Louis M. Weitzman

Exploring the Web with reconnaissance agents

C A R EN R O SE N B LA TT Every click on a link is a leap of faith. When you click on the blue underlined text or on a picture on a Web page, there is always a (sometimes much too long) moment of suspense when you are waiting for the page to load. Until you actually see what is behind the link, you don’t know whether it will lead to the reward of another interesting page, to the disappointment of a junk page, or worse, to a “404 Not Found” error message. But what if you had an assistant always looking ahead for you—clicking on the Web links and Why surf alone? New agent technology can scout out the online terrain and recommend the best paths for you to follow.

Transforming the content management process at IBM.com

This case study explores the evolution of the Franklin Content Management System, developed by IBMs Internet Technology Group. Franklin began as a technology-driven process to provide a web content management solution with the following goals: content reusability, simplified management of content and design that enforces integrity and consistency, the customization of content to individual users, and the delivery of content to a variety of display devices.These goals were met in part by the decomposition of information into reusable fragments represented in XML. This approach provides unique opportunities in a content management system. However, it also raises some interesting challenges in the deployment of such a tool and the education of its users.The development of Franklin evolved over a two year period and has culminated in the deployment of 62 country portals within the ibm.com domain. Furthermore, concepts from the Franklin project are influencing the strategy and design of IBM offerings.

Meta-design for sensible information

Many content management systems today do not take into account how the information is to be used. These tools, and the designers who use them, must adapt to the new environment in which we live. Designers can not be present at all times to craft each presentation. Likewise, systems must support the design process to ensure the consistent and timely presentation of information in a variety of contexts. These systems need to provide information fragments for reuse in a variety of contexts. In addition, these information fragments need to have a “sense of themselves” in order to be able to render properly in these different contexts. These different situations each have their own requirements on the information. The information, therefore, must be carefully designed and can not be automatically derived. Content management systems must support sensible fragments of information that can be presented in different contexts so that it is relevant to the task at hand and to the device on which it is rendered.