As usually happens in life, it turns out that a wave of subjects have me thinking about the same problem on several fronts. I am helping a client prepare for a CMS migration and in the process, helping them form a strategy to clean up their site of ROT (redundant, outdated, trivial) content. By the same token, I am attending and speaking at the Potomac Forum on June 23rd, focused on Building Better Government Websites. So ROT has been on my mind a lot.
Specifically, it is fascinating that we are coming up with all together new terminology and methodologies for doing something that has been a tradition from the earliest of times. Libraries, or the “collection of useful material for common use”, date back to Ugarit, and progressed through the Hellenic world and Rome. And looking at how collections have evolved since circa1900 B.C., as well as how librarians deal with collections, should really teach us a thing or two about relevance of information, the unnecessary need for multiple copies of the same or similar thing, and keeping in circulation those things, which are useful to our site visitors.
Thus in the spirit of libraries, I spent several days in my local one, and observed differences since the last time I visited. There are fewer books, many more DVDs and CDs, a slew of computers with online reading resources, and even (here it goes!) an eBook reader. Evolution of this brick and mortar structure is taking place regularly and the librarians are readily ridding (or disposing) of items with marginal relevance to visitors, and updating shelves with things that are connected to our everyday needs. And with thousands upon thousands of items, one would think it is hard to clear and update the information collection, but the librarians assure me it is not. That is, as long as you apply the “weeding technique” and ensure you stay true to it.
Weeding, you see, is the process of cleaning out your information collection in the same way you would your garden. All at once, or periodically. Through special projects, or when a new mandate arises. It doesn’t really matter as long as you do it. Sound familiar? If you have deal with ROT, or if you haven’t, learning to weed will solve your challenge and set you up for success going forward. That way, you will maintain a useful collection of information, relevant to your audience, and join the ranks of history through a well-preserved collection.
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I totally agree with you about using library methods to weed content. It is actually quite useful to think of it in that context, as it becomes content something that you own and value and display and share rather than a dumping ground where anyone publishes 75 page long PDFs.