pretty well (and this is the dull bit): Who are we? What is our environment? What have we done? Why have we done it? A little

Observing the User Experience Mike Kuniavsky This is a book I definitely enjoyed reading. More importantly, it provides a practical and pragmatic perspective on how to research user needs, in the context of a broader user-centred design process. I would certainly recommend it to anyone new to the field of usability techniques. The book focuses on a number of key user research techniques: user profiles focus groups usability testing surveys card sorting log file analysis For each of these techniques, details are provided on how to setup and conduct the activities, as then analyse the results. Tips and examples are