- What does "web content management" really mean?
- An organized digital environment: CommonSpot
- Why this represents progress for UW-Stout: our goals
- Culture change: a CMS offers an opportunity to make improvements
- Web site production emphasis for offices and departments will shift from technology to quality content
- Phases of our web content management system project
What is web content management?
Web content management refers to “the discipline and technologies around managing content for publication via the web,” according to CMSWatch.
Discipline has to do with "what" and "who"--decisions and activities that must take place regardless of delivery method, such as:
- defining and articulating the messages
- composing the elements (words, images, sounds)
- identity and visual design
- editorial standards, tone and style
- overlap and relationships between your content and that of others
- file management and organization
- workflow, ownership, accountability for various topics
Technologies are the “how,”--decisions and activities that require continual reassessment as ways and means evolve:
- Software packages and applications
- Configuration
- Servers and networks
- Technical standards and coding
- Databases
- Programming
- Administration of applications and systems
The gray areas, where “what and who” overlaps with “how:”
- Multimedia
- Site architecture, organization
- Congruence of information site-wide
- Usability; navigational conventions
- Universal standards compliance and accessibility
A web content management system provides an organized digital environment to carry out the discipline and implement the technologies for an effective web presence.
The UW-System has purchased CommonSpot, a web content management system developed by PaperThin, Inc. CommonSpot is a campus-wide application, and will be available via the campus network.
CommonSpot stores web content as objects, or elements, and displays them via designs and formats which are pre-defined. Content “objects” might include:
- paragraphs
- photographs
- words
- numbers
- graphic elements
- multimedia
- forms
- news stories
- events
- menus
- employment listings
- faculty profile
- headshots
- podcasts
Why this represents progress for UW-Stout: web content management goals
- Increase the quality, timeliness and accuracy of the university web site
- Evolve from a large online brochure to real-time, dynamic delivery
- Display correct, edited and approved content in multiple locations on the web site
- Allow design and format changes to occur across the site simultaneously
- Effectively manage the most costly aspects of web publishing:
- Maintenance of quality and content standards
- Individual or departmental software purchases and associated training
- Coding, site architecture, navigation, technical development
- Interactive, custom applications
- Reduce duplication of effort by re-using institutional content across the web site
- Course descriptions
- News releases
- Calendar items and events
- Tuition and cost information
- Facts about the university
- Directions, parking, maps
- Sections of the campus tour
- Elements of contracts and grants
- Directory information, profiles
- Saturate the web site with UW-Stout’s identity, brand and marketing messages
- More variations that maintain our standards
- Site-wide publishing of design changes
- Alleviate webmaster bottleneck for consultation and review
- Re-use official, already-vetted content on multiple subsites
- Easy updates of content by non-technical users
- Eliminate need for special skills to edit web content
- Click and choose layout elements
- Display choice of institutional content (events, news stories, profiles, course descriptions, menus, …)
- Formats for text, headlines, photos, forms, boxes, and so on are pre-defined and coded
- Establish suitable publishing steps for a modern web site
- Coordinate publication of dynamic university content
- Clarify roles and stages
- These exist now, in some way. The CMS can contain, record, and improve this workflow.
Culture change: A content management system offers an opportunity to make improvements
The web site is a microcosm of the university, and expresses systemic strengths and problems. The articulation of roles and publishing steps required by the content management system will highlight poor processes and necessarily clarify the ownership of information.
- Re-usable content calls for excellent quality
- We will need collaboration and cooperation across departments
- Web authors' responsibility for quality, accuracy, and appropriate messages will increase
Web production emphasis for offices and departments will shift from technology to quality content
- Who is our audience?
- What do they look for on our site?
- Are we delivering that? Can they find it?
- Is our message true/accurate and consistent?
- Deep quality: the site must both look good, and be good
Phases of web content management implementation
- Back end set-up (phase I)
- Servers
- Network decisions
- Load software
- Establish basic administrative capabilities
- Web site set-up (phase II)
- Translate current site structure into CommonSpot
- Migrate design, styles, layouts
- Create libraries of photos and other elements
- Create applications such as fill-in forms, others
- Publish institution-level sites in CommonSpot
- Test user roles and establish workflow conventions and recommendations
- Pilot roll-out to select sub-sites (phase III)
- Discover variety and complexity of needs
- Create advanced or custom features
- Continue to build libraries of photography and other elements
- Establish best administrative practices for offices and departments
- Sequential and orderly roll-out to the campus (phase IV)
For more information, contact Barbara Button, University Web Coordinator: buttonb@uwstout.edu or 715/232-2284.