Recently in Intranets Category

This isn't just a goal, it's an online program that seems to fit the bill for an inexpensive Sharepoint session specifically for those of us who don't have rights to touch the server and/or Sharepoint Designer.  I must say, I'm intrigued.  I've subscribed to the RSS feed to keep on eye on the associated blog, End User SharePoint.  If anyone is familiar with the types of online programs presented by this company, please let us know.

Suddenly it seems that everyone is getting Sharepoint.  I've been working with it for a couple of months now and have found it to be very powerful but sometimes very frustrating.  Some of my frustrations might be mitigated if I was thoroughly trained rather than learning as I go.

So I've been watching for possible training opportunities and there are many to choose from. Just type "SharePoint training" into Google, and you'll find literally hundreds of companies that would love to provide you with training. But let's get real....in this economy thousands of dollars for a class and/or webinar just isn't going to happen.  Though I have to admit, this one just about had me salivating. 

The topic of SharePoint training came up recently on SLA's KM mailing list; the answers are listed on their KM Wiki. (Membership required.)  Nina Platt recommended Sharepoint Solutions, but there's that pesky money issue.  She also pointed out a webinar done by Factiva called "Taxonomy & Sharepoint: A Powerful Combination."  Anything on the subject of SharePoint and taxonomies is going on my to-do list!

Microsoft offers some online training as well as webcasts and podcasts, and the price is right. (free)

I don't have to remind you that there are always tons books out there related to any major software program.  Quite naturally, I'm a big fan of books, and I've been poring over a borrowed copy (thanks, Lisa!) of Microsoft® Windows® SharePoint® Services 3.0 Step by Step (Step By Step (Microsoft) and it's not bad.  But there's a Murphy's Law of software-related handbooks.  They tend to include a lot of good information, but never have the answer to YOUR particular question. Google often does a better job on the question answering front. 

The other problem with books for these kinds of topics is that many of them concentrate more on technical aspects such as server configuration, something many of us have nothing to do with, so it's important to find one that's geared towards your particular use of the product.

Below is a quick poll on SharePoint Training.  If you've found a good book, website or seminar, please share by clicking on the "comments" link above.

We all know that there's an amazing amount of knowledge contained in simple email messages. As I've mentioned in several presentations, I often use Microsoft Exchange public folders to easily make such emails available to groups of users.

Public folders look just like your own email folders, but they can be shared with other individuals or groups. You can set security to limit access, or make them available to everyone on the network.

So how would you use public folders? If you have an internal email mailing list for the firm's reference librarians, there's likely valuable information being passed back and forth, so you might want to store all such emails for everyone's viewing pleasure. To do that you can easily set up a rule in Outlook to automatically move all messages sent to the list into their own public folder. Or perhaps you'd like to store selected emails on a topic in their own public folder by moving individual emails from your inbox to the folder. By making this information public, you may be able to avoid individuals having to store these items in their own, private folders. And you have searchable, though primitive, knowledgebase.

The recent article, "Debunking Intranet Myths" (Intranets July/August 2004), is a reality check for Intranet managers. Jim Howard identifies what he considers the most popular myths, ones that he believes rose during the Internet boom days but still survive to this day.