[Web4lib] decentralized web content

Fri Jan 14 14:39:17 EST 2011

We are wondering what training and support libraries offer to content creators on "Effective Writing for the Web."

We find a few people seem to have a knack for it.  Most don't, but it is a skill that can be learned with support and practice.

Our staff are interested and motivated to have great up-to-date web content and we want to offer "how to write for the web" training to take advantage of their enthusiasm.  We're concerned about appropriate information being published, making it readable and jargon-free, organizing it for simplicity and easy scanning, etc...We're less worried about technical issues because so many of our staff have used wikis and blogs already and can adapt to more-or-less arcane editors.

But even with a workflow of write/edit/approve/publish, I don't think the editors, approvers and publishers have the time to do heavy editing of others' content, especially when editing seems to offend the ego of so many writers.    

So my question:

Do you offer/require in-house or outsourced training on how to write for the web?  In-person? Online?  Is it ongoing or one-time?  Is it required before getting an account on the CMS?  Any suggestions about training staff to write effectively for the web would be much appreciated.

Karen Merguerian
Northeastern University Libraries
Boston, MA

> Date: Wed, 12 Jan 2011 12:17:41 -0500
> From: chris.simmons at biblioottawalibrary.ca
> To: web4lib at webjunction.org
> CC: Angela.Christofferson at spl.org
> Subject: Re: [Web4lib] decentralized web content
> 
> Hi Angela, at Ottawa Public Library, we use Drupal to distribute content creation. We don't have an approval process but rely on training and oversight from our systems staff to occasionally review content and fix the usual culprits, pasting from Word (and the 6 pages of markup that includes) and fixing page layout. Other than minor layout issues we haven't had any problems. We did set up a notice system to alert us when new content is added. Some basic HTML training in floating images and such is useful for the times the editor mucks things up. We did some custom work to create a staff menu so they'd just see create, edit content rather than the byzantine Drupal admin menu. We also edited out all of the unnecessary options in the editor (CKeditor). We also have a couple custom buttons in Ckeditor to insert book titles and links and cover images from our catalogue (Bibliocommons) to eliminate copy and pasting. These buttons also index the content in the catalogue on item records and search results. The idea is to have staff create blog posts and subject guides that will be indexed in the catalogue. We wanted staff to be able to create content in our catalogue since so much of our traffic goes there. We're in the final phase of implementing that project. I believe you are on Bibliocommons too so you may want to look into that if you have a Drupal site. 
> 
> -Chris
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: web4lib-bounces at webjunction.org [mailto:web4lib-bounces at webjunction.org] On Behalf Of web4lib-request at webjunction.org
> Sent: January 12, 2011 12:00 PM
> To: web4lib at webjunction.org
> Subject: Web4lib Digest, Vol 70, Issue 11
> 
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> Today's Topics:
> 
> 1. Re: decentralized web content (Hess, M. Ryan)
> 2. Re: decentralized web content (Beth Black)
> 3. Updated Structural & Link Adjustments: Family History &
> Genealogy (vctinney at sbcglobal.net)
> 4. New Publication - Museums at Play: Games, Interaction and
> Learning (MuseumsEtc)
> 
> 
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> 
> Message: 1
> Date: Tue, 11 Jan 2011 12:27:06 -0600
> From: "Hess, M. Ryan" <MHESS8 at depaul.edu>
> Subject: Re: [Web4lib] decentralized web content
> To: "Varnum, Ken" <varnum at umich.edu>, <web4lib at webjunction.org>
> Message-ID:
> <ECB9974A625CAD45902DF6D2A52ED48323B25A8D at XVS01.dpu.depaul.edu>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
> 
> At DePaul's libraries, I'm also in the middle of outlining our CM plan. We're moving our site to SharePoint this year from (gasp) Collage so I'm seeing this as a big opportunity to make some changes. Currently, we have distributed editorial permissions for a number of librarians, but the unreliability of Collage is a big disincentive for librarians to make the effort, so few changes are made outside my team.
> 
> After we move to SharePoint, of course, it will be much easier and much more intuitive to make changes, and I'm excited about how this will empower our content curators, as I'm calling them here. My plan is to train/remind these curators of web conventions/usability issues and then let them make changes to their areas of the site as needed. From time to time, our new Web Applications Librarian and I will be reviewing the site and advising these curators of any issues we find. My hope is that this distributed model has the right balance of freedom and control to keep our librarians engaged in the site while also ensuring the site's usability.
> 
> M Ryan Hess
> Web Services Coordinator
> DePaul University
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: web4lib-bounces at webjunction.org on behalf of Varnum, Ken
> Sent: Tue 1/11/2011 10:38 AM
> To: web4lib at webjunction.org
> Subject: Re: [Web4lib] decentralized web content
> 
> We -- the University of Michigan Library, http://www.lib.umich.edu/ -- moved to Drupal about 18 months ago and distributed authoring responsibilities to people across the library. Roughly 100 people have "page author" permissions (out of a total population of about 400 in the libraries). We are not using any workflow management within Drupal; the people authorized to manage their unit's content are expected to behave properly and discuss anything that might raise an eyebrow with their management/colleagues before doing it. Content is live when published or edited. This has worked well for us, so far. Page authors can create or edit content within their unit (we use Organic Groups to keep content 'siloed' for editing purposes), and can delete any content they create.
> 
> We have a second role, "content manager", of which there are about 20. Content managers are responsible for their unit's content overall; they can delete any content in their unit, in addition to the creating and editing that page authors can do. Content managers also have the ability to edit the unit's navigation menus.
> 
> 
> --
> Ken Varnum
> Web Systems Manager E: varnum at umich.edu
> University of Michigan Library T: 734-615-3287
> 300C Hatcher Graduate Library F: 734-647-6897
> Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1190 http://www.lib.umich.edu/
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> ------------------------------
> 
> Message: 2
> Date: Tue, 11 Jan 2011 13:33:46 -0500
> From: "Beth Black" <black.367 at osu.edu>
> Subject: Re: [Web4lib] decentralized web content
> To: <web4lib at webjunction.org>
> Message-ID: <00a501cbb1be$14dc8510$3e958f30$@367 at osu.edu>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
> 
> At Ohio State we have a similar situation to what Ken describes for U of
> Michigan. We have 101 content providers (out of 300 active faculty and
> staff in the Libraries) who add content directly to the site using our CMS,
> SilverStripe. (http://www.silverstripe.org/) When a content providers
> publishes a page, it goes live. Content providers are members of groups,
> who have access to certain areas of the site. The managers of those units
> are generally the "content stewards" for those sections, although we do have
> some sections of the site to which multiple units contribute (like FIND) and
> for which two managers work together as stewards. We still have some pockets
> of content that could use review so we are looking to add a review reminder
> step. SilverStripe includes this feature but we haven't implemented it yet.
> 
> Another unit on campus has implemented SilverStripe with the SilverStripe
> workflow module enabled and found it works for them. Before moving to the
> CMS over a year ago, they had only one or two people able to add content to
> the site so it fits for them. I think in many ways it comes down to your
> organizational culture. 
> 
> I also agree with other comments suggesting that the more hurdles you put in
> the way of a content provider, the harder it will be to get them to add
> content to the site.
> 
> I hope this helps!
> Beth
> 
> 
> Beth Black
> Assistant Professor and Systems Librarian
> Head, Web Implementation Team
> University? Libraries
> Ohio State University
> 610 Ackerman Road, Room 5855
> Columbus, Ohio 43202
> 614-688-5428 phone
> 614-292-7859 fax
> black.367 at osu.edu
> 
> 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: web4lib-bounces at webjunction.org
> [mailto:web4lib-bounces at webjunction.org] On Behalf Of Varnum, Ken
> Sent: Tuesday, January 11, 2011 11:38 AM
> To: web4lib at webjunction.org
> Subject: Re: [Web4lib] decentralized web content
> 
> We -- the University of Michigan Library, http://www.lib.umich.edu/ --
> moved to Drupal about 18 months ago and distributed authoring
> responsibilities to people across the library. Roughly 100 people have
> "page author" permissions (out of a total population of about 400 in the
> libraries). We are not using any workflow management within Drupal; the
> people authorized to manage their unit's content are expected to behave
> properly and discuss anything that might raise an eyebrow with their
> management/colleagues before doing it. Content is live when published or
> edited. This has worked well for us, so far. Page authors can create or
> edit content within their unit (we use Organic Groups to keep content
> 'siloed' for editing purposes), and can delete any content they create.
> 
> We have a second role, "content manager", of which there are about 20.
> Content managers are responsible for their unit's content overall; they can
> delete any content in their unit, in addition to the creating and editing
> that page authors can do. Content managers also have the ability to edit the
> unit's navigation menus.
> 
> 
> --
> Ken Varnum
> Web Systems Manager E: varnum at umich.edu
> University of Michigan Library T: 734-615-3287
> 300C Hatcher Graduate Library F: 734-647-6897
> Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1190 http://www.lib.umich.edu/
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> On 1/10/11 7:24 PM, "Angela Christofferson" <Angela.Christofferson at spl.org>
> wrote:
> 
> Our library is in the process of decentralizing our web content for our
> public website. Our goal is for employees throughout the Library to enter
> content into a content management system.
> 
> Does your library use a content management system and have a decentralized
> web content model? If so, could you share your experiences and workflow?
> For example, what roles (Author, Approver, Editor) have you created? How
> does content move through the process? How do you maintain standards,
> consistency, oversight, etc.? Can employees post directly to your website?
> 
> Thanks in advance for sharing.
> 
> Angela Christofferson
> The Seattle Public Library
> Information Technology
> 206-733-9688
> 
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