Burgeoning volumes of web content are now leading to XML being used to assist in the process of finding material. But this adds a new burden for the busy content creator.
The delivery of CMS material has to be within rigid structural guidelines. This can lead to a web publisher needing to publish in web areas other than their own, so that people can more logically locate the information.
So content providers must take part in an on-going dialogue to decide where material should be placed.
Failure to do this means that fiefdom’s will result - with content rich resources found in the most unlikely locations and other more high profile areas suffering a content famine.
the implementation of XML
Larger organisations are realising that XML offers the potential of comprehensively cataloguing their web content to make their intranets more easily searchable.
... all content providers take part in an on-going dialogue to decide where material should be placed.
To achieve this content providers fill in complex entry screens with notes, keywords, author and date information to attach to the articles they have written. This is dubbed 'metadata'.
While the upside is that intranet users can take advantage of more precise searching facilities - the downside is that it entails a lot more work for the writers.
cerebral opposites
Creative writers have never been known to be the best administrators. It probably all comes down to the observation that filing and creative writing are cerebral ‘opposites’. The creative activity is right brain activity while the logical ordered processes are a left brain activity.
Like it or not, web writers are going to have to get used to being thorough administrators very soon!