Orienting new users
The current new user experience
Before a meeting about the research communities sites today I asked a grad student to take a look at the intranet. He hadn't seen it before and was completely unfamiliar with it. Watching him for just a couple of minutes was instructive.
The main thing I took away from it was that the intranet isn't very self-explanatory. I already knew this, but watching a new user actually flounder around while trying to get his bearings and figure out what to do with it really drove the point home and made me realize how far we have to go to make it really useful.
A better home page
Lets start with one possible set of changes that might get people off to a better start.
- The user arrives at a page that is designed specificlly to orient them and get them to log in.
- At the top of the page is a prominent login form with some text like "Please log in for personalized options."
- Below that is a grid of large, button-like headings that are the main navigation links. Each heading has explanatory text below it, and some of the text may contain links:
Your Profile
A central point to edit your contact information, biography, publications, documents, and anything else you've created on the intranet.
|
Research Communities
Search, join, or create your own cross-disciplinary groups for research collaborations. Research communities help you share and find publications, seminars, RFPs, lists of facilities and equipment, etc.
|
Schools, Departments, and Programs
Look here for internal documents, policies, and other communications from your school or department.
|
Committees
You're probably on at least one. This is where they keep their meeting schedules, minutes, policies, and work product.
|
College Administration
The offices that carry on the business of the college: Academic Affairs, Engineering Advancement, Financial Affairs, Global Engineering Program, Graduate Education & Interdisciplinary Studies, Marketing and Communications, Research and Entrepreneurship, Resource Planning and Management, Strategic Initiatives, Strategic Planning and Assessment, Support Services, Undergraduate Education
|
Dean of Engineering
Communications from the Dean – the Faculty & Staff eLetter, announcements, college FAQs, and more.
|
Announcements
|
Events & Seminars
|
Engineering Faculty Documents (EFDs)
EFDs needing ELT review
EFDs needing faculty review
All Active EFDs
EFD Archive
|
| |
Intranet Help
How to add, edit, move, rename, publish, archive and delete things on the intranet. Tips on editing your profile, managing your documents and groups, and building effective web sites.
|
|
This set of choices, arrangement, and text is just by way of example. I think that this sort of thing would be more helpful to new users than just the tabs that we have now.
Better default information on new web personal web sites
When someone clicks the "Create My Web Site" button, the new site should give them a lot more guidance on what to do next. Instead of the current default folders and text, there should be an introduction to the intranet document that explains what a personal site is, what you might use it for, and how to work with it.
The default text could include links to a series of task-oriented help documents on how to create a web page, how to organize your files, how to create a photo gallery, etc.
|
