April 2002 Issue

Predictions of consolidation in the Content Management (CM) vendor arena have appeared in nearly every major industry prognosis over the past two years. Gartner Group, for example, recently reiterated its prediction that half the CM vendors in existence in mid-2001 would leave the marketplace by the end of 2002. But the reports of CM's death have been greatly exaggerated because despite these consolidation predictions, the number of CM vendors has continued to rise.

The relationships between people who buy digital content and those selling it are more acrimonious than ever. Still, many buyers remain optimistic that compromises can be reached. But first, they say, sellers must truly understand the econtent needs of today's enterprises. Unfortunately, enterprise information managers still find the content buying process frustrating with licensing, pricing, and integration the key concerns.

Most site owners would love the opportunity to know what goes on inside the heads of their site users. For better or worse, however, technology has not yet provided us with that level of access to the mindset of site visitors. Enter the world of online surveys, which purport to provide feedback from users on the sites' content and effectiveness.

The WhizBang! name choice may have verged on the accidental, but the product itself was no accident. The extraction technology that company founder Bob Sherwin considers so whizbang wonderful consists of a unique approach to scouring the Web for current, very specific forms of information.

The Web is transforming the traditional publishing paradigm in a number of ways. Chief among them is the idea that online content has to become more service-oriented.

I was a judge for the annual awards of the UK Directory Publishers Association. This process highlighted the fact usability testing is extremely important.