NetNews Usenet Archive 1992 #16/NN_1992_16.iso/spool/bit/listserv/cwisl/724

Text File | 1992-07-23 | 2.9 KB | 55 lines

Comments: Gated by [e-mail]
Path: sparky!uunet!paladin.american.edu!auvm!SIUCVMB.BITNET!GE0515
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Newsgroups: bit.listserv.cwis-l
Date:         Thu, 23 Jul 1992 08:05:31 CST
Sender:       "Campus-Wide Information Systems" <[e-mail]>
From:         "Terry D. Mathias [phone]" <[e-mail]>
Subject:      CWIS Menu Organization
Lines: 44

By "organizational structure" I'm assuming you mean that those items which
fall under the VP for Student Affairs are in one section, those for Academic
Affairs in another, and so forth.  If my assumption is not accurate, there's
no need to read any further in this note.

The main problem with this approach is that it's based on an assumption
that users will know and understand the organizational structure.  This
is probably not a reasonable assumption.  Many staff, some faculty, and
probably few students actually know the organizational structure.  Staff
members have an advantage because they have to deal with the bureaucracy
every day.

Also, university hierarchies tend not to be as standard as one might
suspect from the outside.  Does student recruiting/admissions "belong"
in academic affairs, or student affairs, or (a new trend in U.S. public
universities) university relations?  Is housing a student affairs or
a financial affairs function?  Is the student center/union a facilities
responsibility or a student affairs responsibility?  There is no single
answer.

The better approach, we have discovered, is to initially ask users to
look at/try different formats, then tell you which one "works best" or
"is easier to use."  After all, they are the users.  We must remember
to start from where they are in order to get them (a) where WE want them
to be  OR  (b) where THEY want or need to be.  We are, after all, much
like the AAA; users tell us where they need/want to be, then we figure
out the best route to get them there.  (Ooops, sorry about the American
reference; AAA is American Automobile Association, which provides maps
and instructions for auto travel, among other services.)

Inevitably, a "topical" or "functional" setup usually wins.  And it is
usually best to place sections or items of general interest near the
top of a list, then intersperse items of more limited interest down the
rest of the list so that no particular subgroup of users is perceived to
have priority.

Theoretically, I suppose you could set up a system that reviews the
logon id to determine whether a user is faculty, staff, student, guest,
or whatever, then presents a menu which is customized to that particular
type of user.  But, WHY??
~~~ . ~~~ . ~~~ . ~~~ . ~~~ . ~~~ . ~~~ . ~~~ . ~~~ . ~~~ . ~~~ . ~~~ .
Terry Mathias, Office of University Relations       Phone: [phone]
Southern Illinois University at Carbondale       BITNET: GE0515@SIUCVMB
Carbondale, Illinois  62901            INTERNET: [e-mail]