Slashdot Mirror
Methods for Information Distribution?
Prep asks: "We're all faced with a glut of information. Everyone where I work seems to use email as their primary means of information distribution. However, thanks in part to huge file attachments and a massive influx of spam, email delivery times are now apparently exceeding the times that our user base deems acceptable, so I've began to wonder about other means of informing users of changes to information they deem important. Ideally, the user would subscribe to various feeds (changes in their network share filesystem, various intranet webpages being updated, RSS feeds, etc) and notifications of changes to those sources would be pushed to them on an automated basis. I'm wondering if an IM based solution might not be useful here. I can't imagine this is an isolated problem, and wonder what other /.'s are doing to address it."
At my company we use WikiWiki for documenting everything from internal code management procedures to HR policies. It works great.
However, I work at a pretty small company. I don't think that a WikiWiki site would serve the needs of 5000 employees, simply because you don't get the "personal responsibility factor" check and balance for making changes to the Wiki. I can see it now....Fred in accounting says that we all get 20 weeks off a year! Horray!
more links to shared-drive files rather than copies of such in the emails
create a web page that scrapes/shows the timestamps on files/urls. allow users to add/remove items on this list (self-customized per user)
focus employees to avoid "CC to all" mentality unless collaborative work is actually going on. "FYI" emails are best put on a bulletin board or bb-page
break employees into stronger focus groups that work within themselves and deliver results on a set schedule (1x a week, month, etc)
tighten the spam filters
update everyone's email address names and have them send out a notice to crucial clients
employ a local web-based email system, save your network's bandwidth for when people really download the attachments
encourage more IM-based conversations (more immediate, more collaborative) over email