How to build an intranet

Redeveloping a corporate intranet can seem like a daunting task – securing buy-in from senior management; capturing technical requirements from across the business; ensuring compatibility with the existing technical infrastructure and software solutions; fostering employee adoption and so on. This series of articles looks at how to get started:

1. Aligning your intranet strategy with your business objectives

2. Identify your starting point

3. Intranet vendor selection and management

4. Hosting and infrastructure of your intranet

5. Intranet accessibility

6. Sustaining your investment

7. The impact of an intranet on cultural change

8. Content credibility

9. Removing old ways of working

Communications Strategy - What's Your Game Plan?

Writing structures

Conveying complex written information in an easy to understand format is an
essential everyday skill for communications professionals. Here are 9 persuasive writing structures to consider when constructing your text:

 1.       Order of importance

You may want to structure your messages in order of importance. For example, if you are writing instructions on how to change a lawn mower blade, you would tell the reader to turn off the electricity supply first!

 2.       Chronological order

Arranging information into chronological order can help the reader to gain a sense of where they are in series of events, and help them to prepare for what is coming next. Examples of writing in chronological order would be: a day in the life of x; a historical account of events; a process that you are guiding the reader through.

 3.       Groups

It may help your reader if you group information under key headings. Remember, people are unlikely to read online information at the top left of the page and read every word. They will scan headings and sub-headings to find information relevant to them. For example, if you are writing copy for a recruitment webpage you might split the copy under the headings of ‘Graduates’, ‘Experienced professionals’, and ‘Interns’. This allows the reader to skip to the section relevant to them straight away.

4.       Location

Can your copy be structured by reader location? This is especially important if your information contains calls to action that differ depending on where they are based.

5.       Benefit-costs

The benefit-cost structure allows you to spell out the pros and cons of a situation. This can be particularly useful in change management situations, because it can help to demonstrate that a number of view-points have been listened to and understood, even if the outcome is not what the reader wants to hear.

 6.       Problem-solution

Think about a trouble-shooting guide and you understand how this writing technique works. If for example, I have a problem with my washing machine, I want to be able to scan down a list of headings that describe my potential problem, and read the one or two paragraphs containing the solution underneath.

 7.       HW5

What, Who, When, Where, Why, How. With this technique, you are likely to be detailing the facts around a particular event. For example, if you are organising a conference, you will list what the event is about, who should attend, when it is happening, and so on.

 8.       Simple to complex

You may be aware that some members of your target audience will be more knowledgeable about your subject area than others. This technique ensures you explain key messages in a simple to understand manner at the start, and lead on to more complex detail for those readers that require it. If your audience only read the first two paragraphs of your text, they should go away with the key messages you needed to deliver.

9.       General to specific

Think about the opening paragraph to a newspaper article – generally, this will summarise the issue in very broad terms, and then go on to provide the specific details of the case.

Get the perfect exposure for your comms - with AEB

Auto Exposure Bracketing (AEB) is a kind of safety net for ensuring your picture has a good exposure. When you shoot in auto mode, your camera’s light meter selects the shutter speed and aperture for you.

To use AEB, you need to take three identical pictures, the:

·        first will be slightly under exposed

·        second will be ‘normal’ exposure

·        third will be slightly over exposed.

Most digital cameras allow you to select the degree to which you want the first and third shots under/over exposed, via the setup menu. 

Setting AEB varies from camera to camera so check your manual for a step by step guide.

Don’t forget to turn off AEB when you are done!

Creating a splash with images

Creating an image like the one above is relatively easy to do and is a great exercise to learn more about shooting in manual mode.

 

You will need a:

• digital camera (with manual mode)
• flash (ideally an external one)
• bowl of water
• drinking straw
• tripod.

 

Setting up your camera equipment

 

1. Fill the bowl with water as much as possible. The bowl will need to be in the place where you are going to photograph it, before you fill it up. I took my photograph in my kitchen because it is a nice bright room and any spills were easy to clean up.

 

2. Mount your camera onto a tripod. This is important because we want the image to be as sharp as possible. Using a tripod helps to eliminate camera shake.

 

3. Switch your camera to manual mode (M) and move it as close to the bowl of water as possible (about half a meter away).

 

4. Now we need to select a shutter speed. As a general rule, your shutter speed should be equal to, or less than, your focal length. So, if your focal length is 60mm, your shutter speed needs to be 1/60 or less. However, we want to freeze the action of a water droplet, so we need a really fast shutter speed - this is why we are using a flash. Set the shutter speed to around 1/200 or 1/250.

 

5. Next, select a narrow aperture (I used an aperture of 8). This will help to make the water droplet nice and sharp.

 

6. Finally, change your ISO to between 100-400. The lower the better. I used 100.

 

Now we have set the three components of exposure - shutter speed, aperture, and ISO. Take a test shot, remembering to use your flash, to see if you are happy with the result (don't worry about the focus for now - this will probably be blurry). Play around with the camera settings until you are happy but remember, keep as high a shutter speed as possible. If the image is too dark, try increasing your ISO. If your image is too light, try decreasing your ISO. Failing that, select a wider aperture (try 5.6).

 

Getting the perfect shot

 

7. Hold your drinking straw in roughly the place that you think the water 'splash' will be (you may need somebody to help you). Now, with your camera in manual focus, make the drinking straw as sharp as possible through the view finder.

 

8. Use the straw to drop water into the bowl (I suggest using an assistant for this). At exactly the same time as you drop the water, press your shutter and take the photo.

 

9. You will probably need to adjust your ISO or aperture until you are happy with the exposure.

How to compose a photograph

Adding an image to a website, blog article, or publication can really help to improve your communication. Here I will explain how you can use the rule-of-thirds to help you compose your photographs for a really professional finish.

The rule of thirds helps the composition of your photographs, making them easier for the human to understand.

When taking a photograph, imagine that the image you see is split into a nine square grid (three rows of three squares). The points at which the squares intersect are the points of interest and you should aim to put the subject(s) of your photo at these points.

In this photograph, I have positioned the little girls face at the 'first' intersection point. The eye instinctively knows to look at the little girls face even though it is not in the centre of the photograph.

Sustaining your investment in an intranet

Back to the index - How to build an intranet


A new intranet is likely to require a substantial financial investment by your organisation. Make sure you get the best return on investment by maintaining as much control over future phases of development as possible.

Action point – Think about who will own the source code of any bespoke development work carried out – your organisation or a third party supplier. What will happen if you want to make changes to this code in the future – will changing it put you in breach of any service level agreements held?

Action point – If you plan to own and modify source code written as part of your intranet development, make sure the developer adds detailed commenting to the code, so it can be better understood by other programmers who access it later on.

Action point – If a third party is developing your intranet, make sure key employees within your organisation have the opportunity to learn how the new technology is configured, as it is being developed (build and learn). This way, you ensure knowledge is transferred throughout the process.

Next article in the series - The impact of an intranet on cultural change