Summary: Following close on the heels of Trafcom News Podcast 118, which was an interview with Jarrod Gingras about successful enterprise collaboration, comes this chat with Gordon Ross. When I met Gordon at the IntraTeam Event in Copenhagen, I was intrigued by his workshop on archetypes for intranets. Since Gordon’s topic meshes so nicely with Jarrod’s, I’m publishing them rather close together. [Note: The first speaker I interviewed from the IntraTeam Event was Paolo Tosolini, on enterprise social video.] The interview with Gordon explains the use of archetypes in internal communications, and the benefits of taking the time to do this work up front. Gordon is a vice president and a partner at Open Road, a company in British Columbia that designs and develops websites and custom Web applications. He has worked on some interesting projects recently, including a customer portal for BC Hydro, Web strategy for the City of Vancouver, the redesign of Mountain Equipment Coop’s e-commerce website, and many others. Gordon provides strategic input for Open Road’s well-respected social intranet product, Thought Farmer. Here are the show notes: 00:01 Introduction and welcome; about Gordon Ross, Open Road and Thought Farmer 01:30 Interview with Gordon Ross includes: Definition of archetypes as “a typical example of a person or a thing” An archetype is not a stereotype, but rather describes characters we recognize in the corporate world. An archetype differs from audience segmentation. The “average” user is not of interest; Gordon shares an excellent example of two males born in 1948 in Great Britain, married, successful … Why archetypes? Consensus building; common focus gives us insights into the audience. Personas are more functional, while archetypes are more related to the culture of an organization. A walk through the process of developing archetypes. Examples of negative consequences of not doing archetype work up front; the danger of self-referential design. 17:25 Where to send comments; email donna at trafcom dot com or comment here on the show blog. Helpful links from Gordon Ross: Archetype Extraction method, Cognitive Edge Perfecting your Personas, Kim Goodwin - Cooper Design An introduction to personas – Step Two Designs Service Design for Intranets – PebbleRoad Making the Most of Story Work, Anecdote User Matricies – Steph Troeth Theme music for Trafcom News Podcast is “Beneath Your Surface” by the Elisabeth Lohninger Quartet from Music Alley.
