Everyone is naturally resistant to reading masses of text on screen, so why do people still insist on publishing at length as if they were writing for print? Malcolm Davison of writingfortheweb.co.uk links you to a useful program from the Plain English Campaign that your content creators can use to improve their work.

Source: writingfortheweb.tumblr.com Posted by MDavison 10 days, 15 hours, 57 minutes ago

Time is money, in particular when you work at an accountancy firm with billable hours as the key revenue stream. Still, how do you get employees to track their time regularly and make sure their time sheets are up-to-date?

At accountancy firm BDO Danmark, a part of BDO International, they have managed to turn time tracking into an intranet killer app by making the unusual decision to place it prominently on the intranet front page. In less than 6 months after launch, the average number of working days t...

Source: jboye.com Posted by admin 21 days, 6 hours, 19 minutes ago

If your office intranet allows you to create a profile, I suggest you fill it in as as well as you can.

Just like in social networks like Facebook and LinkedIn, profiles are usually the starting point of connections in an intranet.

This blog post explores why.

Source: www.vialect.com Posted by admin 27 days, 6 hours, 2 minutes ago

I’ve seen ‘gamification’ mentioned several times over the last few months, and each time I viewed the word with a little bit of annoyance and a certain amount of suspicion. What does it mean? Why are people using it? And is it contagious?

I must admit (proudly) to not often coming up against words I don’t know the meaning of, and it embarrassed me slightly. After all, this is my field – technology engagement, employee engagement – if there’s a new management fad going round, I generally want to be on it. At least so I can say it’s a management fad and dismiss it with a (slightly camp, albeit) wave of my hand.

There was a cocooned safety in not knowing what it meant, but also a danger. I’m a consultant. What if someone asked me about it? Would I look stupid? Out of the loop? Not up with the latest trends? Would I have to find a longer, more complicated, word to distract them?

And so it was with trepidation that I clicked this link on Twitter this morning, posted by Guardian Tech (@guardiantech) - From Angry Birds to Draw Something: how gamification can work for you...

Source: www.tech-changes.com Posted by SooziHL 36 days, 16 hours, 27 minutes ago

I believe many internal communications professionals are not appreciating the benefits that collaboration tools can bring. Instead they are seen as a threat to traditional channels used for communicating corporate messages to employees. In my previous post ‘Can collaboration tools improve internal communications?‘ I disagreed with this attitude.

Changing this approach is not a simple task. Before you can consider using any collaboration tools you need to have the right culture within your organisation. I’m afraid the approach of “I’ll start a blog to change the culture” is doomed to failure.....

Source: intranet-pioneer.com Posted by markmorrell 42 days, 17 hours, 16 minutes ago

Many companies face the challenge of getting their customers the right product at the right time. And many companies employ a taxonomy to help drive product sales and improve findability on consumer-facing public websites.

Taxonomy Development for Employees

However, there are millions of "customers" facing the same issue within companies every day. The customers are employees, who are asking: How do I find the best "product" to help me get my job done faster with more effectiveness?

Source: www.cmswire.com Posted by admin 57 days, 6 hours, 33 minutes ago

Are you hesitant to write an internal blog, because you’re worried of being seen as having too much time on your hands?

Unfortunately, despite internal blogging’s role in increasing collaboration and knowledge sharing in the workplace, there is an impression that only those who are not busy enough at their jobs, blog.

This is a misguided notion and if this fear has been keeping you from blogging internally, it could be harming both you and your organization.

Done properly, an internal blog is good, not only for the organization, but for the blogger as well.

Below, I discuss the ways in which publishing an internal blog can do you good.

Source: www.vialect.com Posted by admin 61 days, 5 hours, 19 minutes ago

Designing intranet home pages has always been part battle, part balancing act. Intranet teams are trying to fit a variety of functions and content into a limited space, while ensuring acceptable levels of usability, aesthetics, corporate branding and sometimes accessibility.

They’re also trying to keep various stakeholders and user populations happy, some of whom will have conflicting views of what should constitute the home page. For example leadership and internal communications functions will generally emphasize the intranet’s role as a central news and internal communications channel, although this may actually be less important to users who are more interested in task-orientated content and functionality that helps them get their work done.

Source: www.ibforum.com Posted by admin 70 days, 5 hours, 35 minutes ago

The amount of noise in organisations is rife, with everyone wanting to have their say and pitch their messages on the real estate homepage of the intranet. If ‘control’ of the homepage is given to more than one function, there is often a scattergun approach of firing messages at employees in the hope they will stick and land effectively. I think it goes without saying that this doesn’t work!

I was asked to write a post about why I think internal comms is the most important function of an intranet. Intranets traditionally are ‘owned’ by Comms teams, who are often the main stakeholders and use most of the homepage. However without a well-designed site and strong partnership with IT, who can help translate Comms requirements into reality, you’re fighting a losing battle.

Source: intranetizen.com Posted by admin 70 days, 5 hours, 25 minutes ago

When Malcolm Davison, of writingfortheweb.co.uk, reviews websites and intranets he occasionally comes across huge monolithic web pages that descend 12 screen depths and more. It’s very likely that he is not the only reader that will abandon such pages and move on.

It raises serious questions about the management of the web content. Why do these content crimes happen happen and how can they be avoided? Check out Malcolm's latest blog and his latest web courses in London and Edinburgh.

Source: writingfortheweb.tumblr.com Posted by MDavison 82 days, 9 hours, 35 minutes ago