Category Archives: Social Media

(20)11 content technology lessons learned

The more traditional ‘weblog’ post I did last year on lessons learned in the content technologies arena during the preceding 12 months proved popular and as 2011 has been pretty eventful, I guess it’s worth giving it another shot …

1. In times of uncertainty be very wary of over-buying software solutions…

There’s a website I still visit from time to time that saddens me somewhat. In some ways it was one of the more successful web projects I have been involved in over the last 15 years or so, and in others the least successful.

The requirements gathering and evaluation process was smooth, with the preferred CMS solution and implementors ticking all the boxes and jumping through the hoops relatively easily. The design phase went very well with great buy-in from all stakeholders and a lot of positive feedback on the direction it was all going. The implementation was progressed expertly by the project manager, technical architect and development team and delivered within the agreed timescales and budgets. The content migration was fast and accurate and provided the main mastersite and complete framework for 5 additional languages within 2 weeks. So, with everything lined up and ready to roll, we waited…and we waited…and we waited.

Unfortunately, the product range this new multi-lingual, web marketing platform had been implemented for (as a pilot for a much wider deployment) never materialised and, to my knowledge, is still not launched over two years on from its original planned debut. It was/is a potentially great product but, realistically, there was always a relatively narrow window of opportunity to get the new range launched and established with resellers and consumers successfully.

Without the revenue stream this new product range was designed to generate, there was no budget available for expanding the new web platform further and so it remains like an iceberg – with a fraction of its capability visible above the waterline and a massive potential capability hidden passively beneath. What a sad waste of everyone’s time and efforts for something that is now being used just as a basic (and expensive) email marketing tool but also a reflection of how tough it is to develop and market consumer electronic products efficiently and effectively 😦  Based on the same requirements I’d probably stick with the original recommendation but with the benefit of hindsight I would certainly have recommended directing the money elsewhere …  Continue reading →

(20)12 predictions from the CMS frontline

Around this time last year, I wrote a predictions piece about how the content technologies arena might develop during 2011 from the perspective of a CMS practitioner. I called it (20)11 predictions from the CMS coal face and it received some encouraging feedback.

Back then I was writing from the relatively comfortable position as an employee and approaching the Christmas break knowing that I had a job to go back to in the New Year and that the bills for the ‘present mountain’ and over-consumption of food and alcohol would all be covered.

This year is different …

Continue reading →

At 20 years old is the Web at a difficult age?

While enjoying another wonderfully sunny English summer with the kids (in between the days of torrential rain) I spotted that the Web has turned 20.

It was on August 6, 1991, that the Web made its debut as a publicly available service on the Internet when the first webpage was launched by Sir Tim Berners-Lee.

For me personally, turning 20 marked the mid-point of a torturous 10 year period. Mid teens to mid twenties are often described by people as a difficult age – that often awkward transition from being a child to becoming ‘grown-up’. It seems the Web is experiencing similar growing and transitional pains as it continues on its journey to becoming a mature and totally ubiquitous environment that is an accepted part of all our lives. Continue reading →

"The Internet is inherently a force for democracy" …or not?

This is the conclusion of a debate that ran on The Economist website a couple of month’s back. In what appeared to be a well structured debate the conclusion of the moderator was as follows…

“By a narrow margin, the floor has chosen to oppose the motion. In so doing, you have declared your belief that the internet is “inherently” a force for democracy.

The motion did not ask to what extent the internet favours democrats or tyrants. Yet it is notable that in comments from the floor contributors on both sides of the argument frequently played down its significance. “Just another tool” was a commonly used phrase. Perhaps, as I suggested in my opening, such caution is a reaction to breathless media coverage of the web’s role in revolutions. Perhaps you are naturally cool-headed.

Over the past two weeks, supporters of the motion frequently refused to accept that such a “tool” could inherently favour either side. Such a question, they argued, was nonsensical. Sometimes it was used for democratic means. Often it was not.

But the majority disagreed. The internet is naturally inclined to encourage the free circulation of information, many contested. And the free circulation of information, they argued, is inherently incompatible with authoritarianism—even if some governments have succeeded so far in inhibiting the internet’s full power. It is this view that has largely carried the day. I hope such optimism proves well-founded.”

While I accept the moderator’s view and the weight of current public opinion on this particular debate I remain ‘uncomfortable’ with the conclusion. Continue reading →

Revisiting 'The Wall' – 30 years on…

1979 – the end of a tough decade in the UK which was bringing a lot of change. It’s the year I feel I became broadly self-aware and the start of a tortuous period of confused adolescence and angst ridden young adulthood.

It’s also the year that Pink Floyd released The Wall – a powerful ‘rock opera’ written by the band’s then leader Roger Waters.

One of the main tracks that gained immediate notoriety was ‘Another Brick in The Wall’ – As a teenager the lyrics ” We don’t need no education, we don’t need no thought control – Teacher leave them kids alone” was a powerful anthem. I still remember watching the video and performances on Top of the Pops when that track reached number one.

As a keen fan of punk music at that time, my previous knowledge of Pink Floyd was the T-shirt John Lydon of the Sex Pistols was famed for wearing – an iconic punk image of a torn Pink Floyd shirt with the words ‘I hate’ added to it. So I was predisposed to not liking the band at that time.

The more I listened to The Wall though, the more it resonated with me. Roger Waters wrote it when he felt most alienated from those around him, including his own bandmates. It was a very personal statement at the time and one that no doubt contributed to the subsequent splits in the band, with Waters and Gilmore frequently expressing that they are very different personalities. Continue reading →