Content management means different things to different people. For publishers, the fundamental aspects should be metadata, content markup, and component management. Presentation originally developed by Apex VP and Principal Consultant Bill Kasdorf for the benefit of an international institutional publishing office in 2014.

1. Bill Kasdorf
VP and Principal Consultant,Apex Content Solutions
Gen. Editor, The Columbia Guide to Digital Publishing
Content Management,
Archiving, and Repurposing
Making content easy to create and find
in today’s products—and tomorrow’s

2. Content Management

3. Don’t start by looking for
a Content Management System.
Start by thinking about
how you need to manage your content.
The point is to . . .

4. . . . get from this . . .

5. Thanks to Jake Zarnegar of Silverchair for the graphics.
. . . to this.

6. Which means managing
your content
not just
your publications.

7. Six Things “Content Management”
Might Mean

8. Six Things “Content Management”
Might Mean
1. WEB CONTENT MANAGEMENT
It’s about
managing what’s on your website.

9. Six Things “Content Management”
Might Mean
1. WEB CONTENT MANAGEMENT
“Throw your [print] publications over the wall
and the IT geeks will put them on the web.”

10. Six Things “Content Management”
Might Mean
1. WEB CONTENT MANAGEMENT
“Throw your [print] publications over the wall
and the IT geeks will put them on the web.”
“How do they expect us to get this stuff online
when the print just got finished a few days ago?”

11. Six Things “Content Management”
Might Mean
1. WEB CONTENT MANAGEMENT
“Throw your [print] publications over the wall
and the IT geeks will put them on the web.”
“How do they expect us to get this stuff online
when the print just got finished a few days ago?”
“EPUBs? We don’t do EPUBs in IT.
Check with Procurement.”

12. Six Things “Content Management”
Might Mean
2. DIGITAL ASSET MANAGEMENT
It’s about
managing all the stuff.

13. Six Things “Content Management”
Might Mean
2. DIGITAL ASSET MANAGEMENT
“Do you remember what you named that file?”

14. Six Things “Content Management”
Might Mean
2. DIGITAL ASSET MANAGEMENT
“Do you remember what you named that file?”
“Why is this image taking so long to load?”

15. Six Things “Content Management”
Might Mean
2. DIGITAL ASSET MANAGEMENT
“Do you remember what you named that file?”
“Why is this image taking so long to load?”
“Didn’t we already create this diagram
for a project a year or two ago?”

16. Six Things “Content Management”
Might Mean
2. DIGITAL ASSET MANAGEMENT
“Do you remember what you named that file?”
“Why is this image taking so long to load?”
“Didn’t we already create this diagram
for a project a year or two ago?”
“I didn’t think we’d need that file anymore.”

17. Six Things “Content Management”
Might Mean
3. WORKFLOW MANAGEMENT
It’s about
who does what, when.

18. Six Things “Content Management”
Might Mean
3. WORKFLOW MANAGEMENT
“Has this been copyedited yet?”

19. Six Things “Content Management”
Might Mean
3. WORKFLOW MANAGEMENT
“Has this been copyedited yet?”
“What do you mean nobody proofread it?”

20. Six Things “Content Management”
Might Mean
3. WORKFLOW MANAGEMENT
“Has this been copyedited yet?”
“What do you mean nobody proofread it?”
“I kinda think I kinda sent
the wrong file to the printer, maybe.”

21. Six Things “Content Management”
Might Mean
3. WORKFLOW MANAGEMENT
“Has this been copyedited yet?”
“What do you mean nobody proofread it?”
“I kinda think I kinda sent
the wrong file to the printer, maybe.”
“We’re supposed to check the EPUBs?”

22. Six Things “Content Management”
Might Mean
4. XML WORKFLOW MANAGEMENT
Getting granular:
managing the markup and metadata.

23. Six Things “Content Management”
Might Mean
4. XML WORKFLOW MANAGEMENT
What exactly do you mean by “XML-FIRST”?

24. Six Things “Content Management”
Might Mean
4. XML WORKFLOW MANAGEMENT
What exactly do you mean by “XML-FIRST”?
All digital products from XML?

25. Six Things “Content Management”
Might Mean
4. XML WORKFLOW MANAGEMENT
What exactly do you mean by “XML-FIRST”?
All digital products from XML?
Print pages typeset from XML?

26. Six Things “Content Management”
Might Mean
4. XML WORKFLOW MANAGEMENT
What exactly do you mean by “XML-FIRST”?
All digital products from XML?
Print pages typeset from XML?
Copyediting in XML?

27. Six Things “Content Management”
Might Mean
4. XML WORKFLOW MANAGEMENT
What exactly do you mean by “XML-FIRST”?
All digital products from XML?
Print pages typeset from XML?
Copyediting in XML?
Authoring in XML?

28. Six Things “Content Management”
Might Mean
5. XML REPOSITORY MANAGEMENT
Not just storing the stuff.
Doing things with the stuff.

29. Six Things “Content Management”
Might Mean
5. XML REPOSITORY MANAGEMENT
Do you build the content of your repository
from your products/publications?

30. Six Things “Content Management”
Might Mean
5. XML REPOSITORY MANAGEMENT
Do you build the content of your repository
from your products/publications?
Or do you build the products/publications
from the content of your repository?

31. Six Things “Content Management”
Might Mean
5. XML REPOSITORY MANAGEMENT
Do you build the content of your repository
from your products/publications?
Or do you build the products/publications
from the content of your repository?
You can do both.

32. Six Things “Content Management”
Might Mean
1. WEB CONTENT MANAGEMENT
2. DIGITAL ASSET MANAGEMENT
3. WORKFLOW MANAGEMENT
4. XML WORKFLOW MANAGEMENT
5. XML REPOSITORY MANAGEMENT
6. ALL OF THE ABOVE

33. Three Things “Content Management”
Might Mean but Doesn’t, Usually

34. Three Things “Content Management”
Might Mean but Doesn’t, Usually
1. TITLE MANAGEMENT
It’s all about the metadata.
Acquisition and development
Scheduling and monitoring the workflow
Cost estimating, budgeting, invoice processing
Load balancing and vendor management
Marketing and sales

35. Three Things “Content Management”
Might Mean but Doesn’t, Usually
1. TITLE MANAGEMENT
2. DIGITAL ASSET DISTRIBUTION
It’s about the products you send your customers.
EPUBs, apps, PDFs, POD
Variants for Kindle, Nook, Kobo, etc.
Getting metadata to the retailers
& aggregators

36. Three Things “Content Management”
Might Mean but Doesn’t, Usually
1. TITLE MANAGEMENT
2. DIGITAL ASSET DISTRIBUTION
3. WEB HOSTING
It’s about making your content
available online.

37. You need to do all these things.

38. You need to do all these things.
You’re probably
already doing them.

39. But they’re usually
done in silos.
And the silos are
getting a bit shaky.

40. Three Fundamental Aspects
of Content Management
1. METADATA
2. CONTENT MARKUP
3. COMPONENT MANAGEMENT
Making these three aspects work in concert
is what results in effective
content management in today’s ecosystem.

41. COMPONENT MANAGEMENT
The more granular, the better?

42. Don’t get
carried away.
There’s work
required
to manage all
the bits.

43. THOUGHTFUL GRANULARITY
What are the pieces you need to:
SELL?
RE-ARRANGE?
REUSE?
RENDER?
FIND?

44. THOUGHTFUL GRANULARITY
What are the pieces you need to:
SELL?
RE-ARRANGE?
REUSE?
RENDER?
FIND?
Typically
maintained
as separate
components.

45. THOUGHTFUL GRANULARITY
What are the pieces you need to:
SELL?
RE-ARRANGE?
REUSE?
RENDER?
FIND?
Typically
maintained
as separate
components.Best
managed via
metadata
and markup.

46. Good structural and semantic
markup and metadata
are key to content management.
Formal, standards-based schemas
and clear, thorough specifications
are invaluable.

47. CONTENT MARKUP
Structure
What are the pieces, and how do they relate?
Semantics
What are the pieces for, what are they about?
Resources
Images, multimedia, scripts, stylesheets, etc.
Associations
Links, references, annotations, indexes, etc.

48. <CN> </CN>
</CT>
</AU>
<INTRO>
</INTRO>
<H1>
<H2>
</H1>
</H2>
<CT>
<AU>
<GLOSS> </GLOSS>
Here’s one possible
markup scheme:
“Chapter number”
“Chapter title”
“Author’s name”
“Introductory
paragraph”
“Level 1 subhead”
“Level 2 subhead”
“Glossary term”
That’s XML markup.
Those are “tags.”

49. <CN> </CN>
</CT>
</AU>
<INTRO>
</INTRO>
<H1>
<H2>
</H1>
</H2>
<CT>
<AU>
<GLOSS> </GLOSS>
Here’s one possible
markup scheme:
“Chapter number”
“Chapter title”
“Author’s name”
“Introductory
paragraph”
“Level 1 subhead”
“Level 2 subhead”
“Glossary term”
That’s XML markup.
Those are “tags.”
XML is the
best form of
markup.
It enables you
to not only
render
the pieces
differently
in different
contexts but
manage
the pieces
independently.

50. <CN> </CN>
</CT>
</AU>
<INTRO>
</INTRO>
<H1>
<H2>
</H1>
</H2>
<CT>
<AU>
<GLOSS> </GLOSS>
Here’s one possible
markup scheme:
“Chapter number”
“Chapter title”
“Author’s name”
“Introductory
paragraph”
“Level 1 subhead”
“Level 2 subhead”
“Glossary term”
That’s XML markup.
Those are “tags.”
The best form
of XML
is based
on a well-
established
standard
structure
augmented
with your
semantic
vocabulary.

51. Some Standard Models
DocBook
A generic book model, initially developed
for technical books and documentation
TEI, the Text Encoding Initiative
Mainly used for textual research
NLM/JATS/BITS
The model for scholarly journals and books
XHTML
The language of the Web, as XML
These each
provide a
standard,
widely used
framework
to which a
publisher’s
specific
vocabulary
can be added
to address
their needs.

52. Semantics
Semantics Supercharge Your Content
Distinguish elements with same tag
that have specific structural functions
Disambiguate text: is “Washington” the
president, the city, the bridge, or the state?
Describe content to enhance discovery,
enable filtering via keywords, controlled
vocabularies, taxonomies

53. Structure Inherent in the Model
XHTML 1.1 has Generic Structures
<div>s, <p>s, <span>s, etc. have no
inherent structural semantics
(X)HTML5 has Semantic Structures
Nested <section>s = linear hierarchy
<aside>s, <figure>s are outside linear flow
<article>s can stand alone outside context
<nav>s provide navigation . . . etc.
Systems (e.g., browsers) can be built
to understand & use these structures.

54. Separate Standard Structural Semantics
EPUB 3 provides “structural semantics”
vocabularies to add structural meaning
This augments the inherent structure
of HTML5 with the @epub:type attribute
HTML5 has no concept of “chapter”
Use <section epub:type="chapter">
HTML5 has no concept of “footnote”
Use <aside epub:type="footnote">
Vocabularies for indexes, magazines, and
educational content are being added

55. Industry/Discipline-Specific Semantics
Industries and disciplines have semantics
used primarily or only by their practitioners
or for one type of content (e.g., recipes)
PRISM: Extensive magazine metadata
MARC: Library cataloguing
ONIX: Book supply chain metadata
UMLS: Enormous medical metathesaurus
hrecipe: Simple vocabulary for recipes
Semantic enhancement makes content
more discoverable, more usable,
and more valuable.

56. Industry/Discipline-Specific Semantics
Industries and disciplines have semantics
used primarily or only by their practitioners
or for one type of content (e.g., recipes)
PRISM: Extensive magazine metadata
MARC: Library cataloguing
ONIX: Book supply chain metadata
UMLS: Enormous medical metathesaurus
hrecipe: Simple vocabulary for recipes
Semantic enhancement makes content
more discoverable, more usable,
and more valuable.
Semantic Inflection:
Adding more specific structural meaning
Done in EPUB via @epub:type
Semantic Enrichment:
Additional information (metadata) about an element
Done in XHTML5 via RDFa or microdata, e.g.
<span itemprop="name">Rock Stone</span> (b.
<span itemprop="birthDate">June 16, 1904</span>)

57. Semantics
Semantics in Content Management
Categorize and describe individual assets
(documents, images, media, etc.)
or portions of assets (via markup)
Enable more automated processing
(process certain things certain ways)
Facilitate repurposing across a repository

58. METADATA
Identifiers
Unique, unambiguous, machine-processable
Enable precise linking and “chunking”
Subject Codes
Terms + codes facilitate discovery,
enable “recommendation engines”
Supply-Chain Metadata
Essential to retailers, distributors,
aggregators, licensees, etc.

59. METADATA
Identifiers
Unique, unambiguous, machine-processable
Enable precise linking and “chunking”
Subject Codes
Terms + codes facilitate discovery,
enable “recommendation engines”
Supply-Chain Metadata
Essential to retailers, distributors,
aggregators, licensees, etc.
Publication identifiers
Can distinguish versions, formats, editions
Contributor identifiers
Enable associating metadata (e.g., affil., contact info)
Component identifiers
IDs for chapters, sections, figures, tables

60. METADATA
Identifiers
Unique, unambiguous, machine-processable
Enable precise linking and “chunking”
Subject Codes
Terms + codes facilitate discovery,
enable “recommendation engines”
Supply-Chain Metadata
Essential to retailers, distributors,
aggregators, licensees, etc.
ISBN: Int’l Standard Book Number
Aproduct identifier (need one for each format)
ISSN: Int’l Standard Serials Number
Identifies series as a whole, not one issue or volume
DOI: Digital Object Identifier
Persistent, actionable identifier often used for linking
ISNI: Int’l Standard Name Identifier
The public identity of a person or organization

61. METADATA
Identifiers
Unique,unambiguous,machine-processable
Enable precise linking and “chunking”
Subject Codes
Terms + codes facilitate discovery,
enable “recommendation engines”
Supply-Chain Metadata
Essential to retailers, distributors,
aggregators, licensees, etc.
Thema: Int’l Subject Codes
20+ national groups, 15+ languages
Replace or augment individual national schemes
Semantics Important to ADB
Geographic codes (regions, countries, cities, etc.)
Economic, industrial, linguistic classifications

62. METADATA
Identifiers
Unique,unambiguous,machine-processable
Enable precise linking and “chunking”
Subject Codes
Terms + codes facilitate discovery,
enable “recommendation engines”
Supply-Chain Metadata
Essential to retailers, distributors,
aggregators, licensees, etc.
ONIX for Books, PRISM for magazines
Rich metadata vocabularies that provide
Marketing metadata,publication metadata,
technical metadata, usage and rights metadata, etc.
schema.org
Versatile metadata, incl. accessibility, pedagogical

63. Good markup and metadata that express
useful structure and semantics,
along with good identifiers for
textual, image, and media content
are essential for
good content management.
Having a good grasp on these
will help you make good decisions
regarding CMS system design and
implementation.
Here are some fundamental questions.

64. What have you already got,
and how’s it working for you?

65. What have you already got,
and how’s it working for you?
What are your products now,
and what new ones make sense for you?

66. What have you already got,
and how’s it working for you?
What are your products now,
and what new ones make sense for you?
What things (and versions of them)
do you need to keep track of?

67. What have you already got,
and how’s it working for you?
What are your products now,
and what new ones make sense for you?
What things (and versions of them)
do you need to keep track of?
Who does what?
At what stage(s) of the workflow?

68. Four Basic Ways Publishers
Address the Content Management Issue
1. COMMERCIAL CMS
(e.g., OpenText, Documentum, RSuite)
2. CUSTOM, BESPOKE CMS
(e.g., on top of MarkLogic, SharePoint, Oracle, etc.)
3. OPEN SOURCE CMS
(e.g.,Alfresco, Drupal, Joomla, DSpace/Fedora, etc.)
4. WIKI/BLOG PLATFORMS
(e.g., WordPress, MediaWiki, etc.)

69. The Nine Best Reasons to Develop an
XML-Based, Workflow-Focused CMS
1. EFFICIENCY
Automate things you’re doing manually.
Trigger the automated processes automatically.
Automated alerts, notifications, file transfers.
Eliminate redundant steps.
Create multiple products from one set of content.
Keep track of stuff!

70. The Nine Best Reasons to Develop an
XML-Based, Workflow-Focused CMS
2. ECONOMY
Streamlined workflows save money . . . duh!
Easier to create derivative products.
Easier to interface with partners, vendors
(lowers the “transaction overhead”).
Avoid rework, duplicated efforts.

71. The Nine Best Reasons to Develop an
XML-Based, Workflow-Focused CMS
3. PREDICTABILITY
Less queue time in the workflow.
Participants get files & assignments promptly.
Everybody knows what happens when.
It’s easier to maintain schedules.

72. The Nine Best Reasons to Develop an
XML-Based, Workflow-Focused CMS
4. ACCOUNTABILITY
Responsibilities are clearer.
The system keeps people on track.
There’s a record of everything.

73. The Nine Best Reasons to Develop an
XML-Based, Workflow-Focused CMS
5. VERSATILITY
Generate multiple products from a single source.
Systems can guide choices between options.
“Systematic” does not have to mean “rigid.”

74. The Nine Best Reasons to Develop an
XML-Based, Workflow-Focused CMS
6. AGILITY
Respond quickly to opportunities.
Incorporate new technologies,
adapt to new platforms.
Manage content granularly.
Create digital products before print.

75. The Nine Best Reasons to Develop an
XML-Based, Workflow-Focused CMS
7. QUALITY
8. QUALITY
9. QUALITY
This is really what it’s all about.
Poor quality is a waste of
time, money, and energy.
A good CMS helps you get it right,
the first time and every time.

76. Number of Content Management Systems
that are Magic

77. Number of Content Management Systems
that are Magic
They only work
if you work to make them work!
Analyze your workflow, models, products, and plans
so you know what you want the CMS to do.
Implementing a CMS helps you understand,
document, and improve how you do what you do!

78. You can buy
a Content Management System
but you can’t buy
good content management.
You have to do
good content management.

79. Archiving and Repurposing

80. Publications today are composed of
a multitude of files and formats.
Text Files
Metadata
Image Files
Video and Audio Files
Scripts
Fonts
Stylesheets
Deliverable Products

81. Publications today are composed of
a multitude of files and formats.
Text Files
Metadata
Image Files
Video and Audio Files
Scripts
Fonts
Stylesheets
Deliverable Products
Archiving
You need to
archive many of
these files.
You also need
to archive
information
about them . . .
. . . in the files, or
linked via IDs.

82. Archiving and Repurposing
are Inextricably Tied
What are you archiving for?
What do you plan to do with the files?

83. Archiving and Repurposing
are Inextricably Tied
What are you archiving for?
What do you plan to do with the files?
Update them for a new edition?
Convert them to a format an author
can use to update them?

84. Archiving and Repurposing
are Inextricably Tied
What are you archiving for?
What do you plan to do with the files?
Update them for a new edition?
Convert them to a format an author
can use to update them?
Two different things.
You may need to do both.
Depends on workflow, extent, and nature of changes.

85. Archiving and Repurposing
are Inextricably Tied
What are you archiving for?
What do you plan to do with the files?
Update them for a new edition?
Convert them to a format an author can
use to update them?
Use assets from one publication
in other publications?
Slice and dice the content to create
new products?
Also two different things.
Images, tables, even whole sections can stay intact.
You may want to publish “chapters” separately.
Or you may want to repurpose chunks of content
based on the XML markup.
Don’t lose the relevant metadata!

86. Where are the files
actually stored?
Just need to retrieve files
when you need to work on them?
Offline storage—incl. the cloud—is sufficient.
Need ongoing, immediate access?
Local file servers or
more expensive cloud storage is required.
Does the metadata need to be in the asset?
Good IDs enable separate maintenance—
essential if metadata can change.

87. Key considerations for effective
archiving and repurposing.
Good file naming syntax.
Good version management.
Robust IDs.
What things can easily be regenerated?
Which things have had modifications
that will need to be redone?
You’re not just saving the files,
you’re saving the work!

88. Thanks!
Bill Kasdorf
bkasdorf@apexcovantage.com
+1 734 904 6252
@BillKasdorf