Content Management Matters ™

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Speaking of the economy. Have you heard the one about Bear Stearns? Of course you have.

But have your heard this story?

Publishing 2.0 provided an interesting commentary "Following A Breaking News Story On The Web". As it turns out, when big news breaks on a Sunday, it becomes quite apparent how different the Web is from traditional print media.

Never one to settle in and savor the moment, Microsoft has gone out and done it again. They recently bought Rapt Inc., a web publishing vendor out of San Fransisco. This acquisition is just the latest in a number to fill Microsoft's suite of publishing and advertising tools.

The move “puts us way ahead of what other offerings are available in the market,” Scott Howe, a general manager in Microsoft’s advertiser and publisher solutions group said, likening Microsoft with Rapt to a jet plane, with rivals, including Google, being a bicycle.

Ooh! Burn to Google.

But did they really put their money where their mouth is?

Allette Systems, providers of publishing system design and integration and aXtive Minds, a consulting group focusing on XML and Web technology are hosting Open Publish 2008.

To be held April 23-24, 2008 in Baltimore, Maryland, Open Publish 2008 will focus on both the management and implementation issues relating to publishing technology based on open standards.

Ever since the birth of reality television and the subsequent rise of Web 2.0 technologies, user-generated content has become more popular. So popular in fact, that the news is now relying on it.

CNN announced that its ever-popular iReport is expanding itself in hopes of becoming the YouTube of cable news. While iReport has been around since 2006 and has received more than 100,000 news-related photo and video submissions, CNN rarely uses more than 10 percent of the content in its newscasts. That is of course because they've needed to check each story out for accuracy and other pesky newsy type information.

But no more...

Provider of online publishing solutions, Nstein Technologies Inc. has announced the acquisition of UK-based Picdar, a picture and digital asset management provider.

Nstein, who is headquartered in Montreal, Canada is broadening it's presence in the UK and Europe with this new acquisition selling itself as a leader in online publishing solutions.

Nstein Technologies Inc, an online publishing solutions vendor for newspapers, magazines and online content providers, has announced the creation of a formal partner program specifically designed for the system integrators and developers community.

The program will first be presented on the company's web site and formally introduced to clients at Nstein's 2008 User Conference in May.

If there is any doubt that users are going online to read their news, there's finally proof to dissuade you from thinking otherwise.

According to data released in a new report by Nielsen Online for the Newspaper Association of America (NAA), average monthly unique audience figures for newspaper Web sites grew by more than 3.6 million in 2007. This is a record year for the industry and an increase of more than six percent over 2006 numbers.

It's official, Moveable Type Open Source (MTOS) 4.1 Stable has been released to the market.

We've been keeping you up to date about MTOS since we heard about it in August. In December we gave you an overview of the new open source version.

It was just last week that MT4.1 RC1 was released. So the guys and gals over at Six Apart are moving fast.

AlwaysOn has announced their OnMedia 100, a list of top private companies that highlight "game-changing players in the marketing, branding, advertising, and public relations industries."

From the Annals of Anyone Can be a Writer comes a new launch from WordClay - a do-it-yourself book publishing Web site. After completing a beta period that enrolled 5,000 book projects, they initiated a general availability launch last week.

WordClay allows writers of all experience levels to self-publish their books. Instead of concerning themselves with margin measurements and bookbinding, WordClay allows users to focus more on writing and marketing.

As I return to my day job and start the new year, I will take inventory of my work-related resolutions. Topping the list will be "don't fight change."

You see, as a designer, I often find myself getting too attached to the concepts I produce and while I understand the importance of compromising, I find myself grinding my teeth when making changes. Yet, in any change lies the opportunity for innovation. I can't possibly know how to revolutionize and revitalize all by myself. Working closely with others brings together different, fresh perspectives that will not only help me design a product that meets the client's needs, but also improves the chances that our solution will be found thinking outside the box.

'Tis the season to realize how pesky it is to search newspapers online.

Even if the story you want was just published last week, finding content through a newspaper's online search tool is hard work.

But never fear, dear readers. Several initiatives vying to improve newspaper search engines have been announced in recent days.

If you think your company failed to recognize the merit of its website until recently, you're not alone. The British Broadcasting Company is taking another look at its online efforts and investing new monies after reports showed that its website has earned nearly four percent of its total revenues in just 18 months.

Initially, they had aimed at securing 10 percent of revenues from their online property, over time, but now according to BBC Worldwide Chief Executive John Smith, "we have [probably] under-egged the extent to which we will see more of our revenues coming from the Internet."

Now there's proof that tearing down walls and unlatching gates has its merits -- in case you had your doubts.

Nielsen recently released the latest ratings for online traffic for newspapers. The numbers indicate that "more people visited NYTimes.com than any other newspaper Web site in October." With more than 17.5 million unique monthly visitors, up from 14.6 million in September, The New York Times can attribute much of this success to their initiative to end paid subscription to TimesSelect, their exclusive "walled garden" which allowed subscribers access to "premium" columns and the paper's entire news archives.