Advanced Information Architecture- Fall 02
Content management
I. Foundations of content management
• Why we have to manage content
• What is CMS?
II. How do CMS work?
• Technical infrastructure
III. Content management during site design
• Responsibilities
• Sourcing content
• Asset management
Advanced Information Architecture- Fall 02
I. Foundations of content management
• Why we have to manage content
Web sites are growing way too quickly
Outdated content is typically placed in archives
Tools to create new content are becoming easier to use
This increases the pool of potential authors
There are economic and organizational pressures to move more information to the web
Inside every small web site is a huge web site struggling to get outSuh et al. (2002) Content Management Systems. New Riders. http://www.webreference.com/authoring/languages/html/cmsystems/chap1/
Advanced Information Architecture- Fall 02
How many authors do you have?
How many items does each author create or change per month?
Ex: news, press releases, short tidbits, calendar events, articles
3 authors @ 5 items a month: 15 updates a month; 180 per year
5 authors @ 10 items a month: 50 updates a month; 600 per year
100 authors @ 12 items a month: 1200 updates a month; 14,400 per year
If the number of authors increases and they post the same amount of content, the number of updates increases
Advanced Information Architecture- Fall 02
Factors that drive CMS
The number of pages on commercial, academic, and government sites continues to increase
Users are becoming more demanding and sophisticated
People in the organization want changes, updates, and revisions
This causes bottlenecks on page production
Slowdowns can lead to stale content and inconsistency
An unintended consequence of the slowdown is that it’s easier for them to absolve themselves of responsibility for the site
Technology changes the way an organization creates and manages content
Advanced Information Architecture- Fall 02
Old-school content management
Many web sites were originally done by hand
Hand coding does not scale for large and complex web sites
There was an inter-dependency between design, code, and content
People on the team would typically do several tasks
Changing one part meant changing everything
There was no clear production process
This was not really necessary with small teams and small sites
Issue: what parts of the process can be automated?
Advanced Information Architecture- Fall 02
The advantage of CMS
Content management applies technology to automate the most tedious parts of the old school approach
It defines a system for separating site design from the server code
The server code is kept separate from the content
A CMS provides the means and the opportunity to make a site manageable
It will change the workflow of the web team
It should result in cost and time savings over time
Advanced Information Architecture- Fall 02
What is a Content Management System (CMS) ?
It refers to products that offer the basic technical infrastructure for developing, organizing and publishing content
Three main tools:
Asset management interface
Used to create and manage content
Repository
Used to store content
Template engine
Used to publish content
Advanced Information Architecture- Fall 02
What do CMS do?
CMS automate the process of creating, publishing, and updating Web site content
They make maintaining and updating the content of a site easier
Content contributors have ability to manage their own content
CMS usually have three components
A front-end editor for inputting content
A back-end system for storing the content
A template mechanism to get the content onto the site
Advanced Information Architecture- Fall 02
Content management involves publishing content with digital tools
In its simplest form, it does three things:
Asset management
Creating, organizing, and managing units of content
Preparing content for publishing and dissemination
Transformation
Presenting the content
Deciding on formats and layouts
Publishing
Delivering the content to the audience
Determining the channels for delivery
Advanced Information Architecture- Fall 02
CMS involve workflow management, linking work practices and the CMS infrastructure
It is a predefined series of tasks through which content is created and published
It describes the progression of content through the asset management, transformation, and publishing activities
It makes work processes explicit and systematic
It applies rules to users and tasks to manage a process
A good workflow tool automates reminders to move content assets through the entire process
It generates logs so that we understand what is going on, what the status of each content item is, and where the bottlenecks exist
Advanced Information Architecture- Fall 02
CMS is a sociotechnical system composed of the people involved (authors, editors, and developers) and the technology that supports them
Content management is a group activity, and requires cooperation to succeed
It involves coordination and collaboration
Business processes involved in the production of the web site have to be examined
It is important to understand what people do in the production process
Putting in place a technology infrastructure that will support that collaboration is not a trivial activity
Advanced Information Architecture- Fall 02
It also includes the broader social and organizational context in which these tools are used
This always involves the business environment of the organization
The goals, culture, and decision-making processes must be taken into account
It typically centers on the purposes of the web site
Organizations and people use web sites to communicate
CMS supports the technical aspects of digital communication
It is intended to help people get their jobs done faster and more efficiently
Advanced Information Architecture- Fall 02
Planning and implementing CMS is a serious high-level strategic activity
Selecting a CMS is typically a job for CTOs or IT department heads because of the high cost of the tools
It is important for the IA to have input into this process
CMS affects many people in an organization
It will change their workflows and there will be a learning curve
It will lead to policy changes
There is work to be done to convince the stakeholders that such a system is necessary
These systems are new enough that the impacts on organizations is often not widely understood
Advanced Information Architecture- Fall 02
Content management
I. Foundations of content management
• Why we have to manage content
• What is CMS?
II. How do CMS work?
• Technical infrastructure
III. Content management during site design
• Responsibilities
• Sourcing content
• Asset management
Advanced Information Architecture- Fall 02
How CMS work
Technical Infrastructure
Content creation
Users add content via a browser-based interface
The interface is similar to the web site
It typically has rich text editing capabilities
Asset management is handled within this interface
Users edit existing content, compare versions of content, and to approve content for publication
Some systems are integrated with apps such as Office or Dreamweaver
Advanced Information Architecture- Fall 02
Some provide custom client-side applications
This may be a richer editing environment, or allow administrative tasks
An application programming interface (API) allows users to add or manipulate content stored via scripts
Workflow helps manage the flow of content through this technical structure
It ensures that the IA is aware of and can approve what happens throughout
Version control helps people track changes to the content allowing management of change
The administrator assigns users and groups to certain roles and actions
User access control levels (ACL)
Advanced Information Architecture- Fall 02
Repository
The repository can be a database, a closed file system, or a mixture of both
It can be virtual
One interface can provide access to numerous backend data sources
It stores content and any associated metadata
Metadata enables a range of content management functions
Allows the CMS to deliver more precise searches,
It can generate topic-based navigation and create links to related pages
It can track workflow status
Advanced Information Architecture- Fall 02
Publishing
A template engine applies design elements to content, in order to produce the desired output document
The templates themselves usually contain placeholders for content from the repository
More powerful schemes can allow inline code to be interpreted in the templates
Link management refers to how the tool tracks and maintains internal links and site navigation
This can be driven by an internally maintained glossary of unique content Ids
Other systems handle it by referring to a user-created site structure, which is also used to create navigation
Advanced Information Architecture- Fall 02
Static publishing
Pages are created and uploaded
Dynamic publishing
Content is uploaded to the database
When a request for a web page is received, the template engine publishes the content using the template
A dynamic server requires more processing power, but is useful for presenting constantly changing or frequently updated content
ToolsWebreference.com. (2001). Content Management Tools http://www.webreference.com/authoring/languages/html/site.html
Advanced Information Architecture- Fall 02
Content management
I. Foundations of content management
• Why we have to manage content
• What is CMS?
II. How do CMS work?
• Technical infrastructure
III. Content management during site design
• Responsibilities
• Sourcing content
• Asset management
Advanced Information Architecture- Fall 02
III. Content management during site design
• Responsibilities
This is a major part of the design and production phases of the project
The IA develops and oversees the content management process for the project
There should be a clear path for content development and delivery
Creation --> editing --> formatting --> proofing --> submission --> publishing --> storing --> version control
It also involves issues of copyright clearance and payments and possibly syndication contracts
There should be procedures for updating and removal of content
Advanced Information Architecture- Fall 02
Sourcing content
Where will the content cone from?
Creation of original content
Who will do the work (in-house or outsourced)?
If internal, what are the relevant procedures for getting to content to the team?
If external, what are the terms of the contract?
Content syndication
The IA should understand the timetables involved in receiving this type of content
It is also important to be familiar with the contract
This will specify formats to be delivered, depth of content, frequency of updating, error control…
Advanced Information Architecture- Fall 02
Free content
Always consider the source and quality of the content
Be careful about proper attributions
Reusing/repurposing content
If the client is supplying content , make sure to inspect it carefully
Issue: how much work is involved in getting the content into the proper form for publishing
Stock/library content
This is content that you have acquired or that you can purchase from a source
Be careful about clearances and avoid cliches
Keep careful records of source for each item
Advanced Information Architecture- Fall 02
Managing content providers
This is where IAs rely on the project plan
There should be a specification explaining how the various providers (clients and outsourcers) are to deliver content
This should lay out formatting requirements, benchmarks, deadlines and payment schedules (where appropriate)
It is important for the client to understand the role of content development and delivery in the overall development process
Have backup plans to keep the work going in case the content is late
Advanced Information Architecture- Fall 02
Managing content formats
In general, specify exact formats
Only accept content in digital format
Text
Use an content exchange format that is idiot-proof for clients (.rtf? .pdf?)
If using software (Quark?) make sure that your team and the content provider are using the same version
If the content is to be entered into a database, develop a usable, web-based entry interface
Images
Start with as high a resolution as you can get
Insist on standardized image formats
Advanced Information Architecture- Fall 02
Audio
Again, get the highest quality file you can
Make sure that you have access to the technology you need to process the file formats you will be dealing witt
Make clear the distinction between encoding audio for the web and editing audio files
Streaming or downloading?
Video
Similar to audio but even more expensive
Be aware of the range of international standards affecting video recording and playback
Advanced Information Architecture- Fall 02
Asset tracking and management
Have procedures in place to log and track the content that is going into (and out of) the site
An easy way is to use a file structure that mirrors the basic site architecture and store content in the appropriate place
Use subdirectories labeled by file format
For larger sites, use a database to store content
Keep a file that is used to check arrival of content and track versions
Save the email!
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