[Authors] Call for Papers -- Content Management Systems

[Cutter Consortium]

CALL FOR PAPERS
*Cutter IT Journal*
Brad Kain, Guest Editor

Content Management Systems -- The Next Decade

Content management -- how to acquire, store, maintain, and use 
content -- continues to be a vibrant technology sector. The past 10 
years has seen tremendous change in the products and underlying 
technology that provide content management systems, or CMS. The 
number of software products that can, sometimes loosely, be counted
as CMS rose dramatically. Even after recent consolidation in this 
market there are perhaps more than 200 products that support the core
functions of a CMS. XML and its related standards has become the 
common technology for managing content. Yet this sector continues 
to engage the energies of leading software companies and the open 
source communities around the world. How will CMS tools and 
technologies change in the next 10 years?

Content management is at a crossroad, with a range of market and 
technology forces at work that will alter this sector. A fundamental 
question is one of definition. A wide range of applications comprise 
content management, including record and document management, 
search, online and print publishing, knowledge management, and 
other disciplines. Which application areas will continue to define 
content management? Which vendors will dominate? Will open 
source solutions emerge as viable solutions for corporate IT?

THE *CUTTER IT JOURNAL* INVITES USEFUL DEBATE 
AND ANALYSES on the state of content management systems. 
Authors are encouraged to promote and defend their opinions, 
with high-quality answers to the questions surrounding this 
evolving technology. 

TOPICS OF INTEREST MAY INCLUDE (but are certainly not 
limited to) a combination of the following:

-- Content management has its roots in document management, 
   publishing, knowledge management, and other disciplines. What 
   are the essential features and functions of a CMS? In other 
   words, what is and is not a CMS?

-- Does "Enterprise Content Management" provide a useful 
   categorization of content management tools and technologies, 
   or is it vendor-driven hyperbole?

-- What are the emerging technologies that will dramatically improve
   the capability of end users to actually use the content in a CMS? 
   Will products that use taxonomies, categorization, semantic 
   analysis, indexing and search, or other technologies be the next 
   "killer app"?

-- In 10 years, will CMS functions be intrinsic to operating and files 
   systems, database servers, application servers, or other major  
   IT systems?

-- Industry experience has shown that content migration and 
   acquisition is the most expensive and time-consuming activity  
   for a CMS deployment. How can a CMS improve content migration 
   and acquisition? (Award zero points for any response that 
   includes "rekeying.")

-- Content management -- in particular, the persistence of structured 
   content -- has two divergent approaches. In one approach, content is 
   managed as XML documents with controlling document types or XML 
   schemata. Other products use a database to store and manage the 
   content in a CMS. Which approach will emerge as the dominant 
   persistence model for CMS?

-- Will the power and robustness of open source CMS enable a few 
   heavyweights to stand toe-to-toe with EMC, Oracle, IBM, and the 
   other bruisers? Or will the regulatory requirements of many sectors 
   (e.g., Sarbanes-Oxley) force corporate IT to stick with the defending, 
   but overweight champions?

TO SUBMIT AN ARTICLE IDEA 
Please send an article outline/abstract to Guest Editor Brad Kain 
(bkain at cutter.com), with a copy to itjournal at cutter.com, by 
March 14, 2005.
 
ARTICLE DEADLINE 
Articles are due on April 15, 2005.

EDITORIAL GUIDELINES 
Most *Cutter IT Journal* articles are approximately 2,500-3,500 
words long, plus whatever graphics are appropriate. If you have any  
other questions, please do not hesitate to contact *CITJ’s* managing  
editorKaren Pasley (kpasley at cutter.com) or Guest Editor Brad Kain 
(bkain at cutter.com). Editorial guidelines are available at 
http://www.cutter.com/itjournal/edguide.html.

AUDIENCE 
Typical readers of *Cutter IT Journal* range from CIOs and vice 
presidents of software organizations to IT managers, directors, 
project leaders, and very senior technical staff. Most work in fairly 
large organizations: Fortune 500 IT shops, large computer vendors
(IBM, HP, etc.), and government agencies. 48% of our readership
is outside of the US (15% from Canada, 14% Europe, 5% 
Australia/NZ, 14% elsewhere). Please avoid introductory-level, 
tutorial coverage of a topic. Assume you're writing for someone 
who has been in the industry for 10 to 20 years, is very busy, and
very impatient. Assume he or she will be asking, "What's the point? 
What do I do with this information?" Apply the "So what?" test to 
everything you write. 

PROMOTIONAL OPPORTUNITIES 
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speaking engagements -- furthering your own promotional efforts.

ABOUT *CUTTER IT JOURNAL* 
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