In “Content management systems only part of solution,” Georgina Hibberd from the University of Sydney reminds us that a CMS will only help manage content:
A fully automated system that makes the entering of content easier does not make it easier to produce interesting, well-written and timely content. Someone has to take responsibility for the content, to research and write it. Only then can the CMS come into play.
In other words, your CMS may allow everybody to update your college website, but it won’t transform anybody into a “Web Editor” overnight.
The decentralized approach is definitely very good when it comes to very simple changes such as office hours, contact information, course or program short descriptions. However, I don’t think it works very well with other types of content for the following reasons:
- Writing is not an easy task
Many writers suffer from procastination – so when it’s not your main job, chances are you will get to it only after you’ve completed everything else) - Writing for the Web is even less easy
No, you cannot (well, should not) just cut and paste the content from your publications, memos, etc. Rewriting and editing are necessary to make sure your content created for paper work on screens. - Angry website users won’t come to complain
They may email or stop using the website, but there is no real punishment associated with plain bad content (at least when you’re not the main contact person for the Website)
As pointed by Georgina Hibberd in Templatedata, some “offline” strategies are necessary to make sure the CMS will have something to manage:
- Ultimate responsibility assumed by someone high-up in the organization for the production and quality of content.
- A well defined online strategy developed that addresses the needs of the organisation and the needs of the audience.
- Someone’s job has to officially include the production of quality web content.
- A passion for content has to be identified and nurtured.
In his essay titled “Why Content Management Fails,” the expert Jeffrey Veen describes the editorial process necessary to get great content on any website:
Set up a process something like this: An editor manages all content on the site. Give that editor a staff of writers to send out into your business units. These writers act like reporters in the field, working on stories that they submit to a copy desk.
The stories are then compared against editorial and corporate style guides, producing consistent, professional content. That content goes to your legal and marketing departments for approval if necessary. Only then does it go online.
Your marketing/communication office wouldn’t publish your college newsletter or university brochure without editing it, so why should it be different for the most widely-used publication of your higher education institution — your website?
