So I'm the first up to write a guest post this week; I'd better introduce myself.I'm James Clark, a colleague of Adam's, and despite what my job title ('assistant web editor') may lead you to believe, I work on both print and web.
You may have seen me commenting here on One Man and His Blog under the name 'JD', which is also the name I use on my own blog, The Engine Room.
Being a production bod with a background in subbing I'm involved with all the stages that a news story or a feature (for example) goes through between it being written and it being published. And in the case of the web, often after it is published too.
To do that I use a heap of systems: authoring tools, layout tools, a content management system, an 'editorial administration system', and our new web platform (which has its own CMS functionality). Not all of them communicate perfectly with each other, and not all of them were designed with the web in mind.
I'm not a techie, but I've been thinking for a while about what I'd really like from an integrated CMS (or CMS system, but that would be a good example of RAS syndrome).
Here's my wish list. Some of these things we have already; some we really should have; others will probably remain a pipe dream. And not a lot of them apply to those forms of journalism that lack a real workflow, such as blogging and tweeting...
Anyway, I'd like a CMS that:
- Covers all stages of the workflow, from something being commissioned to it being published (in print or on the web)
- Is happy with copy, print layout, web page layout, and images (as well as other media)
- Shows the relationship (if any) between these elements, and between print and web versions of the same story
- Allows metadata (such as copyright status) to be accessible at all stages of the workflow
- Has the option to add custom metadata fields
- Allows restrictions to be placed on those fields, eg a maximum character count
- Includes a persistent 'notes' function so that instructions and explanations can be placed at any point in an article or layout
- Offers full versioning both of draft and live stories (and layouts), including date, time and author
- Allows the user to revert to a previous version
- Allows changes to be made to a live web story without having to pull the story first
- Makes it impossible for two people to unknowingly work on the same thing at the same time and overwrite each other's changes
- Can prevent an article being progressed in the workflow unless certain actions are completed - for example filling in particular metadata fields
- Auto-saves and restores
- Offers web-based access for remote working
- Has a spellchecking facility for all stages of copy workflow, with the option to use a shared, customised dictionary
- Can prevent individuals from making changes at certain stages in the workflow, without locking them out completely
OK, I'm sure there's more but that's enough to be going on with. I'd love to hear other people's ideas.
Oh, and feel free to follow me on Twitter; I'm @engineroomblog
I work in another London-based publishing company and agree that a CMS that deals well with metadata would be very useful. What we are really after is a CMS with good workflow and general publishing to the web functionality (which we have) that also deals with blogs, forums and community-type sites (which we don't). Would love to find one out there.
Yes, maybe I'm not being ambitious enough – I haven't even thought how forums might be integrated into a CMS.
Honestly, I don't know whether blogging would benefit from inclusion into a uber-CMS, or whether it would add an unnecessary layer of complexity to what is currently a simple process.
Mind you, it would be good to have more integration between our (admittedly spiffing) company-wide digital photo library and our blogging platform; at the moment in order to use an image we have to download it from the former and then re-upload it to the latter.
We have a quirkily effective content-managment system at work--me and Duane, who have worked there for 10 years.
Just kidding.