content management: challenges and strategies

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Challenges and Strategies Bob Boiko

UW iSchoolischool.washington.eduMetatorial Services Inc.

www.metatorial.com

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Bob Boiko• Teacher

– iSchool, University of Washington– The iSchool CMS Curriculum– The iSchool CMS Evaluation Lab

• Author– CM Bible

• Consultant– Boeing, Motorola, Microsoft

• Founder– Chase Bobko– Metatorial Services

• Developer– Database and XML systems

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The Word Metadata

• Meta – About– After

• Metadata– Data about data– Other stuff apart from the data that helps

you make use of it

Achilles: Tell me, Mr. Genie — what is a meta-wish?

Genie: It's simply a wish about wishes. I am not allowed to grant meta-wishes. It's only in my purview to grant plain ordinary wishes, such as wishing for ten bottles of beer, to have Helen of Troy on a blanket, or to have an all-expense-paid weekend for two at the Copacabana. You know — simple things like that. But meta-wishes I cannot grant, GOD won't permit me to.

Douglas Hofstadter – Gödel, Escher, Bach

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Metadata: The Narrow and Wide Sense• The Narrow sense

– A fancy file system with much more than the usual title, size, and date

– The basis of file, asset, and document management• The broad view

– Not about whole files– Any information that describes or contexts– All the names we come up with to encapsulate and

divide info in order to understand and use it

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Metadata: The Practical Sense

• Represented in databases– Tables– Fields– Values

• Represented in XML– Elements– Attributes– Values

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Metadata: My Favorite SenseThe Genie is a DjinGOD stands for GOD Over DjinWhich stands for GOD Over Djin Over DjinWhich stands for GOD Over Djin Over Djin Over DjinWhich stands for GOD Over Djin Over Djin Over Djin Over DjinWhich stands for GOD Over Djin Over Djin Over Djin Over Djin Over DjinWhich stands for GOD Over Djin Over Djin Over Djin Over Djin Over Djin Over DjinWhich stands for GOD Over Djin Over Djin Over Djin Over Djin Over Djin Over Djin Over DjinWhich stands for GOD Over Djin Over Djin Over Djin Over Djin Over Djin Over Djin Over Djin Over DjinWhich stands for GOD Over Djin Over Djin Over Djin Over Djin Over Djin Over Djin Over Djin Over Djin Over DjinWhich stands for GOD Over Djin Over Djin Over Djin Over Djin Over Djin Over Djin Over Djin Over Djin Over Djin Over DjinWhich stands for GOD Over Djin Over Djin Over Djin Over Djin Over Djin Over Djin Over Djin Over Djin Over Djin Over Djin Over DjinWhich stands for GOD Over Djin Over Djin Over Djin Over Djin Over Djin Over Djin Over Djin Over Djin Over Djin Over Djin Over Djin Over Djin

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What is Metadata For?

• Identify• Manage• Describe

• You want to track and administer• They want to discover and use

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The Metadata Ladder

The File

• No solid identification– A name– No unique Id!

• Minimal management– Create, modify date– Size– Attributes (read only,

etc.)

• No descriptionWhat computers have been built on

A Convenient container

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The Metadata Ladder

A File

• Resources identified– Id, Title

• Resources managed– Type, Format– Source, Author, Rights– Language

• Resources described – Audience– Subject– Description– Coverage

What is it?

The file System you wish you had

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Enter Dublin Core

• Standard wrapper for a “resource”• Rich description• Most widely recognized• Hardly yet used!• Still shifting• General enough to be useful and useless

www.dublincore.org

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The Metadata Ladder

A File

• Items identified– By their URL (URI)

• Items managed– By their resource

metadata– By their relations

• All items described– By their resource

metadata– By their relations

What is it?

What is it?

The Intranet you wish you had

An expanding network of connections and “meaning”

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Enter RDF

• Standard way of representing a relationship• Inherently recursive• Hints at meaning• Subject - predicate – object

Liz LinSister of

Kids of

Claire

Descendents of

Vivian

http://www.xml.com/lpt/a/2001/01/24/rdf.html

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The Metadata Ladder

A File• Chunks identified– Id, Title

• Managed– Status, Owner– Version

• Described– Abstract, Summary– Subject

What is it?

What is it?

What’s in it?

The style sheet you wish you had.A set of useful or reusable chunks

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Enter Schemas

• Tight definition of the parts of a document• Each part named• Metadata types and values clearly set

and enforced

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The Metadata Ladder

A File

• Elements identified– Id, Title

• Managed– Status, Owner– Version

• Described (as needed)

What is it?

What is it?

What’s in it?

The editor you wish you had

Making a chunk into a standard set of elements

What’s in it?

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Enter XML Instances

• Enforcement of schemas

• WYSIWYG authoring

• In-situ metadata typing and lists

• Not well loved

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The Metadata Ladder

A File

What is it?

What is it?

What is it?

What is it’sall the way down!

What is it?

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So, What is Metadata?

The way you tag a resource so you can keep track of and manage it and so others can find and use it!

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More Information

• iSchool.washington.edu– CMS Lab– Connection Program

• www.metatorial.com– White papers, Presentations– CM Poster– CMS Planner– Concept of the week

• Content Management Bible– Amazon.com– Everything I know (almost)– Online at metatorial.com