Bill has a nice summary of SDL’s research into the use of XML in delivering global content across multiple channels. Seven golden rules is right on target — given the age-old premise from cognitive psychologist George A. Miller.
Check it out.
Category: Content management & strategy (Page 176 of 479)
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/
One of the unique aspects of the translation and localization industries is the breadth of contributors and skill sets that actually get the work done. I remember standing in line last summer for the ferry to Ellis Island and marveling at the number of languages being spoken simultaneously and the number of cultures represented in one huge line. But for that moment, (2 hours actually) that line was a community with a single purpose. Despite language barriers, everyone shared the excitement of the historical adventure to come.
No, the San Diego-based WorldSummit organized by Idiom Technologies didn’t offer a cross-country trek to the Status of Liberty. It did however, offer an opportunity for an impressive group of professionals with multiple skill sets and cultural backgrounds to come together and share the excitement of where the industry is heading and what it can achieve along the way.
Blending technical writers, brand managers, and marketers from varied organizations with translators from multiple countries, LSPs, university professors, industry researchers, and analysts is no small feat. But for that moment, (3 days actually) WorldSummit fostered community and conversation amongst those who research, those who groom the next generation of translators, those determined to author source content with globalization in mind, those faced with the nuances of dialect and locale, and those who provide the services and technologies so necessary for this complex work.
With Mary and I both attending, we got to compare notes and reactions as we moved through various user sessions, informal conversations, and social events. One clear pattern we both noticed is the power of human connection; IOW, the power of face-to-face, passionate conversations. Without belittling the impact of Web communities, I am standing firm on the notion that there’s nothing like eye contact, body language and the sight of folks waving their hands to speak to fuel the adrenaline of a community conversation. It’s positively contagious. Here’s some examples of the adrenaline I’m talking about:
- Mary’s user panel, “Evaluating and Selecting a Globalization Management System – Best Practices,” included real-world advice from Brian Shorey – Cisco Systems, Alma Siller – Continental Airlines, and Mimi Hills – Sun Microsystems. This was not a panel of “nirvana” stories told through predefined slides; this was an honest and thoughtful discussion of the approaches each participant used to pave the way for success (including some colored commentary on the challenges to expect along the way!)
- Keynotes on translation quality and the future of technologies were passionately delivered by well-known researchers such as Jaap van der Meer and Alan Melby. The wealth of history these two brought to the table resulted in many a cramped finger as the audience scribbled furiously.
- Machine translation’s potential to resolve time to market challenges and its intersection with human expertise was absolutely hot, as John Yunker notes over at Global by Design. Whether more acronyms are useful or confusing, it is quite clear that the pool of worldwide translation talent may not be able to keep up with demand.
- And I’ll not soon forget the students from Kent State University and California State University Chico, who cheered their professors with more enthusiasm than I’ve seen at a technical conference for some time.
Whew. Documenting the varied participants and choosing my highlights was tough enough. Pulling off the event was surely another story. Kudos to the Idiom team for achieving a well-rounded and extremely organized event.
Squarespace, a subscription-based solution for managing websites and blogs together in the same platform, has released version 4.0 of its publishing software. Along with improvements to site architecture and enhancements to bandwidth and storage, five features have been added to provide users with more options for creating a professional and dynamic web presence. Bloggers will have access to a search function that operates across all of a website’s content types, including blog posts, discussion forums, FAQs, photo galleries and standard webpages. Squarespace search can also operate on protected areas of a site and index content as soon as it is published. Users can create online forms, allowing users to address the difficult problem of capturing and analyzing data from their customer base. Website owners can use Squarespace’s new FAQ component. Publish questions and answers in a search engine friendly format that is as easy to manage as a blog post. Webmasters and bloggers alike are now able to host a discussion forum within Squarespace just as they would a photo gallery or guestbook. Users can add Google Maps to their site and highlight the location of offices, meetups or other events for their readers. Hosting packages range from $7 to $65 per month, and are available for individuals or businesses. Enterprise users can also take advantage of Squarespace’s customized support and bandwidth plans for $175 per month. http://www.squarespace.com
Informative Graphics Corporation (IGC) announced the latest release of its Java version of the Brava! product line, Brava Enterprise 5.2J. Version 5.2J is the next step in IGC’s secure, Java-based viewing technology, bringing features like thumbnail views, term-hit highlighting, redaction, markup consolidation and the ability to output to PDF to the client/server viewer. Brava Enterprise brings unified view and annotation capabilities to a large number of users inside and outside the firewall. Brava! Enterprise integrates into existing systems, honoring user rights, leveraging metadata and managing annotations. Brava Enterprise is integrated with content management systems like EMC Documentum and Open Text Livelink ECM, Interwoven WorkSite MP and Microsoft SharePoint, and project management systems like Primavera Expedition and Meridian Project Systems, as well as many commercial collaboration web sites. http://www.bravaviewer.com, http://www.infograph.com
Mary and I did the Webinar with Oracle this week. You can see the recorded version and download the associated white paper over at the Oracle site. The focus was on the challenges of multisite management.
Web content management is a staple technology for thousands of enterprises–and for good reason. Every enterprise needs a basic web presence, and organizations of even modest size and complexity have multiple websites. These multiple sites likely span a range of purposes and needs, including supplier and distributor extranets, customer support websites, and corporate and departmental intranets. Every enterprise’s needs will vary of course, but the larger the organization, the likelihood that the organization will have multiple websites, spanning a range of internal and external needs.
The abundance of websites results from sound business needs. These needs begin with the obvious requirement to have a web presence, but extend to many other areas. Consider the need to work closely with suppliers, and how that requirement can be met by a content-rich and functional extranet. Human Resources is another likely arena, where the organization might want to provide benefit information through an interactive website. The examples abound, and the recent explosion of blogs and wikis has amplified the need.
A key element in multiple website management is understanding who does what when it comes to website design, content creation, and the day-to-day efforts to keep the site or sites going. Can these users be productive and efficient? The matter of scale is another central question: Are there only one or two sites, or is your enterprise in the position of having dozens or even hundreds of sites, and serving content to intranets, extranets, and portals, with new websites regularly demanded by the needs of the business?
Multiple websites present challenges in many different typical workflows and processes. These include identifying and empowering the IT personnel who need to take the lead in web architecture to the line of business manager who must decide on the content and organization of the site and keep it up to date. Perhaps most significant are the needs of the content contributors. At the end of the day, they need easy-to-use tools that allow them to create content within the policies of the overall enterprise and the specific line of business.
Given the strong demand for multiple websites and the potential costs and inefficiencies of building these out separately, there is a natural need for the right technology. At minimum, organizations need web content management technology that supports centralized strategy and governance and that uses IT resources efficiently; at the same time, the technology must give site managers and contributors the means to create and manage the content quickly and easily.
Customers we met at Interwoven’s GearUp ’07 reminded us of how much really hard work goes into complex content-centric applications. We see the glittery, exposed tips of solutions, while the bulk of the application lies under the surface, often at depths where only the experts go. A presentation by Sun Microsystems at GearUp is a case in point.
The session focused on Sun’s Starlight platform, a global information management infrastructure described in a Gilbane CTW case study. It was an opportunity to hear the Starlight story live, in a panel discussion featuring Sun’s Sean Browne, director of web publishing, and three members of his team, including Kristen Harris, content management engineering manager, and Jed Michnowicz, engineering lead. In the program, we noticed that the session was being moderated by Steve Van Leishout from NEC Corporation of America (NECAM). What was the connection, we wondered, between Sun and NECAM?
During the discussion, we learned that NECAM is a long-time Sun partner, providing program management and technical expertise in support of the redesign of Sun web properties. A few examples of the heavy lifting that NECAM has done at Sun: helping to migrate nine properties into two primary vehicles of approximately 225,000 pages and assets, and coordinating the hand-offs between more than 100 stakeholders responsible for publishing content to sun.com, java.com, two developer sites, and over 35 country sites in 12 languages. The hard work below the surface enabled us to gain a new appreciation for the success story documented in the Gilbane case study on Starlight, reminding us that there’s usually much more to successful applications than meets our eye.
If you have an iceberg application that you’d like to share, consider submitting a speaking proposal for Gilbane Boston 2007. The deadline is May 15.
To learn more about Sun’s Starlight platform, see Leonor’s entry on the Gilbane globalization blog entitled Aging: Web Years Are Worse Than Dog Years.
SDL announced the release of SDL Translation Management System 2007, a new release of its on-demand solution which helps companies create and reuse multilingual content throughout the complete global content lifecycle. By closely integrating with existing content management systems SDL Translation Management System 2007 manages the process of taking approved content, localizing it and making it available for a global audience. This provides an Internet hosted application that enables integration and visibility across the translation supply chain, from content creation and content management to localization and publishing. The new release of SDL Translation Management System 2007: Automates the Complete Translation Supply Chain – A two-way synchronization capability between SDL Translation Management System 2007 and SDL Trados 2007 enables seamless exchange of content; Enables Greater Language Content Reuse – SDL Translation Management System 2007 drives greater content reuse by leveraging both SDL Perfect Match and Cross File Repetition Scanning technologies; and Delivers Enhanced Quality Assurance – SDL Translation Management System 2007 automatically checks documents for completeness and consistency during the localization process. http://www.sdl.com
Vamosa has launched free content analysis and migration software for Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007. The free software combines Vamosa Community Edition and Vamosa developed SharePoint 2007 connector technology. Vamosa Community Edition was originally released in November 2006 as generic content analysis and migration software downloadable for free from www.vamosa.com. It combines the full functionality of Vamosa’s software, Vamosa Content Analyser and Vamosa Content Migrator, into a single product. The extension of Vamosa Community Edition to include the Microsoft SharePoint 2007 connector allows the SharePoint community to capitalise on the benefits an automated approach to analysis and migration has to offer. Although the software will continue with the limitation of 1000 pages users will be able to: Gain a detailed understanding of up to 1000 pages of content in the fastest manner possible, Improve content quality through the removal of duplicate and out-dated content, Enhance content via the application of relevant metadata, and Reduce the pain involved in migrating content to SharePoint. Vamosa plans to release further editions of Vamosa Community Edition for other leading ECM vendors. Offerings for IBM and Interwoven are due in the near future. Vamosa Community Edition for SharePoint can also be downloaded from http://www.vamosa.com/sharepoint2007
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