Rockley Chapter 16 Summary - Becky and Jaya
Chapter 16 – Content Management Systems
Rockley – Managing Enterprise Content
Jaya and Becky
Rockley discusses how content management is an integral component of a successful unified content strategy. To begin, Rockley discusses the basic functionality of the content management system (CMS). All content must be saved in order to be reused. The two parts to saving content are:
-Dividing the content into elements of appropriate sizes for the intended reuse
-Adding metadata to the elements to define them for effective reuse, retrieval and tracking.
The CMS also needs to be accessible for various projects and people and archives must be created to allow access to older versions and to track changes. There is also the issue of security such as controlling access to various authors and content users. Management functions such as access and version control are put in place.
The process of breaking content into element parts is called segmentation or bursting. The level of segmentation is defined in a segmentation or bursting map. Elements can be broken down to sentence level, but can also remain in larger section such as was given in the B-Brother product example on pg. 313.
The metadata can be applied to the content in the authoring tool or as the content is saved in the CMS. Rockley states that whenever possible it is good to have the metadata automatically applied to the elements of content. (Widget Y example on pg 315)
The next portion of the chapter discusses management controls such as: access control, check-in/check-out, and version control. Access control determines who can read, create, modify, and delete content. Check-in/Check-out is when authors who are working on content check it out and then check it back in when they are finished with it. This helps to ensure that only one person is working on it at a time. Version control means that every time content is checked in that another version is created and assigned a new version number. This ensures that every change is saved and can be tracked.
The three types of updates are:
Automatically update - automatically updates the reused element when the original element is changed.
Optionally update – The CMS notifies authors of the changes so they can decide whether they want to update the element or not.
No update – If the original component is updated, the reused element is not updated. Authors are not notified if the original element changes.
There are terms discussed such as:
Repository – heart of the content management system and manages the unified content.
Search and Retrieval – Important that this is dependable to assist authors in easily finding and retrieving content for reuse and delivery.
Archive – Content is archived based on set of rules that specify the period of time in which the content is considered valid or accurate.
Translation – There must be a relationship between the source language and the translated content in order to eliminate errors and save time.
The last part of the chapter goes over the various types of content management systems. Web content management is said to be the most familiar type.
Rockley – Managing Enterprise Content
Jaya and Becky
Rockley discusses how content management is an integral component of a successful unified content strategy. To begin, Rockley discusses the basic functionality of the content management system (CMS). All content must be saved in order to be reused. The two parts to saving content are:
-Dividing the content into elements of appropriate sizes for the intended reuse
-Adding metadata to the elements to define them for effective reuse, retrieval and tracking.
The CMS also needs to be accessible for various projects and people and archives must be created to allow access to older versions and to track changes. There is also the issue of security such as controlling access to various authors and content users. Management functions such as access and version control are put in place.
The process of breaking content into element parts is called segmentation or bursting. The level of segmentation is defined in a segmentation or bursting map. Elements can be broken down to sentence level, but can also remain in larger section such as was given in the B-Brother product example on pg. 313.
The metadata can be applied to the content in the authoring tool or as the content is saved in the CMS. Rockley states that whenever possible it is good to have the metadata automatically applied to the elements of content. (Widget Y example on pg 315)
The next portion of the chapter discusses management controls such as: access control, check-in/check-out, and version control. Access control determines who can read, create, modify, and delete content. Check-in/Check-out is when authors who are working on content check it out and then check it back in when they are finished with it. This helps to ensure that only one person is working on it at a time. Version control means that every time content is checked in that another version is created and assigned a new version number. This ensures that every change is saved and can be tracked.
The three types of updates are:
Automatically update - automatically updates the reused element when the original element is changed.
Optionally update – The CMS notifies authors of the changes so they can decide whether they want to update the element or not.
No update – If the original component is updated, the reused element is not updated. Authors are not notified if the original element changes.
There are terms discussed such as:
Repository – heart of the content management system and manages the unified content.
Search and Retrieval – Important that this is dependable to assist authors in easily finding and retrieving content for reuse and delivery.
Archive – Content is archived based on set of rules that specify the period of time in which the content is considered valid or accurate.
Translation – There must be a relationship between the source language and the translated content in order to eliminate errors and save time.
The last part of the chapter goes over the various types of content management systems. Web content management is said to be the most familiar type.
posted by Becky | 6:51 PM
10 Comments:
There is one additional capability that Rockley does not address. That is Artificial Intelligence. Artificial Intellligence has two main branches, neural networks and expert systems. Expert systems are ideally suited for content management systems because they are rule based.
An example of an application of artificial intelligence applied to content management is Autonomy. You can read about it at www.autonomy.com
I'd like to sign up for some of that artificial intelligence!
I do think Rockley's textbook does a good job of describing the different components of content management, especially for those who have never been exposed to the concept before.
Since September I have been working with the Stellent CMS. However, I've learned more from the book than I have from the bits and pieces I've had to learn to do my job. Before this, I never had a good overview of what an effective content management system can and should be. IS handled the details and I submitted content and requested modifications from them.
I’m for AI, as long we don’t name it Skynet or cylon.
I like a lot of the ideas that Rockley’s discusses in her book. What stood out to me in this chapter was version control and automatic update sections. With so many people working in a company on any given document, I can see how version control’s Check-in/Check-out method could be effective. I’m not saying it would be effective every time, mind you; if you only have three writers, then this may be a waste of time.
Automatic updates is one of those areas where I keep hearing different opinions on. Some say that automatically updating is a good practice, and others say that optionally updating is a better use of time and resources. In the end, I suppose it all depends on the situation and the opinions of the involved parties.
I agree with Anne that Rockley does a good job of describing everything that content management encompasses.
It's interesting how AuthorIT breaks the document into bits and pieces just like Rockley discusses here. It effectively does the "segmenting" of the document as you compose it. AuthorIT also addresses the security issues that Rockley concerns herself with by using check-in/out, access control, and version control. It seems that AuthorIT was developed using Rockley's suggestions!
Just like Larry pointed out, this chapter reminded me a lot of AuthorIT. I probably would have been a lot more confused in reading this chapter if I hadn't gotten some experience in using AuthorIT to go along with it. As someone who doesn't have much experience or knowledge about content management or online documentation, I am grateful to be able to learn the AuthorIT program, because it makes a lot more sense when you actually get to see how a content management system works!
I think this chapter by Rockley answers a lot of my questions about content reuse. It seems so very important that there needs to be an automated way to update and content that is designated for reuse. To me, effective content management can be as simple as making sure that the content that you're managing is effective and up to date. Otherwise it seems like you are just wasting you're time by using out dated things.
I visited www.autonomy.com, and started to read the 'about autonomy' section. I can't believe that, for as large and powerful of a company as they make themselves out to be, Autonomy can't afford to hire an editor for their web documents! Seriously, I found several repeated errors in grammar, structure, and usage that make me wonder how intelligent their computer system really could be. Correctness of advertising materials can be a real issue with potential customers.
Regarding CMS, I think the Autonomy website reinforces the need for a usable search-and-retrieve system; One that doesn't make the user refine their search over and over again to find the elements they need. Though it is a scary prospect, a CMS that can interperet meaning from content could be the next big thing in computing systems.
I also feel that this chapter helps me get the whole picture on content reuse. Some of it went a bit over my head but I get the big picture of just how content reuse happens ideally. It is a great idea to have multiple levels of reuse and save capabilities. This helps to keep the tool flexxible and helpful to all. I also think that AuthorIT has made the concept of reuse less abstract because the program is completely set up as a reuse tool.
I think it's an interesting way to go about structuring data, almost like lego blocks. While it looks like it would be very good for restructuring data and reusing already written information, the organizational requirements seemed to be fairly severe. Otherwise you just end up with a jumbled pile of legos. I'll have to keep this in mind when I design my next web site, try to use this concept instead of having every web page containing identical code.
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