Open-Source Content Management Systems

Open-source CMS has now matured to the point where it should be considered alongside commercial products, but is not without its weaknesses and issues.

Robertson, James. Step Two (2004). Articles>Content Management>Software>Open Source

Optimieren der Informationslogistik

Können schlecht erfasste betriebliche Informationen zum Unternehmenserfolg beitragen? Ja! Zurzeit reiften Standards und Software heran (XML, Content-Management-, bzw. Redaktionssysteme). Sie versprechen, das Informationspotenzial in Unternehmungen zu aktivieren. Information mausert sich in unserer schnelllebigen Welt immer mehr zum elementaren Produktionsfaktor. Die richtige Information zur richtigen Zeit in der richtigen Form am richtigen Ort trägt wesentlich zum Unternehmenserfolg einer Firma bei.

Pfister, Gaston. Artech Ltd. (2004). (German) Articles>Content Management

Packaging our CMS

We have considered the idea of packaging and selling our CMS to other development firms. Do you think there is room on the market for another CMS solution, and if so, what niche/market is not being served effectively?

Byrne, Tony. CMSworks (2004). Articles>Content Management

Paradigm Shifts are Never Pretty: Advice on Making the Move to XML Authoring

Most people are risk-averse, and profound changes such as the move to structured authoring require new skills and workflows. To ensure a successful transition, XML implementers need to assess their team members, identify allies, and build their implementation strategy around the staff members who embrace change.

O'Keefe, Sarah S. Content Wrangler, The (2008). Articles>Content Management>Project Management>XML

A Peep into the Toolbox

What is the current scenario for applications and systems in the area of technical communication? Who is using which editor? And how many companies are using a Content-Management-System? To answer these and other questions, tekom conducted a survey from July to November 2006, which was conceived as an online questionnaire and made available via the tekom web site. 547 participants took part in the survey.

Straub, Daniela and Wolfgang Ziegler. tekom (2007). Articles>Content Management>TC>Surveys

Planning and Analysis Articles and Surveys

Provides you with several resources you may find valuable during the planning and analysis phases of implementing content management.

Abel, Scott. Rockley Bulletin (2004). Articles>Content Management>Content Strategy

Planning for DITA Success: How to Set Up the Right Team and the Right Strategy  

This two-part series explores why DITA has created such a buzz in the content management arena, particularly among technical documentation teams--and how you can prepare for long-term DITA success.

Manning, Steve and Su-Laine Yeo. Rockley Group, The (2007). Articles>Content Management>Standards>DITA

Planning: The Key to Successful CMS Implementation

So you think you need content management? The temptation is to call your Information Technology (IT) department and ask them to help you choose a content management system (CMS). Being very tool oriented, your IT department will love buying you the latest 'silver bullet' without ever looking at your content requirements or your internal processes. This is the best prescription for failure.

Glick-Smith, Judith L. 'Judy'. Rockley Bulletin (2004). Articles>Content Management>Single Sourcing

Podcasting Tutorial: Create Your Own Podcast

This podcasting tutorial will show you how to create your very own podcast quickly and easily! Think about listening to a radio show on a topic that you're interested in, but instead of having to tune in at a specific time, you can listen to the show at the time and place of your choosing. That's what podcasting enables you to do.

Guides and Tutorials (2006). Articles>Content Management>Streaming>Podcasting

Post-Implementation - Most Important

You would be forgiven for thinking that the lifespan of the typical usability project ends with final implementation and a product or website's release into the market. In one sense it does - the user-centred design process is over, and presumably the result is an easy-to-use product or site that is already yielding results. All well and good - but sometimes even the best interfaces cannot meet the changing requirements of the typical workplace. In this case, post-implementation user testing can pick up the difficulties that were not picked up first time around. At this point the client may quite rightly be wondering why these problems weren't spotted before deployment. The reason lies in the way in which the user has developed alongside the product. First impressions, whether favourable or not, may turn out to be misleading after an extended period of use.

Farrell, Tom. Frontend Infocentre (2000). Design>Content Management>Web Design

Power from the People: Assessing the New Online Participatory Tools for Your Organization

New online participatory tools like blogs, YouTube, and MySpace can be powerful and valuable--if they mesh with your goals. Colin Delany walks through the benefits and costs of common participatory tools and suggests which are likely to be useful for you.

Delany, Colin. IdealWare (2006). Articles>Content Management>Community Building

Preparing Your Staff for Content Management  

Few changes are as potentially uncomfortable for technical communicators than implementing a content management system. Freeman explains why, and offers advice to managers on how to address writers' concerns.

Freeman, Bret. Intercom (2005). Articles>Content Management>Collaboration

Print to Online: Conflicting Tales of Transition    

This is a success story of how a large, high-tech service support organization made the transition from print to online documentation in both CD-ROM and Web media. But this is also a cautionary tale of the damaging drawbacks resulting from that changeover. The co-existence of two such very different evaluations, both based on accurate reporting about common products and circumstances, is emblematic of the challenges that new technologies can bring to information developers. The success story, told by the publications group responsible for the transition, is focused on new features and reduced production expenses. The cautionary tale highlights larger issues of process, product suitability, and indirect costs that affect both users and the company, including the publications group itself. The instructive value of considering two such versions of a single case history is in developing a fuller view of how technology advances can lead to unintended consequences for information developers.

Rehling, Louise. Technical Communication Online (1999). Articles>Content Management>Publishing>Online

Process Pieces and Tools in Content Development

As long as we are working with people, there will be clogs in the flow of information. As long as we are working for corporations, the bottom line will be money. With the dependence on computers and information in accessible and digital form, there is still a challenge in getting meaningful information. The tools, as advanced and automated as they are, will not fix all our problems. But we have to work with what we have, and automate as much of the production and maintenance of our content as possible.

Albing, Bill. KeyContent.org (2006). Articles>Content Management

Publishing for Dual Media — Paper and Electronic  

With electronic publications moving solidly into the mainstream, it is becoming apparent that steps must be taken to streamline the production process. Compared to the relative simplicity of traditional hard copy output, the electronic medium introduces new capabilities — and complexity — for publishers. Indeed, electronic publishing is not much different than programming; publishers must address issues like user interfaces, hypertext linking and context-sensitive intelligence.

New, Michael. STC Proceedings (1996). Articles>Content Management>Single Sourcing

Putting Content in Context

Digital asset management (DAM) software stores and organizes images, audio, video and other digital objects, making them easier to find, transform and reuse. And many companies are using DAM to provide a centralized way for employees and partners to locate and manipulate content-a big time-saver for all.

Kalin, Sari. CIO Magazine (2002). Design>Content Management>Usability

A Quiet Revolution in Website Maintenance

We're on the verge of a similar revolution in the area of website maintenance.

Bennaco (2005). Design>Web Design>Content Management

Rapid Web Development: How to Create Flexible Sites Quickly Using Standards Like CSS and XHTML

What do you do when you need to have a Web site done 'yesterday'? This article answers that question, showing you how to create sites quickly and flexibly using Web standards like cascading style sheets (CSS), structural HTML, and server-side includes. It contains examples that demonstrate how rapid Web development not only streamlines the process, but also makes updating easier.

Lewin, James. IBM (2001). Design>Content Management>Web Design

Recursively Sorting our Documents

Traditional document management vendors and many newer approaches allow you to apply multiple attributes to individual documents, such that they can retrieved according to different facets.

Byrne, Tony. CMSworks (2004). Articles>Content Management>Search

Redefining Content Management

We live in a time where people have an amazing amount of power when it comes to publishing. Blogging, podcasts, vidcasts (or whatever you call ‘em) and more have been put into the hands of millions and it’s changing the way we live and work. Despite all of that, content management for the web remains a huge pain point for many individuals and businesses. The amount of time, effort and money that’s involved (and often wasted) to do things that are seemingly rather straightforward is astronomical.

Robinson, D. Keith. Vitamin (2008). Articles>Content Management

Requirements of Content Management Systems: Definition According to Need

In all companies, the requirements of an editorial system are worked out individually from the analysis of existing functioning and the definition of editorial and publication processes required in the future. The first important criteria for analysis are change frequencies and degree of reuse of the published information. The description of the information types as well as translation sequences constitute another starting point for the definition of a modular work process (single-source principle) and publication options (cross-media publishing).

Ziegler, Wolfgang. tekom (2005). Articles>Content Management>Information Design>Workflow

Restructuring Your User Information  

Details a process for improving the usability, consistency, and organization of user information within businesses that maintain medium to large documentation libraries.

Richards, Charles. Intercom (2003). Articles>Content Management>Documentation>Usability

Reusability 2.0: The Key to Publishing Learning  

What would you do if you had to develop and deliver personalized training to 900,000 employees, located in 34,000 different locations globally with a complex set of variables that changes training on a location-by-location basis? The key is reusability 2.0. While technology-delivered training has become mainstream in many organizations, most are still not fully leveraging the power of reusable learning content to meet their instructional needs.

Chapman, Bryan. Xyleme (2007). Articles>Content Management>Instructional Design>White Papers

Reusable Information Object Strategy: Definition, Creation Overview, and Guidelines  

Cisco Systems recognizes a need to move from creating and delivering large inflexible training courses, to database driven objects that can be reused, searched, and modified independent of their delivery media. This effort is called the Reusable Information Object Strategy. This strategy defines the standards and process for designing and developing Reusable Information Objects (RIOs) at Cisco Systems.

Cisco Systems (1999). Books>Information Design>Content Management>White Papers

Rich Media Management and Business Agility

Understanding how rich media assets are used by the enterprise, of course, remains the central prerequisite for the enterprise’s ability to capitalize on the deployment of a rich media content management platform. The keys to a successful platform for rich media management include an approach to development based on service-oriented architectures (SOA) and a rich underlying content repository that exposes both the content and its metadata.

Trippe, Bill. Gilbane Report (2004). Articles>Content Management>Multimedia