Johan Blok

Faceted Search Whitepaper

I had a lot of fun experimenting with Smartsite iXperion Faceted Search and decided to write a whitepaper about it. You may find a download link  here . Enjoy and keep me posted about any interesting Faceted Search implementations you may have done.

A tight integration with Social Media

How do you position content management versus social media? Isn't it a clear conflict between the two? Recently, I have discussed these questions with a number of customers and prospects. At first sight, the conflict appears to be obvious. Content management is the domain where content, so to speak, is 'managed', in other words, created, edited, archived et cetera according to preplanned processes or workflows. On the other hand, social media is uncontrollable and unmanageble. Or is it? Approaching the...

Step five: doing more

The danger of announcing that you will take six steps, is that you will end up one step short. So - there will be no step six. The wrap-up will be part of this entry. As we have covered most basic features that will enable behavioral targeting in your web site, I want to create one more opportunity to get more interactive with our visitor. First of all, we start logging the most recent page visited and the date and time of the visit in the personalization profile (add this code to the bottom of the FollowMe...

Step Four: putting the information to work

Now that we know what the individual web site visitor is interested in, we can start serving him relevant information. Wait a minute: do we actually know if our visitor is male? And do we have any idea what his (or her) age is? These questions raise another important question: which personas do we visualize for our web site? This is out of scope for this discussion, so I will assume the personas will have been clearly specified (male/female, age group, single/relationship, et cetera). By labeling...

Step three: Gathering more relevant information

Assuming that we want to target web site visitors with suitable and relevant information, it is obvious that we need to collect as much background about the visitor as we can. In step one we collected information using the key words of the pages visited. In a way, this is derived background information. Probably the most specific indication we can collect about the visitor is his or her search terms. These are the ultimate indications of what the visitor is looking for in your web site. So let us add the...

Step two: displaying my favorite keywords

In the previous blog entry I described how to persist the favorite keywords of an individual web site visitor into his personal profile, using the Smartsite iXperion Personalization Framework. Now we will focus on displaying these personal favorite keywords. Why would I want to display my favorite keywords? Mostly to prove to you and the world around us that the approach, described before, works properly. So, for the sake of demonstration, we will create a simple Smartlet that displays the keywords of the...

Step one: using the Personalization Framework

The Personalization Framework may be one of the least valued additions to Smartsite iXperion 1.2. We may blame ourselves for not advertizing the power of this framework more agressively. In this particular case, we will use the Personalization Framework to store data that is derived from the individual's surfing behavior. The Personalization Framework does not need to be initialized, configured but is ready to go from the start (assuming you checked the right checkboxes while installing). In this particular...

Six simple steps toward behavioral targeting with Smartsite

Is behavioral targeting in Smartsite feasible? That was the question I set out to answer in a playground area. The answer is a clear "yes", and in the next few (five or so) entries I will try to outline the steps required to add this very powerful feature to a Smartsite-driven web site. But first a definition: Behavioral targeting or behavioural targeting: is a technique used by online publishers and advertisers to increase the effectiveness of their campaigns. Behavioral targeting uses information collected on...

Seneca's mission in the WCMS domain

Sometimes customers ask us for our perspective on the WCMS market. Recently, I wrote this to one of them: Our mission is to help you serve your customers. Their success in your mission will also be our success. To accomplish this we offer an excellent and state of the art product, Smartsite iXperion, and our skills and expertise in the domain. Of course, state of the art technology is only a part of our solution. In the WCMS market many tools are available; but organizations who structure their primary...

Future compatibility

Customers often ask how we protect their investments by providing compatibility. Since Smartsite has released its Smartsite iXperion platform, service releases and minor updates have been low impact, due to a long term strategy to maintain compatibility on two levels: Content, content structures, thesauri et cetera; updates do not require modification of content, content structures, thesauri or other related information. Site development, design, navigation, business logic. These are all defined in SXML, a...

Search Engine Optimization

Someone just reminded me of the Search Engine Whitepaper we produced some time last year. Though maybe not quite up to date anymore, there is no reason not to share this document. You can find it here: whitepaper . Enjoy! If you have any comments or suggestions that we can use in the next version of this document, do not hesitate to get in touch with me.

Definitions of Multi-channel

While working on a Request for Proposal, I was asked what my perspective was on channels. I thought I share this abstract with you. Feel free to comment! Channels can be defined in several ways. A channel could be considered device-oriented (channels then for instance being web site, intranet, mobile sites, narrowcasting, text messaging, PDF, RSS, Twitter, Webservices for content syndication, print or mobile apps). Some define project and product web sites as individual channels (presenting information in a...

...proudly presents: Smartsite iXperion Faceted Search

True, its acronym is not very attractive: Smartsite iXperion Faceted Search transforms into SIFS. But the power of Smartsite iXperion Faceted Search is impressive. The release of this search module is an important step in facilitating the integration of different types of content in a web site. This powerful indexed search module excels in user friendly discovery of results; site and content specific facets help users to narrow down the set of content items resulting from a search. The flexibility of...

Semantics for mere humans

Now that we have created semantic information, readable by machines (or rather, marked certain information as such), is there any way of benefiting as an ordinary human being? I believe so. I will outline one simple example and you will get the idea. After having created a semantic event in the previous blog post, we will extend the functionality by creating an "Add to Calendar" feature to the website. This link will create an entry in (let's say) Microsoft Outlook. To do this, first some preparations. Create...

Creating a semantic event

A good target for a semantic excercise is an event. The sentence: "tomorrow we will meet in Delft, starting at 10 AM" is perfectly humanly readable, but not so by machine. How to add semantic markup to an event? Imagine we have an event contenttype. It contains some specific fields, such as start date, end date, location, summary and a link to a web page with more information. We want to display relevant information with appropriate markup and make it unambigious (in the above sentence, 'tomorrow'...

Smartsite and RDFa - is there a bright new future?

The semantic future is neigh. In order to prove this, I will attempt to create a semantic web site, step by step, documented in this weblog. But first I should explain why semantic web sites are worth looking into. The standard example of a benefit of a semantic web page is that machines can read them. Which machines, we will discuss some other time. Where it is obviously clear that the text: "this page was written by John Doe" adds author information to the human reader, a machine will not detect...

The Emperor is dead. Long live the Emperor!

Not quite fair to use this quote, but I could not help thinking about it when I read an article in Computable about Sharepoint. The proud title was: 'RAI stapt over op Sharepoint 2010". The article then goes on to explain RAI is upgrading to Sharepoint 2010 because 2007 was failing in so many ways. Here are some original quotes from the article: “Het huidige systeem is traag”. “Het huidige content management systeem is instabiel.” “Voor het contentbeheer van websites zijn de...

Semantic web draws closer

Recently, we have seen a new - or should I say revived - focus on the semantic web. RDF has been a longstanding development, but with the appereance of XHTML+RDFa new windows have opened up. I do believe that during the definition phase of a project, it is essential to determine which semantic objectives should be accomplished. And don't limit yourself to a time scope of six months, but consider a period of two or three years. As a consultant, help your customer to understand the full future potential of...

New Personalization Module opens Doors to infinite User Experience

This new module, released with Smartsite iXperion 1.2, offers great possibilities. You can now store any information regarding a particular user in his managed profile. Some of this information will be explicit, i.e. defined or set by the user. Other information, however, will be implicit, or derived from the behavior of the website visitor. The Personalization Framework is the cornerstone to any marketing tool built for Smartsite iXperion. For our next Smartlet Competition Episode we are looking at smart...

The forgotten art of metadating

The contribution below was written for Computable. Obviously Smartsite iXperion is the perfect vehicle to facilitate metadated information, but I could not say that in the Computable piece. Introductie Het is niet chique om over metadata te spreken. Het woord alleen al heeft een technische en mystieke associatie waarmee weinigen overweg kunnen. Toch neemt de rol van metadata hand over hand toe. Een belangrijke functie van metadata is om het informatieaanbod op voor de raadpleger relevante wijze te selecteren en...

Three WCMS trends in 2010

In my Computable blog I have listed three trends in WCMS for 2010. Quite risky to make such bold statements. Of course, the Computable platform does not offer me the change to tell you that I think these trends will show mostly if you actually start working with Smartsite iXperion. The three trends are: Websites will become (more) semantic Content targeting will increase More for less in a shorter time. Content Targeting In the near future, I would like to contribute more on semantic websites. Now I will...

Agile development using Smartsite iXperion

Some people have asked if Smartsite is suitable for Agile development. I will try and briefly explain why I think this is extremely true. What is Agile? But first, let's dive into Agile development. Wikipedia mentions: "Agile methods are a family of development processes, not a single approach to software development. The Agile Manifesto states: We are uncovering better ways of developing software by doing it and helping others do it. Through this work we have come to value: Individuals and interactions...

Smartsite iXperion - a successful application platform

Over the last months of 2009, Seneca has worked intensely on the "Seneca E-Loket Suite 3.0", built on top of Smartsite iXperion. Meanwhile, the first customers have taken this application in production. This E-Loket Suite mixes a number of interesting technologies. The Suite facilitates applications from citizens and companies at their local government's internet website. It combines standardized "GEMMA" forms, based on Dutch authorities' specifications, user (applicant) authentication using DigiD, payment...

Smartsite Roadmap 2010 and onward

Yesterday (December 15th, 2009) , we met a number of experts from the Smartsite Business Partner network to discuss the direction for the future. After presenting our concept roadmap, Jan Vissers led the discussion and interaction about new requirements, wishes for new features and so on. Several very useful suggestions came up. Representatives from (among others) Digipoint, Servicepoint Belgium, Imtech ICT, TamTam and Colours interacted with us on future market developments. The results of this meeting...

Seneca E-Loket Suite 3.0

After a succesful commercial launch of the Seneca E-Loket Suite 3.0, last month in Utrecht, we are now in full swing with the first implementations for local governments. The workhorse for the Suite is Smartsite iXperion 1.2 , which offers many fine new features. The E-Loket Suite provides e-Government features for 38 local government products, as defined in the GEMMA e-Formulierenstandaard. The robust and at the same time elegant architecture combines with state of the art technology, such as new DigiD and...

New Outscaling Dashboard

You are probably familiar with Smartsite Outscaling, a powerful mechanism to synchronize content selections over multiple server instances. Outscaling may be used in order to connect an "inside" CMS to an "outside" publication environment, or to provide redundancy or loadbalancing over multiple publication engines, among many other applications. You can find more info on Outscaling in our reference documentation . Outscaling is generally invoked by content management actions, such as adding a new content item...

Smartsite Management Information revisited

Currently, the team is working on a new presentation layer for Smartsite Management Information. This tool can register virtually any activity on the web site as well as within the content management system. The presentation layer offers insightful reports about visitor behavior etcetera. Some of the things you might want reported as a web master of a public web site: popular search terms, search terms leading to zero results, the number of new or modified content items, archived items and so on. Obviously,...

Personalization is the key

The new Personalization Framework, that will be part of Smartsite iXperion 1.2, will open fantastic perspectives on personalized web sites. Those who visited the recent Knowledge Session will already have been convinced by a presentation by Marc van Neerven . For the presentations, check this out . The Personalization Framework will be part of the Smartsite iXperion core and will not require a separate license. The Personalization Module with a number of Smartlets will be licensed. Be on the lookout for...

Smartsite Smartlet Competition

At the knowledge session of September 17th, I announced a Smartlet competition. The object of this competition is twofold: first we want to encourage developers to get acquainted with the Smartsite Client Framework (SCF). Secondly, we want to encourage developers to contribute to the Smartsite iXperion community. The Smartlet competition challenges you - yes, you! - to develop Smartlets that show the benefit of Web 2.0 technology. Different types of Smartlets will be considered: Smartlets intended for mash-ups...

Successful Knowledge Session

Seneca organized a knowledge session last week. The program consisted of presentations about Smartsite iXperion release 1.2 (by Marc Derksen ), Smartsite Indexed Search and Smartsite Personalization Framework and Module (by Marc van Neerven ). A practical case was presented by Sjoerd de Nennie, CMS developer at Seneca Customer Solutions. Turnout exceeded expectations and we do apologize to everyone who could not find a seat during the sessions. Keep your eyes peeled to this website to find out about...

Include Payment Features using Ogone

Smartsite iXperion 1.2 will offer a new Ogone payment module. Ogone brings reliable and accessible payment functionality. The brand new Smartsite iXperion Ogone module provides extensive logging for debugging and testing purposes and will be fully supported throughout the Smartsite iXperion life cycle. Now your last reason to not use Smartsite iXperion for e-Commerce has evaporated! By the way, are you familiar with the previously released Smartsite Shopping Cart module? With a number of new features,...

New DigiD module expected

With the release of Smartsite iXperion 1.2, you may also expect a new module for authentication of website visitors using DigiD. DigiD is the way Dutch government agencies authenticate its users. DigiD currently supports user types 'citizens' and 'companies'. Local governments has been using DigiD extensively for e-Serivces. The Dutch Tax Agency (Belastingdienst) uses the same method of authentication for all online transactions. Other regional governmental organizations, such as water management...