Intranets
Four key purposes of an intranet
Content – done a lot with this and we’ve got a lot of content
Communication channel – we’ve done ok, we’ve got a clear focus, more work to be done but it’s a good start
Collaboration – big topic now, wikis or RSS or blogs. How do we do this that doesn’t make the intranet worse in the long run? We should be talking more about this topic.
Activity – the intranet should be a place to do things and not just read.
Most of our focus has been on content and communication. This is not useful enough and we need to work with the other factors to create true ROI.
We need to shift our focus to Collaboration and activity to close the gap in the difference. Get them to something and get them to complete a task.
A good intranet should have balance across all 4 aspects.
Fiat Example
Had problems and there were cultural problems
So they created “Fast and Forward” – a program to help managers and staff change culture. Learn and build leadership skills.
For instance, they earned credits for completing managerial tasks.
Had leader boards. This was not mandatory and there were no rewards or punishment. Just ranking.
They were able to point to the plan and credit it for the turnaround.
City of Casey Example
Small team and intranet team of 1.
Intranet has a brand and every site should. The brand matches the culture and it matches their physical team.
Has a quick staff directory. Use ajax to show staff on search using type ahead. Shows phone number, status and other details. Don’t need to click search to get basic information.
Has a map of staff directory. Users add their own location. Users can click on who’s near me and get the staff near including pictures and phone numbers. “Some of the best innovations are the ones you don’t notice.”
Environment Agency (UK)
Developed personas for their site. Thorough persona (showing desk, nice touch) Engaging persona. Targeted for authors to deliver better content. But they found out that it was great for stakeholders and managers. They acknowledge that they should have used them earlier.
QBE Insurance
They created a wizard for fraudulent claims. This process historically had been ad-hoc. The developed a simple application for the collecting of this information. Wizard was tables and changed based on their answers and then it spit out a form for them to print or e-mail.
Showing posts with label iasummit08. Show all posts
Showing posts with label iasummit08. Show all posts
Sunday, April 13, 2008
Content Design
Content page design best practices again
Luke started at NCSA
Thought about their categories and organized it according to how it related to everything
We optimize for a hierarchy in the application… but it really is broken out into pieces on the internet(its chunked out)
Web ecosystems
Content is broken out into different types, communication, display surface, content creators, content aggregators, search… So how do we build for that?
People are searching and not just using your site hierarchy
Understanding this context….
Communication – people linking to your content and passing it along in im, email or even blogs or discussion boards
Display surfaces – mashups, facebook, places where people add content and links to content
Content creation tools – blogging(people are framing it before they get to your site)
Content aggregators – RSS, myYahoo, delicious, dig
Search engines – very demanding and what happens when people get to your page?
Break out of your page when people get there
Context, related and the content
Content
Make what shows up in the page title should be your headline (match them up)
Content should be the focus, having too much ads or other links is not good so make it your focus, cross reference to other actions related to the content is ok. If you give people what they want then they will be apt to use related links.
People don’t stay long
People don’t read the entire article and typically only scan. So keep it short.
• Favor visual hierarchy over site hierarchy
• Make it scannable
Related
Spare the site map and extra junk. You don’t need to give access to everything. But instead most content is related so give them access to the related stories or content, not the other stuff. Provide “related detours”. Give them action oriented materials. But don’t over do it. The simplest choice is the back button.
Get related calls to action noticed – pay attention where people are looking and place those links there
Best practices
• Related calls to action are ok if good content
• Limit number of choices
• Think through presentations
Context
Where you are and what you can do.
Know where they are coming directly from and modify your page to show more options based on their search.
Best practice
Utilize the minimum amount necessary to build
Luke started at NCSA
Thought about their categories and organized it according to how it related to everything
We optimize for a hierarchy in the application… but it really is broken out into pieces on the internet(its chunked out)
Web ecosystems
Content is broken out into different types, communication, display surface, content creators, content aggregators, search… So how do we build for that?
People are searching and not just using your site hierarchy
Understanding this context….
Communication – people linking to your content and passing it along in im, email or even blogs or discussion boards
Display surfaces – mashups, facebook, places where people add content and links to content
Content creation tools – blogging(people are framing it before they get to your site)
Content aggregators – RSS, myYahoo, delicious, dig
Search engines – very demanding and what happens when people get to your page?
Break out of your page when people get there
Context, related and the content
Content
Make what shows up in the page title should be your headline (match them up)
Content should be the focus, having too much ads or other links is not good so make it your focus, cross reference to other actions related to the content is ok. If you give people what they want then they will be apt to use related links.
People don’t stay long
People don’t read the entire article and typically only scan. So keep it short.
• Favor visual hierarchy over site hierarchy
• Make it scannable
Related
Spare the site map and extra junk. You don’t need to give access to everything. But instead most content is related so give them access to the related stories or content, not the other stuff. Provide “related detours”. Give them action oriented materials. But don’t over do it. The simplest choice is the back button.
Get related calls to action noticed – pay attention where people are looking and place those links there
Best practices
• Related calls to action are ok if good content
• Limit number of choices
• Think through presentations
Context
Where you are and what you can do.
Know where they are coming directly from and modify your page to show more options based on their search.
Best practice
Utilize the minimum amount necessary to build
How to be a UX One
Leah Buley from Adaptive Path presented probably the most "rock star" presentation. It might have even been right along the lines of Spools Keynote. The premise of her presentation is how to do UX only by yourself and she focused on the design portion of this process. On to the bullet points...
In her previous role she was the only UX person and had to do everything
She fell into a mode of moving blame around if something didn't work such as the development or functional requirements process
Went to adpative path and was handed a stack of postit notes and a marker and asked to sketch ideas and it freaked her out
Worked with other to generate design
She generates many ideas and then refines and removes designs
She now has 3 ideas for a team of one
Brainstorm a lot
Team (ad hoc) meetings
Pick your favorites designs
She took Evite and used their current page as an example of how she could work with it
Brainstormed and used conceptual frames works (she uses spectrums, 2x2 spectrums, grides and word associations)
She also keeps an inspiration library to review
Assemble an ad hoc team
Make sketchboards
Run template based workshops (we need to do this)
Decorate your space(people walk by and start talking)
Walk around and ask for opinion
Pick the best idea
Keep a point to stay in contact with and focus on that and meet that goal
Business needs are good
User needs are better
Business needs and user needs together = design principles
Design princples are not just one liners but a mixture that gets a strong selling point across.
In her previous role she was the only UX person and had to do everything
She fell into a mode of moving blame around if something didn't work such as the development or functional requirements process
Went to adpative path and was handed a stack of postit notes and a marker and asked to sketch ideas and it freaked her out
Worked with other to generate design
She generates many ideas and then refines and removes designs
She now has 3 ideas for a team of one
Brainstorm a lot
Team (ad hoc) meetings
Pick your favorites designs
She took Evite and used their current page as an example of how she could work with it
Brainstormed and used conceptual frames works (she uses spectrums, 2x2 spectrums, grides and word associations)
She also keeps an inspiration library to review
Assemble an ad hoc team
Make sketchboards
Run template based workshops (we need to do this)
Decorate your space(people walk by and start talking)
Walk around and ask for opinion
Pick the best idea
Keep a point to stay in contact with and focus on that and meet that goal
Business needs are good
User needs are better
Business needs and user needs together = design principles
Design princples are not just one liners but a mixture that gets a strong selling point across.
Placemaking and IA
Definition– the process of creating plazas, parks, streets & waterfronts that will attract people because they are pleasurable
Not just functional, but pleasurable
We’re good at putting up buildings but bad at making places
Last half of 20th century was horrible for cities and communities – engineers were the cause of the problems. They focused on the objects rather then the good spaces for people.
Placemaking is
Community driven, visionary, function before form, adaptable, inclusive, flexible, culturally aware
Placemaking isn’t
reactive, design-driven, one-size-fits-all, etc
Some relevant principles
The community is the expert, create a place and not a design, you can see a lot just by observing, start with Petunias(iterative design, get design work done and redo it, don’t spend years), triangulate(make an object that two people can see and talk about – builds community – on content allow people to talk about the content), form supports function(in placemaking they talk about seating – how do you construct the seating so that you can have people comfortable, good vision, etc), you are never finished
IA Place Diagram
Sociability – Marriage proposals on twitter, divorces, feel comfortable interacting with strangers
Uses and activities – not lurkers who are hidden (ex. students who look up and research discussion topics to look brilliant), you want visible lurkers
Access and linkages – search, browse and ask
Comfort and Images – no porn, can visitors be seen in different areas
Washington Square Project
Maps and questions in the field, put pieces together, discuss the map and writing comments on their map – created a dense map that shows opportunities and problems
How to create successful markets workshop
Cheese shop… reflection in the display window, people can see each other at eye level talking to each other, should we build in “conversation seeing” (triangulation example)…they created a frame as well
South street bridge
Tables of teams, each had a facilitator, also had someone how could draw and give form to everyone’s ideas, had examples of other bridges, sketched out ideas immediately, very effective
Central Market
Talked about use of mobile devices in their market, how can info be available at the market that goes beyond brochure-ware, example of the carrots, need to balance - HR,physical resource and online
Probe I
Don’t think of it as design
Probe II
The IA is the facilitator, get people to see the same thing even though they are saying different things and think they are in agreement
Probe III
Know the context of the community, the large and small pieces of it… make sure the community is integrated and helping out each other, business owner associations built around the community… the IAs need to stick with the clients and business throughout and after the project… these sessions in the community are tough and passionate but it gets the truth out in the community and describing everyone’s difference.
Dilemma
Design – Steelcase hallways take people out of the flow and put them in cubbys, but people want to be in the flow of traffic and want to meet people that way (placemaking)
Not just functional, but pleasurable
We’re good at putting up buildings but bad at making places
Last half of 20th century was horrible for cities and communities – engineers were the cause of the problems. They focused on the objects rather then the good spaces for people.
Placemaking is
Community driven, visionary, function before form, adaptable, inclusive, flexible, culturally aware
Placemaking isn’t
reactive, design-driven, one-size-fits-all, etc
Some relevant principles
The community is the expert, create a place and not a design, you can see a lot just by observing, start with Petunias(iterative design, get design work done and redo it, don’t spend years), triangulate(make an object that two people can see and talk about – builds community – on content allow people to talk about the content), form supports function(in placemaking they talk about seating – how do you construct the seating so that you can have people comfortable, good vision, etc), you are never finished
IA Place Diagram
Sociability – Marriage proposals on twitter, divorces, feel comfortable interacting with strangers
Uses and activities – not lurkers who are hidden (ex. students who look up and research discussion topics to look brilliant), you want visible lurkers
Access and linkages – search, browse and ask
Comfort and Images – no porn, can visitors be seen in different areas
Washington Square Project
Maps and questions in the field, put pieces together, discuss the map and writing comments on their map – created a dense map that shows opportunities and problems
How to create successful markets workshop
Cheese shop… reflection in the display window, people can see each other at eye level talking to each other, should we build in “conversation seeing” (triangulation example)…they created a frame as well
South street bridge
Tables of teams, each had a facilitator, also had someone how could draw and give form to everyone’s ideas, had examples of other bridges, sketched out ideas immediately, very effective
Central Market
Talked about use of mobile devices in their market, how can info be available at the market that goes beyond brochure-ware, example of the carrots, need to balance - HR,physical resource and online
Probe I
Don’t think of it as design
Probe II
The IA is the facilitator, get people to see the same thing even though they are saying different things and think they are in agreement
Probe III
Know the context of the community, the large and small pieces of it… make sure the community is integrated and helping out each other, business owner associations built around the community… the IAs need to stick with the clients and business throughout and after the project… these sessions in the community are tough and passionate but it gets the truth out in the community and describing everyone’s difference.
Dilemma
Design – Steelcase hallways take people out of the flow and put them in cubbys, but people want to be in the flow of traffic and want to meet people that way (placemaking)
Saturday, April 12, 2008
IA and semantics
FYI in HTML view on iPod... Anyway the semantic presentation was excellent. The main point was to review your content on a granular level. You can then structure your content that is easier to read and allows search engines to easily process and index. One other take away was the use of axure as his protyping tool. We should continue to work with this program. I'll have more to share in our presentation
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