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What is it?

The application of engineering discipline to the design, acquisition, management, delivery, and use of content and the technologies deployed to support the full content lifecycle.

Why is it important?

Ensures that improvement investments achieve the greatest benefits by introducing rigorous discipline to the design of content and associated technical and business processes.

Why does a content strategist need to know this?

Engineering applies scientific principles to the design, development, support, and use of systems that are themselves made up of structures and processes. The challenge of engineering is to design systems that balance and integrate a variety of considerations including usability, sustainability, affordability, manufacturability, efficiency, and effectiveness. To overcome this challenge, engineering approaches these objectives with a methodical use of precedents, standards, frameworks, measurement, testing, and state-of-the-art technologies.

It has become increasingly obvious that, in the 21st century, the business of content cannot continue to operate as a cottage industry. However well-intentioned they may be, professionals working in isolation and leveraging their preferred desktop tools and personalized techniques simply cannot keep up with the demands of a rapidly evolving, and increasingly digital, global economy.

Content engineering seeks to bring the business of content into the modern era by ensuring that content structures, tools, and processes are designed in a way that will make the most of current best practices, proven content technologies, applicable design patterns, and existing implementation experience.

Simply put, the discipline of content engineering represents the context within which content strategists, and indeed everyone involved in the content lifecycle, will operate from now on.

Author Information:

Name:

Joe Gollner

Bio:

Joe Gollner is Managing Director of Gnostyx Research, an independent consultancy and integrator specializing in applied content technologies. He has been active in the content management industry for over 20 years and has led numerous large-scale implementations where open standards were leveraged to integrate complex enterprise content processes.

Email:

jag@gnostyx.com

Website:

http://www.gnostyx.com

Twitter:

@joegollner

LinkedIn:

http://ca.linkedin.com/in/jgollner/

Facebook:

http://www.facebook.com/joegollner

Phone:

1-613-670-5786

Address:

1 Rideau Street, Suite 700 Ottawa, Ontario, Canada K1N 8S7

About Joe Gollner

Photo of Joe Gollner

Joe Gollner is Managing Director of Gnostyx Research, an independent consultancy and integrator specializing in applied content technologies. He has been active in the content management industry for over 20 years and has led numerous large-scale implementations where open standards were leveraged to integrate complex enterprise content processes.

Term:

Email: mailto:jag@gnostyx.com

Website: gnostyx.com

Twitter: @joegollner

LinkedIn: ca.linkedin.com/in/jgollner/

Facebook: facebook.com/joegollner