Content Management Matters ™

Once upon a time personalization was a magic and wonderful word. The promises came and went, largely unfulfilled. That's not to say that the technology didn't work. It did. Nor is it to say that the basic ideas were bad. They weren't. The problems by and large were related to how people attempted to use the stuff and the complexities and costs related to integrating it.

Amazon and others have continued to pursue the grail, if in modest strokes. Now were seeing web content management vendors investing in this direction. I say "grand!" If it's done simply and with out too much ambition, personalization can be a great tool.

There was a time when customization was all the rage. It wasn't enough to just get your message out, you had to try to tap into what made the user tick and figure out what they'd do next based on what they just did. It turned out that too much personalization was a little creepy. After all, not all of us are that calculated as to know what our next move is, never mind the next book we'll read or song we'll download.

Leave us alone, the user cried.

But with the advent of the Semantic Web upon us, we are promised great fortune and fame, or at least the prospect of knowing that when I say "I'm fine", it really means that I want you to ask me more about my day. And the Semantic Web will ask, because it's determined to be everything the current Web isn't.

Vignette understands that the pull of Web 3.0 is getting stronger. So they are taking another stab at personalization and have announced three new product releases, aimed at delivering more personal and engaging Web experiences to an organization's key audiences.

Open Text answers questions about just what would be done with RedDot, which was acquired as part of the Hummingbird acquisition, by using RedDot CMS to enable a personalized web experience for the Yorkshire Tourist Board.