I like the idea of the questionnaire, but do have some comments on your assumptions.
> > H1: The type of CMS will influence the > quality of the content. Companies without a CMS produce > poorer quality content than companies that do have a CMS. I think this depends on whether or not content is the company's main product or what your definition of "quality" is. We are a content company and we managed to produce quality online content without a CMS. If anything, our quality suffered when we had a CMS that didn't work well, and improved when we shut the damn thing off. > > H4: Larger numbers of non-technical contributors > of content will negatively affect the quality of content. The > impact will be more severe for companies that do not employ a CMS. I dunno. Shakespeare managed to turn out some pretty high-quality content without access to a CMS. I'm not trying to be flip (well, not too much), but it really seems as if you've decided that the technology is more important than the content. I'd argue the opposite: It's the content that really matters. Technology may help improve the delivery of content; it may even help people improve the quality of the content, but ultimately, the technology exists to serve the content. And ultimately, content is, for the most part, written by "non-technical" people. If your CMS is so complex that only Unix weenies can figure it out and that the quality will suffer when those "non-technical contributors" are set loose on it, then, if you ask me, there's something seriously wrong with your CMS. > > H8: Companies with a CMS have sites with more > up-to-date content, audited information, and a consistent > presentation. Nope! It is quite possible to have a sucky, out-of-date site with a seven-figure CMS: Just stop putting new content into it... > > H12: End-users will perceive the content on the > websites of companies that employ a CMS to be more tailored > to their needs. Not necessarily the case. We now use a CMS that actually works. To an end user, our site looks pretty much like it did before we turned the thing on (in fact, that was one of our criteria in selecting a CMS). We have yet to get to personalization; a CMS and personalization are not synonymous. Adam Gaffin Executive Editor, Network World Fusion [EMAIL PROTECTED] / (508) 490-6433 / http://www.nwfusion.com "I programmed my robotic dog to bite the guy who delivers the electronic mail." -- Kibo -- http://cms-list.org/ trim your replies for good karma.
