Note: This article appeared in Intranet Professional prior to its re-launch as Intranets (in 2004).
Elizabeth Kellison has been involved in online content management for the past 6 years, first with Los Angeles-based University Access, where she helped create online undergraduate and graduate business courses and also launched a Web-based journal, @cademyonline. Most recently she worked with Isoph, a company specializing in online collaboration and learning opportunities for the nonprofit sector. Kellison can be reached at
kellisoe@oclc.org
IP: What unique role does a content manager play in ensuring the end user has a positive experience on the intranet?
EK: I am the content manager for a Web portal called WebJunction (WJ) that is designed to support learning and sharing of knowledge by public access computing professionals, primarily in the library community. Libraries come in a lot of different flavors: large, small, urban, and rural, with varying budget sizes for both computers and support staff, serving a variety of different communities in both low-income and affluent areas.
While the primary audience is library staff at smaller rural libraries, the end users are as varied as the libraries themselves: Some users are advanced support professionals at large urban libraries, while many are just starting to learn how to use computers and search for information on the Internet. Many of the users are responsible for figuring out how to support library patrons. All this makes the content manager job challenging, as it requires providing useful information that cuts across all types of users and their knowledge bases and varying topical interests. Content managers must put themselves in the shoes of the users and advocate for their specific information needs.
The content manager role is unique in that it takes what the team creates—a holding place database for content, the technology to call up and display that content in a user-friendly way, and useful tools to manipulate the information—and fills it with pieces that will be of the most use to users.
Another position on the team plays a critical role in ensuring a successful end-user experience: the community builder. This position is in charge of growing and sustaining the online community of regular users who participate in WebJunction's message boards and feedback systems. The community builder finds and supports moderators for the different message boards and plans the events that take place online. To ensure end users have a positive experience at WebJunction, the community builder and I plan to set up a system by which content and information can be contributed and shared, and all members of the online community can help each other to meet the community's information needs. This way, the knowledge base of information at WebJunction grows exponentially by the number of users who contribute to it, and more people can find answers more quickly to their questions.
IP: How do content managers know when they have successfully accomplished their function? What methodologies may be used to determine success?
EK: If I do my job well in creating the systems by which users can contribute content and then can rate what they are using at WJ, the best information for specific areas of public access computing will bubble to the top and help make everyone's job easier.
Success is measured by user feedback indicating they found the information they are looking for in a timely and easy fashion and that they do not have to wade through reams of useless stuff to get to the nugget they need. It means responding quickly to the suggestions of users on content issues, creating a successful user-contributed content system, one which entices more users to log on and register and use WebJunction.
Through ongoing user evaluation of content and services, the content manager will be told exactly how WJ is doing. An online survey will be sent to registered users who have opted into this feature, and very detailed questions will ask how well their needs are being met.
IP: What are the must-have skills and competencies for this role?
EK: The first must-have skill is the ability to operate in a complex environment; content managers have to keep a wide variety of needs in mind as they design their editorial systems. The needs of end users are primary; next in priority would come the needs of the information itself and how that maps to what users want; and lastly, the needs of editors and those working on the content and its presentation on the intranet or Internet is critical.
Knowledge of the technology behind the architecture, although helpful, is not critical, as the information architect should be able to work closely with the content manager to solve the issues of storage and presentation.
Editorial and "metatorial" skills are needed. Information needs to be organized in ways that allow users to create meaning for themselves in the various ways they will access it. Content needs to go through an editing process to make it appropriate for the audience. Skills at running an editing process (albeit with an online twist) and the ability to work with multiple writers and copy editors are important. The content manager is essentially the managing editor of a daily magazine, one whose articles can be changed at the strike of a key. The immediacy of the environment presents certain demands of its own, and for the skill to do well in that environment, see skill number one above!
IP: Which associations, standards bodies, professional literature, communities of practice and continuing education programs do you recommend for anyone interested in the subject of content management?
EK: Leverage experts, whether in print or in person. I previously worked in online learning and launched an online magazine. For the needs of this Web project, which content-wise is bigger and more complex than anything I had previously worked on, I bought The Content Management Bible, a 900-page tome, and began to read it. Then, I convinced our project to hire the author, Bob Boiko, to consult with us on how to set up a content management system that would work well for us and for our end users. Bob's intensive sessions (Content Management Boot Camp) taught me more in a shorter period of time than I would have learned anywhere else.
There is a site to accompany Bob's book and on which content managers can pick up lots of tips related to the principles of content management [http://www.metatorial.com]. Another site that some might find of interest is http://www.cmswatch.com. cmswatch.com. To learn more when I have a little more breathing room, I am thinking of entering into one of the new certificate programs at the University of Washington's School of Information Science [http://www.ischool.wash ington.edu/].
IP: If you could transfer key learnings from your own experience to someone just starting out, what would be the top three?
EK: Know thy content. Know thy metadata. The most important thing for a content manager to do is to have an overview of what the existing content is for a site and what metadata sets to use to catalog it. I have been amazed at what opportunities are created by knowing your content and the technological possibilities for expression of that content for users. You can create some really cool things for the end users if you pay attention to the content and to the users and what they need and want.
Listen to and know thy users. Content managers should spend a big percentage of their time listening to what the users want and need, both as systems are designed and then once they are operational. Set user expectations clearly. If the content manager cannot meet a specific need that has been expressed by users, explain why in a clear manner to show them you are considering their input.
Plan, plan, plan. And know the needs of the editorial team.
What sorts of tools does your team need to publish effectively on the Web? What is your timeline for development of your CMS? What sorts of tools can you design to help them do their jobs in the best, most efficient manner? Make sure you know the editorial team needs well and that you plan far enough in advance with the technology team to make sure those needs can be met.
Lastly, I would say that it's critical to have a good sense of humor about what you do as content manager. Being a content manager sometimes feels like playing referee between competing interests: users, information architect, project budget, overall goals of project and "what the boss wants." Even if you are the managing editor and have a stake in the ways in which content gets presented and how it goes up, try not to take yourself so seriously that you cannot help your colleagues on the team.