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School of Information Alumni Magazine
Winter 1998 Issue: Focus on SI Interns
 (Photo by Jay Jackson. Click on photo for larger view) |
One day you're sitting in a
classroom in Ann Arbor, the next you're setting up an intranet within
The World Bank in Washington, D.C.
Sounds like an important job for a team of computer scientists. Actually,
no, it's something that SI students like Anthony Hand can handle, and
he did.
During an internship with the Information Solutions Group (ISG) of The World Bank, Hand put his human-computer interaction skills to work in developing an intranet (a Web site with access restricted to ISG employees) that would allow ISG employees to share documents online. The ISG has more than 800 employees of its own out of more than 15,000 globally in The World Bank.
"I'm really interested in business practices and how technology affects business structures," Hand said in describing why the internship appealed to him.
Hand and one consultant hired by The World Bank were asked to inventory and analyze the current ISG electronic resources and the amount of work involved in setting up an intranet. They also defined the criteria for a graphic artist to follow in setting up the proper look of the site, which needed to be in step with the overall design of The World Bank's Web pages.
Hand found that his opinions on the direction the intranet should take mattered. "When I make comments, they are well received," he said. Unofficially, part of his work involved educating co-workers about the complexity of the intranet. "When I said we're designing an 'information architecture' to help them, most people didn't know what I was talking about. They saw me as 'The Web Guy,'" he observed.
"I enjoy the hands-on design involved in working on such a large-scale project, and the teamwork that's involved."
Regular employees Hand worked with relied on him to design a user-testing system to make sure the intranet was easy to use and logical. He and the consultant also ensured that their overall information architecture of the site was in good order, and that the metadata information within templates was set up properly for information retrieval.
"We made the intranet a 'performance tool' where people could not only quickly and easily get the information they needed whenever they needed it, and from wherever in the world they were, but they could also collaborate, order ISG's products and services, and share best practices," he noted.
A benefit of his experience at The World Bank, Hand added, was the professional environment he encountered. "I made some very important professional contacts, and I also learned how to work on and help plan a large-scale project like this."
[Article and photo by Jay Jackson, Associate Editor. Reprinted with permission. 1998 University of Michigan School of Information.]