Issue link: http://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/59881
'A Universe of Content' – The Emergence of the Intranet With Web real estate in the business school firmly estab- lished, schools are now looking to add on, remodel, and cre- ate areas of their sites targeted specifically to their internal communities. Called Intranets, such online environments have become a substantial part of a business school's online activi- ty, providing students, faculty, alumni, and corporate recruiters a range of services and resources. Since The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, first developed its Intranet ten years ago, it has gone through several evolu- tions. Its latest incarnation, affectionately called Spike, now integrates all of the school's separate services in one place, allowing students to read about Wharton news and upcom- ing events, reserve a group study room, or even pay or deposit money into their campus printing accounts. When Spike started, it was designed with a "portal men- tality," says Kendall Whitehouse, Wharton's director of advanced technology development. That is, Spike aspired to be an all-in-one, customizable site that provided external news and resources as well as Wharton-specific information. That, however, became too cumbersome—and it wasn't what students wanted. "Students didn't want Spike to include everything they needed in their lives. They wanted it to be everything they needed for their educational experiences," says Whitehouse. "We realized that CNN could give them their daily news bet- agree with Ho that the home page is the best way to make an impression on first-time visitors—and all want that impression to be a good one. Almost invariably, b-school Webmasters say they want their pages to be user-friendly, adaptable, and expressive of the school's mission and brand. IESE Business School of Barcelona, Spain, launched the most recent redesign of its Web site, www.iese.edu, in September. The school wanted the site to accomplish three main objectives: implement a user-friendly design that conveyed IESE's corporate image, introduce a content management system that allowed new content to be added in English and Spanish, and create a decentralized organizational system that enabled each department to oversee specific sections. IESE's new home page includes more space for news and events, and a "Highlights" list to promote programs. The site also incorporates a section called "The IESE Exper ience," aimed at visitors. "We wanted to give visitors a com- prehensive view of IESE," says Larisa Tatge, assistant director of IESE's Web department. "We wanted the site to remain uncluttered, yet informative." MIT's Sloan School of Manage ment in Cambridge, Massachusetts, launched a redesign of its Web site at 34 BizEd JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2005 ter than we ever could. Where we could excel was in provid- ing Wharton-only content." That simplicity has led the site into a mainly text-oriented presentation. Because Spike is an Intranet, rather than an Internet, environment, it can afford to include more links and more text. Spike users are going there for comprehensive access to Wharton information, and they are willing to navi- gate a more complex interface. Easy Intranet navigation is still crucial, however, so students can quickly find what they need. Whether they're for an educational institution or a corpo- ration, Intranets are built by the enterprise. As a result, Intranets can become more about what the enterprise wants to tell its constituents rather than what those constituents want to hear, says Whitehouse. That "institution-first" mentality is as much a mistake with Intranets as it is with the Internet, he adds. "The key to an effective Intranet is to give those con- stituents a blank canvas and let them design the product. It should serve as their mental mind map, rather than reflect the educational institution's structure." Spike content is currently displayed on large plasma screens throughout Wharton's central facility, Huntsmann Hall. Eventually, Whitehead plans to branch out into other media, making Spike content accessible via PDAs and cell phones. "We don't want our students to have to check here, there, and everywhere to be fully informed," says Whitehead. "It's the same information everywhere. It's one universe of content." mitsloan.mit.edu last year. When the redesign process began four years ago, staff conducted intensive testing of the site's navigability, accessibility, and usability, says Scott Rolph, asso- ciate director of communication and Web management. "Any attempt we made to jazz up a page that compromised the efficiency of navigation posed a problem," says Rolph. Harvard's new home page, launched last February, is designed for simple navigation, including only those key links necessary to "point users in the right direction," says Sam Hainer, associate director of Web strategy.