You know that feeling you get when you’re searching for a word, and you know it exists and that it’s pretty common and that if you could just think of it the other person in conversation will really grok what you’re trying to say?
Well, my friend had the reverse of that today.
He was describing his work as a Web journalist. Getting stories on the Internet, and using this thing. It’s like a forum, but for you — the journalist — to put stuff online.
friend: I think it’s called a CMS.
me: Yeah. A content management system.
I could almost see a “That’s what it stands for!” thought bubble above his head.
Which makes me wonder: what else don’t people know?
Do people know the difference between a business model and a content model? Web editor and an editing suite? XML and HTML?
Do they need to know?
I think there’s a bunch of stuff like this that everybody in journalism, not just those of us weirdos who love the Web, really do need to know. And I want to put together that vocabulary list.
At least for now, you must know this.
What should I put on it?
Dateline: Paradise 