tfosorciM.org

10 Best Intranets of 2003?

Many readers will likely be familiar with the name Jakob Nielsen in the context of usability. His company also publicises a Ten Best Intranets of 2003 accolade.

It seems to me that there are a couple of odd features to the award.

First the "ten best" are presented in a bulleted list, not a numbered list. So we are given no idea of which is "the best", in Dr. Nielsen's opinion.

Second, the number of entrants is not stated and there is an interesting clustering of percentages around values of 3% and 7%. The percentage values given in the report were:

# United States: 57%
# Canada: 10%
# Europe: 27%, of which

* Germany: 3%
* Spain: 3%
* Sweden: 7%
* Switzerland: 7%
* U.K.: 7%

# Australia: 7%

Notice how 3%, 7% and 10% appear surprisingly often.

What this unusual clustering of numbers makes me wonder is that, if absolute numbers (remember those aren't given in the report) were used, the geographical data would look like this:

# United States: 18
# Canada: 3
# Europe: 9, of which

* Germany: 1
* Spain: 1
* Sweden: 2
* Switzerland: 2
* U.K.: 2

# Australia: 2

If I am correct that those are the likely absolute numbers then a "ten best" out of thirty entrants looks a very different scenario from a supposed "ten best intranets" with an implied global reach.

Perhaps my suggested thirty entrants are simply Dr. Nielsen's clients?