Authoring Within a Content Management System. The Content Management Story

(1)

Authoring Within a Content Management System

The Content

Management Story

(2)

2

Learning Goals



Understand the roots of content management



Define the concept of content



Describe what a content management system does



Describe what an information model is and

how it is used in content management

(3)

Course Map



Module 1: The Content Management Story

– The roots of content management

– What is content

– The information model



Module 2: Content and Authors

(4)

4

The Content Management Story



Connecting the Dots … , er Data



We Have Content!



What is Content?



Systematically Managing Content



The Information Model

(5)

The Content Management Story

Connecting the Dots … ,

er Data

(6)

6

Connecting the Dots … , er Data



Computing with Applications



Networking the Computers



Internetworking



Isolated Information

(7)

Computing With Applications

 Computers mainly process data

 Mainframes, minicomputers and personal computers all used applications to process data

(8)

8

Networking the Computers

 People wanted to access the unprocessed and the useful data from remote computers

 And why not use the

applications from remote computers, too?

 So, groups of computers were connected over LANs

 Network applications such as email also appeared

(9)

Internetworking

 Soon the desire for connectivity spawned

acceptance of the Internet Protocols which can connect disparate networks

 People could communicate across a global network

(10)

10

Isolated Information

 Spirit of connectivity ignored anything not considered data or communication

 Documents, spreadsheets,

pictures, etc. were the domain of individuals, not information systems

 People began to wonder what solutions and inspirations were hiding in this isolated info

(11)

The Content Management Story

We Have Content!

(12)

12

Decisions, Actions, Data



Enterprises repeat the following sequence:

– Decide on a course of action

– Act on the decision

– Capture data about the action



This can be a development project, sales activity, personnel decision … anything



Very often, the data includes descriptive data

(13)

What Drives the Decisions?



What about the information that …

– drives the decision - planning documents, meeting notes, market analysis, email threads

– supports the action – marketing collateral, product manuals, training materials



This information was found in computer files

(14)

14

If It Is Valuable, Manage It



If it drives decisions, it must be valuable



If it supports actions, it must be valuable



If it ’ s valuable, it must be managed

(15)

So Let ’ s Manage Our Documents



Document management systems came into existence to manage the non-data files or documents



Search mechanisms were built into these

systems so users could find what they

(16)

16

How Can We Reuse Information?



Enterprises discovered that they were

recreating the same information in different flavors



Every new flavor was a new document



They wanted to reuse information the way …

– Manufacturers reuse components

– Enterprise data systems reuse data

– Software developers reuse small objects of code

(17)

Single Sourcing



Technical communicators starting publishing multiple versions of the same information in 3 ways:

– Identical content, multiple media

– Customized content built from single source

(18)

18

So What Is It That We Need?



More than just a smart library system like document management



We need something that can:

– Store information in chunks, not documents

– Reuse chunks as well as create new chunks

– Publish chunks in different combinations for different media



We need a content management system!

(19)

What Should It Do?



Help us manage our knowledge



Assist us in unifying our far flung content



Help us find content



Enable us to reuse content efficiently



Allow us to publish in multiple media

(20)

The Content Management Story

But What is Content,

Exactly?

(21)

But What is Content, Exactly?



Data, Information and Content



Content Has Format



Content Has Structure



Functionality as Content

(22)

22

Data, Information and Content



Data – snippets of information without human meaning



Content – information with human meaning and context



How can a computer built to handle data deal with content?



By wrapping the content in data (metadata)

(23)

Content Is Not Data

Data …



is still mainly numbers



is usable by computers Content …



can include text, images, video, animation,

(24)

24

Content Is Information Plus Data



If you add a status to a newsletter article

(new, ready-to-publish, ready-to-delete), you have content.



A computer can then use the status

(metadata) to decide what to do with the article.



Metadata makes the context and meaning of

information explicit to a computer

(25)

Content Has Format



Format for presentation

– Emotional effect: size, color, position, etc.

– Type of effect: type, layout or background

– Scope: character, paragraph, page, chapter, etc.



Must be consistent

(26)

26

Content Has Structure



Makes your content easier to create, to manage and easier to automate



Hierarchical structure is most common

– Categories

– Components

– Elements



Creating a structure can be a large and

difficult task

(27)

Types of Structures



Divisional structure organizes content by

categories (product reviews, press releases, etc.)



Access structure organizes content by how

the audience needs to access the content

(28)

28

Functionality as Content



Web site functionality can be considered content



Programming objects and code applets are served along with information, often by

identical rules (metadata)



Personalized functionality such as login

applets, or user features based on account

type are examples of functionality as content

(29)

The Content Management Story

Unified Content

Strategy Discussion

(30)

30

Unified Content Strategy



Unmanaged content vs. content silos?



Content management without unified content strategy?



What type of reuse you have done or seen?

(31)

The Content Management Story

Systematically

Managing Content

(32)

32

Systematically Managing Content



What is CMS Again?



Types of content systems



What does CMS Do?



Collection System



Management System



Publishing System



Metadata Keeps the Balance

(33)

What Is CMS Again?



A hardware and software system



A set of content types and processes



A vehicle that enables an enterprise to

connect its information to its constituents

(34)

34

Types of Content Systems



Web content



Transactional content



Integrated document management



Learning content



Enterprise content



Web Content Management



Automates Web content creation, management and delivery



Supports collaborative authoring, testing and controlled delivery



Includes HTML authoring tool or web-based

(36)

36

Transactional Content



Manages the exchange of money through Web-based product catalogs (E-commerce)



Capacity to interface with legacy systems (accounting, inventory, shipping, etc.)



Web-based only



Content sharing is usually one way

(37)

Integrated Document Management



Manages enterprise documents, but some have moved to content elements as well



Interface with many authoring tools and content images



Strong on traditional CMS (audit trails,

version control, access control, etc.)

(38)

38

Learning Content



Manage Web-based learning materials



Include tools to create simulations,

animations, multimedia and other reusable e-learning content



Usually can only develop content within the tool



Few support sharing content from other CMS

(39)

Enterprise Content



New vendor category



Usually XML-based systems



Focus on Web delivery with some print and PDF creation



Some include e-commerce functionality

(40)

40

4 Big Things That a CMS Does



Collect new and existing content in CMS repository



Manage the stored content, system processes and administer the system



Publish content from repository to Web and

(42)

42

Collection System

Transform information into content components



Authoring – creation of new content



Acquisition – gathering of content from existing sources



Conversion – remove unnecessary

information or apply new markup language



Aggregation – edit, componentize and tag

with metadata

(43)

Management System

Maintain repository and administer system



Repository

– Content database

– Control and configuration files



Administration

(44)

44

Publishing System

Create publications with content components



Publishing templates and services

– Static elements (text, media, etc.)

– Calls to publication services (necessary functions such as executing personalization rules or

building navigation)

– Calls to enterprise services



Connections to other enterprise systems

(45)

Types of Reuse



Opportunistic – when an author decides to reuse information



Systematic – when technology automatically reuses information

– Locked reuse, when content cannot be changed

(46)

46

CMS Is a Balance of Entities

 Goals and Requirements

 Audiences

 Publications

 Content components

 Authors

 Acquisition Sources

 Workflow and staffing

 Access structures

(47)

Metadata Keeps the Balance



It ’ s the snippets of information (data) that let a computer catalog, store and retrieve your content



It draws diverse classes of content into a

coherent scheme

(48)

The Content Management Story

The Information Model

(49)

The Information Model



What is an Information Model?



XML: eXtensible Markup Language



Document Type Definitions



Metadata

(50)

50

What Is an Information Model?



A blueprint for writing, structuring and delivering reusable content



A catalog of the enterprise ’ s information products



Identifies required and optional content elements



Illustrates how to structure and reuse content

(51)

3 Levels of an Information Model



Taxonomy

– Categories of information that become the attributes and values of your metadata



Information Products or Types

– Authors use these templates to create consistent information products

(52)

52

Taxonomy Means Categories

 Reflect the

dimensions of the user community’s attitudes and

goals

 Metadata consists of all the values for the attributes in the Taxonomy

Value Attribute

(53)

Cookbook Recipe Example

Starters, Soups, Salads, Main Role in a meal

Italian, Mexican, Chinese, Irish, Thai, Vietnamese

Ethnicity

Beef, Lamb, Chicken, Fish Shellfish, Vegetables

Primary Ingredient

Metadata Value Attribute

(54)

54

Information Products or Types



Templates for communications that ensure consistent structure



Starting point for authors



Could be a simple WORD template or defined by an XML Document Type Definition



Contains elements or content units, some of

which may be re-usable or re-used

(55)

Containers or Nested Elements



Elements can be information or containers of information



For example, a Body element can contain other elements (announcement, features, benefits, etc.)



Announcement can contain paragraphs,

(56)

56

Model Components



Semantic Information



Base Information



Metadata



Architectural Information



Production Information

(57)

XML: eXtensible Markup Language



Specification for the creation of tag sets



Based on Standard Generalized Markup Language (SGML)



Not a set of tags like HTML



You create the tags

(58)

58

Benefits of Defining Tag Names



Tag names have meaning for you and your authors



Names can reflect the content



Tag names have nothing to do with formatting



You can have as many or as few tags as you

need

(59)

Benefits of Using XML



Structured content



Separation of content and format



Built-in metadata



Database orientation



XSL style sheets

(60)

60

Document Type Definitions (DTD)



XML version of Information Type



Defines what content your information products can contain



Both a template and a set of rules for automated publishing



Can be very specific and flexible



Content elements are XML tags

(61)

What Does Meta Mean?



Meta from Merriam-Webster OnLine:

– occurring later than or in succession to

– situated behind or beyond

– later or more highly organized, specialized form of

– change : transformation

(62)

62

What Does Metadata Mean?



Meta-data is about data

– Or data about data



It is what you need to use the content



It is what you need to understand the content



It is not the content

(63)

Early Metadata



Library Card Catalog



File Properties listed by operation system

– Size

– Date Modified

– Application Type

(64)

64

Metadata In Content Management



CMS is concerned with smaller content chunks



Therefore, metadata describes entities

smaller than a file (components, elements)



CMS is also concerned with publication of smaller chunks



Metadata describes how to present a content

chunk

(65)

Types of Metadata



Categorization

– Hierarchies

– Taxonomies



Element

– Reuse

(66)

66

Metadata Process



Must be consistently applied to content



Done by authors or editors



Metadata guide can be helpful

(67)

The Content Management Story

Summary

(68)

68

Connecting the Dots … , er Data



Computing with Applications



Networking the Computers



Internetworking



Isolated Information

(69)

We Have Content!



Valuable information (non-data) was stored in documents and was unmanaged



Document management organized the

volumes of documents, but was only half the

story

(70)

70

But What is Content, Exactly?



Data, Information and Content



Content Has Format



Content Has Structure



Functionality as Content

(71)

Systematically Managing Content



What is CMS Again?



Types of Content Systems



What does CMS Do?



Collection System



Management System

(72)

72

The Information Model



What is an Information Model?



XML: eXtensible Markup Language



Document Type Definitions

