Ten Problems With Single Sourcing  

Though there have been numerous conference papers, articles, and books devoted to the topic of single sourcing, there have been fewer works about potential problems that should be identified before adopting a single-source documentation strategy. This study looks at ten specific problems (including issues of training, productivity, and morale) that can arise during the implementation of a mature single-sourcing model of documentation management. This list of problems, while not comprehensive, does provide some points of reference and a framework within which technical communicators can consider the implications of adopting a single-sourcing documentation model.

Yeats, Dave and Heather Hull. STC Proceedings (2004). Articles>Content Management>Single Sourcing>Assessment

Ten Things to Know About Selecting a Content Management System

Will Snow, Engineering Manager for Sun Microsystems' Web portals for Java[TM] and Solaris[TM] application developers, is bullish on content management. Here is Snow's list of the ten things he learned about selecting a content management system.

Ort, Ed. Sun Microsystems (2000). Articles>Content Management>TC

Time for Content to Become More Scientific

I'm all for formulaic writing. I love hierarchies and classification. I'm all for measuring content. There is a 'right' way to write content. Sure, it may not be the 'perfect' way, it may not be the way Shakespeare or Joyce would have written it, but it'll do. It'll get results and deliver value. A production line can be set up where this content can be mass produced, tested, and measured.

McGovern, Gerry. User Interface Engineering (2007). Articles>Content Management>Writing>Professionalism

To Structure or Not to Structure

Behind all the questions about how to model something is a bigger question: do you model it at all? When is it obvious to structure some content, and when do you just throw it into the 'WYSIWYG pile'?

Gadgetopia (2008). Articles>Content Management>Information Design>Content Strategy

Tools and Technology: A Work-Flow Paradigm for Single-Source Publishing  

Today's organizations must consider the effect that new tools and technologies are having on work flow. Web technology has raised the importance of information. This change in the customer/supplier market is allowing the company with the best information to have an edge. It is our responsibility as communicators to find better, faster, and cheaper ways to distribute information. An effective work flow can accomplish this. In the most common work-flow scenarios, Web technology is placed on the back end of the production schedule. All of these scenarios are flawed in different ways. Solving Web work-flow problems requires a paradigm shift.

Christner-Vorhes, Jamie and Bill Pollak. STC Proceedings (1998). Articles>Content Management>Single Sourcing>Workflow

Tools for Developing One Document for Both World Wide Web and Paper  

Printing from the Web is an unsolved, and often unrecognized, problem. Readers need hard copy for many documents they use online, but the Print command from a browser often does not meet their need. Other solutions are for the author to deliver printed documents, to deliver PostScriptJiles, and to deliver PDFJiles. In the nearfuture, Cascading Style Sheets may make the Print commandfrom the browser produce a more usable printed copy. For all of these solutions, the author needs a single source for the online and printed documents and converters for the output forms.

Jackson, Ken and Sonya E. Keene. STC Proceedings (1997). Articles>Content Management>Single Sourcing

Top Ten Mistakes in Content Management Implementation  

Implementing and working with a CMS can be a challenge. The author provides some common reasons why CM implementations fail so you can try to avoid such mistakes.

Bailie, Rahel Anne. Intercom (2007). Articles>Content Management>Project Management

Top Ten Mistakes When Selecting a CMS

Selecting a content management system (CMS) can be a complex task, and organizations often run into pitfalls with processes, politics, and understanding the CMS environment. James Robertson outlines a common-sense approach to avoiding the most common mistakes.

Robertson, James. IdealWare (2007). Articles>Content Management>Assessment

Top Ten Tips for a Successful Content Management Proof-of-Concept

Are you looking to buy a single-source content management system and want to take it for a test drive? Great idea! Choose your favorite system and do a proof-of-concept. Here are ten tips to prepare for a proof-of-concept and ensure its success.

Mescan, Suzanne. Content Wrangler, The (2007). Articles>Content Management>Project Management

Total Cost of Adoption: A Framework for Evaluating Content Management Solutions  

Total Cost of Adoption is the missing link to forecasting and maximizing return on investment.

Holst, Sebastian. Gilbane Report (2004). Articles>Content Management>Assessment

Transform a Single Source Into Many Designs  

When one layout just isn’t enough, you can easily tag your Adobe® InDesign® document and export the content to an XML file. Different InDesign templates and Adobe GoLive® dynamic Web pages can then import the XML file and repurpose the content. Say goodbye to copy-and-paste and hello to the future of publishing!

Adobe. Articles>Content Management>Single Sourcing>Adobe InDesign

The Trend Towards Distributed Content Management

There continues to be a lot of discussion about the difference between, and relative merits of, individual content management applications, especially web content management (WCM), and enterprise content management (ECM). Sometimes the debate focuses on a difference of breadth of content types, or of reach across an organization, and sometimes the discussion looks more at the depth of content complexity or reach into content supply applications.

Waldt, Dale. Gilbane Report (2004). Articles>Content Management

Understanding Content Management

If you have previously heard about content management (CM) it is most likely because you are connected to a large Web development project. Today that is where most of the interest and activity are. When the Web moved past small informally designed sites and into large, rapidly changing sites, the need for strong management tools became pressing. Product companies moved in to address this need and called their offerings content management systems (CMS). If your only problem is to create and maintain a large website, you have reason enough to desire the strict structure and formal procedures of a CMS. Such a system helps you get and stay organized so that your site can grow and change quickly while maintaining high quality. The Web, however, is simply one of many outlets for information that organizations need to manage. And when the amount of information sharing between these outlets grows, the desire for an organized approach becomes an absolute need.

Boiko, Bob. ASIST (2001). Articles>Content Management

Understanding the CMS Marketplace

An important first step is to gain an understanding of the CMS marketplace. This briefing outlines a few of the practical ways of doing so.

Robertson, James. Step Two (2003). Articles>Content Management>Single Sourcing

Understanding the Need for Content Quality Management

An interview with Scott Abel, The Content Wrangler that's both a bit controversial and inspiring that looks at how good content quality management can be a great benefit for tech pubs departments.

Wieland, Diane. Writing Assistance (2006). Articles>Interviews>Content Management>Assessment

The (Unfulfilled) Promise of Content Management Systems  

Be realistic about your needs. Use the right system for your needs. Err on the side of a smaller system. Accept the consistency/flexibility tradeoff. Devote extra time to information architecture. Build a modular design with reusable content. Standardize process and design elements as much as possible. Don't neglect the content in favor of (sexier?) IA and technology.

Lombardi, Victor. AIfIA (2002). Articles>Content Management

A Unified Content Strategy

Today's organizational content is created by multiple content creators (marketing/communications, HR, engineering/product development, technical publications/product support, training) delivered to multiple content users (customers, suppliers, channel part-ners, and employees) and delivered through multi-channel information products (Internet, e-commerce, e-catalog, intranet, portals, marketing/communication/product materials, documentation, training, and support) in multiple media (Web, paper, wireless). Too often, content is created by authors working in isolation from other authors within the organization. Walls are erected among content areas and even within content areas, which leads to content being created, and recreated, and recreated, often with changes or differences at each iteration resulting in increased costs, reduced quality, and potentially ineffective materials. We call this the Content Silo Trap. While content migration tools can help, particularly with legacy content, planned reuse is the next step in facilitating content reuse.

Rockley, Ann. e-Doc (2002). Articles>Content Management>Content Strategy

Use and Abuse of Reusable Learning Objects    

The term Learning Object, first popularized by Wayne Hodgins in 1994 when he named the CedMA working group 'Learning Architectures, APIs and Learning Objects,' has become the Holy Grail of content creation and aggregation in the computer-mediated learning field. The terms Learning Objects (LOs) and Reusable Learning Objects are frequently employed in uncritical ways, thereby reducing them to mere slogans. The serious lack of conceptual clarity and reflection is evident in the multitude of definitions and uses of LOs. The objectives of this paper are to assess current definitions of the term Learning Object, to articulate the foundational principles for developing a concept of LOs, and to provide a methodology and broad set of guidelines for creating LOs.

Polsani, Pithamber R. Journal of Digital Information (2003). Articles>Content Management>Instructional Design>Education

Using 6 Sigma Methodology and Tools to Design and Implement a Single Source Documentation Process  

6 Sigma is a proven strategy to improve quality, economic value, and practical utility to the company and its customers.

Eichholz, Jeannette. STC Proceedings (2001). Articles>Content Management>Single Sourcing

Using a Database and SGML to Build Single-Source Documents  

SGML and a database can make the document building process more efficient by focusing on data instead of formatting. A database with well-designed tables, forms for data input, and queries can help put a writer’s time to better use by allowing them to focus on content. Data can be reused from project to project by simply querying for topics to change and updating the contents. SGML is used for consistency, flexibility, reliability, and reusability. One of many possible processes of creating online and print documentation using a database and SGML is: (1) Choose a Document Type Definition. (2) Design the database. (3) Export data (queries) from the database as text file. (4) Up-translate a text file to an SGML instance. (5) Down-translate the SGML instance to the desired output.

Nguyen, Tins L. and Teresa A. Sharkey. STC Proceedings (1995). Articles>Content Management>Single Sourcing

Using a Wiki to Write About Wikis  

Academic writers are used to having their ideas encapsulated and enshrined in printed text (e.g., a journal article or a book), but publishing them in a wiki strips them of this protection. What happens when strangers change our writing? Since the traditional academic publishing paradigm has not caught up with the open-editing, peer-to-peer model, are we equipped to deal with the paradigm shift that wikis represent? These are issues we consider in this short piece.

Wilder, Hilary and Sharmila Pixy Ferris. Journal of Electronic Publishing (2007). Articles>Writing>Content Management>Wikis

Using Content Management to Realize a Competitive Advantage  

Pundits claim that the Web levels the playing field for many businesses today. And yet, few have been able to field a truly winning proposition online.

Christian, Martyn. KMworld (2001). Articles>Content Management>Management

Using Scenarios to Select a CMS

Scenarios are narrative descriptions or stories that concisely outline how something will work in practice. In the context of a content management system (CMS) project, scenarios are a very effective way of documenting key CMS requirements, and they complement the formal lists of functional requirements typically found in tender documents.

Robertson, James. Step Two (2007). Articles>Content Management>Assessment

Using the Clustar Method for Single-Source Documentation  

Most technical communicators create materials that help users perform tasks. Such task-based manuals, help files, web pages, or training materials are often expensive and difficult to write and maintain. Frequently, this is the fault of poor structure and process. Simply Written’s Clustar Method makes it cheaper and easier to create and maintain task-based documentation by emphasizing structure and process.

Altom, Jerilynne and Tim Altom. STC Proceedings (1999). Articles>Content Management>Single Sourcing