We have been writing a content development process for one of our partners, which is intended to help them think about user content and feature requirements on an ongoing basis. For each group or network of people to be addressed by their content plan, we recommend that they begin by using individual and group personas / profiles to help them understand from people what is required. This introduction to personas is a useful resource to help explain what we mean. (Via http://www.karlnelson.net/weblog/000708.html)