Intranets and information values
| Date | 01 February 2000 |
| Pages | 17-18 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/eb040745 |
| Published date | 01 February 2000 |
| Author | Sheila O'Flynn |
| Subject Matter | Information & knowledge management |
Intranets and
information values
by Sheila O'Flynn, Information
Manager, Unilever
For two years I was involved in managing the
content of a site Intranet. While it was quite nice
to be involved at the centre of a very important
company communication channel I recognised that
my skills as a Librarian were highly relevant in
some but not all areas of the site. Given pressures
of work and a general desire not to waste my own
and other's time in amateur dabbling I set out to
clarify my role and contribution.
Intranets like managers can have one of three
dominant styles: visionary, professional, or col-
laborative.
The Intranet in which I have been involved for just
over two years bears this out. There are pages
"owned" by key players, their content is about
sharing a business vision; usually with as much fan
fare and public relations know how as possible.
Then there is the content that aims to build com-
munities; establishing relationships without the
limitations of location and travel budgets. Finally
there is the Intranet content which one way or
another is about sharing the know-how of a team.
The content is less "packaged" than the sites of our
visionaries - more focused on content than pack-
aging. It is this type of Intranet content in which I
am most interested and in particular how you can
judge and influence for the better the quality of
such content.
The communications content and purposes of
Intranets (whether of the visionary or collaborative
style) is a fascinating area, full of opportunities but
not one that information professionals are espe-
cially well equipped to develop. The content that
we are ideally placed to influence is that which is
about information content in all its guises.
The ease with which content can be added to an
Intranet ensures that Intranets may very quickly
move from not having enough worthwhile content
to having too much content of variable quality.
The good news is that information professionals
have a framework through which they can address
this problem, that is by applying the same values to
intranet information content as we've traditionally
applied to external content in our collection
development.
When we evaluate a site, looking to establish
whether or not it is comprehensive, unique, easy to
use,
value for money, sustainable etc, we do not do
it as agnostics. We have implicit views about
attributes that are desirable depending on what we
are told about the purpose of the content. These
are our information values. Figure
1
is a Mind
Map of attributes around which our values can be
evidenced.
Internal documents or collections may be as well
structured and organised as external collections or
they may be nothing more than Joe Bloggs collec-
tion of "Interesting Stuff on topic X". They may
be a single form or document addressing a single
issue to collections that comprise hundreds of
records, summaries of records or full documents
covering a range of topics or organisational prob-
lems.
This Mind Map serves as the agenda for discussion
with content contributors of all shades. It has
proven to be a very useful way of eliciting infor-
mation about the content and purpose of
a
site.
The Mind Map format is a good way for everyone
to quickly see the list of issues to be discussed. It
is clear that there are no "YES/NO" or Right/
Wrong questions on the agenda. It encourages an
open discussion where contributors are put in the
position of power; only they can give the answers
and only they know (as expert contributors)
whether the site is "fit for purpose". The role of
the information professional then simply shares
their own values as a way of helping to shape those
of less experienced contributors.
Fifteen years out of library school and a decade of
collection building and evaluating meant that my
information values were second nature to me.
However I have been surprised by the degree to
which contributors often do not have an explicit
policy for content, content maintenance, or a well
defined idea of
the
audience they wish to reach, or
indeed what problems their content is to solve. I
have also been surprised by the willingness to
develop explicit policies once given guidance such
as the Mind Map attributes around which to work.
Contributors start to recognise that if they can't
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