w3c interop tour, brussels june 3, 2002 interoperability in content management vincent buller...
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W3C Interop Tour, Brussels
June 3, 2002
Interoperability in Content Management
Vincent Buller
Technical Product Manager / W3C AC-Rep
Presentation Overview
• BackStream introduction
• Content Management
• The Web, interoperability and Content Management
• Client Case: Mobile Information Display in Trams
Corporate information
• Founded: 2000 (Content Management experience back to 1989)
• Products and Services: content management & distribution software and implementations
• Offices:
• Amsterdam and Brussels
• Focus:
• BackStream provides high performance solutions to companies that wish to manage and distribute quality content with informative, financial or entertaining value. BackStream also provides the means to track, trace and bill content.
Content Management
What is Content Management?
• A very diverse application area
• Puts content and content workflow at the heart of the process
• Structured way of working with the content
• Treat content as a valuable asset with a lifecycle
• Repurposing of content
• Manage acquisition and distribution of content
Content Management Applications
• Web Content Management (Internet, intranet, extranet)
• Document management
• Workgroup systems
• Editorial systems for print
• Database publishing (catalogues)
• Content Syndication
• Knowledge management
• Enterprise Content Management
Traditionally, many application areas apply dedicated systems
Content Management Trends
• Increasingly applied when CM is not core business
• Has to be implemented in an existing infrastructure
• Increasing demand for a centralized management system, with distributed management and content maintenance (avoid having 6 different mission statements on a single intranet)
• Increasingly blurry boundaries between application areas (prev. slide), some examples:
• Workgroup information needs to be published on the intranet
• Traditional print publications move to digital media
CMS Environment
• Content management not always at the heart of the business (not mission critical, but efficiency improvements)
• Has to operate in an environment with
• User databases (LDAP)
• Corporate systems
• Generic databases (Relational, XML)
• External content feeds
• Content responsibility users often part-time
Sample Scenario ICorporate Intra / Extranet for large insurance company
• Content acquisition
• Lotus Notes databases with corporate information
• External feed with financial / insurance business news
• Content editing
• Distributed responsibility, multiple offices, multiple countries
• Content storage
• Inter/tranet specific content in Oracle RDBMS
• Content publication
• Both to employees (intranet) and insurance intermediaries (extranet)
• To the Web, later perhaps mobile devices
• Notifications by e-mail
Sample Scenario IINews Syndicator / Portal
• Content acquisition
• External feeds from news agencies
• Automated classification
• Content editing
• None
• Content storage
• Temporary
• Content publication
• Subscription based, delivery by e-mail and Web-portal
• Through delivery in XML
Sample Scenario IIITraditional publisher of TV program guides moves to multi-channel
• Content acquisition
• Continuous external feeds with program guide information
• Manual entry from unstructured e-mail, fax, printed info
• Content editing
• Intensive, cyclic process with translation, content editing, check against movie databases, etc.
• Content storage
• Dedicated rdbms
• Content publication
• To paper program guide through connection with DeskTop Publishing (DTP) software
• To the Web, possibly mobile devices and e-mail
How to fulfill all different requirements with a single
system?
Single Core, Application Specific Extensions
Document Management
Editorial systems
Web Content Management
Database Publishing
Common Content Management Functionality
• Acquisition of external content
• Content transformation logic
• Content classification
• Content Storage, Search and Retrieval
• User and rights management
• Distributed editorial functionality
• Workflow management
• Content tracking, tracing and billing / reporting
• Channel independent publishing
CM Core and Periphery
Common Functionality
ContentManagement
AcquisitionModule
PublishingModule
WebsitePublishing
Legacy Data
Content Feed
Database Database
Content EditingAdapter
Content Processing
XML Editor Web InterfaceGraphics editor...
Content StorageAdapter
BinaryContent
XMLContent
AnyContent
...
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Acquisition / Publication Channels
• Acquisition
• Databases
• Manual input
• Automated feeds
• Publication
• Web, mobile Internet
• SMS
• Information screens (billboards, etc)
Open approach to CM required
• Integrated solution necessary
• Integrated management and tracking of content
• But a single system cannot provide all pieces of the puzzle
• Effort
• Focus
• Market knowledge and insight
• Customers will not accept vendor lock-in or high proprietary training costs
• Interoperability with existing or market specific tools essential
W3C Specifications(“Recommendations”)
W3C Domains
• “The World Wide Web Consortium was created in October 1994 to lead the World Wide Web to its full potential by developing common protocols that promote its evolution and ensure its interoperability.”
• Related Activities are grouped into five domains
• Architecture (XML, Web Services)
• Document Formats (HTML, SVG, MathML, XSL(T), CSS)
• Interaction (Device independence, SMIL)
• Technology and Society (Semantic Web, Encryption and Signature)
• Web Accessibility Initiative
XML
• eXtensible Markup Language (XML) and related specifications created and managed by W3C
• Since its creation, XML is increasingly becoming the core specification for all W3C domains
• Extending beyond “the Web as we know it”
• Web Services help in A2A en B2B Integration
• The Semantic Web helps bringing order to (large) collections of information
• XQuery defines searching XML data collections
XML versatility
• Initially thought of as “a better HTML”
• Use “as INI-file replacement” for system configuration
• Data storage
• Document storage
• Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) / Remote Procedure Calls (RPC)
XML in Content Management
XML in Content Management
XML a natural at the Core of Content Management
• Derived from SGML (originated from publishing and documents world)
• Content XML Dialects: SVG, MathML, XHTML, DocBook (originally specified in SGML), etc.
• Unicode ‘automatically’ provides multi-language capabilities
• Meta-data also expressed in XML (XML itself, RDF)
XML in Publishing
• XML at the heart of the latest HTML version, XHTML (Rec 26 Jan 2000) (mind: not an alternative rewrite, but the only next version!)
• The promise this holds is integration of SVG and MathML into XHTML
• Modularization of XHTML also means increased interoperability between mobile and normal Web
• WAPForum defines XHTMLMP – Mobile Profile as replacement for WML; iMode’s CHTML based on HTML
• WAPForum’s User Agent Profile (UAPROF) defined based on CC/PP
• Generic Web browsers and special viewer software accept XML for display
XML Related Standards in CM
ContentManagement
AcquisitionModule
PublishingModule
WebsitePublishing
Legacy Data
Content Feed
Database Database
Content EditingAdapter
Content Processing
XML Editor Web InterfaceGraphics editor...
Content StorageAdapter
BinaryContent
XMLContent
AnyContent
...
Web ServicesXSLTXML Schema
XformsXHTMLWeb Services
XSLTWeb ServicesDRM(Encryption,Signature)XHTML
XqueryRDF
XHTMLSMILSVGMathML
Use of XML in Content Acquisition and Access
Content Acquisition
• Applicable to “true” external content and content outside immediate control (separate editing system)
• Physical content access
• For example: Relational databases, Lotus Notes data, Data feeds
• FTP, HTTP, e-mail
• Web Services to access remote systems
• Content validation
• XML Schema
• Content Transformation
• XSLT
Relational Databases• For RDBMS generic XML Translators exists
• Translation to specific XML format may be done using XSLT transformations
Generic XML Table FormatGeneric XML Table Format
Application Specific FormatApplication Specific Format
Use of XML in Content Editing
Content Editing
• Web based interface
• XML Editor
• Desktop Publishing application
Content Editing Interfaces
• Web based interface
• XForms – a specification for creating a user interface for editing a specific XML document
• XML Editor
• Direct client side editing of XML
• Desktop Publishing application
• Interaction between a DTP application and the CMS by means of Web Services
Summary
• W3C Interoperable standards enable a common approach to core content management functionality, by
• Enabling open interfaces to domain specific software
• Providing methods for transforming content
• Unifying display languages of normal and mobile web around XML and XHTML
Case: Falcom
News and Localized content in Trams in Belgium
How Web technologies apply to non-Web applications in Content Management
Falcom Application
Project goal: “create a system to display highly localized content on public transportation vehicles”
Live since September 2001
Falcom Implementation
Graphic © Falcom N.V.
The Content Processing Platform™
Next stop: <street name>
Next stop: <street name>
Next stop: <street name>
The BackStream solution (1/7)
Contentproviders
Contentintake
Contentmanagement
Contentdistribution
Redistributionservers
Trams
The BackStream Content Processing Platform delivers:
• Content input, creation, storage and distribution
• Content management, versioning and workflow
• Content transformation and conversion
• Keyword classification
The BackStream solution (2/7)
Content providers:
• Radio station: sends MP3 files and playlists
• Ad agency: sends MPEG movies (commercials)
• Public transportation company: adds service updates
• VRT (Belgium’s “BBC”): sends news articles and photos
Contentproviders
Contentintake
Contentmanagement
Contentdistribution
Redistributionservers
Trams
The BackStream solution (3/7)
Content intake:
• All textual content is converted to XML
• All content is scanned for keywords and meta data is created
Contentproviders
Contentintake
Contentmanagement
Contentdistribution
Redistributionservers
Trams
The BackStream solution (4/7)
Content management:
• Internal and external editors:
• write new articles
• add photos
• modify playlists) for multiple cities
Contentproviders
Contentintake
Contentmanagement
Contentdistribution
Redistributionservers
Trams
The Management Interface (1/3)
The Management Interface (2/3)
The Management Interface (3/3)
The BackStream solution (5/7)
Content distribution:
• All articles (in XML format) are converted to the tram’s board computer slide show format
• Playlists are generated (multiple cities and for different routes)
• Images are scaled automatically
• MP3 and MPEG files are sent
Contentproviders
Contentintake
Contentmanagement
Contentdistribution
Redistributionservers
Trams
The BackStream solution (6/7)
Redistribution servers:
• Files are transported…
• At night: via the Internet to the central tram stations
• During the day: via a wireless connection using DAB (Digital Audio Broadcasting)
Contentproviders
Contentintake
Contentmanagement
Contentdistribution
Redistributionservers
Trams
The BackStream solution (7/7)
Trams:
• The trams are equipped with on-board computers with a PowerPoint-like slide show application
• The trams are equipped with GPS. This enables the display of location-based content (e.g. tram stops and street names)
• The trams have two wireless network cards (narrowband when moving and broadband when inside the central tram station)
Contentproviders
Contentintake
Contentmanagement
Contentdistribution
Redistributionservers
Trams
Discussion