Crossmedial publications and content management

http://www.contentmanager.net/magazine/article_240_crossmedial_publications_and_content_management.html

Content and medium

Through the development of the nineties the digital processing of printed products (newspaper, brochure, flyer) has been completing numerous digital media (WAP-handy, www, PDA). Today content can be stored in a central content management system in a media-neutral way, in order to process it for diverse media and to connect it with other similar contents. Technologically it does not play a role if digital data (for example, text or images) are used for a brochure or a web presentation. On the basis of the area of content management systems there is a further development of technological approach to the company-wide administration of contents. The purpose of cross media publishing is remained, which means to use and to draw up the publications, which the target groups of the customer require and receive. This could be a printed brochure, the internet or a PDA.

Common procedure

If during the early time of the internet an editorial office drew up contents only for the ordered medium and if the contents were afterwards adapted to the medium internet or implemented 1:1 in the web offer at worst case, today one commits the opposite mistake: contents are collected in a data pool, however, distributed from there arbitrarily to the most profitable media. The old workflow of a linear utilization (see sketch 1) of contents has been replaced by a certain non-coordination of the distribution.

Data and information can be filed in databases at this procedure, however knowledge only arises at the evaluation, the media-oriented classification and the connection of these data. Only if all participating groups are integrated in a common publication process through a parallel workflow (see sketch 2) from the beginning, this editorial knowledge can be transferred successfully in different media products. An added value chain arises, in which the editors commonly work with programmers and publishers, draw up individual texts for media which are close to the target-groups, connect them in thought-out content management systems and use them successfully.

Cross media publishing

Thus, there is more behind the key word cross media publishing than only the installation of a software or the distribution of data and information. The one who wants to start with CMP correctly has to reorganise working processes, introduce content management software, try to gain acceptance of the software as well as the new working processes and analyse and modify well-worn procedures in a well-directed way. A common procedure of all participating offices is the basic prerequisite for this.

Published: 03/2004
Author: Michael Haasler

Michael Haasler is a consultant at ECC Online Relations in Bonn.

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