Curated for content, computing, and digital experience professionals

Category: Content management & strategy (Page 153 of 468)

This category includes editorial and news blog posts related to content management and content strategy. For older, long form reports, papers, and research on these topics see our Resources page.

Content management is a broad topic that refers to the management of unstructured or semi-structured content as a standalone system or a component of another system. Varieties of content management systems (CMS) include: web content management (WCM), enterprise content management (ECM), component content management (CCM), and digital asset management (DAM) systems. Content management systems are also now widely marketed as Digital Experience Management (DEM or DXM, DXP), and Customer Experience Management (CEM or CXM) systems or platforms, and may include additional marketing technology functions.

Content strategy topics include information architecture, content and information models, content globalization, and localization.

For some historical perspective see:

https://gilbane.com/gilbane-report-vol-8-num-8-what-is-content-management/

SDL acquires Idiom

SDL continues to execute its growth and expansion strategies with today’s announcement that it has acquired Idiom for approximately $22 million US. The current plan is to operate the Idiom business as an autonomous unit under the direction of Idiom CEO Mike Iacobucci.

The acquisition raises all kinds of questions, of course. Idiom is one of the companies with big potential to bring innovation to the language services industry, which has been ripe for change for some time now. More resources to execute could mean more value for customers sooner. Will the Idiom technology (and SaaS offer) reach its full potential as an agent of change under SDL? What about the impact on buyer choice — how will the acquisition affect companies coming into the market? Stay tuned for analysis of these and other key questions coming out of today’s news.

Read our perspective on Gilbane’s Globalization blog.

Polopoly Version 9.9 Introduces Live Layout Management

Swedish software developer Polopoly releases the latest version of its Content Management system. Continuing the effort to launch more ready-to-use functionality, Polopoly version 9.9 marks an important milestone. By introducing a standardized way to build web sites and specifically how to break down pages into standardized and reusable elements, version 9.9 introduces out-of-the-box layout management functionality. Live layout editing is now as easy as dragging and dropping content and application components onto a page – allowing for full user customization on the fly. The Polopoly platform is built entirely in Java and has open and documented APIs. Like previous versions of the Polopoly system, version 9.9 provides enterprise level performance through Polopoly’s architecture and multi-level caching technology. The new release includes the addition of a new fragment cache, which automatically caches reusable page fragments.The new developer framework introduced in version 9.9 prescribes best practices for how to build web sites and web pages with Polopoly. Keeping this “developer contract” gives the editors benefits in the form of preview and editorial control over page layout. An editor may for instance rearrange the components within a page visually, using the modular interface with drag-and-drop capabilities. Page templating can still be used to control corporate graphical guidelines and accessibility demands, for example, while at the same time allowing for just the right level of editorial flexibility and creativity to ensure maximum use of content assets. For developers, the new Velocity integration will allow for dynamic update of website presentation logic, enabling hot deployment of new site functionality. The Polopoly Content Management system provides for multi-channel distribution of large amounts of content at high speed. The modular software includes tools for managing and editing multimedia, including user generated content, within one single system. Polopoly Content Manager Version 9.9 will be available from February 1, 2008. http://www.polopoly.com

CM Professionals Board Election Results

Congratulations to the new board at CM Pros!

The results were announced last night. The new directors are:

  • Joerg Dennis Krueger, Managing Director and vendor-independent consultant and analyst with Cara Europe Ltd in Germany, is committed to expanding the CM Pros community in Europe.
  • Tony Pietrocola, President and Co-founder of Tenth Floor Interactive has more than 10 years in the content management industry and will work to market and expand the recognition of CM Pros.
  • Paul Trotter, Founder and CEO, Author-it, New Zealand has worked with content management for the past 12 years and plans to use his practical “make it work” experience to champion CM Pros member benefits.
  • Andrew Wilcox, president and founder of Everage Consulting, Canada, has served as Technology Manager for CM Pros and plans to follow through with the technology initiative currently in process.
  • Barry Schaeffer, president of X.Systems.Inc, focuses on handling the organizational impacts of information technology changes and is dedicated to developing a body of CM Pros knowledge.

The four new Directors replace two outgoing board members, Mary Laplante and Emma Hamer, whose terms expire this month. Directors Linda Burman and Travis Wissnik remain on the Board until January 2009. Barry Schaeffer joined the board in late 2007, filling the remainder of resigning Director Joan Lasselle’s term.
It’s great to see the association continue to grow, and to have generated enough board nominees for a competitve election.

By the way, I believe the Executive Director position is still open.

The Impact of Globalization: Translators in Demand

In 2005, the White House Conference on Aging discussed the barriers to communication for a growing population of “Limited English Proficient (LEP)” adults. Not surprisingly, the creation of, funding for, and distribution of translated information was a predominant theme. To its credit, the WHCOA site now provides up to date information in eight languages (MT-powered.) Despite some progress in the U.S. over the past decade in areas such as prescription drug labels, quality is still a major issue, particularly in the medical and legal industries.

The U.S. is certainly not the only nation facing language barriers that have economic, health, and legal ramifications. Our interview with Karl Lonnroth demonstrated the enormity of work in progress within the European Union to deliver multilingualism as a fundamental right. In 2006, China discussed a lack of translators as a “major obstacle to China’s economic development.” In late 2007, the Daily News Analysis India ran an article that bemoans the lack of translators as well as infrastructure as major barriers to the availability of Indian literature.

Certainly an over-simplification, but…

Solution? More translation services.

Problem? Lack of translators. Demand exists, tracked monthly by TranslatorsCafe.com (also an excellent site for knowledge sharing and information on job opportunities.) Here’s a good start for our “Resources” contribution, with links to opportunities for certification, under and post-graduate degrees, grants, and research endeavors. Expecting the inevitable “you are missing this site, link, etc.,” we invite comments and additions for the list. We’ll republish updates as appropriate.

Industry Certifications

American Translators Association
Excerpt: ATA has established a certification program to enable individual translators to demonstrate that they meet professional standards. Translators who pass a written examination are certified by ATA in a specific language pair and direction (from or into English).

Institute of Localisation Professionals
Excerpt: The Institute of Localisation Professionals (TILP) has the primary aim to develop professional practices in localisation globally; offers the Certified Localisation Professional (CLP) program.

University Programs

California State University, Chico
Excerpt: The mission of the Localization Program is to provide education, training, and outreach in Localization and International E-Business, with the help of strategic partnerships and collaborations, to help students and businesses compete in the new global networked economy. Also offers the The Localization Certification Program with an updated 2008 schedule http://rce.csuchico.edu/localize/

Kent State University
Excerpt: The Institute for Applied Linguistics (IAL) is a research and training unit within the College of Arts and Sciences at Kent State. Affiliated with the Department of Modern and Classical Language Studies, the Institute and its faculty coordinate the four-year Bachelor of Science Program in Translation, the 2-year Master of Arts in Translation and the Ph.D. in Translation Studies.

University of Limerick: Localisation Research Centre (LRC)
Excerpt: In 1997, UL established the world’s first dedicated postgraduate programme in Software Localisation and in 2001 the first International Localisation Summer School. The LRC also runs regular Professional Development Courses which are linked to the Certified Localisation Professional (CLP) programme established by The Institute of Localisation Professionals (TILP).

University of Massachusetts Amherst
Excerpt: The Master of Arts in Translation Studies is a separate track of the M.A. in Comparative Literature. Thirty-three credits are required. Most students take four semesters to complete the degree. Two languages are required (one may be English). Students will explore practical techniques and strategies of translation in addition to theoretical and cultural studies implications of their field.

Wake Forest University, North Carolina
Excerpt: The certificate in Spanish Translation/Localization (STL) teaches strategies of Spanish into English translation and introduces students to various software language applications; includes an internship in a professional translation environment.

Grants

Finnish Literature Society
Excerpt: Foreign publishers may apply for a grant for the translation of Finnish, Finland-Swedish and Sámi literature into other languages. Funding is awarded primarily for the translation of Finnish literature, though a number of grants are awarded for the translation of works of non-fiction dealing with aspects of Finnish culture.

Research

Translation Research Summer School
Excerpt: Each year between twenty and thirty students are admitted to the TRSS. Most are research students in the early stages of their projects, but some are experienced staff who want to go into translation and intercultural studies or who want to refresh their research skills. Two full scholarships (covering fees, travel and accommodation) are available; deadline for application is February 22, 2008.

Gilbane Group Announces New Practice to Help Enterprises Leverage XML Technologies and Business Solutions

Gilbane Group Inc. announced the launch of a new practice area dedicated to helping organizations of all types utilize XML technologies and best practices. Well-known industry expert and long-time Gilbane associate Bill Trippe will be the practice’s Lead Analyst. Trippe is joined by industry veterans and Gilbane senior analysts Leonor Ciarlone and Mary Laplante. Gilbane’s XML Technologies and Content Strategies Practice is designed for IT and business managers who need to gain control of critical content, increase collaboration across enterprise applications, improve efficiencies through faster and more flexible information distribution between business partners and customers, and implement new business models that can keep pace with today’s internet-speed competitive requirements. The amount of XML content being generated today is staggering, as large infrastructure providers like Microsoft, IBM, Google, Oracle, and others offer tools and technologies that generate and manage XML information, While many organizations are taking advantage of XML within departmental applications, most companies are not even close to taking advantage of the XML information being created and utilized by popular applications including office software and database repositories. Significantly, many executives are unaware of the XML content and data that are untapped assets within their organizations. To learn more about Gilbane Group’s XML Consulting and Advisory Practice, visit the group’s new blog at https://gilbane.com/xml

 

Press Release: Gilbane Group Announces New Practice to Help Enterprises Leverage XML Technologies and Business Solutions

Decades of experience with XML technologies and content strategies provide unique ability to help organizations make appropriate technology choices and leverage industry best practices. New blog at https://gilbane.com/xml

Cambridge MA, January 29, 2008. Gilbane Group Inc. today announced the launch of a new practice area dedicated to helping organizations of all types utilize XML technologies and best practices. Well-known industry expert and long-time Gilbane associate Bill Trippe will be the practice’s Lead Analyst. Trippe is joined by industry veterans and Gilbane senior analysts Leonor Ciarlone and Mary Laplante.

Gilbane’s XML Technologies and Content Strategies Practice is designed for IT and business managers who need to gain control of critical content, increase collaboration across enterprise applications, improve efficiencies through faster and more flexible information distribution between business partners and customers, and implement new business models that can keep pace with today’s internet-speed competitive requirements. The amount of XML content being generated today is staggering, as large infrastructure providers like Microsoft, IBM, Google, Oracle, and others offer tools and technologies that generate and manage XML information, While many organizations are taking advantage of XML within departmental applications, most companies are not even close to taking advantage of the XML information being created and utilized by popular applications including office software and database repositories. Significantly, many executives are unaware of the XML content and data that are untapped assets within their organizations.

“As most of our customers know, XML (and before that SGML) technologies and applications have always been core to our content and information technology consulting and coverage.” said Frank Gilbane, Gilbane Group CEO. “Our team has deep expertise that comes from roles in enterprise IT organizations, software development, standards bodies and industry associations involved in development and adoption of markup language technologies for key business and government applications. While XML cuts across all our analyst and consulting activity, today’s proliferation of XML content means that many businesses need to consider XML as strategic to their information infrastructure. Our group’s experience and market knowledge uniquely qualify Gilbane to provide that expertise. I am thrilled that Bill Trippe, who is always in demand, will be the lead analyst and consultant for the Group.”

“Project leaders, IT managers, and business executives have always depended on Gilbane Group to help them understand the value of applying standards and technologies to their businesses,” said Bill Trippe, Lead Analyst, XML Technologies and Content Strategies Practice. “With this new practice, we are bringing together research, best practices, and advice and guidance on XML implementation and technology acquisition that they cannot get from any other single source.”

To learn more about Gilbane Group’s XML Consulting and Advisory Practice, visit the group’s new blog launched today at https://gilbane.com/xml/ or send an email to xml@gilbane.com.

Welcome to XML Technologies and Content Strategies

As Frank noted in our main blog and in the related press release, this blog is part of our launch this week of a new practice focused on the technologies, strategies, and best practices associated with using XML in content management. With this focus on XML, the new practice is broad–XML is fundamental to so many aspects of content management. Yet the focus on XML also compels us to look at content management through a certain lens. This begins with the vendor offerings, where nearly every platform, product, and tool has to meet anywhere from a few to myriad XML-related requirements. As XML and its related standards have evolved and matured, evaluating this support has become a more complex and considered task. The more complex and feature-rich the offering, the more difficult the task of evaluating its support.

And indeed, the offerings are becoming more complex, especially among platform vendors like Microsoft, IBM, and Oracle. Looking at SharePoint means evaluating it as a content management platform, but also looking specifically at how it supports technologies like XML forms interfaces, XML data and content feeds, and integration with the XML schemas underlying Microsoft Word and Excel. It also means looking at SOA interfaces and XML integration of Web Parts,and considering how developers and data analysts might want to utilize XML schema and XSLT in SharePoint application development. Depending on your requirements and applications, there could be a great deal more functionality for you to evaluate and explore. And that is just one platform.

But understanding the vendor–and open source–offerings is only one piece of the XML content management puzzle. Just as important as choosing the right tools are the strategic issues in planning for and later deploying these offerings. Organizations often don’t spend enough time asking and answering the biggest and most important questions. What goals do they have for the technology? Cost savings? Revenue growth? Accelerated time to market? The ability to work globally? These general business requirements need to then be translated into more specific requirements, and only then do these requirements begin to point to specific technologies. If XML is part of the potential solution, organizations need to look at what standards might be a fit. If you produce product support content, perhaps DITA is a fit for you. If you are a publisher, you might look at XML-based metadata standards like XMP or PRISM.

Finally, XML doesn’t exist in a content management vacuum, removed from the larger technology infrastructure that organizations have put in place. The platforms and tools must integrate well with technologies inside and outside the firewall; this is especially true as more software development is happening in the cloud and organizations are more readily embracing Software as a Service. One thing we have learned over the years is that XML is fundamental to two critical aspects of content management—for the encoding and management of the content itself (including the related metadata) and for the integration of the many component and related technologies that comprise and are related to content management. Lauren Wood wrote about this in 2002, David Guenette and I revisited it a year later, and the theme recurs in numerous Gilbane writings. The ubiquitous nature of XML makes the need for strategies and best practices more acute, and also points to the need to bring together the various stakeholders–notably the business people who have the content management requirements and the technologists who can help make the technology adoptions successful. Projects have the best chance of succeeding when these stakeholders are brought together to reach consensus first on business and technical requirements, and, later, to reach consensus on technology and approach.

As Frank noted, this is “New/Old” news for all of us involved with the new practice. I first discussed SGML with Frank in 1987 when I was at Mitre and responsible for a project to bring new technology to bear on creating specifications for government projects. Frank had recently launched his technology practice, Publishing Technology Management. Leonor was a client at Factory Mutual when I worked for Xyvision (now XyEnterprise) in the early 1990s. And I probably first met Mary at a GCA (now IDEAlliance) event during my Xyvision days and when she worked for a competitor, Datalogics. We are, in the polite vernacular of the day, seasoned professionals.

So welcome to the new blog. Watch this space for more details as we announce some of the offerings and initiatives. I plan to blog actively here, so please add the RSS feed if you prefer to digest your material that way. If you have ideas or suggestions, don’t hesitate to post here or contact me or any of the other analysts directly. We look forward to the interaction!

EMC Announces Captiva eInput 2.0

EMC Corporation (NYSE:EMC) announced its newest distributed document capture solution that offers advances in Web-based distributed capture, EMC Captiva eInput 2.0. eInput 2.0 ia designed to make the scanning and indexing of paper documents from remote offices faster and easier, automating the classification of documents, extraction of data, and validation of information directly from a Web browser. Captiva eInput works as an extension to the Captiva InputAccel platform, delivering distributed capture with the EMC Documentum platform to address transactional content management (TCM) applications, such as loan processing, insurance claim processing, invoice processing, new account enrollment, and case management. In addition, working with InputAccel, eInput integrates with a wide array of back-end systems, including enterprise content management (ECM), business process management (BPM), and other enterprise applications. Together, these solutions enable organizations to add distributed capture capabilities to their existing business processes and information infrastructure. http://www.emc.com/

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