Facilitating Knowledge Work with Intranets: An Investigation of the Organizational Information Environment of Intranet

This paper outlines a qualitative research investigation of intranets and their capacity to facilitate organizational knowledge work. The study calls for an alternate view to intranet systems development and evaluation, one that tempers a predominant focus on information content and technology concerns with an awareness of the information needs, uses, and contexts of organizational participants. The objective is to conduct a case study evaluation of intranet usage that examines the information needs and uses of major sets of users and the organizational environment in which the intranet is utilized. Data collection involved a wide variety of techniques, namely interviews, Web usage tracking software, direct observations, and questionnaires. Both content and transaction log analysis serve as primary modes of data analysis. It is hypothesized that by focusing on user information practices and behaviors, intranets may be better utilized as tools to support organizational communication and group collaborative activity. (Contains 33 references.) (Author/AEF), Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. v-, c::, ICIS 1998 Doctoral Consortium ono Nineteenth Annual Intemational'Conference on Information Systems cn .11 December 10-13, 1998 A W Facilitating Knowledge Work with Intranets: An Investigation of the Organizational Information Environment of Intranet Users Brian Detlor Faculty of Information Studies, University of Toronto 140 St. George Street, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, M5S 3G6 Phone: 416-978-4655 (w), 416-920-3193 (h), 416-971-1399 (f) E-mail: [email protected] URL: http://www.fis.utoronto.ca/detlor PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE AND DISSEMINATE THIS MATERIAL HAS BEEN GRANTED BY