tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-66676721026124038352023-07-19T10:04:13.609+01:00daleGmoorelanguage, communication, organisationdaleGmoorehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09130456005613414841noreply@blogger.comBlogger12125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6667672102612403835.post-84864524115117953612013-08-04T23:04:00.001+01:002013-08-07T22:22:31.092+01:00Taxonomy primer (very quick and dirty!)<div style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 16px;"> <span style="font-size: large;">Taxonomies</span><br /> Taxonomies are tools which conect people to content. They can take many forms and appear in a number of places. They can be visible (e.g. as a navigation aid on a website) or invisible (e.g. as a list of search engine synonyms to help people looking for information). <br /> <div style="font-size: 16px;"> <br /> Taxonomies have 3 major functions:</div> <ol style="font-size: 16px;"> <li>They provide a <em>visual map</em> of a knowledge domain. (a knowledge map)</li> <li>They group <em>related things</em> together. (a classification scheme)</li> <li>They enable the creation of a <em>controlled vocabulary</em>. (a semantic representation)</li> </ol> <div style="font-size: 16px;"> Knowledge domains are usually represented visually as lists, trees, hierarchies, facets or maps and controlled vocabularies are expressed in dictionaries, thesauri or ontologies.<br /> <br /> All taxonomies are comprised of <em>terms</em> (words or phrases) which represent <em>concepts</em>. See <a href="http://www.smartdraw.com/smartshare/Public/180320020204ccb297b8">taxonomy-structure diagram</a> for a visual representation of this.</div> <div style="font-size: 16px;"> <br /></div> <span style="font-size: large;">Metadata&nbsp;</span><br /> <div style="font-size: 16px;"> Alongside taxonomies are metadata schemes which describe files (e.g. author, creation date, title, keyword, category etc.) making them easier to store and locate. <br /> <br /></div> <div style="font-size: 16px;"> Taxonomies and metadata are the unsung heroes of navigation and findability. They, along with governance policies, are often left out of content management discussions and plans, but when properly implemented can make the difference between success and failure. </div> <div style="font-size: 16px;"> <br /></div> <span style="font-size: large;">Preparing the ground&nbsp;</span><br /> <div style="font-size: 16px;"> There are several stages involved in taxonomy and metadata development when preparing for a content management system, but a good place to begin is to clean up your existing file store.<br /> <br /> The list below provides a practical starting point for tidying up your existing files and will help you when moving through subseqent stages. </div> <ul style="font-size: 16px;"> <li>Identify existing folder owners and enlist their help sorting through the contents.</li> <li>Go through all sub folders and move unused files into an archive.</li> <li>Rename all remaining files, if necessary, to make them more meaningful.</li> <li>Adopt a consistent file naming convention e.g. file-name (lowercase, word separated by hyphen or underscore).</li> <li>Rename all top level folders with meaningful names which represents their contents.</li> </ul> <div style="font-size: 16px;"> This is your new basic structure. This simple exercise should significantly tidy up your existing file store and prepare you for the next stages in developing your new content system. </div> </div> daleGmoorehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09130456005613414841noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6667672102612403835.post-34018205914683854062013-06-21T00:19:00.001+01:002013-06-21T12:05:31.836+01:00Do you understand what I’m saying?<div style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 16px;"> Something from the heady world of EFL (English as a Foreign Language) this time. <br /> <br /> As an occasional teacher in our English Language School (<a href="http://www.meridianenglish.co.uk/">Meridian School of English</a>), we often discuss the flexibility of the English Language and how is possible, and very easy, to say the same thing but in a different way. We do this mainly to emphasise certain elements of what we want to say to bring attention to something specific. As native speakers, we do it without even thinking about it. But for students whose native language isn't English, it can be very tricky to understand and grasp the subtleties of how this works.<br /> <br /> So here's a quick and dirty example of saying the same thing in 3 different ways (there are many other ways of course) to bring together a past event with a present experience.<br /> <br /> In English, there are many ways of saying the same thing but with a slightly different emphasis. Take for example the clause:<br /> <br /> Did he understand what you wanted?<br /> <br /> There are two quick observations we can make:<br /> <ol> <li>It's a question.</li> <li>It's in the past tense.</li> </ol> The question is simple. You want to know whether someone understood something you asked them to do at some point in the past. So you choose the past simple forms of the verbs 'do' and 'want' ('did' and 'wanted'). The focus is on the past.<br /> <br /> But, suppose you want to change the emphasis to focus on the present? You could either mix the tenses or use an 'aspect'. You could say:<br /> <br /> Did he understand what you want?<br /> <br /> This links the past with the present by combining the past tense of 'do' (did) with the present tense 'want'. What's the focus of the clause now? <br /> <br /> You're linking a past action with a present condition. You asked someone to do something but you're still waiting for it to happen. So the focus is now on the present. This is quite subtle but effective and is one of the finer points of English.<br /> <br /> There's one more thing you could do. You could change some of the words in the second part of the clause and turn one of the tenses into an aspect, like this:<br /> <br /> Did he understand what you were asking for?<br /> <br /> Now we've changed the second verb 'want' (wanted) into 'were asking'. This is usually presented grammatically as the past continuous (or the past progressive). <br /> <br /> Again, it links the past and the present together by combining, this time, the past <u>tense</u> with the past continuous <u>aspect</u>. <br /> <br /> It's important to note that the meaning hasn't changed but the focus or emphasis has.<br /> <br /> This is one of the subtleties of English and is typical of what we teach our more advanced students.<br /> <br /> So, to recap. Our 3 clauses are:<br /> <ol> <li>Did he understand what you wanted?</li> <li>Did he understand what you want?</li> <li>Did he understand what you were asking for?</li> </ol> All are different ways of saying the same thing but with a slightly different emphasis. <br /> <br /> So, I hope you agree; English is a pretty cool language, and very flexible.</div> daleGmoorehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09130456005613414841noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6667672102612403835.post-73698715930503404802013-06-07T11:30:00.001+01:002013-06-10T14:49:47.965+01:00Where does the time go?<div style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 16px;"> I never seem to get the time to blog anymore. It's pathetic really. I have every good intention of doing so and then 10 billion other things seem to get in the way.<br /> <br /> It's not lack of inspiration; it's lack of time. But is it&nbsp;that we really are too busy these days or is it that we fail to manage our time properly? It's probably a bit of both. So what can we do?<br /> <br /> Well, for one, we could cut down on the number of tasks we undertake each day, It shouldn't be too difficult to say "No". We just need to get into the habit of doing so. Not everything's vitally important; it can't be. So we need to make some judgements about what to cut out. Try it. It's fun!<br /> <br /> The other might be some good old Time Management training. I don't mean spending your hard earned cash on some dodgy corporate sounding course. I'm thinking of the many excellent sources of information widely available on the web. <br /> <br /> For instance, there's a very good resource at <a href="http://www.mindtools.com/index.html">Mind Tools</a>&nbsp;which I use regularly. There's a ton of really useful resources on the site and most of it's free. I use it for revisiting half remembered management and self-development concepts and for boning up on issues I'm less familiar with. <br /> <br /> Try the section on <a href="http://www.mindtools.com/pages/main/newMN_HTE.htm">Time Management</a>. It's very good; sensible and practical, and mercifully free of management waffle.<br /> <br /> There's also an <a href="http://www.mindtools.com/Apps/">app for your smartphone</a>, (of course there is) which contains the complete Toolkit of topics like:<br /> <br /> <ul> <li>Team Management</li> <li>Leadership</li> <li>Strategy Tools</li> <li>Problem Solving</li> <li>Decision Making</li> <li>Project Management</li> <li>Time Management</li> <li>Stress Management</li> <li>Communications Skills</li> <li>Practical Creativity</li> <li>Information Skills</li> <li>Career Skills</li> </ul> <br /> Something for everyone? These are great for dipping into and reading 'on the move'.<br /> <br /> If you really like this stuff you can purchase a subscription, for even more in-depth content or just purchase the pdf MindTools eBooks.&nbsp; But you don't have to buy anything if you don't want to. <br /> <br /> Be careful though. <br /> <br /> There so much here that you could end up spending a lot of time reading the material and not doing those other things. Then you'll be right back where you started.<br /> <br /> Time Management anyone? Dooh! </div> daleGmoorehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09130456005613414841noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6667672102612403835.post-30031584885104637802013-04-01T17:12:00.004+01:002013-04-02T00:05:10.210+01:00Coffee<div style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 16px;"> Not related to information management, copywriting or teaching, but as it’s Easter Monday and I’m not working, I thought I’d spread the word about a great new coffee I’ve discovered right here in Plymouth.&nbsp;</div> <div style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 16px; min-height: 19px;"> <br /></div> <div style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 16px;"> Owens are blenders and roasters based in Modbury (a pretty little Devon town). See the website at <a href="http://www.owenscoffee.com/">www.owenscoffee.com</a>&nbsp;</div> <div style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 16px; min-height: 19px;"> <br /></div> <div style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 16px;"> The coffee is available to buy direct via the website or, available from a number of stockists throughout the Devon area. They’re available pre-ground or as whole beans in 1k and 227g bags. I like to buy the whole beans and grind them myself for my Gaggia espresso machine.&nbsp;</div> <div style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 16px; min-height: 19px;"> <br /></div> <div style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 16px;"> The 227g bag is a good size for home as it ensures that, once opened, you should get through it before the beans begin to lose their freshness. Contrary to popular belief, coffee beans don’t last much longer than a couple of weeks before they begin to taste old.</div> <div style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 16px; min-height: 19px;"> <br /></div> <div style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 16px;"> The coffees currently available are small in range, it’s quality not quantity remember, and available in espresso and filter varieties including decaf. I'm slowly and lovingly working my way through all of them. The range so far is:<br /> <br /></div> <ul> <li style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 16px;"><a href="http://www.owenscoffee.com/shop/espresso/">Espresso</a> - A special dark roast blend of Central American, African and Indonesian beans. Rich and chocolaty with a smooth nutty taste and hints of biscuit and caramel.</li> <li><a href="http://www.owenscoffee.com/shop/cuppa-diem/" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 16px;">Cuppa Diem</a><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 16px;"> - A medium roast blend of Central American beans. Smooth and refreshingly balanced, a pleasing taste to suit most palates.</span></li> <li><a href="http://www.owenscoffee.com/shop/cafe-negro/" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 16px;">Cafe Negro</a><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 16px;"> - A darker roast blend of Central American and African beans. Creamy and mellow with fruity acidity and a hint of honey.</span></li> <li><a href="http://www.owenscoffee.com/shop/cafe-femenino/" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 16px;">Cafe Feminio</a><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 16px;"> - Smooth rich, full body with semi sweet chocolate under tones and caramel notes. Owens Coffee supports the Cafe Femenino Project, a social program for women coffee producers in rural communities around the world. This one’s a Taste of the West Silver Medal winner.</span></li> </ul> <div> <span style="font-family: Georgia;"><br /></span></div> <div style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 16px;"> I was previously buying the house blend whole beans from Cafe Nero but would much rather support a local business, especially when the quality’s this good.</div> <div style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 16px; min-height: 19px;"> <br /></div> <div style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 16px;"> If you like quality coffee at a good price, check them out.</div> daleGmoorehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09130456005613414841noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6667672102612403835.post-83783714217731322452013-03-28T20:06:00.002+00:002013-03-28T21:57:24.907+00:00SharePoint 2013<div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 16px;"> As an information manager, I'm getting a little excited about SharePoint 2013. First impressions are that it's a big improvement on previous incarnations. It isn't the new and much trumpeted social features that appeal to me, or the new look and feel, it's the way that it's been redesigned to make the whole process of managing enterprise, and specifically team site, content more intuitive and user friendly.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 16px;"> <br /> The new Windows 8 style metro tiles interface is very visually appealing and the re-classification of lists and libraries as 'apps' is a smart move as is the ability to change various settings on the page. One of the biggest headaches for a lot of site owners was the way user permissions worked. This too has been simplified. There is, in fact, a whole raft of changes that will greatly simplify the entire experience of users, and particularly, power users. Ah yes, power users, those people who sit somewhere between administrators and general users. There doesn't seem to be much material around to cater for them. So where might one turn for insight, help and general awareness of those advanced features?</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 16px;"> <br /> While there's a huge amount of SharePoint material available all over the web, most of it's geared toward Server Administrators - largely an IT function. What about SharePoint Administrators, those with overall responsibility for managing site collections and those aforementioned Power Users? where might they turn for information and guidance?</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 16px;"> <br /> Two of the best sources I know are:</div> <ol> <li style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px;">the <a href="http://www.aiim.org/community/sharepoint"><span style="color: #042eee;">AIIM SharePoint Community blog</span></a>, where various contributors share their insights, experience and opinions.&nbsp;</li> <li style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #042eee;"><a href="http://sharepoint-videos.com/">SharePoint Videos</a></span>&nbsp;a subscription based site which uses videos to explain all the different flavours of SharePoint.</li> </ol> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 16px;"> I use both of these on a regular basis and find them invaluable. The chief source is of course the <a href="http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/Sharepoint"><span style="color: #042eee;">Microsoft site</span></a>, but as mentioned earlier, it's geared toward IT pros. However, there are several places on this site where you can get an excellent overview and feel for the entire product along with some very useful visual representations of different architectures.</div> <div style="color: #042eee; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 16px;"> <span style="color: #444444;"><br /> See <a href="http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sharepoint/fp142366"><span style="color: #042eee;">Getting Started</span></a>,&nbsp;<a href="http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sharepoint/fp142374.aspx"><span style="color: #042eee;">Capabilities and Features</span></a> and <a href="http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sharepoint/fp123594"><span style="color: #042eee;">Architectural Design Topologies</span></a>.</span></div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 16px;"> <br /> Pretty cool huh?</div> daleGmoorehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09130456005613414841noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6667672102612403835.post-81130971089205495672013-01-07T16:31:00.000+00:002013-03-28T16:34:52.667+00:00Taxonomy and metadata course<br /> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> I've just completed the&nbsp;<a data-mce-href="http://www.aiim.org/Training/Certificate-Courses/Taxonomy-Metadata/Overview" href="http://www.aiim.org/Training/Certificate-Courses/Taxonomy-Metadata/Overview" style="color: #743399; line-height: 1.5;" title="Taxonomy and Metadata online training course">Taxonomy and Metadata online course</a>&nbsp;run by AIIM.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> It's a very well rounded course, comprehensive and thorough. Currently only available at Practitioner level. Perhaps a Specialist level is forthcoming. It covers everything you need to know to set up a taxonomy and metadata project: how to build a business case, who to involve and how to plan it all out from beginning to end.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> It also introduces the subject in a nice visual, easy to understand way and presents the 3 fundamental concepts of visualisation, relatedness and vocabulary control. It didn't however, walk you through the actual construction of a taxonomy, which was a little surprising and the sections on concept/term identification and facets could have been a little more inclusive. That said though, it's a very good course and well worth doing if this is a new area for you.</div> daleGmoorehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09130456005613414841noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6667672102612403835.post-66057039134729632682012-07-18T16:48:00.000+01:002013-03-28T16:49:57.603+00:00AIIM Roadshow 2012<br /> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> Well, it hardly seems like a year since I attended the last&nbsp;<a data-mce-href="http://www.revolutionevents.plus.com/AiiM-Roadshow/index.html" href="http://www.revolutionevents.plus.com/AiiM-Roadshow/index.html" style="color: #743399; line-height: 1.5;" title="AIIM Roadshow">AIIM Roadshow</a>&nbsp;but time waits for no one and suddenly I found myself at the latest event on June 21st in London. This year saw a different venue and a free lunch. I can't wait for next year!</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> These Roadshows are great ways for information professionals, product vendors and the AIIM membership community to get together to explore the latest trends and developments, share information and ideas, listen to some great talks and generally have a good time. As usual, there was a full programme so I had to be quick off the mark to get to the next talk if I didn't want to miss anything.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> One if the highlights this time was a visit from AIIM President John Mancini who spoke about Information opportunities in the social, local and mobile era which was based upon his eBook,&nbsp;<a data-mce-href="http://pages2.aiim.org/occupy_it_when_ready.html" href="http://pages2.aiim.org/occupy_it_when_ready.html" style="color: #743399; line-height: 1.5;" title="OccupyIT: a technology manifesto">OccupyIT: A technology manifesto for the cloud, mobile and social era</a>. This is a very informative and thought provoking read and provides a real insight into the future, as we move from the management of records to the management of transactions. It's written in John's inimitable style and backed up by plenty of references to the latest research.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> By far the most talked about content management system at the event was MS SharePoint, which was timely as my own organisation makes the transition to this platform. I hope to blog regularly on this topic sharing my successes and, no doubt, frustrations as the project takes shape. One of the advantages of this platform is the sheer number of deployments in many configurations in many organisations, so finding answers to those thorny questions shouldn't be too difficult. Who knows, I may even have a few answers myself.&nbsp;Watch this space!</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> <strong style="color: black; line-height: 1.5;">Note</strong>:</div> <ul style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; list-style: square; margin: 0px 0px 24px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"> <li style="line-height: 1.5;">For more information about AIIM (the global community of information professionals) see&nbsp;<a data-mce-href="http://www.aiim.org" href="http://www.aiim.org/" style="color: #743399; line-height: 1.5;">www.aiim.org</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a data-mce-href="http://www.aiim.org.uk" href="http://www.aiim.org.uk/" style="color: #743399; line-height: 1.5;">www.aiim.org.uk</a></li> <li style="line-height: 1.5;">A slightly different version of this article is posted on the&nbsp;<a data-mce-href="http://web.freepint.com/go/features/69082" href="http://web.freepint.com/go/features/69082" style="color: #743399; line-height: 1.5;" title="freepint article">freepint website</a>.</li> </ul> daleGmoorehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09130456005613414841noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6667672102612403835.post-89921920359242797372011-09-08T16:52:00.000+01:002013-03-28T21:26:44.306+00:00Favourite books<div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> I’m often asked if I have a “can’t live without these books” list for for my professional interests. Well, yes, I do have such a list and, no, I wouldn’t have been able to do some of the work I’ve done - at least not as well - without them. I certainly would’ve struggled had I not had them. Some of them I’ve had for a while and read through several editions. Others are relatively new kids on the block but I highly rate all of them. They’re all good value for money though one is stupidly expensive (I’m not going to say which one!). So, what are they?</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> My top Information Management titles, in no particular order, are:</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> <a data-mce-href="http://shop.oreilly.com/product/9780596527341.do?sortby=publicationDate" href="http://shop.oreilly.com/product/9780596527341.do?sortby=publicationDate" style="color: #743399; line-height: 1.5;">Information Architecture for the world wide web</a>&nbsp;(the ‘polar bear’ book)<br /> (Peter Morville and Louis Rosenfeld)<br /> This is probably the best book yet on the subject of creating information spaces. Although the main thrust of the book&nbsp; is creating user friendly websites, the principles apply to any information space. Written from the perspective of librarianship, it covers all the essential elements of information management and them some.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> <a data-mce-href="http://www.gowerpub.com/default.aspx?page=641&amp;calcTitle=1&amp;isbn=0566085798&amp;sPassString=Y&amp;sKeyword1=orna&amp;sKeyword2=&amp;sBooleanSearch=AND&amp;sSearchFrom=Author&amp;sSubjectCode=999&amp;sNewTitle=999" href="http://www.gowerpub.com/default.aspx?page=641&amp;calcTitle=1&amp;isbn=0566085798&amp;sPassString=Y&amp;sKeyword1=orna&amp;sKeyword2=&amp;sBooleanSearch=AND&amp;sSearchFrom=Author&amp;sSubjectCode=999&amp;sNewTitle=999" style="color: #743399; line-height: 1.5;">Information Strategy in Practice</a>&nbsp;(Elizabeth Orna)<br /> All organisations produce and consume information on a daily basis but is it understood what elements of that information are critical to the success of the business? This book explains what an information strategy is, why organisations need one and how to produce and develop a strategy that is relevant and appropriate to any business. The whole area of strategy and policy is a hard one to grasp, let alone implement but this book shows the way in a thankfully jargon free style.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> <a data-mce-href="http://www.managingenterprisecontent.com/" href="http://www.managingenterprisecontent.com/" style="color: #743399; line-height: 1.5;">Managing Enterprise Content: A Unified Content Strategy</a>&nbsp;(Ann Rockley)<br /> This book examines the role of content within organisations, how to redeploy that content to avoid duplication of effort and how to create a unified content strategy. The book’s not just about strategy though as there are tons of practical advice and examples of how to take control of your organisation’s content. The appendices are a vital compliment to the book and contain a wealth of practical and useful guidance.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> <a data-mce-href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Content-Management-Handbook-Become-Expert/dp/1856045331" href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Content-Management-Handbook-Become-Expert/dp/1856045331" style="color: #743399; line-height: 1.5;">The Content Management Handbook</a>&nbsp;(Martin White)<br /> This book sets out in clear and simple terms how to introduce a content management solution into you organisation, what stages are involved and why it’s important to have a clear and detailed plan.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> <a data-mce-href="http://www.metatorial.com/pagea.asp?id=cmbible" href="http://www.metatorial.com/pagea.asp?id=cmbible" style="color: #743399; line-height: 1.5;">The Content Management Bible</a>&nbsp;(Bob Boiko)<br /> This is probably the mother of all content management books and contains everything you could possibly wish to know about the subject. It’s certainly not bedtime reading and some have commented that it contains too much information to be really useful. I disagree. Yes, it’s a big book and yes, some elements could have been covered more than adequately&nbsp; in less words, but for sheer enthusiasm of subject and breadth of coverage, it’s worth it.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> <a data-mce-href="http://www.hedden-information.com/accidental-taxonomist.htm" href="http://www.hedden-information.com/accidental-taxonomist.htm" style="color: #743399; line-height: 1.5;">The Accidental Taxonomist</a>&nbsp;(Heather Hedden)<br /> This is a very interesting book. Most people who work in information have been (or will be) charged with creating some sort of navigable or findable solution to a content problem. A proper response will inevitably involve some sort of categorisation of topics or terms, but where do you begin if you haven’t previously been involved with traditional ‘cat and class’ or, you know you should create some sort of controlled vocabulary but don’t know where to begin. This is the book that will unlock the mysteries of that arcane practice that was once the preserve of Linnaean A types. One of a kind.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> <a data-mce-href="http://www.socialmediapower.com/social-media-book/" href="http://www.socialmediapower.com/social-media-book/" style="color: #743399; line-height: 1.5;">The Social Media Survival Guide</a>&nbsp;(Deltina Hay)<br /> There are a number of topics available covering social media in its various guises but none of them are as relevant, thorough or user friendly as this.&nbsp;<a data-mce-href="http://dalegmoore.co.uk/archives/45" href="http://dalegmoore.co.uk/archives/45" style="color: #743399; line-height: 1.5;" title="The social media survival guide (book review)">I reviewed this book</a>&nbsp;a while back and am happy to say that it’s still the best of its kind. Covers every important issue in social media and provides a very decent set of forms and templates to get your social media profile and presence up and running.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> <strong style="color: black; line-height: 1.5;">I’ve also found these really useful:</strong></div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> <a data-mce-href="http://my.safaribooksonline.com/book/web-design-and-development/9780321550149" href="http://my.safaribooksonline.com/book/web-design-and-development/9780321550149" style="color: #743399; line-height: 1.5;">Tagging; people powered metadata for the social web</a>&nbsp;(Gene Smith)<br /> A great discussion of social media tagging and the relevance of folksonomies and group participation. People powered metadata is as relevant and useful as experienced practitioner produced and automated metadata. Covers the topic from a user and an implementer perspective.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> <a data-mce-href="http://my.safaribooksonline.com/book/web-development/9780321591999" href="http://my.safaribooksonline.com/book/web-development/9780321591999" style="color: #743399; line-height: 1.5;">Information Architecture: blueprints for the web</a>&nbsp;(Christina Wodtke)<br /> Contains some very honest and practical examples of how to design information spaces that are useful, engaging and inviting. If it’s well designed, people will use it. A compelling argument.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> <a data-mce-href="http://www.sensible.com/chapter.html" href="http://www.sensible.com/chapter.html" style="color: #743399; line-height: 1.5;">Don’t make me think: a common sense approach to web usability</a>&nbsp;(Steve Krug)<br /> Like ‘blueprints’ above, this title contains a wealth of wisdom and advice for creating useable information spaces which are intuitive and appealing to users. The fact that it does so in a semi comic book way, reinforces the overall message and questions why anyone would deliberately create anything that made people think.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> and these are the organisations whose publications I find invaluable:</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> <a data-mce-href="http://www.aiim.org/" href="http://www.aiim.org/" style="color: #743399; line-height: 1.5;">AIIM</a>The content management organisation par excellence. If you want to know anything about the ‘content profession’ this is the place. White papers, toolkits, guides, events and training are all provided.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> <a data-mce-href="http://www.freepint.com/" href="http://www.freepint.com/" style="color: #743399; line-height: 1.5;">The freepint group</a>A great collection of eContent for info pros everywhere.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> for copywriting, where’s there’s a real dearth of UK titles, but I really like:</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> <a data-mce-href="http://www.write-sell.com/" href="http://www.write-sell.com/" style="color: #743399; line-height: 1.5;">Write to Sell</a><a data-mce-href="http://www.writecopymakemoney.com/" href="http://www.writecopymakemoney.com/" style="color: #743399; line-height: 1.5;">The Copywriting Sourcebook</a><a data-mce-href="http://www.100greatcopywritingideas.com/" href="http://www.100greatcopywritingideas.com/" style="color: #743399; line-height: 1.5;">100 Great Copywriting Ideas</a></div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> all by Andy Maslen. I’m also a frequent visitor to the&nbsp;<a data-mce-href="http://www.sunfish.co.uk/free-copywriting-articles.htm" href="http://www.sunfish.co.uk/free-copywriting-articles.htm" style="color: #743399; line-height: 1.5;">Sunfish Copywriting Library</a>. There are other good resources but I find these particularly useful. I also appreciate the style and delivery.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> What books (or resources) can’t you live without?</div> daleGmoorehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09130456005613414841noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6667672102612403835.post-10138518471734536472011-06-23T17:09:00.000+01:002013-03-28T17:10:34.859+00:00The race is over!<br /> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> Having attended the&nbsp;<a data-mce-href="http://www.revolutionevents.plus.com/AiiM-Roadshow/location.html" href="http://www.revolutionevents.plus.com/AiiM-Roadshow/location.html" style="color: #743399; line-height: 1.5;">AIIM Roadshow</a>&nbsp;in Earl’s Court recently, I must say what a great event it was – I’d definitely go again. There were some really informative talks by a wide range of speakers representing a variety of organisations from the well established info management regimes to some relatively new (E2.0) kids on the block.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> There were also plenty of vendors to cater for all aspects of information management but particularly prominent were the many document capture technologies represented. This is clearly a hot topic at the moment. However, it was slightly disappointing that there were no organisations present who provide information management solutions to smaller businesses. They all seem cater for large organisations. Though I’m sure some of them, particularly Microsoft with their SharePoint offering, will say their product and solutions are suitable for organisations of all sizes. Hmm, maybe, but I still think there’s a market here. Google has gone some way to filling this gap with their Apps suite and it will be very interesting to see how this develops.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> It was also a real pleasure to meet some people I’d previously only spoken to over the phone. Special mention go to Angela Hymas and the&nbsp;<a data-mce-href="http://www.aiim.org.uk/membership.asp" href="http://www.aiim.org.uk/membership.asp" style="color: #743399; line-height: 1.5;">AIIM membership team</a>.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> I look forward to seeing you all again next time!</div> <div class="mceTemp" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;"> <dl class="wp-caption alignleft" data-mce-style="width: 160px;" id="attachment_116" style="background-color: #f1f1f1; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: none; color: #888888; display: inline; float: left; margin: 4px 24px 20px 0px; max-width: 632px !important; padding: 4px; text-align: center; width: 160px;"> <dt class="wp-caption-dt" style="color: black; font-weight: bold; line-height: 1.5;"><a data-mce-href="http://dalegmoore.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/AIIM-team.jpg" href="http://dalegmoore.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/AIIM-team.jpg" style="color: #743399; line-height: 1.5;"><img alt="" class="size-thumbnail wp-image-116" data-mce-src="http://dalegmoore.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/AIIM-team-150x150.jpg" height="150" src="http://dalegmoore.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/AIIM-team-150x150.jpg" style="-webkit-user-drag: none; border: 0px none; color: #444444; cursor: default; line-height: 1.5; margin: 5px; padding: 0px;" title="AIIM team" width="150" /></a></dt> <dd class="wp-caption-dd" style="color: #444444; font-size: 11px; line-height: 17px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 4px 5px;">AIIM team</dd></dl> </div> daleGmoorehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09130456005613414841noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6667672102612403835.post-62848041892991702442011-06-09T17:12:00.000+01:002013-03-28T17:13:35.901+00:00The race is on!<br /> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> <em style="border: none; line-height: 1.5;">In today’s fiercely competitive environment, the&nbsp;</em><em style="border: none; line-height: 1.5;">race</em><em style="border: none; line-height: 1.5;">&nbsp;will always be won by the best informed team with the most efficient business processes. To avoid losing ground to your competitors, you need to connect&nbsp;</em><strong style="color: black; line-height: 1.5;"><em style="border: none; color: #444444; line-height: 1.5;">colleagues, suppliers, partners and customers</em></strong><em style="border: none; line-height: 1.5;">&nbsp;with the information they need, when they need it and where they need it – using strong&nbsp;</em><strong style="color: black; line-height: 1.5;"><em style="border: none; color: #444444; line-height: 1.5;">document and records management</em></strong><em style="border: none; line-height: 1.5;">&nbsp;coupled with&nbsp;</em><strong style="color: black; line-height: 1.5;"><em style="border: none; color: #444444; line-height: 1.5;">enterprise-strength search</em></strong><em style="border: none; line-height: 1.5;">,&nbsp;</em><strong style="color: black; line-height: 1.5;"><em style="border: none; color: #444444; line-height: 1.5;">web-friendly collaboration</em></strong><em style="border: none; line-height: 1.5;">&nbsp;and&nbsp;</em><strong style="color: black; line-height: 1.5;"><em style="border: none; color: #444444; line-height: 1.5;">agile business process tools</em></strong><em style="border: none; line-height: 1.5;">.</em></div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> and that’s why I’ll be going to the&nbsp;<a data-mce-href="http://www.revolutionevents.plus.com/AiiM-Roadshow/location.html" href="http://www.revolutionevents.plus.com/AiiM-Roadshow/location.html" style="color: #743399; line-height: 1.5;">AIIM Roadshow in London</a>&nbsp;next Thurs (16th June 2011).</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> For those of you who don’t already know, AIIM is the organisation for information professionals or anyone who works with or has a keen interest in managing and optimising their information. By ‘information’, we’re talking:</div> <ul style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; list-style: square; margin: 0px 0px 24px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"> <li style="line-height: 1.5;"><a data-mce-href="http://www.aiim.org/What-is-BPM-Business-Process-Management" href="http://www.aiim.org/What-is-BPM-Business-Process-Management" style="color: #743399; line-height: 1.5;">BPM</a></li> <li style="line-height: 1.5;"><a data-mce-href="http://www.aiim.org/What-is-Case-Management" href="http://www.aiim.org/What-is-Case-Management" style="color: #743399; line-height: 1.5;">Case Management</a></li> <li style="line-height: 1.5;"><a data-mce-href="http://www.aiim.org/What-is-Web-CMS-WCM-System-Content-Management" href="http://www.aiim.org/What-is-Web-CMS-WCM-System-Content-Management" style="color: #743399; line-height: 1.5;">CMS</a></li> <li style="line-height: 1.5;"><a data-mce-href="http://www.aiim.org/What-is-Collaboration" href="http://www.aiim.org/What-is-Collaboration" style="color: #743399; line-height: 1.5;">Collaboration</a></li> <li style="line-height: 1.5;"><a data-mce-href="http://www.aiim.org/What-is-Document-Management" href="http://www.aiim.org/What-is-Document-Management" style="color: #743399; line-height: 1.5;">Document Management</a></li> <li style="line-height: 1.5;"><a data-mce-href="http://www.aiim.org/What-is-ECM-Enterprise-Content-Management" href="http://www.aiim.org/What-is-ECM-Enterprise-Content-Management" style="color: #743399; line-height: 1.5;">ECM</a></li> <li style="line-height: 1.5;"><a data-mce-href="http://www.aiim.org/What-is-eDiscovery" href="http://www.aiim.org/What-is-eDiscovery" style="color: #743399; line-height: 1.5;">eDiscovery</a></li> <li style="line-height: 1.5;"><a data-mce-href="http://www.aiim.org/What-is-Email-Management-EMM" href="http://www.aiim.org/What-is-Email-Management-EMM" style="color: #743399; line-height: 1.5;">Email Management</a></li> <li style="line-height: 1.5;"><a data-mce-href="http://www.aiim.org/What-is-Enterprise-20-E20" href="http://www.aiim.org/What-is-Enterprise-20-E20" style="color: #743399; line-height: 1.5;">Enterprise 2.0</a></li> <li style="line-height: 1.5;"><a data-mce-href="http://www.aiim.org/What-is-Enterprise-Search" href="http://www.aiim.org/What-is-Enterprise-Search" style="color: #743399; line-height: 1.5;">Enterprise Search</a></li> <li style="line-height: 1.5;"><a data-mce-href="http://www.aiim.org/What-is-ERM-Electronic-Records-Management" href="http://www.aiim.org/What-is-ERM-Electronic-Records-Management" style="color: #743399; line-height: 1.5;">ERM</a></li> <li style="line-height: 1.5;"><a data-mce-href="http://www.aiim.org/What-Is-Document-Imaging" href="http://www.aiim.org/What-Is-Document-Imaging" style="color: #743399; line-height: 1.5;">Imaging</a></li> <li style="line-height: 1.5;"><a data-mce-href="http://www.aiim.org/What-is-Information-Management" href="http://www.aiim.org/What-is-Information-Management" style="color: #743399; line-height: 1.5;">Information Management</a></li> <li style="line-height: 1.5;"><a data-mce-href="http://www.aiim.org/What-is-Information-Access-Organization-IOA" href="http://www.aiim.org/What-is-Information-Access-Organization-IOA" style="color: #743399; line-height: 1.5;">IOA</a></li> <li style="line-height: 1.5;"><a data-mce-href="http://www.aiim.org/What-is-Microsoft-Sharepoint" href="http://www.aiim.org/What-is-Microsoft-Sharepoint" style="color: #743399; line-height: 1.5;">SharePoint</a></li> <li style="line-height: 1.5;"><a data-mce-href="http://www.aiim.org/What-is-Web-20" href="http://www.aiim.org/What-is-Web-20" style="color: #743399; line-height: 1.5;">Web 2.0</a></li> <li style="line-height: 1.5;"><a data-mce-href="http://www.aiim.org/What-is-Web-CMS-WCM-System-Content-Management" href="http://www.aiim.org/What-is-Web-CMS-WCM-System-Content-Management" style="color: #743399; line-height: 1.5;">WCM</a></li> </ul> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> It’s an impressive site and there’s a large collection of white papers, industry reports and online training courses. Professional membership is not expensive and well worth it if this is an area which interests you.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> The main website is at&nbsp;<a data-mce-href="http://www.aiim.org" href="http://www.aiim.org/" style="color: #743399; line-height: 1.5;">www.aiim.org</a>&nbsp;but there’s also a UK site at&nbsp;<a data-mce-href="http://www.aiim.org.uk" href="http://www.aiim.org.uk/" style="color: #743399; line-height: 1.5;">www.aiim.org.uk</a></div> daleGmoorehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09130456005613414841noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6667672102612403835.post-74731069305431550142011-05-10T17:21:00.000+01:002013-03-28T17:23:09.954+00:00Mind your metadata (or, tagging an interest)<br /> <div class="mceTemp" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;"> <dl class="wp-caption alignleft" data-mce-style="width: 160px;" id="attachment_120" style="background-color: #f1f1f1; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: none; color: #888888; display: inline; float: left; margin: 4px 24px 20px 0px; max-width: 632px !important; padding: 4px; text-align: center; width: 160px;"><div style="text-align: left;"> <a data-mce-href="http://dalegmoore.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/Tag.jpg" href="http://dalegmoore.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/Tag.jpg" style="clear: left; color: #743399; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 1em;"><img alt="" class="size-thumbnail wp-image-120" data-mce-src="http://dalegmoore.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/Tag-150x150.jpg" height="150" src="http://dalegmoore.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/Tag-150x150.jpg" style="-webkit-user-drag: none; border: 0px none; color: #444444; line-height: 1.5; margin: 5px; padding: 0px;" title="" width="150" /></a></div> <dd class="wp-caption-dd" style="color: #444444; font-size: 11px; line-height: 17px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 4px 5px;"><br /></dd></dl> </div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> Getting a handle on the glut of information is something we all face on a daily basis whether on a personal or corporate level. Anything that can help us organise and find the content we need when we need it is most welcome. Over the years many tools, techniques and systems have been developed to help us do just that. From librarians managing large content collections and &nbsp;information architects designing new websites to individuals trying to bring some order to their personal collections, the challenges are the same.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> It’s generally agreed that ‘metadata’ (a description of the content or resource you’re trying to manage) can help and there’s no shortage of advice available. This is a big topic and there are plenty of resources available if you’d like to explore further. Just type the term ‘metadata’ into your favourite search engine and you’ll soon be awash with plenty of reading and learning material!</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> However, details aside, there are some very quick wins to be gained by using just a little metadata to describe your resources. By resources I’m thinking of documents, photographs, media clips, browser bookmarks and any other files you can think of. A little bit of descriptive data can be added to all of these making organising and finding them again easier.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> <strong style="color: black; line-height: 1.5;">Taking control</strong><strong style="color: black; line-height: 1.5;"><br style="color: #444444; line-height: 1.5;" /></strong>Metadata – as a concept or technique for describing and organising content – is actually part of a wider suite of organising tools well known to information specialists. Other, &nbsp;well established, examples include:</div> <ul style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; list-style: square; margin: 0px 0px 24px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"> <li style="line-height: 1.5;">Taxonomies</li> <li style="line-height: 1.5;">Ontologies</li> <li style="line-height: 1.5;">Controlled vocabularies</li> <li style="line-height: 1.5;">Thesauri</li> <li style="line-height: 1.5;">Facet analysis and other classification schemes</li> </ul> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> Inspired by the rapid growth of the internet, and the creation of shared information ‘spaces, these have recently been joined by some newer (more sociable?) cousins, for example folksonomies and tagging.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> Very briefly, tagging is simply a quick and easy way of adding a term or keyword’ (or several) to a resource to categorise it and increase its findability. The main difference between a tag (in this sense) and the established approaches listed above, is that a tag allows you the freedom to chose whatever term you like (you can even make one up on the spot), but if your organisation uses a corporate taxonomy or controlled vocabulary, you’ll have to choose your term from a restricted list or some kind of ‘authority file’.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> You may have already noticed that this blogging platform uses tags to label posts based upon their content, so you already get the general idea.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> <strong style="color: black; line-height: 1.5;">Metadata (tag it; find it)</strong><strong style="color: black; line-height: 1.5;"><br style="color: #444444; line-height: 1.5;" /></strong>In his book,&nbsp;<a data-mce-href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0321529170/ref=cm_rdp_product_img" href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0321529170/ref=cm_rdp_product_img" style="color: #743399; line-height: 1.5;">Tagging: People Powered Metadata for the Social Web</a>, Gene Smith defines metadata as “documentation for your data”.&nbsp;<a data-mce-href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/review/R2P3T21ML62726/ref=cm_cr_dp_perm?ie=UTF8&amp;ASIN=0321529170&amp;nodeID=266239&amp;tag=&amp;linkCode=" href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/review/R2P3T21ML62726/ref=cm_cr_dp_perm?ie=UTF8&amp;ASIN=0321529170&amp;nodeID=266239&amp;tag=&amp;linkCode=" style="color: #743399; line-height: 1.5;">I recently wrote a review of this book</a>&nbsp;on the Amazon UK website and thoroughly recommend it to anyone who wants to explore the whole issue of tagging both from a user (customer) and a provider (business) perspective.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> I like tags because:</div> <ul style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; list-style: square; margin: 0px 0px 24px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"> <li style="line-height: 1.5;">They’re quick to implement.</li> <li style="line-height: 1.5;">They’re easy to use.</li> <li style="line-height: 1.5;">They’re even easier to understand.</li> <li style="line-height: 1.5;">They’re very flexible.</li> <li style="line-height: 1.5;">They can be used by anyone.</li> <li style="line-height: 1.5;">They can be as general or specific as required.</li> <li style="line-height: 1.5;">They can be personal (it means something specific to the user).</li> <li style="line-height: 1.5;">They can be social&nbsp;(a currently ‘trending’ topic).</li> </ul> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> Some purists don’t like this whole ‘folksonomic’ approach and feel that only professionally qualified and suitably experienced specialists should ever attempt such noble goals as attempting to bring order to content chaos. Me? Well, as a professionally qualified and suitably experienced specialist I’ve never had a strong commitment to purity and – depending on the circumstance – will go with anything that works!</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> Okay, here’s the point of all of this. By adding a few well chosen terms to documents and other media, you greatly increase the chances of finding them again in the future. You also inadvertently contribute to a classification scheme which enhances browsing and discovery by category. There are many good examples of systems that use tagging very successfully.&nbsp;<a data-mce-href="http://www.delicious.com/blpeninsula" href="http://www.delicious.com/blpeninsula" style="color: #743399; line-height: 1.5;">Delicious</a>&nbsp;(which I’ve briefly mentioned in a&nbsp;<a data-mce-href="http://community.businessanswers.info/community/intel/2010/02/16/bookmarks-can-be-delicious/" href="http://community.businessanswers.info/community/intel/2010/02/16/bookmarks-can-be-delicious/" style="color: #743399; line-height: 1.5;">previous blog post</a>)&nbsp;is a social bookmarking platform which uses tags (<a data-mce-href="http://www.delicious.com/tags/blpeninsula" href="http://www.delicious.com/tags/blpeninsula" style="color: #743399; line-height: 1.5;">see a tag cloud here</a>) to categorise bookmarks. Although it’s a relatively simple system to use, it’s very flexible and powerful. Tags can be combined to filter out unwanted results and drill down to more relevant ones.&nbsp;<a data-mce-href="http://www.librarything.com/" href="http://www.librarything.com/" style="color: #743399; line-height: 1.5;">LibraryThing</a>&nbsp;allows what it calls ‘<a data-mce-href="http://www.librarything.com/blogs/librarything/2007/07/tagmash/" href="http://www.librarything.com/blogs/librarything/2007/07/tagmash/" style="color: #743399; line-height: 1.5;">tagmashing</a>’ to filter out unwanted results using symbols such as , to combine and – - to exclude tags from a search.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> With a little care you can easily add value to your resources (and greatly increase their findability and usefulness) by adding just a little bit of metadata. In delicious for example&nbsp;there are many bookmarks that lack both a meaningful title and a short description. These are so easy to add though that it defies belief why anyone wouldn’t bother. So, when I come across a bookmark in delicious, if I can’t understand the title and there’s no description, I’m&nbsp;unlikely to&nbsp;bother to click on the link just to see what I get. The logic is simple isn’t it? If the person who created the bookmark couldn’t be bothered to give it a meaningful title or add a short description, it’s clearly not very important. So if they can’t be bothered; neither can I. The moral of this story? Add a meaningful title and a short description. You’ll be glad you did and maybe you’ll encourage other people to follow your good example!</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> <strong style="color: black; line-height: 1.5;">Now, where’s that spreadsheet ..?</strong><strong style="color: black; line-height: 1.5;"><br style="color: #444444; line-height: 1.5;" /></strong>The same goes for documents and files stored on your local computer and on shared networks and file servers. By adding a small amount of metadata (your name, date of creation, short description and a few keywords) you greatly increase the value and usefulness of the resource. If those documents and files end up in a document management system, they’re going to be much easier to categorise and search.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> Every time you add a little bit of descriptive information to your resources, you’re both helping to categorise them and increasing their ability to be found. And that can only be a good thing. Well, assuming you want it to be found!</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> As mentioned already, this is a big subject and volumes have been written and will continue to be written as our shared information spaces develop. So remember, a little ‘meta-effort’ can go a long way.</div> daleGmoorehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09130456005613414841noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6667672102612403835.post-12252529769867532772011-04-05T17:30:00.000+01:002013-03-28T17:31:09.716+00:00The social media survival guide (book review)<br /> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> The Social Media Survival Guide is the second edition of Deltina Hay’s previous book entitled, A Survival Guide to Social Media and Web 2.0 Optimisation. The title this time is much snappier and the book is a substantial update to the previous edition.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> Having read the first edition, I was keen to read the second to see what had changed. The answer is, a lot. One of the challenges with any book that incorporates technology is that it quickly becomes dated, not so much the principles, but certainly the examples. The author has done a very thorough job in updating these areas and it really is worth investing in the latest edition. I was particularly pleased to see a section dealing with web 3.0, the semantic web and cloud computing, all of which are becoming hot topics though aren’t necessarily discussed within the context of social media. There’s a lot of hype surrounding these areas so it was nice to see the author present them in a straightforward, practical, no-nonsense way. In fact, this is very much the style in which the whole book is written.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> The book is comprised of 15 chapters, 4 appendices and a CD containing additional information (more on this&nbsp; below). It’s important to mention that this is not a book about theory. This is very much a ‘how to’ manual, though it’s grounded in a an overall strategic framework.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> The chapters are:</div> <ol style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: initial; margin: 0px 0px 24px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"> <li style="line-height: 1.5;">Creating your social media strategy</li> <li style="line-height: 1.5;">Preparation</li> <li style="line-height: 1.5;">RSS feeds and blogs</li> <li style="line-height: 1.5;">Building a WordPress powered website</li> <li style="line-height: 1.5;">Podcasting, vidcasting and webcasting</li> <li style="line-height: 1.5;">Social networking and micro-blogging</li> <li style="line-height: 1.5;">Social bookmarking and crowd-sourcing</li> <li style="line-height: 1.5;">Media communities</li> <li style="line-height: 1.5;">Widgets and badges</li> <li style="line-height: 1.5;">Social media newsrooms</li> <li style="line-height: 1.5;">More social tools</li> <li style="line-height: 1.5;">Pulling it all together</li> <li style="line-height: 1.5;">Looking to the future</li> <li style="line-height: 1.5;">Measuring your success</li> <li style="line-height: 1.5;">Conclusion</li> </ol> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> The appendices are:</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> A. Installing WordPress<br style="line-height: 1.5;" />B. Creating your own RSS feed<br style="line-height: 1.5;" />C. Building your own widget<br style="line-height: 1.5;" />D. Preparing for the semantic web</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> The book covers a lot of ground but there are plenty of example screenshots and everything is explained simply and clearly. Just about everything you could possibly want to know about social media is presented in sufficient detail to give you the confidence to get started, or, if you already have, to improve on what you’ve already done. This is one of the strengths of the book, it can be taken on many levels from absolute beginner to the more experienced.&nbsp; The chapters each cover a specific topic and are sufficiently self contained to stand on their own so it isn’t necessary to read everything, but having said that, I found myself reading the whole book to ensure I didn’t miss anything important! There’s a real symmetry and cohesion to the book which does warrant reading it in its entirety so, perhaps while not absolutely necessary to read from cover to cover, it’s my guess that most people probably will.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> There are a couple of really useful features that set this book apart and make it a good investment for anyone serious about creating a rich social media presence. Firstly, there’s a couple of chapters that cover the importance of having a strategy and getting prepared. This might sound obvious but I wonder how many people are so keen to jump right in they overlook the importance of planning what they really want their social media presence to do for them?</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> The other really nice feature is the accompanying CD which is crammed with useful&nbsp; additional resources to further help the reader (a list of relevant resources appears at the end of each chapter). The CD contains a Companion Materials pdf eBook containing bibliographic details of further reading material, a list of user fillable forms and additional resources. This is a mini book in itself and contains a wealth of material. By completing the forms, the reader will soon be able to create their own unique social media strategy. The author and publisher have also given permission for the forms and spreadsheets to be used with a purchaser’s students, business and clients provided full copyright attribution is preserved. I think this is excellent and can see many consultants and trainers using it in this way.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> The author has a very comprehensive social media presence, which you would expect, so there are plenty of real word examples here too which you could see in operation to further consolidate your exploration of social media.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> This is one of those rare books that you wonder how you ever got by without. If you do want to know what the whole social media thing is about, how it works, what it can do for you and how you can get up and running, there really is no better book.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> A couple of minor gripes.</div> <ol style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: initial; margin: 0px 0px 24px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"> <li style="line-height: 1.5;">I do think the book could benefit from the inclusion of a glossary which gathers together in one place all of the terms used e.g. RSS, Wiki, Cloud computing, Micro-blog etc. When you’re getting to grips with new terminology, it’s nice to be able to look up definitions quickly without having to use the index.</li> <li style="line-height: 1.5;">A better sleeve for the CD. The first edition of the book had a better CD sleeve which was easily removed from the book. I like to copy the contents of the CD onto my hard drive and then store the CD in a drawer. The pages of the book turn much easier without the CD case permanently attached inside the rear cover.</li> </ol> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> But these really are minor points and should not detract from an otherwise excellent publication.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> To sum up, this is an must buy book which is thoroughly recommended to anyone serious about creating and developing a social media strategy. It will be useful to online marketers of larger organisations and consultants who work with businesses helping them develop their social media presence. It will also benefit smaller businesses who are limited on time and resources.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> While many individuals and businesses already have some sort of social media presence, it’s often very piecemeal and disjointed. This book will explain how you can create a unified social media presence by joining it all together. It’s not difficult, but it does take time and requires some forethought if you want to get it right.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> For more information visit&nbsp;<a data-mce-href="http://www.socialmediapower.com" href="http://www.socialmediapower.com/" style="color: #743399; line-height: 1.5;">www.socialmediapower.com</a></div> daleGmoorehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09130456005613414841noreply@blogger.com0
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