The Architecture of Content Reuse

Ann Rockley President, The Rockley Group Inc., 445 Apple Creek Blvd, Suite 120, Markham ON, LOG ITO. E-mail: rockley@rockley.com.

Steve Manning Senior Consultant, The Rockley Group E-mail: manning@rockley.com.

As organizations have moved towards content management and dynamic delivery of content they have begun to create reusable content. Reusable content is object-oriented content that can be used across documents, across media and across information types. Reusable content can consist of entire documents, sections, paragraphs, sentences, or even individual words.

Effective content reuse requires robust information models, metadata, and strategies for utilizing content management and personalization to support reuse. This paper provides the concepts, strategies, guidelines, processes, and technological options that will empower enterprise content managers and information architects to meet the increasing demands of creating, managing, and distributing reusable content.

hat is content reuse? Content reuse is the practice of using existing

components of content to develop new “documents”. Most organizations already reuse content, though they copy and paste it. This works well until the content has to be updated everywhere it appears. Finding the content everywhere it has been revised can be time consuming. Not only is this time consuming, but it also causes errors if some occurrences of revised content are missed. Benefits include:

Reuse methods There are two methods for reuse: opportunistic reuse

(authors makes a conscious decision to reuse content) and systematic reuse (planned reuse where content is automatically inserted). Within each method of reuse there are three options: locked reuse (reused content cannot be changed), derivative reuse (reused content can be changed), and nested reuse (multiple versions of the content are contained within the same element). Opportunistic reuse

Opportunistic reuse occurs when authors make a conscious decision to find an element, retrieve it, and reuse

it. Opportunistic reuse is the most common form of reuse. Opportunistic reuse does not rely on specific technology; it can be done without a content management system even though a content management system is advisable. Systematic reuse

Systematic reuse is planned reuse. Once specific content has been identified as reusable in a specific location, the reusable content is automatically inserted (auto-populated) to the appropriate locations. Authors do not have to determine if the reusable content exists or search for and retrieve it. Systematic reuse reduces the burden on authors to know that reusable content exists, to find the reusable content, and to insert it appropriately. Systematic reuse relies on a content management system and dynamic content delivery. Locked reuse

Locked reuse is where an element is reused unchanged. Only the original author may change it, ensuring that key content is reused identically. You can systematically reuse or opportunistically reuse a locked element. Derivative reuse

When a reusable content element is edited, the element becomes a derivative, or a “child” of the original “parent” element. A derivative element continues to be related to the original, such that if the original (parent) changes, the author of the derivative (child) element is notified of the change and can decide whether or not to incorporate the change. Providing derivative reuse increases the flexibility of reuse. Nested reuse

Nested reuse is content that has a number of reusable elements contained within a single element. The sum of all the elements creates an element, and subsets of the element can be used in alternate information products.

Nested reusable information provides authors with the ability to create content for all the outputs at the same time, thereby providing context and frequently speeding up the authoring process.

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Information Modeling Models formalize the structure of the content in

guidelines, templates, and structured frameworks such as DTDs or schemas. Through information modeling, you identify and document the framework upon which your reuse strategy is based. Information product models

The information product model defines the content’s elements, attributes and metadata, as well as the relationship among elements. Authors follow the model to create and compile information products consistently. Element models

An element model breaks the information product model down even further, describing the components that are assembled to create the information product. Components of models

An information model is comprised of a number of components, which describe the semantic information, the base information, the metadata, and the architectural information.

Semantic information describes what goes into each element using semantic tags, i.e., tags that have a specific meaning.

Base information describes the common naming of each element within a container and uses generic tags or “base elements”.

Metadata for reuse identifies the components of content that can be reused in multiple areas.

Architectural information provides information on how content should be reused (e.g., systematic), guidelines for how you want the content formalized in your DTD or templates (e.g. use semantic tags or not), where content is reused, and how it is reused (e.g., Locked (L) or Derivative (D)).

Implementing the design There are many ways you can implement your models

depending on your authoring requirements, technology, and desired results. XML

XML is a very powerful technology for reuse. The key to effective reuse is consistency. Common types of information should have a consistent structure and reusable pieces of information should have a predictable structure. With a DTD, structural consistency is assured. XML authoring can check documents against a DTD to ensure that all required elements are in place, in the right order. Authoring forms

Authoring forms can guide authors in entering structured content. Authoring forms can be used in

conjunction with XML and a DTD, as an alternative to a DTD, or as an interface to a CMS or database. Structural templates (traditional authoring tools)

Structural templates are formatting templates that use structural names to represent the structural elements of documents. They are used in implementations where traditional word-processing or desktop publishing tools provide the authoring functionality. Structural templates use semantic names as style names. Metadata

Metadata can be stored in different places, depending on the capabilities of your CMS and the data format you are using. Typically, a CMS stores metadata in tables in the underlying database.

In XML, metadata can be stored in elements or in attributes. Most interfaces between XML authoring tools and the CMS include functionality to extract the metadata from the XML tile when it is checked in and apply it to the metadata fields in the CMS interface. Style sheets

Style sheets have different capabilities depending on the technology that you are using. When used with traditional authoring tools, style sheets control both the look of the document in the editor and the look of the document in the output. In XML, style sheets have a much broader capability. They have all of the power of traditional style sheets and templates, but can also provide additional functionality such as:

sorting supplying boiler plate text hiding text

repeating or rearranging text You can have output style sheets. You can also have

display styles sheets, which are used to format content for display in authoring tools.

After the authoring is complete, the content management or publication engine uses the output templates are used to provide the format for the specified output. While authors should control their own display templates, output templates should remain ”locked” to maintain their consistency and make them easier to manage.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This content is derived with permission from “Managing

Enterprise Content: A Unified Content Strategy” by Ann Rockley with Pamela Kostur and Steve Manning, October 2002, New Riders Publishing (ISBN 0735713065)

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