What are the best practices for designing user-friendly and engaging knowledge portals?

Think of the portal as a treasure map :) As I learned from a similar project, clear navigation and personalised content are key. In a museum digitisation project, we tailored search functions and categorised content, enhancing user satisfaction by 35%. Remember, the portal should be a joy to use, guiding users effortlessly to their knowledge 'treasure'!

What are the best practices for designing user-friendly and engaging knowledge portals? ?? Defining the goals and the audience is an important, if not the most important, step. One practical tip is to create user personas based on your target audience. These personas represent typical users and include details about their roles, goals, challenges, and behaviors. By understanding your users on a deeper level, you can design a portal to meet their specific needs and expectations. Engaging with potential users early in the design process to gather feedback will also make sure that the portal resonates with the intended audience.

If you have a current knowledge portal, speaking with users helps identify what they do and don't like. Get to know your audience. Consult with various users in different positions to review how they use the portal; ask them to show you how they find something. A site tracking or analytics tool can also help identify pain points or places where users struggle.

Many portals set out to be a "one stop shop" for everything with no planning going into who is responsible for managing which section of the portal. Even if this is a single page, there has to be a governance plan in place that defines clearly who is responsible for the upkeep.

The first step is to always decide who the knowledge portal is for. For example: customers, support teams, legal, HR, etc. After that, I suggest choosing a form of knowledge base. This could be human or machine-readable. Human-readable refers to basically anything a human can read such as documents. While machine-readable knowledge bases is for data to be analyzed by artificial intelligence, they are actually less interactive.

To design for usability for YOUR users, ensure you are using words that are meaningful to them. Avoid internal jargon or inside-out categorization and instead seek out the words/mental models they use for your product or service. Check search logs, feedback forms, support tickets, users forums, 3rd party review sites, etc. to build a vocabulary that matches theirs.

Another tip from my experience is to ensure mobile responsiveness. Imagine users accessing the portal on-the-go; it should feel as smooth as scrolling through their favourite social media app. Always remember, accessibility is key—like making sure everyone can enjoy your culinary masterpiece, regardless of dietary restrictions.

Knowledge needs to be accessible. Too many organizations over-protect their information. Leaders fear employees will take their proprietary content. Accordingly, they provide a security infrastructure around their info that would put Forth Knox to shame. Hint: No one outside your organization cares that much about your 1995 strategy for planning pizza parties.?? I encourage organizations to err on the side of accessibility for any information that is not a close-hold. You can't make EVERYTHING a close-hold document.

no one wants to click around forever just to find what they're looking for, right? Also, thumbs up for mentioning accessibility. So many folks out there who need that bit of extra help with fonts and contrasts. And don't get me started on sites that don't work on my phone - super annoying. ??

Focus on clear organization and intuitive navigation, ensuring users can find what they need quickly. Also, prioritize accessibility so that individuals of all abilities can engage with the portal effectively. For instance, ensuring compatibility with screen readers or providing keyboard shortcuts can greatly enhance accessibility without compromising usability. This inclusive approach ensures that everyone can benefit from the portal's resources and contribute effectively to shared knowledge.

Imagine a portal aimed at supporting employees in navigating technology challenges. Personalization features cater to different job roles, offering customized content and solutions. Analytics tools monitor user searches and interactions to refine content relevance. Gamification elements recognize and reward employees for sharing troubleshooting tips or completing training modules. Interactive forums and chatbots facilitate peer-to-peer problem-solving and knowledge exchange. Regular feedback on contributions, achievement badges, and proactive notifications maintain user interest. This dynamic knowledge hub evolves into a valuable resource, fostering a collaborative IT culture and empowering employees to address technical issues effectively.

The knowledge management portal is one of the necessary tools to implement knowledge management, but it is not enough! In order to create a portal, we must first create a feeling of need to use this tool for the employees, and then in response to this need, we will install the portal. The portal must be user-friendly and all levels of employees have the ability to work with it, otherwise it will not be welcomed and the participation rate will decrease.

Simplicity is key. No one has time or desire to sort through too many navigational hurdles to retrieve knowledge or information. This accounts for the growing affinity for "chat-like" approaches to extracting information from Artificial Intelligence and, in the future, will demand portals that mirror this ease of use and directness of interaction. One box called Google changed the world and that should tell us much about the inherent nature of effective design to retrieve knowledge.

First, personalise the experience. Think of your portal as a theme park with different attractions for varied tastes. Use user data to tailor content, like in one project where we boosted engagement by 40% with personalised dashboards. Next, simplify navigation. Imagine guiding visitors through a zoo: clear signs, intuitive paths, and helpful guides make the visit enjoyable. In another project, streamlining the menu reduced user frustration by 30% and increased content discovery.

Die Auswahl des richtigen Wissensportals, das den Bedürfnissen der Organisation entspricht und gleichzeitig ausreichend intuitiv in der Anwendung ist, stellt den n?chsten Schritt dar. Hierbei ist Transparenz von entscheidender Bedeutung. Die Nutzenden sollten den Auswahlprozess nachvollziehen k?nnen und verstehen, wie das ausgew?hlte System ihre Arbeit unterstützen wird. Welche Art von Wissensmanagementsystem es wird, h?ngt von den Bedürfnissen und dem Ziel ab. Ob es ein Wiki, ein ECMS eine Lernplattform (LMS), oder ein anderes IT-Tool wird, ist demnach h?chst individuell.

One of our successful experiences in Dana's knowledge management consulting group is adding the ability to share lessons learned in video and audio form. This idea was formed in 2018 and we added new features to the knowledge management portal by following the example of video sharing platforms. This work had 2 good results: 1- The employees who did not have enough time or the ability to write their experiences and share them in the knowledge management portal, were more involved with us with this method. 2- Both the number and quality of presenting experiences and lessons learned in the portal increased. These made the users more willing to participate in the organization's knowledge management process

Tips and Lessons Learned: 1. Test, test, test: Always test your portal with real users before and after launch. 2. Collect Feedback: Regularly use surveys, ratings, and interviews to gather user opinions. 3. Implement Changes: Use feedback to make improvements in small, frequent cycles. 4. Measure Impact: Monitor changes and measure performance to ensure goals are met

Ein Wissensportal ist kein einmal geplantes und dann ?in Stein gemei?eltes“ Werkzeug. Durch das regelm??ige Einholen von Feedback und entsprechende Anpassungen kann das System auch in Zukunft relevant und nützlich bleiben. Nichts frustriert Nutzer:innen mehr, als dass diese immer wieder vor denselben Hindernissen und Problemen stehen. Auch hier ist die Durchführung von Umfragen ein simples Mittel, um grundlegendes Feedback zu erhalten und bietet durch die regelm??ige Durchführung die M?glichkeit, die Zufriedenheit zu messen.

Gather user feedback through surveys, analytics, and usability testing. Use this data to identify pain points and areas for improvement. Regularly update and refine the portal based on user insights.

The ability to add various formats (text, images, video, audio) and especially interactivity (sharing and liking content, giving feedback, reporting issues) is key to continuous improvement. However, going beyond the feedback mechanisms built into the platform, it was essential to have a community of practice (CoP) for our curators to provide an in-person forum for testing usability, brainstorming new ideas and enacting necessary updates.

I would say that it is very useful to use analytics, alongside surveys, to understand which articles are most popular and/or most useful - and have them presented as a list or in a widget within the portal. Order is very critical, so it would be helpful to organize the different knowledge articles within different sections

Communication is vital to any project's success, and it's no different when creating a knowledge portal. Simple things, like responding to feedback either in person or through a communication channel (email, chat, phone, etc.), can have a significant impact on building a working relationship with your audience. If possible, when someone makes a suggestion, follow up with that person once their suggestion has been implemented. It shows that you're listening and value their input.

I will provide you with some tips: 1. Ensure intuitive navigation with clear categories and a robust search function. 2. Use a clean and consistent design for a better user experience and a responsive design for accessibility on all devices. 3. Employ engaging content formats like videos and infographics to cater to various learning styles. 4. Implement personalisation features for tailored recommendations and feedback mechanisms for continuous improvement. 5. Include social features like forums for community interaction and ensure regular updates to keep content relevant and the portal functioning smoothly.

Expect to iterate as we learn more rather than hit the target first go. How will you make a plan that included revising your work rather than finishing delivery discreetly in one span of time?

Implement responsive design for mobile accessibility. Ensure content relevance and freshness by regularly updating information. Integrate social sharing features to promote collaboration and knowledge sharing among users.