Searching the intranet: Corporate users and their queries

By examining the log files from a corporate intranet search engine, we have analysed the actual web searching behaviour of real users in a real business environment. While building on previous research on public search engines, we apply an alternative session definition that we argue is more appropriate. Our results regarding session length, query construction and result page viewing confirm some of the findings from similar studies carried out on public search engines but further our understanding of web searching by presenting details on corporate users’ activities. In particular, we suggest that search sessions are shorter than previously suggested, search queries have fewer terms than observed for public search engines, and number of examined result pages is smaller than reported in other research. More research on how corporate intranet users search for information is needed

Web 2.0 in the Business Environment: The New Intranet or a Passing Hype?

There is much talk about the Web 2.0 in the trade press but it is still very difficult to precisely define what it is. Is it yet another technology buzz word or does the concept capture something genuinely new? In this paper we review the literature and examine the main arguments for and against Web 2.0 as a useful concept. From a supportive/obstructive and active/passive management perspective we devise four possible scenarios for Web 2.0 and the enterprise. Based on traditional intranet management principles we discuss whether or not these ideas can successfully be applied to intranets.We argue that although the Web 2.0 concept does contain a core of attitudes, ideas, and services that mark a shift in the way we interact over the Web, the edges are too difficult to define. Hence, Web 2.0 may be an empirical phenomenon that people talk about but as an analytical concept it has little to offer. Still, the technologies associated with Web 2.0 have made their entrance in the corporate world, and commentators already speak of intranet 2.0 or Enterprise 2.0. We conclude that more research on intranet 2.0 or Enterprise 2.0 is needed in order to guide tomorrow’s managers

How Intranets Differ From The Web: Organizational Culture\u27s Effect on Technology

An intranet is what you get when applying web technology inside an organisation and therefore – seen from a strictly technical perspective – intranets are almost identical to the public Web on the Internet. Reviewing available intranet research, it appears most academics seem to assume that intranets and Internet are identical also in other aspects. In this argumentative paper it is suggested that this assumption is erroneous and instead I argue that usage of and attitudes towards intranet differ significantly from that of Internet. Since these differences seem to have evaded academic interest, intranet research has been too single-dimensional, and in this article the organisational culture perspective is suggested as a theoretical lens for understanding intranets. The effects of organisational culture on web technology use and management are highlighted and discussed and the paper presents implications for both research and practice

Intranet as Formative Context: A Study of an Under-Utilized Corporate Web

Although intranets are well-established organisational information environments, many companies experience that their intranets are left under-utilised by the organisational members. Consulting the standard management literature, it seems the strategy typically advocated is tighter management control. In this study, we examine the use of and the attitudes towards an international company’s intranet. Although the respondents’ testimonies seem to be in line with existing literature, advocating centrality and control, we argue this is only a superficial pattern. When the informants’ statements are not accepted as facts but instead critically questioned to reveal the underlying beliefs and attitudes, an alternative view emerges. Applying the notion of formative context to the intranet, we uncover the institutionalised cognitive frames governing the actors reasoning and explain why the intranets tend to drift out of control. In compliance with previous studies of information infrastructure, we conclude that intranet management too is centred on control as the supreme management objective.Consequently, this deceptive image of the intranet as a hierarchical information environment must be replaced with a more de-centralised vision that allows intranets to harness the open-ended purpose for which the web was originally designed

Knowledge Sharing on a Corporate Intranet: Effects of Re-Instating Web Authoring Capability

The web was intended to be a collaborative environment where users could exchange ideas but has turned into a read-only environment. The same is true for corporate intranets. In this paper we examine whether the removal of this read-only limitation can facilitate knowledge sharing. By installing a wiki in a corporate intranet, we intervened in an organisational setting and studied the results of this provocation. We found that the intranet transformed from being a semi-static bulletin board to a dynamic exchange forum for internal information. Our conclusion is that when editing becomes as easy as surfing people who want to share knowledge can indeed do so on a corporate intranet

PATH CREATION IN THE RAILROAD INDUSTRY: DIMENSIONS OF DESIGN IN IT-ENABLED INNOVATION

Taking a process research approach, we have followed a government agency in the railroad industry over a six-year-period as they have engaged in an IT-based innovation project. Providing empirical insights into this process and using path creation theory to analyse our case, we further our understanding of how IT-based innovations evolve over time by highlighting its multi-dimensional nature. We conclude that IT-based innovations cannot be fully understood from the material design dimension alone, i.e., by only focusing on the artefact. IT-based innovation affects and is affected also by what mental models we bring and what actors are engaged in the process. Our work thus contributes to the innovation research by showing that a focus on the material dimension only is insufficient and may result in a prolonged struggle that will not be resolved until looked upon also from a cognitive and/or organisational dimension. The inclusion of all these three dimensions from the outset may lessen the friction involved in IT-based innovation projects

Failures of Reward Driven Behavior in Industry: A Case of Systems, Management and Creativity

Creativity is a much needed quality in today’s business and therefore an important research area. Whilst implementing and evaluating computer support for electronic brainstorming, it was noticed that the sheer presence of technology does neither guarantee usage nor success. Factors such as organisational culture and attitudes seem to have an equally important role, and this observation called for a more focused analysis of the motivational aspects of creativity management. Based on the empirical data from the electronic brainstorming system evaluation and literature on the social psychology of creativity, five pieces of managerial advice to promote corporate creativity are presented: reconsider extrinsic rewards; recognise creative initiatives; encourage entrepreneurship; allow redundancy, and; support interest-driven activities

One Week with a Corporate Search Engine: A Time Based Analysis of Intranet Information Seeking

In this explorative work, we have focused on understanding information seeking behaviour amongst intranet users. By carrying out a time-based analysis of a week’s worth of log data from a corporate-internal search engine, we have been able to observe patterns of usage as it shifts over days and hours. The results show that numbers of started sessions and activities correlate and follow business hours closely but also that the number of terms per query differs significantly over the day but is constant over the week. The number of active users and the number of sessions are higher early in the week and declines as the week progresses, and we also note that frequent search engine users also log more activities per visit. This study shows that intranet seeking behaviour differs from what is known about public web searching. The main contribution is the baseline for more targeted intranet studies that this study provides

Email as an Integration Device: A Study of Work Place Information Sharing

Being able to find relevant information is an important task for today’s organisational members, but how is this achieved when there are so many sources and tools to choose amongst? By interviewing thirteen IT professionals about their information seeking activities, we have analysed their needs, their sources, and their tools and made interesting and novel discoveries. Our findings suggest that social issues are important also in such a seemingly individual task as information seeking. Lack of social awareness in search tools made people use email as a way to integrate different information environments and be able to relate to fellow employees. These insights should be used to design future work place information seeking tools to benefit from the social interactions that exist in a corporate setting

Integration for innovation: Studying the role of middleware in RFID applications

This paper is based on an interpretative multiple case study of two organization where we examine how different middleware architecture approaches affect the utilization of sensor technology, in particular Radio Frequency Identification (RFID). Our study reveals five interesting findings. First, sensor technology is able to digitize and automate previously manual routines but the received value of this process alone is often limited. Second, the possibility of downstream exploitation, and thus innovation, is inhibited when sensor data is too rigidly packaged. Third, organizations should have a clear strategy or vision regarding the desired business benefits when filtering and aggregating sensor data. Fourth, to enable innovative business solutions organizations should combine sensor data with business application data. Fifth, and finally, when utilizing sensor data organizations should prioritize exploitation over exploration since it enables organizations to obtain business innovation