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linked page.
 Gerry
McGovern
(June 19, 2001) We're big Gerry McGovern fans. Gerry's company,
NUA, Ltd. is an Irish firm focused, as we are, on furthering the state of
thinking about the web. Each week, Gerry delivers a provocative "think
piece" to his mailing list. In a world where so much crap is delivered
routinely, Gerry's New Thinking is a delightful refreshment.
Here's this week's missive.
CONTENT IS NOT A TECHNOLOGY
ISSUE
Last week, I was at a content management conference, where I
heard two very opposing views of content. One was a technology view; a
belief that, with the right software, most content problems could be
solved in a cheap and efficient manner. The second was a people view; a
belief that content was, at heart, about people writing, editing and
publishing, with technology playing very much a supporting role.
Technologists are true believers. They have this fervent faith in
the power of software to transform. Their hardware tools are their prize
possessions. One presenter became really excited when he told us of this
'neat' piece of software that could summarize documents. It was cheap,
it was efficient, it was amazing. His eyes literally lit up and a bounce
came to his step, as he waved his arms and enthused about its potential.
As he went on about this great new invention I began to wonder
about what sort of summaries it wrote. Even for skilled writers,
summaries are difficult. I simply can't imagine that a piece of software
will go through a 30-page document and write a 100-word summary that
properly describes that document.
However, the thing that really struck me about this and other
presenters was that they had no feel for content. Their whole worlds
revolved around technology. It seemed that for these presenters the fact
that they were getting their content over a mobile phone was more
important than the actual content they were getting.
The wrong people are in charge of too many content projects.
Content is not a technology problem. Content is about people. People who
understand content are enthused by the content itself, not the
technology that is used to deliver that content.
When I heard a former editor get up and talk about an intranet
content management project he was managing, it all became very clear to
me. This person cared about the quality of the writing. Another woman
presenter fretted about whether her summaries were too long; about
whether more people would read them if they were shorter.
People who are professional about content take great care to
publish content of the highest possible quality. They may have spent
weeks writing a 30-page report. Letting a piece of software write the
summary is anathema to such professionals. The heading and summary is
what draws the reader in. It's even more important online because search
results will only present a heading and summary.
When I talked to the technologist about the importance of the
heading and summary, he shrugged. He recognized the argument but I could
see that he had no intention of not using this auto-summary software.
I would plead with all organizations which are running content-
rich websites (and all quality websites should be content-rich), to have
them managed by people who put the content first and the technology
second. We all know what happens when the technologists (with a little
help from marketers) think they understand content; it's called WAP.
SUBSCRIBING TO NEW THINKING
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- John Sumser
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