Demystifying content management

By Gerry McGovern

In consulting, they say that the margin is in the mystery. Ironically, some managers prefer mystery to simplicity. If it sounds complex, many will pay more than if it sounds simple. Content management is a bubbling vat of hyperbole. It's time for some simple language.

Content management is a new name for publishing. The core objective of publishing is to get the right content to the right person at the right time at the right cost. Publishers manage publications. Key staff include authors and editors. Authors create content. Editors decide what content should get published, and how much editing that content requires.

When the printing press was invented, the whole process of printing was difficult and complex. The very act of printing was as fascinating as what was being printed.

So too with the Web. The Web was invented by Tim Berners Lee as a publishing tool. That's why we have HTML, which is a publishing mark-up language. That's why we have web 'pages.' Content management is web-based publishing.

The early years of web publishing, like the early years of printing, were very dependent on the programmer/developer (the printer). It was a major technical feat to publish a large website.

Many people like to make their discipline sound complex because that makes them more valuable to the organization. Web publishing sounded very complex.

Web publishing technology is becoming streamlined and standardized. The focus is moving away from the tools and towards the content. If you understand content, then this is your time to shine. Publishing content is a centuries old discipline. The basic rules and concepts are the same, whether you are publishing to print or to the Web.

Let's take a publishing perspective to a sample of content management terms:

Content toxicity: A pretty ridiculous name for out-of-date content.
Dynamic content: Tends to refer to content that is published from a database. But whether content is published from a database or not isn't relevant. What's important is that the content is accurate, well-written and up-to-date.
Static content: Content published using static HTML. Again, a largely irrelevant term.
Interactive content: Another irrelevant term. People interact. Content informs.
Content re-engineering: A mechanical name for editing.
Content master: This could be an editor or author.
Content manager: An editor.
Content strategist: An editor.
Information architecture: The discipline of managing the organization and layout of web content. In print, editors have managed information architecture-type challenges for centuries (table of contents, indexes, etc.).
Knowledge harvesting: A weird name for what an editor does when they select good content from all the poor stuff they get.
Content weeding: Editors 'weed' out poor content.
Personalized content: Publishing is by definition an act of personalization. The New York Times has a specific scope and focus. Sports Illustrated is about sports. Fortune Magazine is about business. So, if you edit a website, you are by definition creating personalized content. Like so much about the Web, personalization has been vastly over-hyped.

I've yet to come across a content management issue that cannot be understood from a publishing perspective. If you're managing a website, thinking like a publisher can help you clear away the fog of hyperbole. It allows you to focus on what you really need to do to achieve success.

Gerry McGovern is a web content management author and consultant