PowerPoint Presentation

Intranet FundamentalsAltrincham, February 9

Twitter @IntranetExperts

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10:00 - 10:40 Structuring Your Intranet. Importance of Information Scent

10:40 - 10:50 Morning Break

10:50 - 11:20 Launching an Intranet - Best Practice Tips

11:20 - 11:50 A tour of Romec's Intranet

11:50 - 12:20 Hands on time with Interact Intranet

12:20 - 13:00 Networking Lunch

Structuring Your IntranetSteve OsborneIntranet Consultant

Twitter @SteveInteract

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The art of an intranet

Intranets have to balance the needs and expectations of the user with the requirements of the organisation it exists within.4

Organisational wants v User needs

There may well be divergence between what the end user wants and what the organisation wishes to provide.

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Structuring the Intranet

How you put the intranet together has a big effect.

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Involve to solve

At some point it is a good idea to involve the user community. In the planning or at least in the testing of the structure.

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How do they think?What is the mental map of the end users? Dont presume that you think you know how they think. An intranet contains a lot of content. How you organise that content can makeit easy for users to find it, or it can makeit hard.

In order for you to decide what the structure could be you need to understand how the end users think. What is their mental map?8

How do you think? Team Task

1) Arrange the cards into what you think are logical groupings.2) Give the groups a name. 3) Stick the cards on paper in their groups

It should be possible to get every card grouped with at least one other card.

There is no maximum number of groups.There is no minimum number of groups.

How did you do? How did you chunk?The basic principle of Chunking:Grouping Information so it is more easilyunderstood.What to look for?Were there common chunks?

Structure.Question - How could you allow for different methods of chunking?

Information ScentWhen you plan your intranet structure you should make it easy for users to find the information they need.

The signposts of your intranet need to beclear and widely understood.

Users look for textual navigational clues

Information ScentInformation scent describes how a user evaluates the options they have when they are looking for information on a site.

When presented with a list of options users will choose the option that gives them the clearest indication strongestscent, that will get them closer to theinformation they require.

Is all this effort worth it?Yes - a meaningful structure is logical, helping users to comprehend and retain the content aswell as helping them quickly find the content theyneed.

Many users still look at a screen and look for navigational clues when they are looking for information.

Signposts that make sense contribute to a strong information scent.