Therapy Ideas—online collaboration for speech and language therapists
There are about 10,000 speech and language therapists (SLTs) in the UK—and a key part of their job involves coming up with appropriate ideas and resources for therapy. Therapy Ideas is a community-based website that provides an easy way for SLTs to collaborate, by sharing ideas, resources and comments.
A powerful taxonomy
We concentrated on information architecture from the outset, so that a growing library of ideas wouldn’t become overwhelming or difficult to navigate. We developed a powerful taxonomy that classifies each idea by target—allowing users to find what they’re looking for quickly, either by browsing or searching.
Encouraging participation while maintaining quality
Any community-based website needs to strike a balance between making participation easy and keeping standards high. Therapy Ideas aims to get the balance right, by designing an easy-to-use interface for contributors, publishing a style guide, and designing editorial systems that allow editors to maintain quality without spending hours on each contribution.
The website soft-launched in June 2008. Check it out at http://therapyideas.org.