Free online resources

Once again, I'm splitting this category into UCM-specific resources—blogs, article sites, and discussion forums that focus on Oracle UCM and related technologies, Generic Oracle resources and, an even broader category of those, who lead the way in Information Management.

Obviously, I'd like to begin with the UCM-specific sites.

Oracle UCM—specific resources

Below is an alphabetic list of resources with my brief comments and/or publisher's own descriptions.

Name and URL	Description
Bex Huff http://bexhuff.com	Brian "Bex" Huff is the author of the first Developer's book on Stellent UCM (back in 2006, when it was not owned by Oracle, I'm recommending this book later in this chapter). Brian's site offers a great collection of resources on Oracle UCM, Oracle Fusion Middleware, and some life hacks too.
C4 Blog http://cfour.fishbowlsolutions.com	C4 stands for Content, Collaboration, Context, and Community. This is a blog run by Fishbowl Solutions. With over a decade of Oracle Universal Content Management (Stellent) expertise, Fishbowl is happy to share some of that expertise with you! Many of its best and brightest consultants are contributing to this blog, so that you can make better decisions, faster, and continue to do more.
Content Management Simplified blog http://cmstechie.blogspot.com	From time to time, this blogs offers some good, from-the-trenches tips for Oracle UCM developers.
David Roe' Content on Content Management http://contentoncontentmanagement.com	David's primary focus is implementing Oracle Content Server. His blog is a great resource for developers, who focus on customization and system integration.
EnterpriseTwoDotOh http://blogs.oracle.com/EnterpriseTwoDotOh	This blog offers great insider tips from the trenches, by an Oracle Employee and UCM practitioner.
FusionECM blog http://blogs.oracle.com/fusionecm	Another Oracle blog run by John Brunswick. John is an Enterprise 2.0 Solution Consultant at Oracle, specializing in enterprise portal and content management solutions. He is passionate about both business and technology. This blog provides technical strategy and tips to help customers make the most of their technology investments.
Independent Oracle UCM Knowledge Center http://stellentexperts.com/blog	Right and wrong UCM strategies—and little pointers that keep your projects on track.
John Sim' Blue Studios http://www.bluestudios.co.uk/blog	John offers frequent technical posts on Oracle UCM, WebCenter, and some free Content Server components.
Kyle Hatlestad's blog http://blogs.oracle.com/kyle	Kyle Hatlestad works in the Enterprise Solutions Group at Oracle and focuses on Content Management and Enterprise 2.0 products. Kyle is an old-timer who came to Oracle through the acquisition of Stellent in 2007.
Michael Caruana's WebMonkeyMagic blog http://webmonkeymagic.blogspot.com	WebMonkeyMagic is a blog that helps web developers who are using Oracle UCM with SiteStudio. It's like a journal of tips and tricks that Michael discovered firsthand. He also talks about Content Server administration and offers plenty of advice for maintaining and configuring the system.
Oracle ECM Alerts blog http://blogs.oracle.com/ecmalerts	This is an internal Oracle blog, run (in part) by Shahid Rashid from the ECM (UCM) Product Management Team. This blog's areas of coverage include records management across the US, Europe, and Asia, SharePoint integration, email, eDiscovery, compliance, and partnerships.
Oracle Fusion Middleware Technology blog http://blogs.oracle.com/garyniu	Another Oracle blog, run by Gary Niu—focusing on UCM and Oracle WebCenter.
Redstone CMS blogs http://www.corecontentonly.com and http://businessvalue.corecontentonly.com	This is a technical blog with a primary focus in Oracle UCM, Enterprise 2.0 and Portals, and Service-Oriented Architecture. Redstone's business blog that covers the topics of interest to the business user community.
Software Development and Technical Expertise for ECM blogs http://softwaredevelopmentforecm.wordpress.com and http://ecmtechnicalexpertise.wordpress.com	These blogs run by software developers at Image Source Consultancy with posts mostly focusing on Oracle Imaging and Business Process Management (IPM), and general Web Development tools and techniques.

Oracle UCM Discussion Forums

Below is an alphabetic listing of places where you can post your UCM-related questions and participate in technical discussions online.

Name and URL	Description
AIIM Communities http://aiimcommunities.org	AIIM is the community that provides education, research, and best practices to help organizations find control, and optimize their information. They also organize and sponsor a number of popular industry events. This site is focused on Enterprise 2.0, Electronic Records Management, and more. You will find wiki, blogs, buyer's guides, and online discussions here.
IOUG' Oracle Content Management SIG http://www.ioug.org	Shortly after Stellent acquisition by Oracle, Independent Oracle User Group (IOUG) set up the Oracle Content Management Special Interest Group (Stellent SIG). It provides a forum and open discussion, related to UCM products. This is a mailing list you can subscribe to—for gaining an insight about the top IOUG Stellent-related events, and you can ask questions too! Just go to: www.ioug.org and search for Stellent.
Minnesota Stellent User Group http://www.mnsug.com	Minnesota Stellent User Group (MNSUG) is a forum designed for the exchange of knowledge and ideas to enhance the Stellent user's experience. It is one of the oldest user groups for Stellent and Oracle UCM products.
Oracle Forums http://forums.oracle.com	This is the Oracle's own online community. Go to User Interaction and Content Management and click on More... link to access the Enterprise Content Management forum.
Oracle MIX http://mix.oracle.com	Oracle Mix provides social networking, idea sharing, groups, and more for the Oracle community. I suggest you check out the Enterprise Content Management (ECM) and Enterprise 2.0 (E2.0) groups. ECM Group is for people interested in Oracle Enterprise Content Management such as UCM, Oracle Content Server, Beehive, DAM, and IRM—for sharing their knowledge, ideas, complains, problems, and challenges. Enterprise 2.0 group is for those interested in applying collaboration and web 2.0 techniques in the corporate world.
Yahoo intradoc_users · Stellent Users Group http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/intradoc_users	This is the oldest (dating back to 1999) Stellent and Oracle UCM online discussion forum I know about. The group facilitates an open discussion on all technical aspects of UCM implementation, development, and customization.

Social networking groups

Below is a partial listing of UCM-related discussion groups formed inside many popular social networks. Some of those are UCM-specific and some have more general focus.

Name and URL	Description
AIIM Linked In group http://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=3698	This group is focused on helping organizations find, control, and optimize their information—intelligent information management. Focus areas: document management, imaging, records management, web content management, workflow, and collaboration.
Content Management Professionals Facebook group http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2380373544	Content Management Professionals is the worldwide organization for people who want to learn more about content management from other professionals.
Oracle UCM Facebook group http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=6301164132	A group for people who know and use Oracle UCM and would like to leverage the network of information. Also a good way to keep tabs on people and projects that are happening around the world of UCM.
Stellent and Oracle UCM Linked in group http://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=51413	This group is for architects and developers with experience using Oracle UCM.
WebCenter Linked In group http://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=2256274	This is a place where you can discuss all the aspects of Oracle WebCenter Suite.

Resources on Oracle technologies

Name and URL	Description
Angelo Santagata's Blog http://blogs.oracle.com/angelo	Angelo is an architect and technology evangelist at Oracle. His blog is focused on Web Center and Fusion Middleware.
Bob Rhubart's ArchBeat blog http://blogs.oracle.com/archbeat	This is another Oracle blog, that shows you what's happening in and around the Oracle Technology Network (OTN) Architect Community.
Brian Dirking' Content@Work blog http://bdirking.blogspot.com	Brian's blog is more marketing-focused. He tells you about recent events, business problems, and customer experiences.
Dirk Nachbar's blog http://dirknachbar.blogspot.com	Dirk is a practicing Oracle Application Server and Fusion Middleware expert, Oracle DBA and Oracle Certified Trainer. He shares his battle-hardened tactics, common pitfalls, tips and tricks, and implementation secrets that he learns in his daily consulting work. He shares things, that are not so obvious from Oracle product documentation, and saves his readers hours, days, and even weeks of trial and error.
IOUG http://www.ioug.org	The Independent Oracle User Group (IOUG) represents the voice of Oracle technology and database professionals, and focuses on topics including implementing, upgrading and tuning Oracle Database 10g and 11g, data warehousing and security, application development, business intelligence and analytics, service oriented architecture, and products including Essbase, Stellent, Real Application Clusters, and Fusion Middleware.
OAUG http://www.oaug.org	The Oracle Applications Users Group (OAUG) is a global organization that enhances the capabilities of Oracle users in their day-to-day use and management of the growing family of Oracle Applications. Formed in 1990, the OAUG is one of the software industry's most successful user groups and speaks with one voice for the family of Oracle Applications users.
Oracle AppsLab blog http://theappslab.com	Oracle AppsLab is a think-tank developed to drive adoption of new web patterns and technologies across Oracle's business and products. This blog is a space for sharing ideas of this small group, dedicated to living and breathing new technologies.
OTN Blog http://blogs.oracle.com/otn	Oracle Technology Network (OTN) is the world's largest interactive community of developers, DBAs, admins, and architects using Oracle products along with industry-standard technologies. This is the official blog of the Oracle Technology Network team. It's a great place to get insider information.
Quest International User Group http://www.questdirect.org	Quest is a not-for-profit association supporting Oracle applications users, including PeopleSoft, JD Edwards, UCM and Oracle Utilities and the ecosystem, from the underlying ERP solutions to the numerous complementary products and services.
Web Oriented Architecture 2.0 Blog http://blogs.oracle.com/woa	This blog is run by Emiliano Pecis, Oracle Sales Consultant, specialized on Middleware Solutions and related technologies, with a focus on Enterprise 2.0 and distributed data grid. This is it for my list of Oracle resources. And now here's the list of general Information Management resources that you need to check out.

Information management resources

In this section I will give you my favorite free online resources that help you follow the trends in general Info Management space. You'll notice that I've broken my usual alphabetical order. Why? I did this to bring more focus to my favorite site, CMSWire that gives you a wealth of friendly, easy to digest and to-the-point trend watching and product reviews.

Name and URL	Description
CMSWire http://www.cmswire.com	CMSWire is a rapidly growing web magazine dedicated to all things content management and a few other things they considered related. The CMSWire audience consists of CIOs, technologists, decision makers, vendors, and analysts with a focus on information management practices, content, document and asset management technologies, web publishing, enterprise collaboration, and a dash of social media. The content and information management marketplace remains a dynamic and broad field of great innovation, and one of interest to many disciplines. CMSWire team does its best to keep you informed of the latest twists, turns, and trends this industry presents.
CMS Watch blogs http://www.cmswatch.com/Blog	CMS Watch is a buyer's advocate for enterprises, looking to invest in content technologies. They publish independent research that helps you sort out suitable technology choices for your particular needs. Their research is known for its technical depth, readability, and absolute neutrality.
Ironworks blogs http://fitandfinish.ironworks.com and http://underthehood.ironworks.com	"Fit and Finish" is the User Experience blog published by Ironworks, System Integrator Consultancy. They're sharing ideas, best practices, creativity, humor, and useful resources. "Under the Hood" is Ironworks' Coder and API blog that covers various technology-related topics, from high-level application architecture all the way down to those pesky 1s and 0s that keep the world moving these days. This is it! Wasn't this an ocean of free online resources to follow? And now let me give you some pointers that you might find helpful when looking for an Oracle UCM consulting help.