Presented at Intelligent Content 2010 in Palm Springs, California, in February 2010. Takes a rather harsh look at what is usually called "Enterprise Content Management" and declares that none have been realized as yet. It then introduces the concept of "Intelligent Content Management" which is then put forward as what ECM must become in order to succeed. Core of the presentation really focuses on the methodology associated with implementing "Intelligent Content Management" and on explaining why managing intelligent content is so persistently challenging.

1. Intelligent Content Management
Copyright © Joe Gollner 2010

2. Topics
The Demise of
Enterprise Content Management
The Rise of
Intelligent Content Management
The Challenge of
Managing Intelligent Content
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

3. The Demise of
Enterprise Content Management

4. Enterprise Content Management Elements

5. ECM: A Complex Landscape of Products

6. ECM: A Better Representation (& a little older)

7. Two ECM Markets: Niche and Amalgamated

8. A Realistic Roadmap of Effective ECM Products

9. Core Problems with Enterprise Content Management
Fragmented Application Domain
Niche products
that address limited requirements
Amalgamated offerings
that combine niche components
Unwieldy Deployments
Extensive integration & customization
needed to support enterprise processes
Expensive, time-consuming, high user
impact, high infrastructure impact,
costly maintenance lifecycle
Benefits difficult to quantify for investment
justification & even harder to realize
Not really about Enterprises or Content or Business Value

10. Enterprise Content Management

11. The Rise of
Intelligent Content Management

12. Intelligent Content Defined
A Definition
Intelligence refers to the ability to acquire and apply knowledge, or to a
collection of information of value in a particular context (OED).
Content can be considered intelligent when it expresses,
in an open way, the full meaning underlying a communication
such that the data, information and knowledge being expressed
can be directly accessed and effectively leveraged by both people
and the software applications that support them.
The Significance
Intelligent Content is a persistent expression of meaning that has been
encoded using an open standard and that can be efficiently processed
by automated systems to facilitate its management, validation,
discovery, and publication given the full range of uses to which that
content may potentially be put.

13. Intelligent Content in Practice
A Practical Definition
Intelligent Content is designed, created, managed and deployed
using open standards so that the resulting information products
are exactly tailored to the needs of the user
and are efficient to maintain & leverage for the content owner.
Key Concepts
Open
Reusable
Effective
Efficient
Interchangeable
Up-to-date
Chef Ramsay assembling orders

14. Of What is Intelligent Content Composed?
Composition
Text Components
Media Assets
Relevant Standards
Data Sources
XML
Relationship Links
XPath / XQuery
Metadata Properties
XMP / RDF / Dublin Core
Assembly Maps
XML Schema / RELAX NG
Governing Models
XProc
Processing Rules
XSL
Formatting Instructions
Shared Attributes
Discoverable, portable, interchangeable, reusable, processable...
Synchronized with business needs (Just Enough Intelligence)

15. Tweetable
By itself, adding XML markup does not create
content intelligence. It can, however, create
content idiocy.

16. Where is Intelligent Content Important?
Business Environments featuring
High value information transactions:
Mission critical
Valuable to customers
Managed / Monitored / Measured
Regulated
Retained as records
Contextually dependent
Multiple formats
Multiple languages
Dynamic supporting content processes for
Complex engineered products
Complex service offerings

17. How is Intelligent Content Realized?
The Seven Steps to Intelligent Content
Strategy – why
Analysis – what
Design – how
Exploration – learn
Transformation – change
Validation – confirm
Deployment – use
Its about Content evolving in Context

18. Tweetable
Intelligent content co-evolves with the
business applications being enabled. This is not
something that can be faked or pretended away.

19. Intelligent Content Management
Managing Intelligent Content
Lifecycle management of components & their inter-relationships
Lifecycle management of content processes
Editorial
Automated
Lifecycle management of the design & deployment of balanced
intelligence within content, components & processes
Analysis / Modeling / Instantiating / Testing
Deploying / Exploiting / Evolving
Lifecycle assurance of content independence & portability
Content & processes must be able to move between
management systems & business applications
Content management must transcend any one CMS if it is
to be considered content management

20. Intelligent Content Management
Content Management that is focused on the content
Content Management that is adaptive
– itself an application of intelligent content
Rules, guidelines, policies, workflows, authorities – are all
expressions best captured as intelligent content
Facilitating environment adaptation & evolution that maintains
optimal balance between intelligence investment & business returns
Orientation towards monitoring & measurement
Management regime that transcends the boundaries
of any one CMS application
Management regime that addresses not only what can be
automated but, by facilitating communication, what cannot
Management regime that remains in place even as the technical
implementations change, are replaced or even fail altogether

21. Intelligent Content Management
It is what ECM must become if it is to have anything to do
with Enterprises or Content or Business Value
Investments are focused on
Establishing the right level of intelligence for the business needs
Delivering tangible business results
Evolving the intelligence of the content as the business evolves
Managing this process of adaptation
Classical Emphasis in ECM on Control is Subordinated
Made secondary to the process of evolution & exploitation
Efficiencies continually sought through enhanced automation
Rules driven automation facilitates accelerated adaptation

22. Tweetable
Iterative discovery, design, development &
deployment is key. Requirements are never static.
Technologies are never neutral.

23. Intelligent Content Management in Action
Initial Conditions Regulatory Process Operational
DITA
eLearning Deployment
Subject Matter Experts AJAX Editing
Emergent Requirements Environment
Diverse Sources
Evolving Technical
Requirements
Case Study:
• Regulatory agency eLearning
Transition Mechanism
types Evolving Requirements
• eLearning application User Feedback
XML Store
• Bilingual content Content Transformation
• Nebulous requirements (Sources to DITA)
• Iterative co-evolution of Initial Implementation
Iterative Evolution
content & application
• Leveraged extensibility
Online Access

25. The Challenges of Managing Intelligent Content
Managing Intelligent Content
Easier said than done
Not commonly attempted
Less frequently achieved
A Matter of Infrastructure
Tools were not mature
Standards were not mature
Also a Business Matter
User expectations were low
Consumer market was nascent
All this is Changing

26. The Bigger Challenge: Taming the Three Amigos
Knowledge Knowledge
Information
Information
Data
Content
Data

27. Data: The Hard Edge of Experience
The Meaningful Representation of Experience
Embodies selection criteria
Reflects processing constraints
Data Perspective
Focused on control & predictability
Governed by application needs
Resists variability & change

28. Information: The Chaotic World of Communication
The Meaningful Organization of Data
Communication transactions
Information & Mis-information
Not necessarily truthful or honest
Voluminous & Dynamic
Sometimes an Asset & sometimes not
Information Perspective
Transactional accountability

29. Knowledge: The Cool Hand of Understanding
The Meaningful Organization of Information
expressing an Evolving Understanding
Aligned with objectives
Associated with improving effectiveness
Knowledge Perspective
Accumulation over time
Accrual of relationships among expressions
Continuous verification against experience

30. Interesting Interactions
Data & Information
Data perspective always seeks to bring
order to the chaos of information
Information & Knowledge
Information perspective does not always
want to be constrained by knowledge
Continuous verification is expensive
Knowledge & Data
Knowledge perspective ultimately provides
the frameworks within which Data exists

31. The Intelligent Content Management Project
Intelligent Content
Exposes all three perspectives
Data
Information
Knowledge
Intelligent Content Management
Must attend to the needs of
each of the three perspectives
The ICM Project
Must bring together people from each of the three domains
Must reconcile the different perspectives & priorities

32. The Drama of Intelligent Content Management
The Three Perspectives
Do not usually get along
Personality clashes occur
Power struggles ensue
Data Perspective is Strong
Closely aligned with application
infrastructure investments
Resistant to change
Suspicious of anything new
Inadequate for content requirements
But Change is Essential
Resistance must be overcome
Someone must accept change

33. The Ideal Scenario – Perspective Synchronization
Intelligent Content Management Succeeds When
The three perspectives are aligned
All three are accommodated effectively
Business benefits are made
the primary focus of specific
project investments
The degree of synchronization
increases over successive
investment iterations
Investments in controls are
introduced once business
benefits have begun to accrue

34. References & Further Reading
Whitepapers
The Emergence of Intelligent Content (2009)
The Anatomy of Knowledge (2006)
XML Business Templates (2000)
www.gollner.ca/papers.html
xContent Blog Entries
www.gollner.ca/xml/
Stilo International
www.stilo.com
Gnostyx Research
www.gnostyx.com