WoodWing Software has released Enterprise 6, the latest version of the company’s content publishing platform. Equipped with a new editing application called “Content Station”, Enterprise 6 offers article planning tools, direct access to any type of content repository, and integrated Web delivery functionality. Content Station allows users to create articles for delivery to the Web, print, and mobile devices, and offers out-of-the-box integration with the open-source Web content management system Drupal. Content Station works with Enterprise’s new server plug-ins to allow users to search, select, and retrieve content stored in other third-party repositories such as digital asset management systems, archives, and wire systems. Video, audio, and text files can then be collected into “dossiers”, edited, and set for delivery to a variety of outputs, all from a single user-interface. A built-in XML editor lets authors create documents intended solely for digital output. The content planning application lets managers assign content to users both inside and outside of the office. Enterprise’s Web publishing capabilities feature a direct integration with Drupal. Content authors click on a single button to preview or deliver content directly to Drupal and get information such as page views, ratings, and comments back from the Web CMS. And if something needs to be pulled from the site, editors can simply click “Unpublish”. They don’t have to contact a separate Web editor or navigate through another system’s interface. The server plug-in architecture also allows for any other Web content management system to be connected. http://www.woodwing.com/
Year: 2009 (Page 35 of 39)
An old colleague of mine from more than a dozen years ago found me on LinkedIn today. And within five minutes we got caught up after a gap of several years. I know, reestablishing lost connections happens all the time on social media sites. I just get a kick out of it every time it happens. But this is the XML blog, not the social media one, so…
My colleague works at a company that has been using SGML & XML technology for more than a 15 years. Their data is still in SGML. They feel they can always export to XML and do not plan to migrate their content and applications to SGML any time soon. The funny thing was that he was slightly embarrassed about still being in SGML.
Wait a minute! There is no reason to think SGML is dead and has to be replaced. Not in general. Maybe for specific applications a business case supports the upgrade, but it doesn’t have to every time. Not yet.
I know of several organizations that still manage data in the SGML they developed years ago. Early adopters, like several big publishers, some state and federal government applications, and financial systems were developed when there was only one choice. SGML, like XML, is a structured format. They are very, very similar. One format can be used to create the other very easily. They already sunk their investment into developing the SGML system and data, as well as training their users in it’s use. The incremental benefits of moving to XML do not support the costs of the migration. Not yet.
This brings up my main point, that structured data can be managed in many forms. These include XML, SGML, XHTML, databases, and probably other forms. The data may be structured, follow rules for hierarchy, occurrence and data typing, etc. but not be managed as XML, only exported as XML when needed. My personal opinion is that XML stored in databases provides some of the best combination of structured content management features, but different business needs suggest a variety of approaches may be suitable. Flat files stored in folders and formatted in old school SGML might still be enough and not warrant migration. Then again, it depends on the environment and the business objectives.
When XML first came out, someone coined the phrase that SGML stood for “Sounds Good, Maybe Later” because it was more expensive and difficult to implement. XML is more Web aware and is somewhat more clearly defined and therefore tools operate more consistently. Many organizations that felt SGML could not be justified were able to later justify migrating to XML. Others migrated right away to take advantage of the new tools or related standards. XML does eliminate some features of SGML that never seemed to work right too. It also demands Wellformed data, which reduces ambiguity and simplifies a few things. And tools have come a long way and are much more numerous, as expected.
XML is definitely more successful in terms of number and range of applications and XML adoption is an easier case to make today than SGML was back in the day. But many existing SGML applications still have legs. I would not suggest that a new application start off with SGML today, but I might modify the old saying to “Sounds Good, Migrate Later”.
So, when is it a good idea to migrate from SGML to XML? There are many tools available that do things with XML data better than they do with other structured forms. Many XML tools support SGML as well, but DBMS systems now can managed content as XML data type and use XML XPath nodes in processing. WIKIs and other tools can produce XML content and utilize other standards based on XML, but not SGML that I am aware of. If you want to take advantage of features of Web or XML tools, you might want to start planning your migration. But if your system is operational and stable, the benefits might not yet justify the investment and disruption from migrating. Not yet! </>
UK-based publishing consultant Paul Coyne asked a good question on LinkedIn: Can e-books ever support a secondary (second-hand) market?
I love books. And eBooks. However, many of my books are second hand from booksellers, car-boot sales and friends. How important is this secondary market to books and can ebooks ever really go mainstream without a secondary market? BTW I have no clue how this would work!
I offered the following thoughts…
Great question. The secondary market is incredibly important to the buyer of course, and perhaps a blessing and a curse to the publisher–a blessing because it creates more value in the buyer’s mind and a curse because it slows and eliminates some sales in markets like college and school book publishing.
One of the great ongoing questions about eBooks is price point. There is a growing feeling they should be very inexpensive compared to their print counterparts, both because of the perception they are less costly to produce and the reality that there is no current secondary market. Thus you see Amazon trying to get all Kindle books under $10 (US).
I still like the idea of superdistribution for digital products. By my crude definition (some authoritative links in a moment), a buyer of an eBook would be able to pass along the eBook and gain something from the eventual use of it by another user. Think of it as me getting a small commission when someone I pass it along to ends up buying it. I guess you could also think about it as a kind of viral sales model.
See also:
A decent Wikipedia entry on superdistribution.
An old but well written Wired magazine article on superdistribution.
We covered this in a DRM book I cowrote with Bill Rosenblatt and Steve Mooney.
We’ve added a 6th pre-conference workshop:
F: Making the Business Case for Content Globalization
Instructor: Andrew Draheim, Principal, Kidd & Draheim
Thanks to Clay Shirky for the title; watch his Web 2.0 Expo NY presentation here.
This is also the mantra for Alltop.com, self-described as a “digital magazine rack” of the Internet. As an analyst I get a lot of stuff and peruse twice the amount I get. Now that I’m twittering (@lciarlone) and face-bookin’ in addition to being a long-time LinkedIn user… well, you know the story. Not enough time in the day.
I’m looking for — and finding — ways to streamline keeping up to date. Alltop’s darn efficient in helping me do that, organizing “stories” by category per hour. And certainly like that our own Content Globalization blog surfaces within All the Top Linguistics News.
Curious on the method and the genesis? Check it out.
If you didn’t follow the link below to Bob DuCharme’s response to my January 13 posting on Why it is Difficult to Include Semantics in Web Content, you should read it. Bob does a great job describing tools in use to include semantics in Web content. Bob is a very smart guy. I like to think the complexity of his answer is a good illustration of my point that adding semantics is not easy. Anyway, his response is clearly worth reading and can be found at http://www.snee.com/bobdc.blog/2009/01/publishers-and-semantic-web-te.html.
Also, I have known Bob for some time. I am reminded that a while back he wrote an interesting article about XML data produced by his TiVo device (see http://www.xml.com/pub/a/2006/02/15/hacking-the-xml-in-your-tivo.html). I was intrigued how XML had begun to pop up in everyday things.
Ever since that TiVo article, I think of Bob every time XML pops up in unexpected everyday places (it’s better than associating him with a trauma). Once in a while I get a glimpse of XML data in a printer control file, in Web page source code, or as an export format for some software, but that sort of thing is to be expected. We all have seen examples at work or in commercial settings, but to find XML data at home in everyday devices and applications has always warmed my biased heart.
Recently I was playing a game of Sid Meier’s Civilization IV (all work and no play and so on….) and I noticed while it was booting up a game that one of the messages said “Reading XML FIles”. My first thought was “Bob would like to see this!” Then I was curious to see how XML was being used in game software. A quick Google search and the first entry, from Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civilization_IV#cite_note-10), says “More game attributes are stored in XML files, which must be edited with an external text editor or application.” Apparently you can “tweak simple game rules and change or add content. For instance, they can add new unit or building types, change the cost of wonders, or add new civilizations. Players can also change the sounds played at certain times or edit the play list for your soundtrack.”
I poked around in the directories and found schemas describing game units, events, etc. and configuration data instances describing artifacts and activities used in the game. A user could, if they wanted to, make buying a specific building very cheap for instance, or have the game play their favorite music instead of what comes with the game. That is if they know how to edit XML data. I think I just found a way to add many hours of enjoyment to an already great game.
I wonder how much everyday XML is out there just waiting for someone to tweak it and optimize it to make something work better. A thermostat, a refrigerator, or a television perhaps.
Traditionally, the idea of structured content has always been associated with product documentation, but this is beginning to change. Featuring Bill Trippe, Lead Analyst at The Gilbane Group, and Bruce Sharpe, XMetaL Founding Technologist at JustSystems, a brand new podcast on The Business Value of Structured Content takes a look into why many companies are beginning to realize that structured content is more than just a technology for product documentation – it’s a means to add business value to information across the whole enterprise.
From departmental assets such as marketing website content, sales training materials, or technical support documents, structured content can be used to grow revenue, reduce costs, and mitigate risks, ultimately leading to an improved customer experience.
Listen to the podcast and gain important insight on how structured content can
- break through the boundaries of product documentation
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help organizations meet high user expectations for when and where they can access content
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prove to be especially valuable in our rough economic times
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…and more!
The main conference program for Gilbane San Francisco 2009 will be published in a week or two, but the 1/2 day pre-conference workshop descriptions for June 2nd have been posted:
- How to Select a Web Content Management System
Instructor: Seth Gottlieb, Principal, Content Here - Making SharePoint Work in the Enterprise
Instructor: Shawn Shell, Principal, Consejo, Inc. - Managing the Web: The Fundamentals of Web Operations Management
Instructor: Lisa Welchman, Founding Partner, Welchman Pierpoint - Getting Started with Business Taxonomy Design
Instructors: Joseph A. Busch, Founder and Principal, & Ron Daniel, Principal, Taxonomy Strategies LLC - Sailing the Open Seas of New Media
Instructor: Chris Brogan, President, New Marketing Labs, LLC
