With so much of our news focused on the Boston conference the last couple of weeks, you might have missed the publication of a new case study and a new white paper. Both are by Senior Analyst Leonor Ciarlone, and as usual, both are free. The case study is “The Global Customer Experience: Sun Microsystems’ Vision for the Participation Age”, and is the topic of today’s webinar. The white paper is “Eliminating the Fear Factor: Creating a Culture of Compliance“, and a recording of the webinar covering this is available here.
Category: Content management & strategy (Page 178 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/
It has been interesting to note that even inside the US, more and more languages start appearing in various services. Spanish is the obvious example, but at the Gilbane Boston conference we heard that e.g. a New England healthcare provider needs to think about providing information in Vietnamese and in Russian. The old saying “You can always buy in your own language, but you must sell in your customer’s language” still holds true.
Although English has become the universal second language, people still feel more comfortable dealing in their own native language. Maybe the next generation will be different (although I guess that has always been the expectation of the previous generation) and will communicate mainly with smileys – but I believe that languages will not go away.
One could assume that in the European Union with its plethora of official languages there would be a lot of language tools available. Well, there is e.g. Eurodicautom, a multilingual and searchable term bank which includes about 5.5 million entries in 48 subject fields. It continues to be available, but it is currently not updated, as it is being moved into a new database – and the latest news about it are from 2003. So one can only hope that the migration will be completed soon and the updating can continue, as new words appear in languages continuously. Just think about “truthiness”, which was chosen as Merriam-Webster’s word of the year in 2006.
There are several other multilingual general and industry-specific dictionaries available in the web, such as the European multilingual environmental glossary at http://glossary.eea.europa.eu/EEAGlossary/. Another example is the Microsoft multilingual terminology at http://www.microsoft.com/globaldev/tools/MILSGlossary.mspx. Googling e.g. with “multilingual glossaries” or “multilingual dictionaries” brings a lot of hits to various resources.
The thing is, multilingual content management and multilingual searches start from good multilingual terminology. There will be a lot of work needed in that area, both in general and in industry- or even in company-specific dictionaries. I will follow up on this topic later.
For Immediate Release:
LISA Forum and CM Pros to Co-Locate with 2007 Gilbane Conferences on Content Management Technologies
12/11/06
Gilbane Conferences Considered Premiere Industry Events for Obtaining Content Management Advice
Contacts:
Welz & Weisel Communications
Evan Weisel, 703-218-3555
Cell: 703-628-5754
evan@w2comm.com
Jeffrey V. Arcuri
Lighthouse Seminars
508-759-8180
jeff@lighthouseseminars.com
Boston MA, December 11, 2006. The Gilbane Group and Lighthouse Seminars today announced that the Gilbane Conference series is extending its reach into complementary technologies in 2007 with the co-location of both the LISA Forum and the CM Pros Summit. Having established itself as the industry’s top forum for bringing together industry experts, vendors and end users to share new content management technologies and real-world experiences, the addition of these new events to the Gilbane Conferences will help further educate attendees and drive business success.
LISA (Localization Industry Standards Association) is one of the leading international associations for globalization professionals and organizations doing business around the world. It has distilled the right ways and wrong ways of supporting international customers, products and services over the last fifteen years from more than 500 corporate members, public & private institutions, government ministries and trade organizations. CM Pros (Content Management Professionals Association) is the worldwide organization for people who want to learn more about content management from other CM professionals.
“Our partnership with Gilbane illustrates the structural link between globalization services and managing content globally,” said Michael Anobile, Managing Director of LISA. “Users of globalization tools, technologies and standards now have a single point of reference for the expertise required to develop, sell and support products, customers and information services worldwide.”
In its three years since inception, the Gilbane Conferences (Boston, Washington DC and San Francisco) have rapidly gained a reputation for being the premiere content management events to attend due to the focus of providing neutral and educational information to attendees. The events will offer attendees a chance to learn about Web content management, enterprise content management, collaboration, enterprise wikis & blogs, globalization & localization, enterprise search & search based applications, enterprise digital rights management, and automated publishing.
“Because we are strictly neutral with regard to vendors, analysts, enterprises, and consultants, we have been able to maintain a constant dialog with each group, all of whom are our customers, and all of whom we have learned from,” said Frank Gilbane, Conference Chair. “Our conference content is carefully designed by our team of consultants and analysts to ensure the focus is on what you need to know to successfully plan and implement content technology solutions. Partnering with LISA and CM Pros only increases the value we offer attendees in providing actionable information that attendees can implement immediately.”
For more information on the 2007 Gilbane Conferences, visit:
About Gilbane Group, Inc.
The Gilbane Group, Inc. serves the content technology community with publications, conferences and consulting services. The Gilbane Group, Inc. also administers the Content Technology Works program disseminating best practices with partners Software AG (TECdax:SOW), Sun Microsystems (NASDAQ:SUNW), Artesia Digital Media, a Division of Open Text, Astoria Software, ClearStory Systems (OTCBB:INSS), Context Media (Oracle, NASDAQ:ORCL), Convera (NASDAQ:CNVR), IBM (NYSE:IBM), Idiom, Mark Logic, omtool (NASDAQ:OMTL), Open Text Corporation (NASDAQ:OTEX), SDL International (London Stock Exchange:SDL), Vasont Systems, Vignette (NASDAQ:VGN), and WebSideStory (NASDAQ:WSSI). https://gilbane.com
About Lighthouse Seminars
Lighthouse Seminars’ events cover information technologies and “content technologies” in particular. These include content management of all types, digital asset management, document management, web content management, enterprise portals, enterprise search, web and multi-channel publishing, electronic forms, authoring, content and information integration, information architecture, and e-catalogs. http://www.lighthouseseminars.com
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Underscoring the increasing interest in globalization and localization among our audience of content and web professionals are three items this week. Today we announced that the the LISA (Localization Industry Standards Association) Forum will co-locate with the Gilbane conferences starting with Gilbane San Francisco April 10- 12, 2007. Last Friday, Kaija Poysti, introduced herself as our new guest blogger covering translation and localization issues (in her post, she doesn’t actually propose it, but she does point us to some reasons why we should just all speak Finnish). And, this coming Wednesday, we co-host a case-study webinar on how Sun has built a a global customer experience with their online content and branding.
I am starting to blog here on mainly globalization and localization, and the many issues they bring to end users and organizations. To give you an idea about what my views and thoughts are based on, here is a short background:
As a native Finnish speaker I realized early on why languages do matter – very few people outside Finland speak any Finnish, despite its many quaint characteristics, such as 16 cases formed by adding endings to nouns. In addition, I studied operations research and systems analysis at the Helsinki University of Technology, which gave me a tendency to look at everything as processes which can be optimized.
For 14 years, I had a localization service company, Trantex, which translated a lot of software and documentation for major sw providers, such as IBM, Microsoft, Oracle, SAP, etc., and also did technical writing and training. In 1997 we sold the company to L&H and I moved to Boston, where I later became a consultant to Finnish high-tech companies entering the US market.
After all the years I spent in the localization world, I have kept following the industry, as I think there are very interesting developments and challenges ahead. In 1985 a translation customer told me that I should start looking for a new job, as all computer users will want to use only English software. Since then, the number of languages into which companies have to translate their materials has at least tripled. With the web and now with wikis and blogs, information can be published instantly 24/7 all over the world, and much of it is or needs to be in languages other than English. After all, only 5% of the world’s population are native English speakers (354 million according to Wikipedia).
I welcome comments and discussion – though preferably in English :0).
I had the pleasure of moderating the Content Globalization Workflows session at last week’s Gilbane Boston conference. Although we were the last session on the last day, the room was filled with interactive participants with very specific issues and questions. The underlying theme? The act of translation is not the “stress-buster” for globalization projects. It’s the process. Managing it, understanding it, aligning it, integrating it — you name it. Globalization has process-centric red flags from the get-go.
The good news is that globalization as a recognized enterprise business practice continues to gain traction. In fact, our audience cited “global, simultaneous product shipments” as one of the most distinct and well-understood business drivers at the executive and cross-departmental levels. Even better, there are achievable, significant cost savings to be had. The description of a first-year, $2.4 million savings realized by GE Healthcare was impressive, to say the least. Many thanks to Jeanette Eichholz, a Leader in the Global Ultrasound User Documentation group, for sharing her story.
The Gilbane Group is working to keep the subject of globalization in the spotlight as a key issue for 2007 to help organizations understand that cost savings is actually only the cusp of the benefits. Rapid market reach, consistent brand management, and increased customer satisfaction are equally viable, and more importantly, quantifiable.
To that end, join us for our December 13th webinar, “How Sun Takes Brands and Solutions to the Global Marketplace.” Sponsored by Interwoven and SDL International, understanding Sun’s success factors will be a valuable learning experience for any organization with globalization on the agenda.
Date: 13th December, 2006
Time: 8:30 Pacific, 11:30 Eastern, 16:30 GMT, 17:30 Central Europe
Duration: 1 hour
Register here.
Bitrix Inc. announces the release of new Bitrix Site Manager 5.1 – web content management system. The new version has been globally tested and optimized. There is a new AJAX-enabled user interface, and a new module to create blogs, training courses, examination tests, and manage affiliate networks. The e-Store now features a flexible system of discounts and coupons. Version 5.1 offers a new tabbed Control Panel with the three modes: “Public section” to view the site as-is; “Edit site” in which system control areas are highlighted and powered with management tools; and the common “Control Panel.” The new interface provides for fast switching between the three modes. For convenience, the tab bar can be pinned on top of the browser window. All product editions now can import and export data from/to information blocks in the CSV format (e.g. for communication with MS Excel). The Small Business edition now contains the Forum and Newsletter modules. The Professional and Enterprise editions now include the Blogs and e-Learning modules. Additionally, the Enterprise edition is empowered with the AD/LDAP module. All users of older versions of Bitrix Site Manager whose techsupport subscription is active can update their systems for free via the SiteUpdate to upgrade to Bitrix Site Manager 5.1. You can test-drive Bitrix Site Manager by downloading and installing the fully functional trial version at http://www.bitrixsoft.com/download/
In my last post I said that composition vendors weren’t very far along with their content partnerships. Nasser Barghouti, the Chief Technology Officer at Document Sciences set the record straight before I could finish my Thanksgiving turkey. Mr. Barghouti informed me that Document Sciences has had a long and successful integration partnership with both Filenet and Documentum. In fact, the next major release of the Xpression Product Suite, will offer an embedded OEM version of Documentum. Document Sciences wants to be able to give customers the choice of a bundled solution or open integration. I expect to see a lot more partnerships of this type and more CM OEM deals with leading composition players.
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