CM (Content Management) is a set of technologies and processes that support the evolutionary life cycle of a digital information. This digital information is often called "content" or, to be precise, "digital content". In this context, it may take the form of text (such as documents, multimedia files, such as video or audio files) or any other file type, only if it follows a content lifecycle which requires management.
The goals and practices of Content Management vary with mission. Educational institutions, news organizations, e-commerce websites etc. all use Content Management, of course in different ways. This logically leads to differences in terminology and in the number of steps in the process and the names. In most cases, though, the digital content life cycle consists of 6 primary phases:
1. create
2. update
3. publish
4. translate
5. archive
6. retrieve
Let's take an example. An instance of digital content is usually created by one or more authors (1). Over time that digital content may be edited, which means, one or more individuals may provide some editorial oversight thereby approving the content of publication (2). The publishing (3) itself may take many forms. It may be the act of pushing content out to others, but also simply granting digital access rights (4) to certain content to a particular person or group of persons. Later on, the content may be superseded by another form of content. It may be then thus retired or removed from use (5,6).
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