Write Once, Read Many: Creating Managing and Distributing Agile Content

Bob Kelly, director, Journal Information Systems, American Physical Society; and Brian O'Leary, principal, Magellan Media Consulting Partners, met years ago in Germany. Brian was a panelist at a conference and Bob was an attendee. After striking up a conversation right then and there, they knew that they would make a great team for speaking on the topic of agile content.
 
With the concurrent session "Write Once, Read Many," they hoped to answer four questions for the audience:
 

• What is agile content?
• Why is agile content important for association publishers?
• How is agile content used by association publishers?
• How do we get started?

 
Brian and Bob pointed out that association publishers need to become more agile. Digital content will be reused (it already is), simpler processes help do more with less, standardized files support cost-effective future products and services, and it won't be just you deciding how your content is consumed.
 
During the session, much attention was paid to XML content and the agility that it provides across multiple platforms.
 
"What you have with XML content is the ability to repurpose it," Bob said. "That's really what it's all about."
 
"The whole environment is changing," Bob said. "What we're publishing today and how we deliver it today won't be the same tomorrow. It's up to us to bring it to our organizations and make it deliverable to our readers and members."