Emerson College’s graduate certificate in Digital Content Management trains students to develop impactful content and successfully deploy it across multiple platforms.
About the Digital Content Management Certificate Program
Housed in the Department of Writing, Literature and Publishing in the School of the Arts, this online certificate program consists of four courses, totaling 16 credit hours.
Curriculum
4 Required Courses
1. Metadata
This course explores the role of metadata in the evolving information ecosystems within various publishing ecosystems. The course examines the use of specific metadata schemes within the book and digital publishing industries. Topics covered include: metadata models, ontologies, metadata generation and preservation, digital rights management, text analytics, and search optimization. Coursework will include creation of metadata in the common schemas (XML, Dublin Core, EAD, CDWA, VRA, ONIX) and projects designed to provide hands-on practice.
2. Fundamentals of Content Strategy
Content strategy is about developing content as a business asset, using it to achieve specific business goals. This course is designed to help students plan and execute an effective content strategy to build an audience. It will be conducted as a dynamic live project, where students will work alone and in groups to get experience in all the facets of content strategy. They will devise a strategy, set goals, create a project plan, and conduct basic research to test their assumptions. Students will create, publish, and propagate regular content to meet the needs of the audience they define. They will learn how to organize and optimize content for maximum impact, and how to set metrics, measure results, and iterate.
3. Electronic Publishing Overview
This class is an introduction to the main platforms and areas of online publishing. The class will provide hands-on experimentation with the main online publishing platforms and will give students an overview of key concepts such as web analytics, content strategy, and user interaction. The course is designed to provide students with a basic understanding of the planning, development, and management of a digital system. Students must have basic computer skills.
4. Elective
The fourth required class is an elective. Students may choose to take a rotating topics class on subjects such as XML, Project Management, and Usability/UX Design.
Successful completion of any of the following or equivalent undergraduate courses or industry experience in a reporting and analysis function are good examples of experience with relevant quantitative analysis concepts and techniques:
- Algebra or math courses
- Introductory statistics courses
- Economics or econometrics courses
- Research methods courses
- Engineering courses
If students are unsure whether they qualify, they should seek approval from their graduate program director.
Learn more about the program, including application instructions, on the Digital Content Management certificate page.
Turn Your Certificate into a Master’s Degree
The Electronic Publishing Overview course counts as one of the core requirements for the MA in Publishing and Writing and will be offered every semester.
All other classes count as electives for the current MA program and are offered every other semester.
