Chapter 72. Great Content Creates Great Systems

Zubin Wadia is CEO at RedRock IT Solutions and CTO at ImageWork Technologies. He has a diverse software programming background with knowledge of Basic, C, C++, Perl, Java, JSP, JSF, JavaScript, Erlang, Scala, Eiffel, and Ruby languages. His main focus is on enabling Fortune Global 500 companies and U.S. government agencies through business process-automation solutions.

Zubin Wadia
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I HAVE SEEN MY FAIR SHARE of initiatives focus endlessly on requirements, design, development, security, and maintenance, but not on the actual point of the system—the data. This is especially true in content-based systems in which the data is information delivered as unstructured or semi-structured content. Great content means the difference between a system that is hollow and one that is relevant.

Content is king. Content is the network. Content is the interface. In an increasingly interconnected world, content quality is rapidly becoming the difference between success and failure. FaceBook versus Orkut/Google versus Cuil/NetFlix versus BlockbusterOnline...the list is endless where battles have been won and lost on the content battlefield. One could argue that content-related aspects are not the software architect's problem—but I think the next decade will certainly disprove that.

Part of the design process for a new system should be devoted to assessing content ...

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