Much of the discussion going on in the marketplace about intranets-in everything from books and magazine articles to conferences and workshops-focuses on employing the World Wide Web's characteristics in an internal communication and information network. In fact, a corporate Web is only one part of the intranet. As I have already noted, an intranet is the Internet inside your organization. In other words, if it runs on the Internet, it can be incorporated into your intranet. That opens up the internal system to tremendous possibilities-not just for using the various tools that are available, but for merging their functions, marrying their capabilities, and creating a seamless system that provides real value, is easy to use, and results in the kinds of strategic return on investment that management expects.
In this chapter, we will take a look at the various components of the Internet that can be incorporated into the organizational intranet. You may expect that we will start with the Web, since the Web is the glue that holds the intranet together. But instead, we're going to look at the other elements of the intranet first. We'll save the Web for last in order to explore how it can be used to make all the other various, divergent components of the intranet appear to the employee to be part of a single, seamless system.
Newsgroups embody the notion of many-to-many communication more than any other single element of online communication. Newsgroups are the Internet version of bulletin board services, which enable people to select a topic of interest and either post an original article for others to read, or reply to an article somebody else has posted, making the reply available for others to read. Newsgroups offer a real advantage by inviting only those with an interest in the subject to join in. Another advantage is that participants are not required to participate in real time, but rather can review articles and make their own contributions when it is convenient for them. Newsgroups have been referred to as an "ongoing dialogue."
When Tektronix, the Oregon-based manufacturer of printers and other peripheral equipment for computers, decided to implement an intranet, its initial effort was not the corporate Web, but the development of companywide internal newsgroups based on the USENET system. Part of that decision was based on the fact that the engineers at the company already had newsgroups they had been using for some time. Much of the decision, however, was based on an examination of the organization's greatest communication and information needs. It became very clear that many of the issues and problems employees faced from day to day could be addressed by obtaining information, advice, and counsel from other employees. That's exactly what newsgroups do.
For those of you who haven't participated in newsgroups, here's what to look for:
When people voluntarily come together because they share common interests, they quickly bond into a community with rules of what is acceptable, what is not, what the purpose of the group is, and how things will get done.
Newsgroups do not function in real time, but the telephone does. It doesn't matter how nice or helpful or considerate you are; if you are in the middle of an important project and someone calls you on the telephone for help, you just can't give that request the attention you might normally give it. You either provide a cursory, half-hearted reply designed to be fast, or you simply admit that you can't talk right now. On newsgroups, people don't check in until they have the time, which means they also have the time to offer answers to questions that others may pose. Combined with the fact that they already have an interest in the newsgroup's focus, this results in a tremendous exchange of information.
The sense of community you gain from a newsgroup comes from the realization that everybody engaged in the discussion has a common interest-whether it is engineering, gardening, the Beatles, or C++ programming. Members of the community you live in also have common interests-water and electricity that works, decent schools, a crime-free environment, low taxes. Camaraderie, however, is an emotional quality that emerges when people in the community get to know one another. In USENET newsgroups, that camaraderie is based on continuing exchanges which build a sense that "we're all in this together," that "we're special and different from everyone else," and "we can count on one another."
In his book, Virtual Communities, Howard Rheingold talks about the Parenting Conference on The WELL, where Phil Catalfo found support and advice when he learned that his son, Gabe, had leukemia. When Gabe went into remission, the Parenting participants took up a collection to send the entire family to Hawaii. Many of the participants had never met one another face-to-face, but it was an emotional sense of connection that led these people from all over the world with no other bond than their computers and their phone lines to make a special effort on behalf of one of their own.
Of course, not all newsgroups will serve as examples of these dynamics. Some newsgroups have little value and are populated by people you might never want to know. A newsgroup that features complaints about a particular television show or recording artist, for example, is not likely to produce the kinds of results that you would want to mirror in an organization.
Newsgroups fall into two basic categories, moderated and unmoderated.
Unmoderated newsgroups can bring to organizations the same kinds of advantages they bring to the individuals who use them on the Internet-an effective means of communicating with people whom employees otherwise would never even meet. Employees can take advantage of other peoples' knowledge, contribute their own unique knowledge to a growing community of people who share an interest, and help build that community (or, in the context of an organization, build a de facto team). Moderated newsgroups have a place in the organization, too, but they are more limited in what they can achieve.
Cross-posting is another advantage of intranet newsgroups. Often news spans several pertinent subject areas and cross-posting allows people access to the information from several entry points.
There are several other issues to consider when bringing newsgroups inside. It may seem simple but care must be taken about the names chosen for the newsgroups. It is helpful to remember that people will be new to the groups so the names should be meaningful. Also, because issues wax and wane, the newsgroups probably should not be deleted. This means that aging newsgroups still have meaning. It might confuse people to start and stop and then start another groups all with the same name.
Moderated newsgroups are established in such a way that a designated moderator (or sysop) controls what is posted. Moderators must view each item that is posted to the newsgroup before clearing it. Moderators can change postings, send them back to the originator for modification, or kill them altogether. Traditional, hierarchical organizations may be inclined to make sure that all newsgroups are moderated. That way, management can be confident that nothing "out of line" appears on the internal newsgroup system.
Such an approach is likely to stifle the creative, community-building, problem-solving, information-sharing nature of newsgroups. If people routinely find their postings altered or removed, and if word gets around that the newsgroups are censored-their contents carefully screened so only "appropriate" articles are posted-the perceived value of the newsgroups will be diminished, and employees will return to other sources for their information (notably, the grapevine).
It is also worth noting that one of the benefits of communication systems founded on electronic systems is speed. If someone has to review every message posted to a newsgroup, that will slow down the process and, again, reduce the value of the system. And what happens when the moderator takes a business trip, goes on vacation, or is out sick?
Nevertheless, there are circumstances under which it is appropriate to restrict employee access to some newsgroups. In such cases, only those authorized to post sensitive information should be able to contribute articles, although anybody in the organization should be able to read them. (Discussions about the topics can be held in other appropriate newsgroups.) These newsgroups must be selected carefully. They might include such groups as:
In other instances, depending on the company's policies and procedures,
it might make sense to have somebody play the role of gatekeeper
for a newsgroup when certain rules govern the material that can
be submitted. For example, classified advertising newsgroups are
very popular in many organizations. Some organizations, for legal
reasons, have policies that preclude employees from submitting
classified ads that promote businesses (such as a spouse's enterprise
or a side business). Other organizations do not permit solicitation
of other employees for such items as Girl Scout cookies. These
organizations define what is an appropriate classified ad; generally
it is something like "The one-time sale of personal items,
seeking of roommates, and other personal, non-business-related
advertisements." Clearly, if the classified ad vehicle is
going to migrate to a newsgroup, somebody will need to screen
the ads to ensure that postings don't violate the rules.
| NOTE |
The role of technology in the organization is to improve a process. The advantages of online text are obvious when you consider the time and effort it takes to retype, format, reproduce, and distribute the same material on paper- a time-consuming process that repeats for each revision. |
You might ask, "If somebody is going to have to read every classified ad, why bother moving it to a newsgroup at all?" That gets back to the role of technology in the organization: It improves a process. Sure, somebody has had to read all those ads up until now, but he or she also had to retype them, format them, produce an original document, reproduce the document, and distribute it. That's a lot of time and effort that could be better spent on more productive activities aligned with the organization's goals and objectives.
Of more value to the organization are the unmoderated newsgroups, where a free exchange of ideas and information can take place. This is the embodiment of the many-to-many, community-building nature of online communication. Generally, when we come to work, our "community" is limited to those people with whom we work day in and day out-those we can see and get to easily. It may extend to those with whom we have developed some sort of relationship during various projects-people we didn't know before the project but now know well enough to say, "Hi!" when we see them in the cafeteria.
A newsgroup expands that community to every employee in the organization, wherever they may work, regardless of whether you have ever met them or not. In an environment where such an exchange is encouraged, employees can start their own newsgroups whenever they are needed. All types of newsgroups might emerge, from those based on particular jobs and projects to those based on personal needs and interests.
Specialized Newsgroups It is very likely that people will want to set up newsgroups based on particular specialties within the organization. Newsgroups could be established for:
This list is not meant to be all-inclusive but just to spark some thinking about the various types of jobs in which people can benefit from sharing information. In these newsgroups, people for whom the common denominator is the kind of work they do would be able to find one another and capitalize on one another's knowledge. Consider the following scenarios.
Departmental Newsgroups Departments often comprise a variety
of job titles and specialties. Marketing is a good example. In
a typical marketing department you can find individuals whose
jobs are to write copy, buy media time, conduct market research,
manage external agencies, put on trade shows, develop broad concepts,
monitor the competition, … you get the idea.
| NOTES |
Specialized newsgroups provide a means for departments or other groups to be kept up to minute in these days of rapidly changing business operations. For companies with multiple geographic locations or cross-departmental teams, specialized newsgroups facilitate communication. |
What they have in common is a set of objectives that are aligned with the company's larger strategy. In centrally located departments, that makes for an easy communication and information-sharing process. For departments that are spread out, however (such as those with employees who work in multiple manufacturing sites but all report through the Operations Department or the Quality Assurance Department), it's not so easy. A newsgroup dedicated to the department can improve the ability of members of the department to stay in touch with one another, to share views on issues facing the department, and to participate as a department in discussions that affect the group.
Project-Based Newsgroups Another type of newsgroup is one based on specific efforts of the organization. These could include such projects as:
In these newsgroups, scientists and engineers can mingle in the same online community as accountants and human resources professionals. The job title is not the common denominator; rather, it is the task they have come together to complete.
The implementation of a new system is a good example of how such a newsgroup can serve a company's needs. Suppose your organization is installing a new database system worldwide. Although that is primarily a systems project, it has implications for every department in the company. The newsgroup initially could be used to obtain input about various departmental requirements for the system's functionality. Then it could serve as a place where schedules could be developed. As the implementation continued, participants could discuss problems they were having and solutions they found. Concerns about the new system could be raised and addressed. Everybody would have a voice. The newsgroup would provide a forum for everybody's issues.
Newsgroups for Initiatives Corporations are notorious for initiatives. Their names sound like a litany of programs that historically have enjoyed little employee support. Do any of the following sound familiar?
In addition to these specific initiatives, organizations routinely develop and communicate vision statements, value statements, mission statements, strategic positioning statements, and all kinds of statements that often are relegated to posters, framed and hung with great ceremony on conference-room walls.
Employees who were not part of the process of developing the statements and who have nothing invested in the final product look at the statements and shrug (or worse, wonder what kind of clown came up with that nonsense). A newsgroup can turn the process of developing these initiatives, communicating them, and keeping them alive into an inclusive process that brings real meaning to the entire employee population.
As an example, here is how a vision statement might be initiated through a newsgroup: The CEO launches the newsgroup and explains her objectives in developing a new company vision statement. She has her own vision, she writes, but before she shares it, she wants to hear from employees about their visions for the organization. Based on the response, the CEO can determine whether the employees' visions align well with her own. Using the feedback, she and her team can craft a vision statement and offer it on the newsgroup for comment, along with any explanation that might be appropriate. The feedback might include some from employees who take issue with the vision; others may take a crack at writing their own versions. The crafting of the statement becomes a collaborative process, and when a final statement is released, the entire organization feels it has ownership of that statement.
Then it is important to discuss how the organization translates the vision into action. The newsgroup can become a source of ideas, success stories, and ongoing discussion about how well the organization is doing in its effort to ultimately achieve the vision.
Miscellaneous Newsgroups All of the newsgroups addressed so far are business focused. There is room, though, for one last category of newsgroups-those that don't fit anywhere else. These can include extracurricular activities, such as:
These newsgroups facilitate the kind of information that often clogs formal communication channels but that also creates a sense of family, community, and unity among employees.
On USENET, an article posted to one newsgroup is often relevant in one or more other newsgroups. The author often takes it upon him or herself to cross-post the article to related newsgroups. The same concept can work on an internal newsgroup system, but it requires more care. Cross-posting should be permitted, but the company will need to develop policies and guidelines to ensure that employees don't routinely see the same article in several newsgroups. Cross-posting should be limited to those instances in which it is very important that participants in multiple newsgroups all see the same message.
Here's an example: The Human Resources Department employees are discussing the implementation of a new Human Resources system in their newsgroup. Somebody asks about the interface between the HR system and the larger company databases. The Human Resources Information Systems manager posts a reply and cross-posts it to the Management Information Systems (MIS) Department's newsgroup, as well as to the Systems Administrator's newsgroup, so that everybody has a chance to see his or her answer and to comment.
With more than 20,000 newsgroups on the Internet, it is through the names of these newsgroups that individuals generally are able to find what they want. So it should be with internal newsgroups. The names should follow a hierarchy similar to USENET newsgroups, beginning with a three- or four-letter representation of the company name. (All of Tektronix's internal newsgroups begin with tek.) The hierarchy can be an internal decision based on a scheme that makes sense in that particular organization, but once the scheme is established, it should remain consistent.
Some newsgroups will never grow old. As long as there are engineers,
there will be a use for engineers' newsgroups. Other newsgroups,
such as the one for implementing a new database system discussed
earlier, will have a peak of activity, then die down until virtually
nothing is posted there, particularly well after the implementation
has been completed.
| NOTE |
Issues have a way of reemerging in organizations, and it would be good to have an existing newsgroup in which to discuss them. |
Should these old newsgroups be deleted? Probably not. They don't cause confusion or take up space while they are dormant. Removing them could create the impression that management does not want anybody talking about this issue any more. And many newsgroups contain archives of the discussions that occurred there, which could prove valuable in the future.
If your organization elects to emulate Tektronix and implement newsgroups before the internal Web, you will need software that employees can use to access the newsgroups. Since intranets, like the Internet, are open systems, you are not limited to one or another particular software package. You can choose your client based on the guidelines and policies you plan to put into place for the use of newsgroups.
Several client packages are freeware, available at no cost; others have low site-license fees; others have higher price tags. Tektronix opted for Trumpet News. Another excellent newsgroup package is Agent (Figure 2.1). Whatever client you select, make sure it meets your organization's needs, and try to standardize that choice (or choices, if your company operates on more than one computer platform) in order to make training and support as easy as possible.
If your organization is going to permit employees to post articles and seek information in internal newsgroups, why not allow the same access to external newsgroups? To be sure, with 20,000 newsgroups on USENET, there is some potential for employees to waste company time in newsgroups that address their personal hobbies, favorite recording artists, or newsgroups where they can rant and rave about a particular social or political issue.
On the other hand, there are newsgroups for most of the professions and specialties that would be useful inside an organization-notably for engineers, scientists, and other functions. If employees are unable to find answers in the company's online community, allow them to seek an expanded community: the worldwide community of engineers, or software writers, or biologists.
USENET news server software is available from ftp.uu.net. The
protocol for USENET news is Network News Transfer Protocol (NNTP),
and the specifications are available in Request for Comments (RFCs)
850 and 977. However, because of the difficulty involved in setting
up an NNTP server, many organizations are opting for non-USENET
software for their internal online discussion forums. Perhaps
the most famous of these is First Class, although other, Web-based
software is now gaining ground, such as Web Crossing. Another
newcomer, Yapp, is being used by Pacific Telesis, for example.
The advantages of these Web-based systems often start with their
being easier to administer than USENET software, and may extend
to having better structure, integration with other Web-based systems,
and the use of a more familiar interface. On the other hand, USENET
is still the standard for worldwide discussion forums.
| NOTE |
External newsgroups can be another way to leverage the advantages of intranet technology. The world is full of experts who generally are happy to share their knowledge with each other. |
What is there to know about e-mail? Odds are, your company already has it, and you (or your department) probably made it possible. E-mail, however, is generally a stand-alone application; to use it, employees must launch the e-mail application (usually something like cc:Mail, MS Mail, or even older programs such as PROFS), compose the mail, enter the name of the recipient, and send it. When they are done, they have to close the program.
As part of an intranet, e-mail becomes integrated with the rest of the information infrastructure. The best way to make that possible is to use the open e-mail protocol SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol), which is designed to operate with TCP/IP. Of course, information systems departments have their reasons for choosing proprietary e-mail systems over SMTP mail. Different systems include different features, such as bulletin board capability and mailing lists. However, in an open TCP/IP environment, such capabilities can be added and made to function seamlessly as part of the intranet. (The bulletin board requirement, for example, can be met through the use of newsgroups.)
The interoperability of newsgroups and e-mail is part of the whole notion of an integrated information infrastructure. Most newsgroup clients, such as Agent and Trumpet News, allow the user to respond to an article either by posting a follow-up directly to the newsgroup or by sending a private e-mail. It is the open nature of the Net (Inter or Intra) that allows this flexibility.
Another reason to choose a proprietary system is that some systems function better under various network structures. Again, TCP/IP's open nature means that any SMTP mail client, such as Eudora Pro (Figure 2.2), will work just fine.
Figure 2.2 : Eudora Pro, an e-mail client.
If your organization is one of many that have made a significant investment in proprietary e-mail systems, that's fine. Most of those systems can be made to function like SMTP mail within an intranet. In fact, using an intranet Web interface can create the appearance of consistency in large organizations that suffer from multiple, incompatible e-mail systems. By ultimately routing all e-mail through an SMTP server, the e-mail can be sent to any desktop with a unique IP address, where it can be read using any SMTP mail client or a mail-capable Web browser (such as Netscape Navigator). Although it will take a considerable amount of work on the systems side to make that happen, it can resolve all kinds of compatibility issues for users. An advantage of the e-mail clients that function on an SMTP system is that they make the exchange of nontext files such as spreadsheets, schedules, word processor files, graphics, and other documents very easy.
Meeting users' needs is a critical issue for systems professionals and one that often eludes them. As discussed in One, "The Big Picture," if the system does not accommodate the way people use information, it will only be a source of frustration, or worse. It's important to remember that how people use the information system is not a system issue; it's a communication issue. The example in One of how the Systems Department and Employee Communications Department in one organization worked together to provide efficient, meaningful communications illustrates the value of considering other points of view before implementing the system. So it should be with an intranet, which combines e-mail with other internal communication and information systems in order to exploit each for its best features and uses.
Another way to use e-mail as a component of an intranet is to
take advantage of the freeware available that enables companies
to establish e-mail mailing lists, commonly known as listservs.
A listserv allows individuals who are interested in a particular
topic to "subscribe" to a mailing list established for
that purpose. Once subscribed, the individual receives all e-mail
that is addressed to the list. Similarly, the individual knows
that any e-mail he or she sends to the list will be distributed
to all the other subscribers who share his or her interest.
| NOTE |
A listserv helps make sure people get information they want and need. Listserv participants tend to take their topic and their involvement in the list more seriously. |
Listservs have grown in popularity on the Internet. They serve the same function as USENET newsgroups, in that people who share a common interest can engage in an ongoing discussion with one another. They are slightly more exclusive than newsgroups because participants have to make the effort to subscribe; whereas a newsgroup allows you to jump in, dump your bucket, and leave. Listserv participants tend to take their topic and their involvement in the list more seriously. Most listserv subscribers will tell you they get more value out of their lists than they do related USENET newsgroups. (Another advantage of listservs is that they do not require special client software; just the e-mail client.)
The same value can be applied inside an organization. While newsgroups can be used for general discussions in which employees choose whether or not to participate, listservs can be established for more specific projects and tasks, for volunteer activities (such as a community service effort), and for short-term efforts. A company leader may want to establish a listserv so that he or she can decide who the subscribers will be. In any case, a listserv helps make sure people get information they want and need, and it helps eliminate the information overload inherent in a basic e-mail system.
Another advantage of mailing lists such as these is that they can be "gatewayed" into newsgroups, and vice versa, so that all postings to one show up in the other.This allows some people to participate via e-mail and others to participate using news reader software. Such integration accommodates the user-based nature of an intranet and ensures that all employees have the easiest possible access to the information they need.
The most commonly used mailing list software packages include
SMTP is the standard way of sending e-mail messages from machine to machine on the Internet. All commercially available and freely available Internet e-mail software supports SMTP. If it doesn't support SMTP, it isn't Internet e-mail. The specification is RFC 821.
Internet Relay Chat (IRC) is the real-time equivalent of USENET newsgroups. Rather than post an article when you're ready that will be read by others later, when they're ready, everybody must be in a designated chat room right now to read the messages being posted there, right now.
Readers of Rheingold's Virtual Communities will remember that it was through IRC that the Western media learned of the Soviet coup attempt and the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. The leaders of both of these actions studied their history well and captured the traditional sources of news dissemination-radio, television, and newspapers. But college students were able to transmit, in real time, the goings-on in their respective countries to their Western counterparts using IRC. (Rheingold includes transcripts of IRC transmissions that contain news of bombs falling in Kuwait in his book.)
Applications of IRC within the organization may be limited, but it certainly offers advantages over a typical telephone conference call, for one. In telephone conference calls, only one person can speak at a time, it is sometimes hard to tell who is speaking at any given moment, and it is not easy to save a transcript of the discussion. The cost of an audio conference can also be steep, with geographically scattered employees of a department dialing a common phone number in order to participate.
Using IRC, on the other hand, any employee can gain access to the server through his or her local connection. The manager can kick things off with an opening statement, then open it up to questions and discussion. The statements appear on the screen, preceded by the employee's name, as they are entered. Following a conversation this way takes a little getting used to, but it offers some advantages over conference calls, and the text file can be saved for those employees who are unable to participate.
While IRC allows employees to engage in real-time discussions, it does not serve as a means of getting in touch with employees with whom you desperately need to speak who are otherwise tied up (such as on the phone). To engage in IRC chat, all employees who are going to participate need to make a conscious effort to be there at a designated time, or chance to jump into an existing chat.
I recently judged an intranet that had been submitted to a communications association's annual awards program. The entrant started the narrative portion of her entry by complaining that the systems staff wanted to install a Gopher server in her organization. She referred to Gopher as a "dinosaur" and patted herself on the back for convincing management to abandon the idea in favor of an internal Web. The intranet was good enough to win an award, but I made a note on the judging form: "Gophers are not dinosaurs, and Gophers and the Web are not mutually exclusive." In fact, the Internet-wide Gopher system, known as "Gopherspace," collectively contains more information than the World Wide Web, is faster to search, and returns the results more quickly than Web servers can parse Web pages.
Gopher was developed as a hierarchical, menu-based filing structure
for storing files on the Internet. Many people think its name
comes from the fact that it allows you to burrow through the Net,
but Gopher was developed at the University of Minnesota, home
of the Gopher athletic program; hence, the name. Gopher is easy
to use, particularly when a search is limited to a single Gopher
server (which it presumably would be in an intranet environment),
as opposed to an all-Gopherspace search, which requires a little
more savvy.
| NOTE |
Gopher systems are not mutually exclusive with Web systems. Gophers are easy to maintain and are easily integrated into web servers. |
Still, if internal documents can be stored on a Web server dedicated to the intranet, why bother with a Gopher system? One reason is that Gophers are easier to maintain. Because the menus are usually constructed from one-line descriptions of files and submenus, people with very little training can maintain Gopher servers. And Gopher servers are very easily integrated into Web servers. Several other reasons you might want to use a Gopher system come to mind, including the following scenarios.
A corporate Gopher menu might look like this:
Welcome to the Acme Incorporated Gopher
Like other TCP/IP-based systems, Gopher operates on a variety of client applications, many of which are available free or at a low cost. One, WS-Gopher, is shown in Figure 2.3. And, of course, Gopher works just fine on a Web browser. A Gopher system as it appears on Netscape Navigator is shown in Figure 2.4.
Figure 2.3 : WS-Gopher, an independent Gopher client.
You can obtain Gopher server software from the University of Minnesota's FTP site at ftp://boombox.micro.umn.edu/pub/gopher. The specification is RFC 1436.
FTP stands for File Transfer Protocol. It allows people to access
files stored on the FTP server and transfer them to their own
computers. This system allows large files of any type-notably
executable and compressed files-to be transferred directly from
the Web interface. This is not dramatically different from existing
LAN transfer systems, except that it can be built into
the Web. In fact, it can be invisible to the user, who simply
clicks on the name of the file on a Web page, and the FTP function
is launched behind the scenes.
| NOTE |
You could probably do everything an FTP server does with a Web server, with less hassle, since you wouldn't have to run a separate server, except one thing: FTP servers can receive files sent by the user. So an FTP server can be the best way to let people put files into a system. |
Here's an example: Sarah, a sales representative, has created a file in Microsoft Word. In it, she details her experience in dealing with the Acme account and Acme's notorious purchasing agent, Otto Obstacle. Some sales representatives might find the account interesting, particularly those in other divisions who also sell to Acme. Some might find it a valuable case study in dealing with a resistant purchasing agent. Others might have no interest at all. Rather than post the entire item as a newsgroup article or distribute it on a mailing list for sales reps, Sarah can use FTP to store the file in a common file storage area and alert potentially interested parties-by e-mail or newsgroups-that the file will be available for downloading by anybody who wants it.
FTP integrates nicely into an intranet. Just as you can use most newer Web browsers to view Gopher files, you can also visit FTP sites by entering ftp:// on the URL line. Even more useful is the fact that you can simply enter the name of the file you want to make available on a Web page, establish a link to the file, and the browser will do the rest. (If you have ever downloaded Netscape Navigator, Microsoft Internet Explorer, or any other Internet client application from a Web page, you were most likely using FTP without even knowing it.)
In a corporate environment, FTP has uses beyond the "anonymous FTP" that allows anybody to download any file stored on an FTP server in a directory designated as "public." You also can password-protect various directories where you may want to store files to which only certain employees should have access. (The word "anonymous" as used here simply means that the individual downloading a file does not need to go through any kind of authentication process. An anonymous FTP capability would be valuable for files that anybody in the company can access as opposed to those that should be restricted only to those who have a legitimate business need for them.)
This is probably beginning to sound like a litany, but the open nature of TCP/IP means you are not limited to any particular software client in order to use FTP. A number of FTP clients are available for free or for a shareware fee, including Cute-FTP (Figure 2.5). And, if your intranet is centered around an internal Web, you can ensure that the browser your organization designates as its standard is one that will operate with FTP.
The FTP server software is built into most TCP/IP product packages, so you don't need to obtain it from a discrete location. The specification for FTP is RFC 959.
MUDs (Multi-User Dungeons) and MOOs (MUD, Object-Oriented), the more benign cousins of the MUDs, are virtual meeting grounds grounded firmly in the world of ASCII text. In these environments, the participants (or the "wizards" in charge) create virtual spaces- rooms, forests, roads, theme parks, restaurants, you name it. Participants navigate to the various places they want to go in order to interact with other participants.
MUDs and MOOs are text-based environments in which people interact with a text-based environment and with one another. Simple text commands control the interaction with the environment. Typing look, for example, generates a text-based description of the environment:
You are in a conference room. A large oval table of rosewood dominates the center of the room; it is surrounded by chairs. A podium is at the head of the table to your right. Bright light streams in from the large plateglass windows; the blinds are drawn.
Similar text commands allow you to move around in the environment. Typing enter door, for instance, will result in text that reads:
You are now in the lobby. The door to the conference room is behind you. To the right is a row of cubicles. To the left is the coffee room. Straight ahead are double doors that lead to the elevators.
In such an environment, you can select the room in which you would like to be (for instance, which of three different discussion groups would you like to join?); or possibly, you would rather be in the foyer where people have come to discuss a recently concluded session.
In many companies dozens of internal conferences are convened. People from all over the world gather to discuss everything from engineering to quality improvement. Obviously, the companies think these gatherings are important or they would not authorize them. But consider the downside:
In 1994, a group of biologists conducted a conference on the Internet in a MOO environment instead of a physical location. The cost of participating was ridiculously low, since there were no facility costs to cover. Anybody could participate, since nobody needed to travel farther than his or her own desktop computer in order to attend. And when it was clear that the amount of material and interest justified continuing the conference for several more days, the participants decided simply to keep it going.
In such an environment, documents are treated like any other object that you can see or pick up. If you are directed to a document, you enter the words read document, and the text of the document flows onto your screen.
The same benefits can easily be transferred to corporate conferences. It's not difficult to teach those who can take advantage of the system how to navigate their way through it. Generally, you just provide them with a place to start. When they get there, they are greeted with text that might read something like this:
You are in the lobby. The ballroom is to your left. Five breakout rooms are to your right. Straight ahead is the bar. Today's events include a general session lecture in the ballroom at 8:00 a.m. The following breakout sessions are scheduled…
If the participant decides she wants to go to the lecture and discussion about quantum physics in breakout room number three at 10:00 a.m., she simply types go to breakout room 3, and the software beams her directly into that room (virtually, of course). There, she can "listen" to the lecture (which is typed by the person delivering the talk), after which she and other participants can engage the speaker in a discussion, mimicking the question-and-answer session that usually follows such a talk. Afterwards, she can type go to the bar, and she will appear in the bar, where she can discuss the session with others in a more casual environment.
On the Internet, MUD and MOO inhabitants get there via Telnet, the original means of getting into Internet-connected computers. This requires the installation of a Telnet client on each employee's desktop. An employee wanting to join a MUD-based conference would click on the link that leads her there. This would launch the Telnet client-separate from the Web browser-which would greet the employee with the prearranged words of welcome for that conference.
Virtual reality is a three-dimensional, graphical representation of a MUD or MOO. When you type your words in a MUD or MOO, they appear to other inhabitants following your name, like this:
John: Who brought the donuts?
Anybody who wants to know something about John would be able to type a command and see a text-based description, like this:
John is a 23-year-old junior employee currently employed in the mailroom. He is 6 feet tall with prematurely gray hair and has an insatiable appetite for donuts, particularly jelly donuts.
Similarly, you can "see" the room you are in by asking for a description:
Breakout room number three is a plain room that looks much like any nondescript hotel meeting room. It is set up auditorium style. Facing the chairs is a podium. The lighting is fluorescent, and very bad.
In a virtual environment, none of this verbiage is necessary since all of these attributes are plainly visible. The rooms can be designed to match any desired appearance. As for the individuals, each one is represented in the virtual space by an avatar, which they have selected to serve as their images in this virtual space. (Avatar was coined by sci-fi writer Neal Stephenson in his book, Snow Crash. Avatars are software-generated images of people that users adopt to represent them in a three-dimensional online environment.)
The current state of virtual reality is primitive, but it still has some uses. IBM already has developed some of these environments for a variety of purposes. VISA International is working on building such a virtual space for customer service applications. (Imagine customer service representatives who no longer have to come to an office but work from their homes, meeting "face-to-face" with customers and retrieving customer records at the touch of a keypad.)
Virtual worlds run over the Internet, which means they will work equally well over an intranet. Commercially available virtual worlds include the following:
As noted-repeatedly-each of the functions discussed so far can be accessed using a relatively new Web browser, such as Netscape Navigator or Microsoft Internet Explorer. Thus, a Web-based interface is the ideal glue to hold all of the elements of the intranet together.
Employees logging into the intranet begin at an employee home page. (This can be mandated by company policy, recommended, or simply made available for employees who have the option to set any page they want as a default home page.) The menu of options available to them provides the links to the various other services that are components of the total intranet. Additionally, links to these services can be built from any location where it makes sense-where employees might want to take advantage of the services. The following sections describe some examples.
An employee visits the Web-based employee phone directory and types in the last name of a colleague he is looking for. A list of employees with that last name appears, along with first names, the departments for which they work, their mail stops, their phone numbers, and their e-mail addresses. The e-mail address is highlighted, indicating that it is hyperlinked. Clicking on the hyperlink invokes the browser's built-in e-mail client; the sender's e-mail address and name and the receiver's e-mail address and name are already filled in. The employee simply enters a subject, types a message, and clicks Send. There is no need to exit the Web browser, invoke the e-mail client, type the message, send it, then return to the browser. The e-mail function is integrated with the Web browser system. Such e-mail hyperlinks can be used wherever they make sense.
As already noted, most fairly recent browsers support newsgroups. To visit a newsgroup in Netscape Navigator, for example, a user simply selects Window, then News. Navigator transforms itself instantly into a news reader!
Companies such as National Semiconductor, however, are carrying the concept of newsgroups integrated with the Web even further. Newsgroup articles are archived according to the type of employee who might be interested in reviewing what colleagues have posted. At National Semiconductor, this part of the Web is called "Communities of Practice." An engineer, for example, looking for information about a specific operation, can drill quickly through the Engineering Community of Practice to find related newsgroup articles that have been posted in the past. Although she may not find the specific answer, she might identify a fellow employee she might otherwise never have met who is well versed in the subject matter. Then she can choose to call him or e-mail him (clicking on his name to invoke the e-mail client built into the browser software; remember, the whole idea here is to integrate the entire information infrastructure).
This chapter has concentrated on a variety of TCP/IP applications that can fit nicely into an intranet, and the only discussion of the Web has been as a unifying interface that allows employees to point-and-click their way to the information they need. Yet many organizations have introduced nothing more than an internal Web and considered that an entire intranet.
As a means of publishing information and making that information available for employees to find easily and access at will, the Web is a powerful tool-the epitome of receiver-based communication. The specific applications of the Web to the intranet, however, is the subject of most of the rest of this book, so that is all that will be said about it here.
You can choose from a variety of Web servers that are available at places like Egghead Software and CompUSA for as little as $99. Netscape's Commerce Server, on the other hand, can cost more than $5,000. And there is everything in between.
By way of freeware, the most common free server, and probably the best right now, is the Apache server. It is based on the NCSA code, with improvements. You can download it from www.apache.org. You also can obtain the CERN server, developed by the European Particle Physics Laboratory (where Web creator Tim Berners-Lee worked when he and his team created the Web), from CERN at ftp://info.cern/ch/pub/wwwl. The NCSA server, developed at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications (at the University of Illinois in Champaign-Urbana), is available for download from ftp://ftp.ncsa.uiuc.edu. The specification is the IETF Working draft.
Those of you who are intimately familiar with the Internet may be wondering about applications that are not covered in this chapter. These include WAIS (Wide Area Information System), Traceroute, and a host of other TCP/IP-compliant applications. There is no doubt that these systems offer some value to the systems professionals in the organization. They are not, however, immediately useful and easy to learn for the average user of the system. If you, as a systems professional, can take advantage of these applications, by all means, do so. WAIS, for example, offers a free application, FreeWAIS, which is an index-based search engine that can be applied to intranet Web pages and other data that reside on the Web server.
Since this book is about how to develop an intranet that is effective as an internal information and communication system, rather than about how to make the intranet work as a technical system, I won't take up any time discussing these more technical applications. Instead, let's move directly into the considerations involved in planning for the development and implementation of your organization's intranet.
Intranets can be rich environments that facilitate the exchange of information, data, and ideas among employees at all levels of the organization. Creating this rich environment, however, means that you will take advantage of an assortment of Internet-based technologies rather than just the Web. The Web, instead of assuming the entire role of the intranet, becomes the glue that holds the system together and the road map that employees use to access information regardless of the technology used to store and deliver it. Before you develop all of these tactical tools, you should have a strategy to make sure the tools you implement meet core business needs. That's the subject of the next chapter.