Content Creation Challenges

Quality:The rise of anonymous and user-generated content presents

both opportunities and challenges to Web users. Blogging, selfpublishing and other forms of content creation give more people
access to larger audiences.
Metadata: Digital content is difficult to organize and categorize.
Websites, forums and publishers all have different standards for
metadata, or information about the content, such as its author and
date of creation.

Copyright & Intellectual property: The ownership, origin, and right

to share digital content can be difficult to establish. On one hand, usergenerated content presents challenges to traditional content creators
with regard to the expansion of unlicensed and unauthorized derivative
works, piracy and plagiarism. On the other hand, the enforcement of
copyright laws.

Content Creation Imperatives for the new content reality

As libraries awaken to the new realities of content, there a number of ways
to rethink the content execution, and take advantage of the new content life
cycle.
2. Open up content contribution to more users across the organization,
providing more opportunities to connect with and engage customers in
social channels, and extend your online reach. Be sure to remove any
technology or process roadblocks that inhibit the expansion of your
contributor pool the more people who are able to contribute easily,
the more content you will have to push across your channels.
3. Deliver fresh, compelling and timely content that engages users and
keeps visitors returning to your site, and then be sure to extend that
content into your social channels. Its no longer required to use your
corporate sites as the centralized point of engagement; push your
content out to the edge of the network and transform your website so
that it serves as another node on that network.
4. Be sure you are listening to the online conversations of your target
audience, and optimize your content and content strategy based on
the insights you gather from them. Set goals for expected outcomes
with your content, just as you would with a traditional marketing
campaign, and track and measure the results fervently. To complete
the cycle, constantly test new ideas, and dump what doesnt work
while further optimizing what is working.

The Digital Content Creation Team will:

develop digitization and metadata standards (in consultation with the

Access Strategies Team) for application to future DL projects and
existing resources that lack appropriate metadata;
set priorities (in terms of selection, standards and funding) for the
University's nascent digital library;
Assist librarians in implementing and seeking funding for digital
content creation projects; and
Ensure that digital library content uses appropriate metadata
standards.

Content management (CM)

Content management is the set of processes and technologies that support
the collection, managing, and publishing of information in any form or
medium. Content management expert Marc Feldman defines three primary content
management governance structures localized, centralized, and federated.

Localized Governance: Means putting control in the hands of those

closest to the content, the context experts, localized governance
models empower and unleash creativity.

Centralized Governance: The levers of control are strongly centralized,

centralized content management governance structures allow for a
large number of cost-savings opportunities

Federated Governance: Federated governance models potentially

realize the benefits of both localized and centralized control while
avoiding the weaknesses of both.

Implementation
Content management implementations must be able to manage content
distributions and digital rights in content life cycle.[citation needed] Content
management systems are usually involved with digital rights management in
order to control user access and digital rights. In this step the read-only
structures of digital rights management systems force some limitations on
content management implementations as they do not allow the protected

contents to be changed in their life cycle. Creation of new contents using the
managed (protected) ones is also an issue which will get the protected
contents out of management controlling systems. There are a few content
management implementations covering all these issues.
Content management is an inherently collaborative process. It often consists
of the following basic roles and responsibilities:

Creator responsible for creating and editing content.

Editor responsible for tuning the content message and the style of
delivery, including translation and localization.

Publisher responsible for releasing the content for use.

Administrator responsible for managing access permissions to folders

and files, usually accomplished by assigning access rights to user
groups or roles. Admins may also assist and support users in various
ways.

Consumer, viewer or guest the person who reads or otherwise takes

in content after it is published or shared.
A critical aspect of content management is the ability to manage versions of
content as it evolves (see alsoversion control). Authors and editors often
need to restore older versions of edited products due to a process failure or
an undesirable series of edits.Another equally important aspect of content
management involves the creation, maintenance, and application of review
standards. Each member of the content creation and review process has a
unique role and set of responsibilities in the development and/or publication
of the content. Each review team member requires clear and concise review
standards which must be maintained on an ongoing basis to ensure the longterm consistency and health of the knowledge base.
By prioritizing the content management process, libraries ensures the
successful implementation of your CMS.
.

Content Management provides a central system for storing, organizing,

managing, preserving, and delivering documents and other content that
relate to organizational processes.
Key Benefits:
Provides a framework for stronger document management
Links content with the University's Enterprise Resource Planning system
(IRIS)
Improves compliance and control
Minimizes risk of unauthorized access to documents
Improves productivity/process efficiency
Reduces search and processing time
Protects content from disasters
Reduces transport, copy, and print costs
Space savings

Content management (CM) process

Organization: Information must be organized and structured
appropriately in order to move from the ranks of simple collected data
to become useful knowledge. Proper organization and careful
structuring ensures those who need the information can find and use
it.
Workflow: The best content management systems are designed to
keep content moving and allow content owners and contributor's
flexibility while working within your business requirements, processes
and procedures.

Creation: At this stage, your content is authored, collected and

classified according to the system's organization structure.
Repositories: How your content is stored affects the usability and
usefulness of your overall system and impacts the degree of required
data management.
Versioning: Because content is often dynamic, changes and conflicts
need to be effectively managed to minimize potential errors.
Publishing: The ways in which your content is delivered or received
either enhance or diminish the quality of the user experience. All
delivery methods must be tested in advance.
Archives: The sensitivity and longevity of content varies. Steps must
be taken to share, protect, delete and store data as needed according
to your business requirements. I would like to suggest seven stages or
phases of the CM lifecycle for your consideration.

Content Management System

A content management system (CMS) is a database which organizes and
provides access to all types of digital content, files containing images,
graphics, animation, sound, video or text. It contains information about these
files (known as 'digital assets'), and may also contain links to the files
themselves in order to allow them to be located or accessed individually. A
content management system is usually used to manage digital assets during
the development of a digital resource, such as a website or multimedia
production.
Content management System practices and objectives differ by mission and
by organizational governance structure. News organizations, e-commerce
websites, and educational institutions all use Content management System,
but in different ways. This leads to dissimilarities in terminology and in the
names and number of steps in the process.

Content Management Systems represent a wholly new paradigm for using computers. Home
users have taken two decades to get used to the idea of a file system, where data is stored in
discrete documents, each with a name and a location in a directory. This paradigm was intended
to be a close facsimile to a real office, with desktops, files, folders, and so forth. In a physics
analogy, this is a Newtonian virtual world.
CMSs will lead users to accept a new paradigm, one in which the filesystem has been discarded
in favor of a database backend which is interpreted by PHP and the HTML interface is created
on-the-fly. In this paradigm data is nebulous and without fixed form. In our physics analogy it is
a quantum reality, where content is only given shape in the process of interacting with it. It is

thus an extremely flexible virtual world, where structure is created by interpretation and can thus
be infinitely expanded, shaped, and delivered.
History of CMSs
1992-95: In the early days of the web, CMSs were employed only by big-budget websites such
as Amazon.com. They were programmed mostly in C++ and were run on commercial databases
like Oracle.
1995: In 1995 the first free, or "Open-Source", CMS was created for the Portland Pattern
Repository. The programmer named his system "Wiki Wiki," Hawaiian slang for "quick and
easy".
1997: PHP, a dynamic HTML engine first created in 1995, was retooled and was released to
instant acclaim for its versatility, stability, and ease-of-use. The acronym "PHP" originally stood
for "Personal Home Page" but was rechristened "PHP Hypertext Processor".
1995-1999: A number of PHP-based CMSs also appeared, such as PhpNuke and PostNuke, and a
combination of the two called PhpWiki.
2000: The combination of a free stable operating system (Linux), a free web server (Apache), a
free backend database (MySQL), and a free easy-to-learn HTML generator (PHP) allowed web
developers to build and manage complex sites at little cost and without years of technical
training.
2003: Fast forward three years to an internet landscape very different from the 1990s: anyone
can now do for free and on their own something equivalent to the system Amazon.com invested
millions of dollars and thousands of people to create just a decade before. In the past three years
the number of LAMP sites blossomed from a few dozen thousand to millions. LAMP enthusiasts
claim that the advantages over the proprietary systems like Microsoft and Oracle are not only
price but also ease of use, stability, security, and large, helpful user communities. Not only do
proprietary systems often not seem worth their price, they can be harder to use and less secure as
well.
2005: Above I mentioned "an Internet revolution". This is a topic worthy of another presentation,
so for now let me offer an observation and a prediction. My observation is that keen observers of
contemporary social and political trends are beginning to suspect that the unfolding of the
information age has been accompanied by an unprecedented transfer of political power from the
American people to the forces of technology and capital. However, the same computer
technologies which have allowed capital to control the emergent plutocracy may also provide the
seeds of its undoing. My prediction is that by the end of 2004 Americans will be very familiar
with the words weblog (or blog) and sites such as MeetUp, IndyMedia, or WikiPedia, and will
credit such CMS projects with helping revitalize and eventually restore democracy.

content management system features:

Import and creation of documents and multimedia material.

Identification of all key users and their roles.

The ability to assign roles and responsibilities to different instances of

content categories or types.

Definition of workflow tasks often coupled with messaging so that

content managers are alerted to changes in content.

The ability to track and manage multiple versions of a single instance

of content.

The ability to publish the content to a repository to support access to

the content. Increasingly, the repository is an inherent part of the
system, and incorporates enterprise search and retrieval.
Content management systems take the following forms:

a web content management system is software for web site

management - which is often what is implicitly meant by this term

the work of a newspaper editorial staff organization

a workflow for article publication

a document management system

a single source content management system - where content is stored

in chunks within a relational database

a Variant Management system - where source content, usually text and

graphics, is tagged to represent variants stored as single source
"master" content modules and resolved to the desired variant at
publication time (for example: automobile owners manual content for
12 model years stored as single master content files and "called" by
model year as needed.) This technique is often used in concert with
database chunk storage (see above) for large content objects.

CMS Web Design

Whenever website design and development is discussed, it is hard not to
tackle the topic of CMS or content management systems. CMS is software
that helps users to take control of the various website elements without the

need of complex programming. What we offer is not out of the box. What we
offer is an intuitive way to make sure that every step of the way your website
undergoes customized processes that are aimed to address your particular
website needs. We make sure that our solution does not mar or go astray
from your target. The design will be created based on the look that you
approved. You can also integrate various aspects to best address your needs.

Full data and process management- unless you have the power to intuitively
manage all web elements, you will not be able to effectively utilize and
optimize the site. We can address content, SEO, work flow, blogs, events,
and news and site links to your particular needs. In fact, once these are
implemented, you can focus more on providing quality since the technical
aspects are removed from your back. You can write in a WYSWYG format,
easily update website tags set the order of site links, deactivate old ones,
and time your content publishing and others.
Task management- Running a website is very hard. We can help you in
improving the process by developing customized tools to help you in
allocating tasks to your team. You can also remove errors by having access

restrictions on other areas of the site, letting them focus on their own work.
This is a very useful tool for better site management.
Delivery and storing or information- email releases and newsletters can be
sent using a customized aspect of the CMS. This is linked to the database to
keep your clients updated with what is currently happening with the site. The
CMS can also have a restricted area that can be used to post specific
information for particular people.
Our company aims to offer the best possible CMS solutions for our clients
and that is why we have expert teams handling different CMS platforms
including Joomla!, WordPress, Drupal, Magento, OsCommerce, etc.

Choosing the right Web Content Management System

For public sector organisations, a new web content management system
(CMS) is one of the most critical investments you can make. The web has
become central to public sector strategy as the 'digital by default' agenda
comes to the fore and budget-strapped organisations look to shift more
service delivery to lower-cost channels while maintaining service quality.
Equally, citizens and businesses are more connected than ever. Mobile
devices provide always-on connectivity to the internet, and people
increasingly prefer to self-serve over the web rather than interact by phone
or in person. Public sector organisations need to be sure that the technology
underpinning their web strategy can accommodate these trends today and
as they develop over the next five years.
This ebook sets out the key questions to ask when choosing a new CMS, from
a strategic, operational and technical perspective.
You can use it at the planning stage to help define your web strategy and
priorities, and during the vendor selection process to ensure you get the best
CMS to support your Channel Shift initiatives.

Contents
This document contains the key information for organisations looking to
engage with customers on their website, increase channel shift: and see a
significant return on investment. The ebook includes:

Choosing a New CMS: A Critical Decision

What is the purpose of your website?

What strategic objectives will it deliver?

Who are your customers - and what do they need?

Who will create content for the site?

What will make users fall in love with it?

How will it be connected to your other services?

Which license and hosting options are best?

How will you measure success?

What about the future?

Best practice case studies

WordPress
WordPress is the worlds most popular content management system. It
started out as a platform exclusively for blogging, but has grown and
advanced significantly over the years. Today, over 40% of sites using CMSs
are using WordPress. In addition, over 60 millions websites are using
WordPress which shows just how popular it is. WordPress offers many
advantages to those looking to create a website or a blog, including the
following:

Easy to Install Many web hosting companies (also iPage) offer

automatic installation of WordPress sites, which means you can have a
new site up and running in well under five minutes. Even with manual
installation, you can create a new site in less than a hour.

Customizable WordPress has significantly more plug-ins, themes

and other customizations available for it than any other CMS. This is
largely because it is the most popular, so the designers of these items
almost always create them for WordPress.

Free WordPress is free to install and use for anyone who wants it.
There are thousands of free plug-ins and themes available to choose

from. In addition, there are also paid premium themes and plug-ins,
which some people will want to use, but they are not required,
especially not for beginners.

Community Support With millions of people using WordPress, there

are a lot of people out there to help you through any problems you
may have. Several websites are set up by users offering free support to
other WordPress website owners. If you have some time, you can check
out their support forum where contributors can help you within
minutes. Awesome, right?
Of course, WordPress isnt perfect in every way. Some common complaints
about WordPress are that if the site grows to large, it can require significant
server resources to keep up. The framework of WordPress is also difficult to
change, so those looking to make back-end changes to their websites may
have some trouble using WordPress.
These concerns are much more significant for sites that start getting
hundreds of thousands of visitors per day, at which point a more robust
server may be required to run the page. However, for a beginner, this is
probably the most suitable platform to build a site.
Drupal
Drupal is the second most popular content management system available
today. It is a fully open source program, which many people prefer, especially
those who are more technically minded.
The Drupal platform is extremely powerful, and is less resource intensive
than that of WordPress. Drupal can be set up for anything from a simple blog
to a content portal used by large corporations. Some of the most
significant benefits to Drupal include the following:

Technically Advanced Drupal is the most technically advanced of

these three content management systems. It doesnt use nearly as
many system resources as WordPress, so people wont have to worry
about upgrading to a more expensive hosting option as quickly.

Improved Performance Drupal pages typically load more quickly,

and have faster response times than those made with WordPress or
Joomla. Of course, as you add in plug-ins and make other changes, this
can quickly change.

Customizable Drupal is easy to customize with many different plugins, themes and other configurable options. For those with sufficient
programming knowledge, it is possible to edit even the root files of the

program, making it the most flexible of the three content management

systems.

Free You can download the Drupal software for free, and install it on
your own hosting server. There is no option to have a website hosted
on Drupal servers, however, so you will need a web hosting available
to run the site. Youll also need your own domain name, which typically
costs some money.
Drupal is the most powerful content management system out of the box, but
with that power comes some additional difficulties for the website owner.
Having at least basic knowledge of HTML, PHP and other common web
programming languages is highly recommended for anyone considering
using Drupal. You dont need to be an expert, but being able to troubleshoot
error messages, and identify problems with coding will be a significant
benefit.
If your website grows beyond a basic blog or small business page, youll
likely require some technical support to run it properly. If you dont have
those skills yourself, that may mean you need to hire someone, or outsource
the support of your page. Another potential concern is that since Drupal
requires some in depth knowledge of the programming and technology
behind it, finding support can be more difficult. If you run into a problem, you
may have to pay someone to log on and help you fix it.
Joomla
Joomla is often thought of as the compromise between WordPress and
Drupal. It is a powerful content management system, which can run
smoothly on most web servers without any problems. It doesnt require the
same level of technical experience to run as Drupal, but it still offers many of
the extra features. Like Drupal and WordPress, Joomla does have a lot of
plug-ins and themes available to choose from, so you can customize your
site to look and function in any way you desire. Other reasons people choose
Joomla include:

Social Networking This is perhaps the biggest benefit of Joomla. Of

the three, Joomla makes it the easiest to create social networks. Social
networks can be a powerful asset for many sites, and with Joomla, you
can have one up and running extremely quickly and easily.

Commerce Sites If you want to set up an online store; that is also

very simple with Joomla. While it is certainly possible with Drupal and
WordPress, Joomla makes it faster and easier, and has more native
support for these types of things.

Not too Technical Joomla has, in many peoples opinion, found that
middle ground between the ease of managing a WordPress website,
and the power of a Drupal site. Most people will be able to run a great
Joomla site without any significant technical support, though there may
be some issues which youll need to reach out for help on.

Help Portal Joomla offers a great help portal for asking questions
and getting technical support. It isnt going to be as fast or extensive
as the community based support pages of WordPress, but it is quicker
(and cheaper) than technical support most people get for Drupal.

Free Like Drupal, Joomla is free to use on your own web servers, but
there is no option to have it hosted for free like WordPress offers.
Many Joomla users love Joomla because it is powerful, yet easy to use.
Joomla has done an excellent job at combining the benefits of WordPress and
Drupal, and adding in some great features of its own. It has been growing
in popularity over the past several years, and it is likely to continue to do so.
Joomla seems to have found a big market of people who are ready for
something a little more powerful than WordPress, but easier to manage than
Drupal.
Many libraries have started to use content management systems as a tool to build and manage
their web presence.

Contents
[hide]

1Advantages

2Examples

2.1Libraries Using Drupal

2.2Libraries Using Joomla

2.3Libraries Using Expression Engine

2.4Libraries Using WordPress

2.5Libraries Using Plone

3CMSs used in Collaborative web design and hosting initiatives for public
libraries

Advantages
The advantages of using a CMS to build a library website include:

Separation of content, logic, and data

Ability for multiple content providers (many staff members can edit the
website, rather than just one expert)

Easier or automatic integration with Web 2.0 tools (built in RSS for instance)

Many cool add-ons that provide added functionality to the website (an Events
Calendar for instance)

Examples
These are just a few of the most common CMSs being used in the library community. A complete
list of CMSs available (and a list of their features) can be found at CMS Matrix.

Libraries Using Drupal

For a more updated list, see Drupal Libraries Group.
Public libraries:

Arlington Heights Memorial Library

Altadena Library District

Ann Arbor District Library

Athens County Public Libraries

Maryland AskUsNow!

Ballerup public libraries, Denmark

Information Papers index page

nof-digitise Technical Advisory Service

Content Management Systems

Commissioned from Alice Grant, Consultant, by UKOLN on behalf of NOF in
association with the People's Network
An Information Paper from the NOF Technical Advisory Service

About this information paper

This information paper explains what a content management system is (and is not!), and
why your NOF Project needs one. It also explains how to set about finding the best one
for your project, including some tips on questions to ask potential suppliers. Finally, there
are two case studies, demonstrating approaches which might be taken by smaller and
larger projects respectively.

What is a content management system?

A content management system (CMS) is a database which organises and provides access
to all types of digital content - files containing images, graphics, animation, sound, video
or text. It contains information about these files (known as 'digital assets'), and may also
contain links to the files themselves in order to allow them to be located or accessed
individually. A content management system is usually used to manage digital assets
during the development of a digital resource, such as a website or multimedia production.
It might be used by staff digitising images, authors and editors, or those responsible for
the management of the content development process (content managers). Content
management systems range from very basic databases, to sophisticated tailor-made
applications. These more complex systems can be integrated with the eventual digital
resource in order to enable access to digital assets and to allow regular updating.
This type of product is relatively new and there are very few content management
systems available as off-the-shelf packages, although an increasing number of companies
have ready-made applications which can be quickly adapted for different projects.
Content management systems can be used to carry out a wide range of tasks, including
those described below.

What isn't a content management system?

A content management system is not any of the following:

a library, archive or museum management or cataloguing system

(although some of these types of system are beginning to include
certain aspects of content management systems, and can be
integrated with a content management system);

a picture library system;

a word processing or other text file containing lists of digital resources;

a presentation file (e.g. a PowerPoint file);

a multimedia application.

Content management systems do not contain information about the presentation of the
digital content (e.g. end-user interface, navigation, design or layout). Content

management systems are not aimed at ordinary users; they require training and may have
different interfaces depending on the type of user (e.g. editor, system manager, image
manager etc.).
Why does your project need a content management system?
Content management systems are essential for large or even small-scale projects which
involve the capture or creation of digital assets. They also are increasingly necessary for
the creation of any but the most basic websites.
Managing the capture or creation of digital images requires metadata to be recorded
which documents the capture, ownership, location and licensing conditions relating to
each image. Even for a few dozen images, this may add up to hundreds of different pieces
of information, the management of which would not be possible without some automated
assistance. For a learning resource containing hundreds or even thousands of images, the
job is larger still.
Similarly, managing a website with even a few pages is a time-consuming task when
updates are required, perhaps when a page is added which requires the navigation menu to
be updated on other pages, or when a logo changes which then needs to be reflected on all
pages. For this reason, the use of templates which draw on content held in a database, is a
vital management tool. Without this type of application, the website would either fall out
of date very quickly, or would require ever greater staff resources to retain its currency.
What do content management systems do - and how do they work?
Holding information about digital content
Content management systems hold information describing digital assets. This information
is known as 'metadata' (information about other information). The metadata held in a
content management system can be used to manage and provide access to, digital
resources. Metadata held in a content management system might include:

capture and creation information (e.g. author, editor, date captured,

image resolution, type of scanner used, etc.).

descriptive information (e.g. subject, caption, reference to the original

document or object, associated people, places or events, etc.);

rights ownership (e.g. copyright owner, licensing information, etc.);

Examples of metadata used to manage digital assets can be seen at the University of
Berkeley's contribution to the Making of America project, at
http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/xdlib/servlet/archobj?DOCCHOICE=moa2ucb/48.xml
Metadata held should support local management processes and should also allow access
and resource location functions, by complying with the Dublin Core. Metadata should

also comply with domain-specific standards as required, including AACR2 and MARC
(for libraries), SPECTRUM (for museums) and ISAD (for archives).
Holding digital content
Content management systems may store narrative text for publication on the web. Text
can be recorded together with author, version and currency information, which enables
the publication of information online to be managed more effectively. Systems may also
provide direct links to digital assets, enabling users to browse through images, sound or
video clips as part of the authoring process.
Process management
The system should enable content managers and editors to keep a close eye on the
digitisation process, including monitoring the capture of images, or tracking the authoring
and editing of narrative text. This can be done using simple checkboxes or by completing
data fields which document progress. Some systems allow the pre-publication process to
be tracked more visually, using workflow management tools which represent the progress
of a piece of text through the authoring process - for example, using coloured 'traffic
lights' to indicate when a piece is ready to be published online, or alternatively by
displaying a 'route-map' with milestones indicating how far an article has progressed
down the editorial route.
Publishing online
Any content management system should have a mechanism allowing it to make this
content available to a website. Depending on the complexity of the system, this might be
done in different ways.
At a basic level, the system might export the content in a pre-defined format, to a separate
database used to run a website. This would require regular exports to be made as content
was updated, and is an effective, if labour-intensive means of enabling the online
publishing of digital content.
An alternative would be to use a content management system able to be integrated with a
website. In this type of arrangement, a web manager would create templates for different
types of web page. Layouts for different types of page could be set up, pre-defining the
type of content which would be displayed in each template. For example, an
organisation's logo might always be displayed, as well as a navigation bar, and a special
template might be designed to hold information about an items held in a collection.
This template might then be selected to create a page containing, for instance, an image of
an illuminated manuscript, together with a caption and a transcription. This could be done
by hand - for instance an image or text could be copied from the content management
system and inserted into the correct place in the template. However this would mean that
whenever the text was updated, the web page would need to be recreated by hand. For

this reason, it is better to create a web page by linking the database directly to a template.
This could be done by selecting the template to be used for a specific page, then instead
of adding in the image or text by hand, inserting a database query for each component of
the page which includes a digital asset to be drawn from the database. Immediately before
the web page is 'published' (i.e. copied to the live website), a programme is run which
ensures that the web pages are updated by running their database queries on the content
management system. The image of the manuscript, the transcription and the caption are
retrieved directly from the database, copied to the web page and displayed whenever the
page is called up. When content is changed (for example, the caption might be updated, or
a better quality image created), the web page is re-published using a single command - i.e.
one or more database queries are re-run - and updated images or text are automatically
uploaded, replacing the previous versions. In this type of system, the database is held
within the organisation's security firewall and the newly-published web pages are
mounted externally.

Publishing 'on-the-fly'
More sophisticated content management systems can deliver digital content direct to web
pages which are constructed 'on-the-fly' as users browse through a website. For example,
a user might wish to select items from a collection by searching on a keyword. The
relevant items would be retrieved directly from the content management system, based on
the metadata describing the subject of each digital record. A web page is then created to
display details of each item online, using a template designed for that specific purpose. As
before, the template places the relevant content for each item within a pre-defined layout
as it is displayed on the screen. The web 'page' however, only exists at the time of display,
and is effectively a temporary composite of design, layout, text and images. The benefit
of this type of system is that it allows updated content to be constantly updated, rather
than published in batches which may take time to upload. It also makes the management
of the website much easier.
Clearly security and access for this type of system need to be more sophisticated. In some
applications a 'source' database is held within the organisation's firewall and extracts
automatically copied to the external version whenever content is updated. Alternatively,
additional security measures may be built into the content management system to prevent
unauthorised access.

How to select a content management system

Although the market for this type of system is by no means mature, in all but the smallest
and simplest projects it would not be advisable for an organisation to attempt to develop
one in-house, particularly within the timescale for the NOF program. The process of
selecting a content management system is the same as for any other computer system. It
may be governed by local rules, prescribed by European law, government or local
authorities for example. The process of procurement will normally include the steps

described below, although depending on the size of your project, you may wish to
simplify the process, or you may be required to include certain formal stages. If in doubt
as to the process you should follow, contact your organisation's Finance officer. The steps
to procurement include the following:

Develop a business case

Based on the size and complexity of the planned project, decide from the outset the scale
and scope of the system which is required to support the development and delivery of the
project. Take into account existing systems and skills. One issue for many museums,
archives and libraries will be that they already have integrated collections management
systems which enable the recording of metadata relating to digital assets. They may be
able to extend the use of existing systems to encompass some additional functions, in
which case their requirement for a content management system is restricted to a database
to run the website which will allow content to be drawn from the existing collections
management system. (see Case studies below) Once it has been decided to proceed, it
may be useful to set up a Project Committee (if one does not exist already) to act as a
decision-making body throughout the procurement process.

Draft Operational requirement

Based on the business case, draw up a list of the functions and the recording capabilities
which the system will require. If the business case and your knowledge of the market
suggest that a simple, off-the-shelf package is required which will not cost a large
amount, then it may simply be necessary to follow your organisation's internal rules for
purchasing software and demonstrating value for money. However larger projects will
almost certainly require more complex systems which require the project to go out to
tender, using an Operational Requirement to invite responses from vendors and
developers. If this is the case, the Operational Requirement should include the following
components:

Introduction and background to the project

Procurement and project implementation timetable

Functional requirements

Technical requirements and operating environment

Contractual requirements

Form of response to the requirement

The functional and technical sections will contain some requirements which are
'mandatory' (i.e. any system must deliver these in order to be considered). Other

requirements may be assigned different levels of importance. Try and restrict the
mandatory requirements to those areas which you really could not do without - otherwise
you may find yourself without a system - or with one which is beyond your budget.

Obtain approval and funding

The draft Operational Requirement alongside demonstrations and initial discussions with
suppliers, may be used as a basis for establishing the likely cost of the content
management system. Approval to proceed will normally be required from the Project
Committee, who may suggest that the Operational Requirement is refined to the point
where it can reasonably be expected that the eventual system will fall within budget.

Refine and issue Operational Requirement

A minimum of 28 days is normally required by suppliers to respond to the Operational

Requirement. Try and be as helpful as possible - bear in mind that responding to
requirements is an expensive and time-consuming process. Invite suppliers to ask
questions during the response period - but ensure that any responses are copied to all
those submitting tenders. Provide a template for responses - preferably in the form of a
spreadsheet.

Evaluate and shortlist proposals

Make sure that you have decided on your evaluation model before opening tenders from
suppliers. For larger projects, or those involving consortia, you may wish to set up two
evaluating teams in parallel - remember that involvement in the evaluation will help
ensure ownership of the selected system across your organisation(s). Assign a ranking of
importance for each question (e.g. 3 for important or mandatory requirements; 2 or 1 for
less important areas). You might also assign an overall rating to the different sections of
the requirement which are being evaluated. For example there may be many more
functional than technical requirements, but you may decide that each section is worth
40% of the overall score, with the remaining 20% based on your evaluation of a vendor's
ability to deliver and track record. Once this evaluation model is agreed, then you can
open the tenders and score the responses to each question, using the spreadsheet.
Finally - remember that the cost of a system is not what matters, so much as the value for
money which it represents, and the cost of ownership over its lifetime - including the
equipment and people needed to run it. If the ideal system is out of your budget, it might
be an indicator that you have asked for too many mandatory requirements - or equally,
that your organisation had not recognised the importance of the system to your planned
operations. In either case, your Project Board may need to be consulted.

Select system, award contract and implement.

Once the system has been selected you will need to notify the vendor and agree terms of
delivery. For larger, more complex systems, you may need to keep a vendor in reserve in
case the contractual process breaks down with the initial supplier. You should not begin
the implementation process until the contract has been signed. It is sometimes possible to
exchange formal letters of agreement as a temporary measure to allow initial stages of
work to proceed, but in such circumstances approval should be obtained from the Project
Committee and other formal sources as required by your organisation. Any work carried
out in this way should be extremely closely defined and managed. It is normal to retain a
proportion of the cost (5%-10%) until formal tests have been carried out on the system
and the implementation has been carried out successfully. This is known as the acceptance
process.

What should a content management system do?

The content management system you select will need to assist you in the management
and/or delivery of digital resources, depending on the scale of your project and existing
systems in place. You may need to consider the following areas when deciding on what
your content management system should do:

Scope of system (e.g. metadata recording, process management,

online publishing, integration with other systems)

Data structure (including the ability to record your required metadata,

to hold links to digital assets and to hold text which can be edited and
published)

Templates (including design, layout and accessibility for different types

of page; also your ability to update templates)

Security and access (including access rights for different types of user,
e.g. retrieval only, editors, publishers, web manager, administrator
etc.)

Workflow management and process control

Ability to integrate databased information - either for publishing on-thefly- or in batches

Ability to generate navigation and links between pages automatically

and consistently

Ability to interoperate with existing systems and to comply with data

standards in the NOF Guidelines

Ability to run on your existing technical infrastructure

Ability of database to search across metadata and narrative text

content

Ability to manage metadata across the database, e.g. update or assign

values globally or across a selection

Ability to archive data, and to output reports in digital and printed form

Making sure it's the right CMS for you

In order to decide whether a system is worth considering, try asking the following
questions of yourself and of potential suppliers - but bear in mind that no supplier is likely
to respond directly when asked 'how much does it cost' on a trade stand or on the phone you may need to be a bit more subtle!
Ask yourself...

Find out...

What's the budget?

How much does it cost over its lifetime?

What skills do we have in-house or in our

consortium?

What skills does it require to run it?

What's our existing hardware and networked

infrastructure like?

What hardware and network will be needed

to run it?

How IT-literate are the staff who will be using

it?

How complicated is it to use?

How many people & how much content do

we have?

How many users can it support - and how

much content - while maintaining good
performance?

How tight is our timetable?

How many people in the company - and how

many other projects on the go?

What other systems will it need to work with?

Can it interoperate with our existing systems?

What kinds of data will we want to record and

access?

Can it handle data in a wide range of

standard formats?

Do we have any special, or difficult problems

and what do other organisations like us use?

Have the suppliers dealt with your type or

organisation/requirements before and can
they provide reference sites for you to visit?

What if the system goes wrong?

What support and maintenance services are

available?

Future-proofing your content management system

To ensure that your content management system will be useful in three or five years time,
and that your content will be secure and accessible in perpetuity, there are a number of
issues which you will need to consider including the following:

Will it deal with existing standards for data - and do the suppliers take a
pro-active approach to keeping their products up-to-date?

Does the system use a standard, open operating environment and

hardware?

Is the system able to import and export data in formats understood by

other systems?

Does it allow data to be archived in standard formats using secure,

stable storage media?

Is the database extensible - for example, can new fields be added if you
decide to extend the range of metadata you record?

Are the specialist skills necessary to maintain the application and the
underlying technology, both readily available and affordable?

Is the system in widespread use in similar projects?

Does the underlying technology fit with your organisation's IT strategy?

Lastly - but MOST important - how will your new system be maintained and supported?
Do you have the necessary internal skills to run the system, and is your chosen supplier
able to provide you with effective support? To ensure this, you should consider taking out
a separate support services contract, particularly for larger, more complex systems

Case studies
Large consortium
Five organisations who are in a consortium review their existing systems and find that one
organisation, a museum, has a website and underlying database which could be extended
to provide the proposed NOF-funded service. They review their metadata and publishing
requirements however, and find that although the existing database is able to publish
pages on-the-fly, it isn't able to provide them with the digital asset management and
process management functions they require. Together, the partners draw up a requirement
for these functions, stipulating that the system should be able to export content to the
website system, and should be licensed to each of the partners individually, but at a

reduced rate, with shared support services. The system is procured jointly by the partners,
under the oversight of a project committee comprising a senior staff member from each
partner, and a seconded project manager from the largest partner, funded by NOF.
An individual from each partner organisation is designated the project leader within that
organisation, responsible for ensuring that local metadata and functional requirements are
met, and for planning the local implementation.
At the end of the project they have not only saved on the cost of project management for
the procurement, but also on the cost of the system since they were able to negotiate a
favourable rate. They are able to share skills and knowledge by using the same system,
and the export process which is used whenever the central website is updated, only has to
be worked out once, after which it can be run as often as necessary. They also share the
cost of developing additional templates for NOF content, using the existing website,
thereby saving on procurement and development costs, even though the templates reflect
each of their identities, while providing the public with a single point of access.
Small individual organisation
A small archive comprising various printed and manuscript documents and some physical
artefacts, is covering a subject area not addressed by any other NOF applicant, and
therefore decides to 'go it alone' with the digitisation of 500 key items in their collection,
as part of a local community project. They contact another organisation of a similar size
and with comparable collections to find out what was used for their recent HLF project,
as well as ringing round various other archives and posting a query on the NOF-digi email
list. As a result, they establish that many of the available solutions are too complex for
their needs, and also require skills not available to them. However the first place they
contacted has an Access database which was developed by a local company to meet the
requirements of Dublin Core metadata, as well as to help with the management of a CDROM which they produced. They contact the company who agrees to let them use the
database for a small fee, and to support it for the duration of the project. Meanwhile
following their query on the NOF-digi email list, a local library involved in another NOF
bid offers to host their service within the local authority's website, provided the archive is
able to pay for the development of new templates for its content, and for support services.
The archive duly specifies its requirements, ensuring that the library's website can import
content from their planned Access database. They also ensure that the database developer
is able to provide an export routine which enables them to publish their data to the
library's website without requiring specialist skills to do so. With approval from senior
staff, and with formal agreements in place with the developer and with the library, the
archive is able to proceed with the digitisation of its resources without undertaking
development or procurement work beyond its capabilities, thereby saving time and
money, and ensuring the long-term success and sustainability of its project.
Alice Grant

October 2000
With thanks to Fiona Marshall, Content Manager, British Museum COMPASS Project.

Acknowledgements
This paper was commissioned from Alice Grant by UKOLN on behalf of the New Opportunities Fund in association with
the People's Network and is one of a series of Information Papers that will be produced by the NOF Technical Advisory
Service.
Queries about the Information Papers should be addressed to:
Peter Dowdell
UKOLN
The University of Bath
Bath BA2 7AY
Email: p.dowdell@ukoln.ac.uk
Telephone: 01225 826580
UKOLN is funded byResource: The Council for Museums, Archives & Libraries, the Joint Information Systems
Committee (JISC) of the Higher and Further Education Funding Councils, as well as by project funding from the JISC
and the European Union. UKOLN also receives support from the University of Bath where it is based.