Responsive. Adaptive. Mobile first. Cross-channel. We all want a web that's more flexible, future-friendly, and ready for unknowns. There’s only one little flaw: Our content is stuck in the past. Locked into inflexible pages and documents, our content is far from ready for today's world of apps, APIs, read-later services, and responsive sites—much less for the coming one, where the web is embedded in everything from autos to appliances.
We can't keep creating more content for each of these new devices and channels. We'd go nuts trying to manage and maintain all of it. Instead, we need content that does more for us: Content that's structured and defined so it can travel and shift while keeping its meaning and message intact. Content that's trim, focused, and clear—for mobile users and for everyone else, too. Content that matters, wherever it's being consumed.
But it's not just that our content is stuck. Truth is, our organizations and clients are stuck, too—and unless we, web professionals of all stripes, take the lead to do things differently, they won't be able to keep up. In this session, well start with revisiting our legacy content and adding the structure and metadata we'll need to make it more flexible. Then, we'll also tackle the heart of the problem: organizational cultures that are terrified of change.
2. ‘‘
Every client, in my experience, has a
content problem.
Mark Boulton, Web Directions South
3. ‘‘
In traditional media, canvas dimensions
are a known constraint... With digital,
however, the canvas is an unknown.
Instead, we need to build on what we do
know: content.
Chris Armstrong, “The Infinite Grid”
6. ✦ Defines how content will meet business
(or project) goals and users’ needs
✦ Guides decisions about content from
discovery to deletion
✦ Sets benchmarks against which to
measure the success of your content
Kristina Halvorson & Melissa Rach
7. It’s figuring out what we want to say...
Message architecture example
from Margot Bloomstein
14. ‘‘
The Microsoft.com team built tools,
guidelines, and processes to help localize
everything from responsive images to
responsive content into approximately
100 different markets... They adapted
their CMS to allow Content Strategists to
program content on the site.
Nishant Kothary,
“The Story of the New Microsoft.com”
67. the underpants
problem
www.flickr.com/photos/red_devil/4728500604
68. ‘‘
Customers don't know—and don't care to
know—how government is organized. So why
make them go from agency [website] to
agency [website] to get the full picture of
what gov't has to offer on any subject?
Participant, National Dialogue on
Improving Government Websites
69. A BETTER WAY
Transcend silos with cross-
department teams focused on
tackling a single issue. Empower
them to spread new ideas.
99. Find the people your work affects,
and incorporate them from the start.
100. THANK YOU,
WEBVISIONS NYC
sarawb.com // @sara_ann_marie
Content Everywhere is available now!
http://rfld.me/content-everywhere
Flickr images used via CC-Attribution license unless otherwise noted.
Illustrations used with the permission of Eva-Lotta Lamm.