Archives for the month "September 2006"

Mangling language – can content management help?

September 26, 2006 · Posted in Content Development, Content management  

Pardon the [intended] pun, but a conversation I had with a colleague this morning about content management and localized content made me think of a blog post I read a few months ago, a veritable laugh-till-your-gut-hurts type of mangled English on a Chinese restaurant menu. It reminds me a bit of the CBC’s Definitely Not [...]

Staying ahead of the pack: rethinking core competencies for technical communicators

September 24, 2006 · Posted in Content Development  

When we read about core competencies for technical communicators, the most common skills include communication, research, project management, an intuitive ability to learn technical information and new authoring tools, and the ever-popular “people skills.” But is this still a valid baseline measure? These core competencies are so generally worded that skills used in 1996 should [...]

A Steep Price for Bad Documentation

September 24, 2006 · Posted in Content Development, Content management  

In January 2005, Transport Canada, the civil aviation authority for airlines flying under a Canadian operating certificate, took a close look at a discount airline, Jetsgo, after one of their planes veered off a Calgary runway. In February, Jetsgo entered the beginning of their end. The Transport Canada inspectors revoked Jetsgo’s operating certificate when they [...]

Types of content management

September 24, 2006 · Posted in Content management  

Any CMS worth itsr salt supports the creation, approval, storage, retrieval, versioning, re-use, and delivery of content objects. What differs is the type of content that being managed and the features that manipulate the content in specific ways for different purposes. Web Content Management, usually referred to by the generic term “content management,” is a [...]

Other types of content, other ways to manage them

September 24, 2006 · Posted in Content management  

When sorting through the various types of content management systems, an important consideration is to determine the business needs. Then, match the system to those needs; becoming familiar with the various types of CM can open up a world of possibilities. Some organizations use multiple content management systems, connecting the databases, in order to serve [...]

Going My Way? Don’t Get Taken for a Ride

September 12, 2006 · Posted in Content management  

Under the right circumstances, a ride in a content management system (CMS) is a beautiful thing. Much as buying a vehicle solves a transportation problem, buying a CMS solves a content transportation problem – the idea is to create content once and have a system that moves the content into the right places, at the [...]

Going to CANUX 2006

September 11, 2006 · Posted in Events  

I decided to register for a usability conference – this time, not to present but to learn. It’s CANUX 2006CANUX 2006 in beautiful Banff.  I’ve been to Banff a couple of times before – once I came face to face with an elk – and have attended a workshop at The Banff Centre, a beautiful [...]