SearchBlox Software, Inc. has released Version 3.1 of its Content Search Software with a REST-API that allows custom content to be indexed and searched. Other new features in this release include Spelling Suggestions for search queries and support for JDK 1.5. The API is available in the SearchBlox Free Edition, the Enterprise Edition and the Distributed Edition for Akamai EdgeComputing Platform. SearchBlox is available as a Web Component for all major J2EE Application Servers and as a standalone application for Windows and Mac OS X platforms. The SearchBlox Free Edition is available free of charge and can index up to 1000 documents. The software can be downloaded from
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Touch Clarity, a supplier of automated content targeting software announced that they have partnered with WebSideStory. Touch Clarity’s content targeting software increases conversions and customer engagement online by building profiles of visitors to large consumer web sites based on behavior and uses those profiles to target content to them. The combination of Touch Clarity’s automated content targeting and WebSideStory’s digital marketing and website analytics is inteneded to reduce the integration effort required to install both products on a customer’s Web portal or e-commerce site. http://www.touchclarity.com,
Mobius Management Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:MOBI) and Sun Microsystems announced the integration of the Mobius ViewDirect TCM software suite with the Sun Microsystems StorEdge 5310/5310C Compliance Archiving System. This solution manages all traditional corporate records, e-mail and content in any format from any source and ensures its integrity, reliability and long-term availability. It makes content available to support business operations and it mitigates the risks and costs associated with legal and regulatory compliance. ViewDirect TCM integrates enterprise content in a consolidated repository or through access to multiple, disparate repositories and includes a suite of content-centric applications that enable regulatory compliance and automate business processes. ViewDirect TCM scales from the desktop to the enterprise. Implementations range from departmental applications to multi-server systems with hundreds of thousands of users and billions of documents. High-capacity serial ATA disks with WORM (non-erasable, non-rewritable) technology provide scalable capacity as well as the high-speed access. http://www.mobius.com/
Trivantis Corporation announced the release of the Lectora 2006 line of authoring and publishing tools, which includes Lectora Publisher, Lectora Professional Publishing Suite, and Lectora International Publishing Suite, plus special language versions in Spanish, German, and Dutch with more than 50 new features of Lectora 2006. Features to the Lectora 2006 line of authoring tools include a JavaScript Title Manager, a Translation Tool, Sticky Notes, Question Feedback Pop-Up, Question Feedback Pop-Up, and Object and Page Transitions. Lectora meets the latest elearning standards, enabling content to be easily published to SCORM, AICC, and Microsoft LRN. Trivantis’ destination-neutral philosophy carries through in Lectora, enabling content to be published to any standards-based learning management system, including Blackboard, WebCT, Pathlore, Plateau, Saba, TEDS, and many more. http://www.trivantis.com
RealObjects released version 4.3 of its WYSIWYG XHTML/XML editor edit-on Pro. The editor complements web-based Content Management, Knowledge Management, and e-Learning systems and streamlines the process of in-browser Web authoring across platforms without installation of client-side software. It empowers non-technical users to become content contributors without knowing HTML, XML or other markup languages. The RealObjects XHTML/XML editor technology is available both as a browser-based Java applet or as a JavaBean rich client control. The editor guarantees XHTML compliance of the contents created or pasted from other applications by validation. The focus for improvements in the new release was on the filtered copy and paste of Microsoft Word contents, increased performance as well as extended table and WebDAV functionality. Other important new features include the possibility to insert accessible tables and enhanced dialogs for lists, page properties and headings. Additionally it is now possible to include background images, insert comments or use further JavaScript-API functionality. The new version adds official support for the just-released Firefox 1.5 browser. Having a valid software maintenance subscription, RealObjects edit-on Pro customers can upgrade to version 4.3 free of charge. A free evaluation version is available at http://www.realobjects.com
Inmedius, Inc. released S1000Dtransition, a publishing program that produces or transforms structured ASD S1000D Data Modules into common types of print output, including traditional, paper-based manuals. Maintaining one source repository, S1000Dtransition simplifies and expedites the process. Users can produce S1000D, and other commercial or military specification-based documentation, from a single data source, including; ATA iSpec 2200 (Air Transport Association of America, Inc.), AESP (Army Equipment Support Publication), and AvP70 (Aviation Publication). The software also provides publishing support functions, including; PDF Creation, LooseLeaf Production to create printed manuals, Change Page Management to address subsequent updated versions or editions of documentation, Dual Language Support, and a set of Batch File Processing tools to perform tasks on source files. Transition converts a batch of S1000D SGML/XML Data Modules (DM) to an Adobe PDF file. The software will convert either a single PDF file for each DM or merge a series of DMs into one linear PDF. Transition also converts the element into PDF links, enhancing navigation. Technical documentation publishers produce, manage and update paper-based manuals through the system’s LooseLeaf Production and Change Page Management functions. This reduces paper and printing expenses, as only those single sheets (or series of pages with changes) need reproduced, rather than publishing entirely new manuals. Transition’s Dual Language support allows for two languages to appear side-by-side on screen and in print. http://www.inmedius.com
Contextware, Inc. announced at the Gilbane Conference on Content Management Technologies the availability of Contextware’s Records Management Support Module (Contextware RMS) a new software module that will allow enterprises to drive additional value out of their existing records management software investments. Contextware RMS will connect seamlessly with most web-based records management applications. The support module will allow users to activate Contextware RMS from any point in the records management taxonomy, so that users can review the business processes and instructions that relate to the records, providing a precise context for the records stored within the system. Contextware RMS allows the users to build a business process framework that pulls everything instructions, records, laws, policies, and people into a single common interface for reference and learning. When launched from within a records management system, Contextware RMS acts as a ‘super help’ function.
The Gilbane Conference in Boston is well underway and already a raging success in my mind. Besides facilitating the “Enterprise Content Management: Myth or Reality” roundtable at the CMPros Summit, I have also moderated a session in the CM track titled “Avoiding the Big Mistakes in a CMS Project.” Both experiences were exactly the kind I hoped for — interactive, participant-driven, and enlightening. Summarizing my thoughts will likely take several blog entries — this one focuses on “the glue people” as related to the concept and in turn, the organizational reality of an enterprise content management strategy. Not software, not tools, not “which capabilities are applicable,” — just the strategy.
The glue people may very well be the answer to whether ECM strategy makes it to reality in an organization. What and who are they? The folks who manage to bridge the gap between the isolated goals and pressures of IT, business units with key content owners, and the C-level tier. As a former Business Analyst in the IT organization of a global insurance company, I know the pain of the glue people. Part psychotherapist, part geek, and part business person, glue people are often a rare breed. They must educate, facilitate, coordinate, smooth egos, see the bigger picture — the greater good, and make it home by 7PM if at all possible. They are often un-named, under-appreciated, and caught in the gaps themselves — resulting in the need to find their own psychotherapist.
BUT — the glue people can make an incredible amount of progress toward the organizational design, implementation, and evolution of an enterprise content management strategy. And — for those caught in the chaos of outsourcing, downsizing, re-organization, and downright unemployment — there’s likely never been a better time to become a glue person. (Read: technical writer, taxonomist, business analyst, etc.) If you peruse the professional services and consulting market for ECM and all its acronym children, what will you find? A lot of glue people.
Are you a glue person? What’s your title? What have your experiences been? How have you been able to gill the gaps with glue? Please step up and respond with comments! The opportunity to turn glue people into a formal, empowered, and acknowledged profession is now.
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