Content Sources
Last week, I was at a “kick-off” meeting for a client that wanted to fundamentally refresh their online strategy. I was pleasantly surprised that they had already had some serious thoughts around governance once their new baby went online. It is amazing how many large sized implementations have got off the ground without this thinking being done up-front.
Most organizations treat Portal implementations as a project that will result in some operational changes. Few, however, realize the importance of having a good governance process in place. For Information Portals, the processes around content governance will directly influence the portal’s success.
A portal’s content can be sourced from three channels:
a) Internally produced content: Content that is produced by the organization – either internally or contracted out to a specialist organization
b) Syndicated Content: Content that is produced by a trusted, specialist organization. The producer sells the content to multiple organizations. (e.g. news and images from AP)
c) User Generated Content: Content that is generated by the portal’s customers and other site visitors.
Trouble brews when the governance processes fail to consider that these sources of content are fundamentally different and require different sets of governance processes. This is because the content from each source differs in:
a) The copyright holder that owns the content / the licensing terms under which the content is used
b) The quality, accuracy and fitness of purpose of the content
c) The technical integrity of the content
Comments
I strongly believe content is king for any portal, when people come to your website, 90% are actually coming for information purpose only, so providing the right and authentic information is really crucial.
Posted by: Raja | November 13, 2008 11:30 AM
Raja,
That is a spot-on observation. Most portals operate very much like a sales funnel - with unidentified visitors at the top and return customers at the bottom. The quality and quantity of content is perhaps the key contributor for the conversions.
However, there are portals which are tools for providing service rather than sales. For such portals, the ability to transact online is much more important than the content.
Posted by: Freddi Gyara | November 14, 2008 05:31 AM