The critical prerequisite for a Content Interpreter is having the content in a structured and organized manner. There are two core components to a successful content management strategy.
The first is the versioning, storage and maintenance of the master copy of the files. This is the realm and strength of industry standard Enterprise Content Management Systems (ECMS) and strategies.
Second, content must be made accessible for content managers in a way that allows them to determine the feasibility of a new idea quickly and easily. If a product manager sees an opportunity to provide a collection of content to a partner in a particular format, he should be able to nimbly gauge this opportunity during the time he on the phone with this partner. If an editor wants to create a collection of assets to give out at a conference, she should be able to browse the content, chunk relevant sub-sections from larger publications, and create a customized publication for this specific occasion with rapid ease.
These advanced content browsing and creation capabilities, however, are outside of the capabilities of traditional ECMS. What’s needed to meet these needs is a Content Interpreter: a system that sits on an ECMS or Digital Asset Management System (DAMS) and converts relevant digital content from a large repository into human comprehensible content.
In the next post, we'll go over the conceptual architecture of the Content Interpreter.