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06 October 2004
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06 October 2004
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06 October 2004 
Content manangement without a system
The distributed content editors know what to add and when. It's their job to. So far I've trained 50 or so such editors. A two hour beginner course is all they need. Many only come to the training for the laugh, Manila's CMS is so easy, and they've been doing it for so long, they know it as well as me. Though they threaten intermediate courses, and some have signed up, I don't think they'd need it, learning on the job as it were, is far better. I hope one day some will migrate up to managing Manila sites with Radio and it's outliners and the wonderful tricks and fancy flourishes that could occur there... Sigh, but they don't need it.
The main content cheese, rattles cages if things aren't in the right place at the right time. He knows if he doesn't his boss will rattle his cage, roughly. I think this is the way of it in the UK civil service.
Meanwhile the IT bods, keep the thing going, and call me in now and then when a special needs doing, or something weird is happening.
Of course, I try to get everybody in the whole place set up with their own Manila blog. "Bung it in, we'll sort it some how. Let anarchy reign, freedom for thinkers," cry I. But giving freedom of thought an airing in public, even if it's behind a firewall is near impossible in such an antagonistic, hierarchical structure. I think this is how it is, in the UK civil service. Nice people, but I wouldn't want to work there.
1960 Also posted to: Home page, GOWM . At: 9:32:25 PM . .
Permalink Top Search Google Technorati
Other title(s) for this story: CMS or people
Good article about CMS verses people. Much of the battle of creating a
good, useful, up to date site, is in the people, not the system. "I know that," as George Bush would say.
This is the same issue that comes up in knowledge management. It's just too hard or too burdensome to add knowledge to the store, so people don't.
At the Government Office where I've set up a CMS using Manila, and where they've been using it now for over 4 years, the same was initially true. It was a tedious chore to add content, no matter how easy I made it. Sure they said they could understand the end benefits, but nobody steped forward to do it. Ultimately, the only solution was to make it part of some people's job description to update their section of the intranet, with one person over seeing the show and maintaining the content for everything. This has worked successfully. The intranet has grown enormously, and is the first port of call for questions. I think it was much of Manila's ease that made it a successful intranet. Some of my skills making weird and wonderful additions. But, mainly, OK, mostly the people process.
This is the same issue that comes up in knowledge management. It's just too hard or too burdensome to add knowledge to the store, so people don't.
At the Government Office where I've set up a CMS using Manila, and where they've been using it now for over 4 years, the same was initially true. It was a tedious chore to add content, no matter how easy I made it. Sure they said they could understand the end benefits, but nobody steped forward to do it. Ultimately, the only solution was to make it part of some people's job description to update their section of the intranet, with one person over seeing the show and maintaining the content for everything. This has worked successfully. The intranet has grown enormously, and is the first port of call for questions. I think it was much of Manila's ease that made it a successful intranet. Some of my skills making weird and wonderful additions. But, mainly, OK, mostly the people process.
The distributed content editors know what to add and when. It's their job to. So far I've trained 50 or so such editors. A two hour beginner course is all they need. Many only come to the training for the laugh, Manila's CMS is so easy, and they've been doing it for so long, they know it as well as me. Though they threaten intermediate courses, and some have signed up, I don't think they'd need it, learning on the job as it were, is far better. I hope one day some will migrate up to managing Manila sites with Radio and it's outliners and the wonderful tricks and fancy flourishes that could occur there... Sigh, but they don't need it.
The main content cheese, rattles cages if things aren't in the right place at the right time. He knows if he doesn't his boss will rattle his cage, roughly. I think this is the way of it in the UK civil service.
Meanwhile the IT bods, keep the thing going, and call me in now and then when a special needs doing, or something weird is happening.
Of course, I try to get everybody in the whole place set up with their own Manila blog. "Bung it in, we'll sort it some how. Let anarchy reign, freedom for thinkers," cry I. But giving freedom of thought an airing in public, even if it's behind a firewall is near impossible in such an antagonistic, hierarchical structure. I think this is how it is, in the UK civil service. Nice people, but I wouldn't want to work there.
1960 Also posted to: Home page
, GOWM . At: 9:32:25 PM . .
Permalink Top Search Google Technorati
Other title(s) for this story: CMS or people