Hayden Sanders (see LinkedIn) is talking about information architecture for a usable intranet, with a subtitle of “making cool web things that people like using”. Hayden has a background in corporate communications and marketing. Hayden recommends looking at WebMonkey and the IA Institute … he has found some great information there.

Key ideas:
– it’s all about people at the end of it all … so let’s start out with the people.
– many organizations have “information problems” … too much information that people can’t find.
– there is often a lack of clarity about what the business need is. Eg, project management, community development, resource management, record management, organizational knowledge. Once you have a clear idea about what the business need is, brainstorm about the various ways of reaching the business need.
– audience is not about age, gender and ethnicity. More about computer access, business role, information needs.
– Hayden says that his NetVibes page “beats out any intranet that an organization can give me” … because it is personalized to my requirements.
– Card sorting is helpful to understand how people think differently about where information should go. You need to do this with many groups.
– Hayden thinks that if people are using search a lot, your information architecture is broken.

Hayden runs his own firm at Leftfield Interactive.