What do a Fisheries Biologist and medical device manufacturers have in common?

A Fisheries Biologist working with a government agency in Seattle contacted me a few days ago. She recognized that she is not in the medical device industry but felt that there must be some similarities in the way all industries handled large amounts of information and asked if I could give her some advice on a book that might get her started. After spending some time to compile some information and links I decided that this information may be valuable to many.

If after reading this you have additional information that could help others looking for advice on content management and version control then please feel free to leave a comment.

My Response
Managing large amounts of content has many of the same issues in every industry. There are not a lot of books written about this to date. Anne Rockley is considered the “Guru of Content Management”. Her book “Managing Enterprise Content” is the industry standard. You can get this at Amazon. She has a great blog and online webinars with lots of information. She has also just published a DITA book “DITA 101” found at www.lulu.com. JoAnn Hackos is another “Content Guru”. She has published several books and she delivers workshops and hosts conferences attended and presented by some of the world leaders in content management.

You may want to attend a conference like the Document and Training West (next year), Gilbane Boston or Intelligent Content. There are often very knowledgeable speakers at these events as well as the industry leaders as key note speakers. These are great people to get connected to when you have a large project in the works.

You may want to consider joining CM Pros (Content Management Professionals). Their membership is filled with amazing, knowledgeable people. They also have a conference (The Summit) that is worth attending to get a chance to meet these people.

Another place to go for training may be through AIIM. They are connected to the industry and I’ve heard them speak on webinars in affiliation with a lot of other leaders and speakers.

One Other Thing
One thing I did not mention was that some of the best resources are the vendors. CMS vendors have a lot of information on the reasons for implementation and often host webinars and seminars in affiliation with industry experts. Get on their mailing lists to stay on top of the industry trends.