Publishing Systems

The publishing category focuses on the delivery of large quantities of information or data to a variety of audiences. These might include broad, varied content (such as a search engine or directory site) or more focused, narrow content (such as Lexis-Nexis' online law and business libraries or small product information sites that move beyond simple marketing information). In addition, some publishing systems may allow their audience to contribute content instead of merely publishing company-generated information. Here, publishing systems begin to merge with communities enabling greater audience participation. Publishing systems typically require advanced forms of navigation and might require content management and creation solutions.

There are few pre-built systems for these uses, but several products can be adapted to the particular needs of the content and the audience. Systems that allow audiences to navigate content in several ways not only serve a more varied base of users and problems, but also allow users multiple ways of getting answers based on their particular need. These are usually more successful than systems that offer only one way to find information.

The quantity of the information to be published will be a factor in the cost, scale, or complexity of a publishing site.

The features and functions of typical publishing systems include:

• Automatic and Semi-automatic Publishing Systems
• Workflow Development
• Remote Publishing Engines
• Cross-media Publishing Integration
• Content Management Systems
• Data Visualization

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