[Sigia-l] University intranets

[Justine Sanderson]

I am currently working on the information architecture for a university
intranet.

Something has struck me as interesting...

Typically, an organisation has a public website AND an intranet. In an
organisation, when an employee opens their browser, it will default, if
anything, to their intranet. The employee may have little reason to
navigate to the public website, unless they are part of a customer
facing department...

Universities,  however - from what I can gather - tend to combine their
public web site and their intranet, usually by providing a 'staff'
section on their website. This section may or may not be (partially)
accessible to the public. The browser typically defaults to the main
university homepage. The employee then has to take the extra steps to
navigate to their intranet...

My questions are as follows:

1. Does anyone know the background or rationale to the above university
model?
2. Has anyone struggled with this model when developing university
intranets? What are the pros and cons?
3. Has anyone tried to change this model, i.e develop an university
intranet distinct from the university's website? Is the cultural change
required too big? What are the issues?

Your thoughts greatly appreciated.


Justine

-------------------------------------------
Justine Sanderson
Usability Consultant
Userfaction
Mobile:  021 654 554
Website: www.userfaction.com
-------------------------------------------