blogs.conchango.com

As it turns out, my first post is not going be around accessibility, but is at least loosely based around usability - looking at ways of facilitating user-centric collaboration and helping people learn from each other over the web, through creating community intranet spaces to contain and develop only peer-to-peer user-generated content, rather than being pre-populated with formalised information. The aim is to facilitate users to share their knowledge through useful tips and suggestions, post blogs, set up wikis, and suggest useful links for peers to help each other learn through language and content based on specific user experience, rather than formal or generic information.

The following ideas are specifically based on the capabilities of Microsoft Office Share Point Server (MOSS) 2007, but are applicable to the development of peer-to-peer community help sites for any knowledge area.

Essentially when designing or launching this kind of project, you need to consider key high level goals as follows

• Information sharing

• Take-up

• Personalisation

• Peer to Peer networking

• Visual Differentiators

Finally if you're looking to create a non-regional or internet offering you need to consider

• Local customisation

• Repeatability / Re-use

Features and functionality to consider

The following is a more detailed outline of the sort of features and content you would need in order to create a successful peer to peer help community. All of it is supported by MOSS 2007, and most of it straight out the box. I've added an asterisk where custom coding or significant manual or change effort is likely to be required.

Note that some of this functionality requires a moderator, and that the success of any such project will primarily depend on the quality of the change program that delivers it.

• Information Sharing

  • Search Functionality

    • Mandatory metadata for user-inputted content - based on an initial logical classification. Is key to enabling effective results.

    • Personal tags / Keywords associated with user inputted content - very useful for enabling results specific to the community using the site

    • Free text search

      • Including external sources crawl – this can be made secure as MOSS2007 can return permissions based results (Active Dir/LDAP)

    • Return a summary definition (using a glossary function) for recognised search terms, along with links to related non-user-generated content

    • Output result sets for both Documents and People who have posted content related to the search term

    • Categorise results by document/content types

    • Enable filtering by profile settings (eg. selected literacy level)

    • Provide a flexible Quick Search

    • Provide a fully customisable Advanced Search

  • Audit search results and feed back into content improvement cycle – for example, use workflow to alert search terms that repeatedly return nil results and input or tag content related to that term, so the information effectively restructures to fit local language as the site develops

  • Logical navigation hierarchy organised by knowledge area, scenario or role

  • Links to the different information types – blogs, webcasts, lists, discussions, summaries, wikis

  • Links to non-user generated content

  • Searchable FAQ lists

  • Comprehensive section on how to use the site, and what all the web 2.0 features can do for the user. The web and collaboration is evolving much faster than most people can keep up, so it is important to ensure that users can learn about the features available to them.

  • Set up tips as wikis so that they can continue to evolve, rather than duplicate each time someone improves the content. Also encourage users to transfer content from blogs to wikis, as wikis are more searchable and specific. eg. I will probably set this blog up as a wiki so you can improve or add your ideas. In this form it is static and will become harder to access as I continue to add other posts.

  • Design support for both logical users and free browsers

  • Site Map – very important for logical browsers i.e. Those that prefer to use navigation links (probably still a majority) rather than search or free browsing functions.

  • When providing blogging options, enforce input structures for the content so that users have to tag their content to help improve searchability*

• Take up – i.e. ensure adoption and excitement, and encourage return

  • Provide high functionality – users want utility i.e. make it easy to add and find content

  • Ensure high visibility through exploiting referral channels – if users can't find the space easily they will not use it

  • Distinctive branding – make the interface memorable, but not at the expense of utility

  • Effective/accessible layouts – aim to design interface usability for all literacies, ages and disabilities. Design to linearise gracefully with proper structural rather than visual formatting

  • Create Interactivity with the site – set up challenges e.g. Challenge users to create content that is popular by demand and provide recognition for winners; personality or subject quizzes; games, polls etc.*

  • Personalised content and profile recognition – allow users to create their own personal profiles, and then output content to their screen based on settings in their profile. If possible allow them flexibility to select and arrange content (webparts / pageflakes) in their personal member area

  • Allow users to rate or comment on content

  • Provide facility for discussion threads and forums

  • Use fame as an incentive for participation rather than toys or gimmicks e.g. Provide recognition / highlighted profiles for daily or weekly most viewed or highest rated content

  • Allow anonymous posting – limits the big brother effect, and if content is moderated, abuse shouldn't be an issue

  • Utilise 'Knowledge Networks'. MOSS2007 provides a 'Knowledge Networks' function which crawls users emails and any organisational content created by them to create an automatic profile of their expertise, which users can choose to have published. This can help identify peer leaders / experts, who can then be encouraged to contribute to the community knowledge base*

  • Utilise smart phones and portable media – develop compressed mobile interfaces ,or create content in the form of webcasts, podcasts etc. to allow users to access it on the move*

• Personalised experience

• Allow profile creation and customisation – avatars are another possibility, and might add a bit of fun*

• Profiles should include an option to create full searchable professional biographies

• Use customisable Web Parts or Page Flakes

• Allows users to set up alerts and RSS updates to their mail client or "My Sites"

• Utilise features that allows content pre-filtered by user profile settings - MOSS 2007 provides an 'audiences' feature that does this*

• Peer to peer community

  • Output Presence Information – i.e. Let users know who else is online

  • Instant Messaging – allow users to communicate with others who choose to make themselves available

  • Set up threaded discussion groups

  • Set up Forums

  • Create chat rooms for discussions and online seminars – maybe set up a weekly slot or lunch times where the chat room is open, and revolve the topic of discussion*

  • Encourage users to set up wikis, and aim to generate the majority of inputted content in wiki form so it can continue to be improved rather than duplicated

  • Provide an option to “ask the experts” and create a workflow to divert these questions to users who volunteer as experts. Post responses so that everyone can see them.

  • Use moderators to ensure that user searches and question requests drive site content and evolution

  • Create contributor rankings / leader boards to incentivise users to participate and be recognised

• Visual Differentiation

  • Extend organisational branding to the space, but ideally not corporate design or visuals

  • Use 'cool' and different graphics – the site is about people and community, not a corporate vehicle

  • Ensure clear differentiation from other intranets or websites – will make the space more memorable

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• Local customisation – when deploying across different regions

  • Implement a fully customisable design based on CSS, Master (Template) and Content Pages

  • Ensure a 'White labelling' oriented design i.e. A design that can easily be separated from the formatting and visuals, and which can easily 're-skinned'.

  • Implement Flexible language packs (i.e. Ones where users can modify or add content to the language pack itself) and support for site variations i.e. Workflow that informs administrators of local sites when master content has been changed in the primary language.

  • Focus on Folksonomy rather than Taxonomy i.e. Colloquial references to content rather than corporate or technical referencing. This happens automatically when you enable personal tagging for inputted content, and when nil result search terms are incorporated into tags or content.

• Re-usability – for solutions that need to be scalable and transferable

  • Use a Content Management System that can 'package' the database design without the content

  • White labelling oriented design – as above. Partners can then apply their own branding

  • Fully customisable corporate skins*

  • Use a scalable architecture

  • Provide customisable language packs

  • Create best practice guidelines drawn from internal use

  • Package moderated FAQ's and glossaries to create a start point for the new set of users

Recommended Architecture

• Microsoft Office SharePoint Server (MOSS) 2007

  • Platform for “How” – search, profiles, intranet framework, content management

• Office SharePoint Designer 2007

  • Design development tool for layout and customisation

• Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 Team System

  • In depth development tool for creating new web parts

• Microsoft Live Communication Server

  • Corporate IM and presence information 

Features In summary

• User-centric - simpler

• User-driven – better evolution

• Easy to find content and get help

• Relevant content and search

• Folksonomy driving Taxonomy

• Peer-to-peer communication

• Rich interactivity

• Personalisable content

• Increased Flexibility for Local Variation