Content Management: Challenges and Strategies

1. Content Management: Challenges and Strategies Bob Boiko UW iSchoolischool.washington.edu Metatorial Services Inc. www.metatorial.com

2. Bob Boiko • Teacher • iSchool, University of Washington • The iSchool CMS Curriculum • The iSchool CMS Evaluation Lab • Author • CM Bible • Consultant • Boeing, Motorola, Microsoft • Founder • Chase Bobko • Metatorial Services • Developer • Database and XML systems

3. The Word Metadata • Meta • About • After • Metadata • Data about data • Other stuff apart from the data that helps you make use of it Achilles: Tell me, Mr. Genie — what is a meta-wish? Genie: It's simply a wish about wishes. I am not allowed to grant meta-wishes. It's only in my purview to grant plain ordinary wishes, such as wishing for ten bottles of beer, to have Helen of Troy on a blanket, or to have an all-expense-paid weekend for two at the Copacabana. You know — simple things like that. But meta-wishes I cannot grant, GOD won't permit me to. Douglas Hofstadter – Gödel, Escher, Bach

4. Metadata: The Narrow and Wide Sense • The Narrow sense • A fancy file system with much more than the usual title, size, and date • The basis of file, asset, and document management • The broad view • Not about whole files • Any information that describes or contexts • All the names we come up with to encapsulate and divide info in order to understand and use it

5. Metadata: The Practical Sense • Represented in databases • Tables • Fields • Values • Represented in XML • Elements • Attributes • Values

6. Metadata: My Favorite Sense The Genie is a Djin GOD stands for GOD Over Djin Which stands for GOD Over Djin Over Djin Which stands for GOD Over Djin Over Djin Over Djin Which stands for GOD Over Djin Over Djin Over Djin Over Djin Which stands for GOD Over Djin Over Djin Over Djin Over Djin Over Djin Which stands for GOD Over Djin Over Djin Over Djin Over Djin Over Djin Over Djin Which stands for GOD Over Djin Over Djin Over Djin Over Djin Over Djin Over Djin Over Djin Which stands for GOD Over Djin Over Djin Over Djin Over Djin Over Djin Over Djin Over Djin Over Djin Which stands for GOD Over Djin Over Djin Over Djin Over Djin Over Djin Over Djin Over Djin Over Djin Over Djin Which stands for GOD Over Djin Over Djin Over Djin Over Djin Over Djin Over Djin Over Djin Over Djin Over Djin Over Djin Which stands for GOD Over Djin Over Djin Over Djin Over Djin Over Djin Over Djin Over Djin Over Djin Over Djin Over Djin Over Djin Which stands for GOD Over Djin Over Djin Over Djin Over Djin Over Djin Over Djin Over Djin Over Djin Over Djin Over Djin Over Djin Over Djin

7. What is Metadata For? • Identify • Manage • Describe • You want to track and administer • They want to discover and use

8. The Metadata Ladder • No solid identification • A name • No unique Id! • Minimal management • Create, modify date • Size • Attributes (read only, etc.) • No description The File What computers have been built on A Convenient container

9. The Metadata Ladder • Resources identified • Id, Title • Resources managed • Type, Format • Source, Author, Rights • Language • Resources described • Audience • Subject • Description • Coverage What is it? A File The file System you wish you had

10. Enter Dublin Core • Standard wrapper for a “resource” • Rich description • Most widely recognized • Hardly yet used! • Still shifting • General enough to be useful and useless www.dublincore.org

11. The Metadata Ladder • Items identified • By their URL (URI) • Items managed • By their resource metadata • By their relations • All items described • By their resource metadata • By their relations What is it? What is it? A File The Intranet you wish you had An expanding network of connections and “meaning”

12. Vivian Claire Descendents of Kids of Sister of Enter RDF • Standard way of representing a relationship • Inherently recursive • Hints at meaning • Subject - predicate – object Liz Lin http://www.xml.com/lpt/a/2001/01/24/rdf.html

13. The Metadata Ladder • Chunks identified • Id, Title • Managed • Status, Owner • Version • Described • Abstract, Summary • Subject What is it? The style sheet you wish you had. A set of useful or reusable chunks What is it? A File What’s in it?

14. Enter Schemas • Tight definition of the parts of a document • Each part named • Metadata types and values clearly set and enforced

15. The Metadata Ladder • Elements identified • Id, Title • Managed • Status, Owner • Version • Described (as needed) What is it? The editor you wish you had Making a chunk into a standard set of elements What is it? A File What’s in it? What’s in it?

16. Enter XML Instances • Enforcement of schemas • WYSIWYG authoring • In-situ metadata typing and lists • Not well loved

17. The Metadata Ladder What is it? What is it’s all the way down! What is it? A File What is it? What is it?

18. So, What is Metadata? The way you tag a resource so you can keep track of and manage it and so others can find and use it!

19. More Information • iSchool.washington.edu • CMS Lab • Connection Program • www.metatorial.com • White papers, Presentations • CM Poster • CMS Planner • Concept of the week • Content Management Bible • Amazon.com • Everything I know (almost) • Online at metatorial.com