Absent a content management system that can report changes to Web content,
there are a couple of different strategies you can take but most require a
fair amount of manual updating. Let me at least offer one potential
strategy.
The first step will be to identify who is responsible for what. If you
happen to have a taxonomy for your Web site that outlines the various
content categories, that would help. Identifying who is responsible for
various categories across the site will help to keep a sense of order on
things.
The next step would be to come up with some rudimentary way of noting when
each section or page within the site was last update, by who and when they
anticipate making future changes. Some content will remain fairly "static"
and may only change once a semester or year but more dynamic content will
obviously change far more often. Identifying the difference between fairly
static versus dynamic content will also help in identifying what areas
within the site to concentrate your initial efforts.
Two solutions (or a combination of the two) come to mind.
1. HTML Comments: Regardless of what programming language is used to
produce a given page, you have the ability of adding comments to a page that
would not be displayed to the public but can be viewed by content managers.
If the folks responsible for content are fairly technologically savvy, this
could be a fairly simple way of keeping track of changes. This could be
done more "elegantly" by marking changes within the meta-data of a page
which could be made searchable, thus minimizing the manual effort of
reviewing every page.
2. Production Database: A fairly simple database could most certainly be
used to manage content production and scheduling. I would suggest building
the database scheme based on the taxonomy of the site and then drilling down
to sub sections or individual pages as necessary. As you noted, content
management on your site is decentralized so using something like a database
application may be preferably than a simple spreadsheet so that more than
one person can add changes at the same time.
If you think through the database design well, this database could also be
used as production scheduling system. In other words, additional fields
could be added to note when the next schedule update of content to a section
or page would need to be done (and preferably noting who is going to do
it!). With a little basic SQL knowledge, you can then create a report in a
spreadsheet application to note when and who will be making the next set of
changes (and making sure that when the changes are made, that the content
producer updates the database!).
Having said all of that, even a rudimentary content management system will
save you a lot of time and effort with managing and maintaining site
content. The return on the investment is far from immediate but it will
make life a lot easier over time.
Hope this helps!
TJ
On Thu, Feb 12, 2009 at 10:49 AM, Lorrie Jackson <
ljackson@lausanneschool.com> wrote:
> Thanks, Ernest (and the list),
>
> We are a finalsite school so I've just dropped Rob a line per your request.
> I'd like to also see best practices from other schools as well, especially
> those with limited staff or where page updates are decentralized. Thanks!
>
> Lorrie Jackson
> Director of Communications and Marketing
> Lausanne Collegiate School (Memphis, TN, USA)
> 901-474-1003
> ljackson@lausanneschool.com
> www.lausanneschool.com
> Skype: lorriejackson
> Twitter: lausanneschool or lorriejl
> Find Lausanne Collegiate School on Facebook!
>
>
>
>
>
>
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--
TJ Rainsford
E: tjrainsford@gmail.com
[ For info on ISED-L see http://www.gds.org/ISED-L ]
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