Archive for July, 2002
July 30, 2002
Anticipating Your Audience
blended perspectives: MT-RefSearch to the Rescue! is a brilliant little script for MT. It detects if an in-bound reader is coming from a google search and displays a local set of search results at the top of the page based on the google query that led to them. This can quickly route users to an MT post that may have slid of the home page since Google last indexed it.
This takes an approach I often use at work in a completely new-to-me direction. I always make sure that our PR folks keep us up-to-date on media mentions of our organization so that I can get a link and/or a blurb on our home pages that will quickly direct those users to info relevant to the media exposure that guided them to us. Gotta grab those people right off the bat if we’re going to engage them.
I had never considered applying the same approach to in-bound searchers from Google and other seach engines. We could even create special messages for certain keywords that are hot-button issues for us in addition to supply our local search results for their query.
I need to think this through a bit more but it is a fascinating idea. Thanks for the idea Eliot!
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July 29, 2002
Peeking Over the Shoulder Blogging
James Robertson has been giving us a view over his shoulder as he reviews the intranet of one of his clients. In his latest entry he outlines the main issues they will need to resolve in improving the intranet. Thanks for sharing your ideas and experience, James!
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July 29, 2002
More Good Stuff from Michael Helfrich
The IT guy concluded that, “You guys are making it way too easy to share with others.” And then he dropped the bomb: “Listen, our business users are stupid, we have to help protect them from themselves.” Yea, and if you allow them to share and work securely with others this company JUST might keep up with the demands of the street, because human interaction is the rocket fuel that propels innovation.
This is the same concept as companies restricting access to the web for their employees because they fear they will goof off by surfing. Hello! People have been goofing off at work since the dark ages. If not the web, they’ll find something else.
If your organization is incapable of judging an employee’s performance and work product well enough to know when they are not meeting objectives then you’re in trouble and no restrictive blanket IT policy is gonna help fix it. You may even be harming the work of your most productive employees by developing a policy for all based on the short-comings of a few.
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July 26, 2002
MT Styles Roundup
David Watson has posted a round-up of styles and templates that people have made available for Movable Type blogs.
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July 24, 2002
How to Deflect an Asteroid on a Collision Course With Earth
BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Could an asteroid be deflected? Short answer: yes.
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July 24, 2002
The Click Path
Found via Column Two:
3-clicks to anywhere
People often ask me whether they should make sure all of their content is available within 3 clicks (”3 clicks from where” is usually my first question). I can’t remember where this ‘rule’ started (Nielsen?), but common-sense would tell you that it is sensible only on smallish sites.
What if those 3 clicks are into the unknown? A user can become lost in 3 clicks as easily as 5, 7 or more.
What is far more important is to get users following the right path. When they know that they are going in the right direction, they stop counting clicks and start getting engaged with the content.
This is a good reminder to question the assumptions upon which you base your rules of thumb. Lots of good links her full entry and comments. Go check it out.
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July 23, 2002
Good Luck blogs.salon.com
blogs.salon.com launched tonight. Salon continues to experiment with online community and the cluetrain philosophy. Good luck!
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July 23, 2002
NPR Linking Policy Update
NPR has updated their linking policy:
NPR : The Ombudsman at National Public Radio
Okay, I think we understand now that NPR policy needed some revision.
I spotted this via rc3.org.
The policy still says they reserve the right to withdraw permission to link to their site. The only problem is that it still isn’t theirs to give or take. Oh well, better than nothing. The wording about welcoming and encouraging linking in general is in the right spirit at least.
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July 23, 2002
More on Klog Implementation Challenges
www.davidwatson.org wrote a piece back in June about the difficulties a klog implementation could face. Training and organizational culture again. This is worth checking out as another addition to a balanced view on klogging.
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July 22, 2002
KM: Think Small?
The Downside of Knowledge Management found via Blunt Force Trauma.
This article provides a nice counter-point to the low-cost klog network. The article concludes that:
Here’s the bottom line:
- for specialist communication between specialist groups, KM is a great idea
- for broader, much more useful communication across an entire enterprise, KM will not work very efficiently unless you implement a major awareness program…
Wait a minute. This is beginning to sound expensive. I thought you could implement KM for $40 a desk.
Sorry.
This is a great piece to read if you are susceptable to being dazzled by the possiblities of technology (which certainly happens to me quite often).
The conclusion that the deployment of KM with cheap or free tools is still expensive is based on the requirements of senior level buy-in and staff training needed in order to deploy KM tools across the enterprise. These are items that a grass-roots implementation most likely lack.
I think there is an assumption at the base of that idea, however. The assumption is that KM solutions must be applied consistently across the entire organization in order to be doing KM well. Why? Can’t a solution or tool be used by a small group within the enterprise and derive value and benefit from it? Does the entire company have to be wired into a KM network in order to consider a KM initiative a success?
Perhaps KM can only happen among small, informal groups within the organization. There have not been many success stories from enterprise-level deployments of KM systems. Maybe truly valuable knowledge sharing only happens with informal swarming connections and rapid permutations thereof.
I’m just thinking out loud here. I do believe that training is very important but probably less so than having an organizational culture that at a minimum does not actively discourage the sharing of information and knowledge.
I’m very interested in hearing some other opinions on micro vs. macro KM.
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