1. How to Future-proof Your Content
Sarah Beckley
Senior Content Strategist
razorfish
Content Strategy Workshops
11 July 2013

2. 2
nv
• 7 years in Content Strategy
• 5 years in tech support/tech writing
• 5 years in print publishing
• Specializes in financial services,
embedded/contextual help, online
applications, content matrix development
• Previous clients include HSBC, HAL,
Allstate, Citadel, STAR Financial Network,
and the Options Industry Council, and GE
• @sarahbeckley
• Sarah.Beckley@razorfish.com
2
About Sarah Beckley

3. 3
• Terms
• Today
• Tomorrow
• Revisioning
• Resources
Agenda

4. Future-proofing
Content
4
Terms

5. Creating flexible,
reusable content that is
platform and device
agnostic to support
content that can adapt
to the unknown.
5
What do we mean by future proofing?

6. Human-consumable, contextualized data—aka the stuff
between the tags. - Rahel Bailie
Not limited to one purpose, technology or output.
Intelligent content is structurally rich and semantically
aware, and is therefore discoverable, reusable,
reconfigurable and adaptable.
- Ann Rockley
All content is a brand experience
- Mark Baker (paraphrasing)
nv
6
Content is…

7. Today

8. 8
Mourn publishing
http://publishingisdead.com/

9. 99
Say goodbye to the Home page

10. 10
Hello, scrolling!
10
Facebook,, news app, Red Cross app

11. 11
Sites are strip mined for content
•Instapaper
•Readability
•Pocket
•Pinterest
•The Future
Pinterest results for “content strategy” , www.instapaper.com

12. • 50 million people own tablets in the US.
• Mobile use will exceed desktop use next year.
• 133.7 million people in the U.S. owned smartphones
(57% mobile market penetration) during the three
months ending in February 2013, up 8 percent since
November.
12
The machines are winning
Sources: comScore MobiLens & TabLens, U.S., 2003-2012, shapshop.com/2012-mobile-marketing-statistics, ComScore

13. 13
Mobile
•4.8 billion people now own mobile phones.
Just 4.2 billion own a toothbrush. (Mindjumpers)
•Mobile commerce is projected to ten-fold from
2010 ($3 billion) to 2016 ($31 billion). (TMGmedia)

14. 14
But we’re consuming more and less
•Digital consumers read more books a year on
average than their print-only counterparts.
•And we use a smartphone while:
– Watching TV
– Shopping
– Driving
– Doing daily household tasks

15. 15
Metadata still eludes us
Source: “Content Access: Maximizing Availability Across the Enterprise”, AIIM Whitepaper 2012, www.aiim.org

16. 16
Formats are shrinking and expanding
•TV’s as tall as me
•Smartphones in every
size and aspect ratio
Images: Netmagazine.com and Gizmag.com

17. 17
Heads up!
17
Image: Wired mag http://www.wired.com/images_blogs/gadgetlab/2012/04/google_glass_story-660x388.jpg

18. 18
Content Bots
www.narrativescience.com

19. “The 19th century was defined by the
novel.The 20th by the cinema. 21st will be
defined by the interface.” - Lev Manovich

20. 20
Novel = Vlog + Twitter + Tumblr
20
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KisuGP2lcPs&feature=share&list=SP6690D980D8A65D08

21. 2121
Serial = Mobile app + UGC w/a twist
http://www.thesilenthistory.com/

22. 22
Snowfall
22
Integrated experience
http://www.nytimes.com/projects/2012/snow-fall/#/?part=tunnel-creek

23. •Content first philosophy
•Targeted or niche audience
•Mashups
•Strong story
•Multimedia/multichannel
23
What do the examples have in common?

24. Tomorrow

25. You never change things by fighting the existing
reality.To change something, build a new model
that makes the exiting model obsolete.
- Richard Buckminster Fuller
25
The future is change

26. 26
What do we know about the future?
•Increased content volume
•Increase in device type and format
•Increased complexity
•Decreased screen size
•Multiple devices in use at the same time
•Non-linear

27. 27
Tomorrow’s content is…
•Adaptable
•Accessible
•Agile
•Findable
•Mutable
•Nimble
•Responsive
http://unicornsonrainbows.files.wordpress.com/2010/08/unicorns-rainbow.jpg

28. 28
Plan for tomorrow
•Strategy
•Standards
•Structure
•Schema
•Size
•Socialize

29. The goal of content strategy is to use "…words
and data to create unambiguous content that
supports meaningful, interactive experiences.”
- “Content Strategy:The Philosophy of Data,” Rachel Lovinger
29
Content strategy

30. 3030
BBC’s vision: Never miss a moment
Sources: Olympics: User Experience and Design and Sports Refresh: Dynamic Semantic Publishing, bbc.co.uk./blog

31. 3131
Content = Live + Multimedia + Mobile
Sources: Olympics: User Experience and Design and Sports Refresh: Dynamic Semantic Publishing, bbc.co.uk./blog

32. 32
•Content guidelines
•Governance board
•Editor in chief
•Document everything
•Clearly defined roles
32
Standards
Image source: http://kidmincoach.files.wordpress.com

33. 3333
Microsoft’s model
http://blogs.technet.com/b/tothesharepoint/archive/2010/09/01/new-governance-content-white-papers-and-check-out-the-model.aspx

34. 34
nv
• XML was made official
in1997
• Managing Enterprise
Content 1st edition
published in 2002
• Enterprise content
management became
trendy in 2006
34
Structured content is not new
Screen grab from “The Matrix” film opening credits

35. 35
nv
• NPR famous for their
content API
• Anil Dash and
MindTouch both
recommend building an
API first, UI second
35
APIs for content are new
http://www.npr.org/

36. 36
 XML-Extensible Markup
Language
 HTML5-Hypertext Markup
language
 Microformats-Open data based
on HTML5
 RDF-Resource Description
Framework
 OWL-Web Ontology Language
 DITA-Darwin Information Type
Architecture (by IBM)
 JSON-JavaScript Object Notation
36
Semantic structure options
Val Swisher’s closet photo:
http://www.contentrules.com/images/Organizer-Closet.jpg

37. 3737
Semantic pattern recognition
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0031320310002682

38. 38
•Identify content types
•Map content relationships
(ecosystem)
•Create content models
•Assign content type
behaviors
•Map content elements
between content types
38
Schema: Content models

39. Metadata can be fuzzy
Metadata Keywords
Tags/Descriptive
metadata
Structural
metadata

40. 40
Size: Small but effective
http://www.wallstreetinsanity.com/wp-content/uploads/p45car.png

41. 41
Microformats are your friend
Images: Hassan Naqeeb http://technecore.blogspot.com/2013/05/google-glasses-view.html

42. 42
Socialize: Drive the bus
Source: “Content Access: Maximizing Availability Across the Enterprise”, AIIM Whitepaper 2012, www.aiim.org

43. Revisioning

44. 44
Tomorrow’s content model
Source: http://www.ontotext.com/publishing

45. • What long content can you chunk (break up)?
• No “wrap” for headlines
• “Wrap” limit for subheads
• Image options (two, three, or more sizes?)
• Modules (common elements across sections that may not be
device-compliant)
• Non-friendly formats (PDF, PPT, Flash, etc.)
• Targeted to novice/intermediate/expert users
• Geo-located for in person classes
• Accessibility tags/screen reader text
• Semantic tags for those searching for subtopics
Future-proof inventory additions

46. “You can’t afford to create a
piece of content for any one
platform. Instead of crafting
a website, you have to put
more effort into crafting the
different bits of an asset, so
they can be reused more
effectively, so they can
deliver
more value.”
Nic Newman, BBC (via Karen McGrane)
46
Content is precious: Reuse it

47. • Desktop site
• Mobile site
• Mobile app
• Tablet app
• Print
• Blog
• Email
• Microsite
• Social
• Intranet
• Chat/text
• Screen reader
• White papers
Content delivery options

48. • Recipe
– Title
– Author
– Date
– By line
– Cook time
– Prep time
– Measurements type (Imperial/metric)
– Main ingredients
– Optional ingredients
– Nutritional info (could also be broken down)
• Training manual
– Sub topics
– Code examples
– Videos
48
Tomorrow’s content elements

49. • Structural metadata
• Administrative metadata
• Less descriptive metadata
• Manually tagged
• Folksonomy
• Siloed taxonomies
• Inconsistent vocabularies
49
Today’s metadata

50. 50
nv
• Create metadata for the
superheroes
• Can you leverage existing
metadata sources?
• How can you enrich this
metadata?
• 15 minutes
50
Exercise
www.digitalcitizen.ca

51. • Name
• Group affiliation
• Source of power
• Type of power
• Secret identity
• Gender
• Citizenship
• Birthplace
• First appearance
• TV/Film/Web
• Creator
51
Tomorrow’s metadata

52. • Organization’s content
• Controlled vocabulary
• Open vocabulary
• Industry standards
– Schema.org
– Dublin Core
– Etc.
• Social
– FOAF- Friend of a Friend (describes people and their connections)
– SIOC- Semantically-linked Online Communities
• Video
– MPEG-7- Moving Pictures Expert Group
– Media RSS- custom RSS for media-specific info
52
Metadata resources

53. Then what?

54. • “Nimble” by Razorfish/Rachel Lovinger
• “Contents May have Shifted” by Erin Kissane (Contents magazine)
• “Mobile Content Strategy and Why Should I Care?” Karolina Szczur
• Managing Enterprise Content by Ann Rockley and Charles Cooper
• Content Strategy for Mobile by Karen McGrane
• Content Everywhere by Sara Wachter-Boettcher
• Content Strategy: Connecting the dots between business, brand, and
benefits by Rahel Anne Bailie and Noz Urbina
• Mobile First by Luke Wroblewski
54
Read these guys

55. 55
np
•Strategy
•Standards
•Structure
•Schema
•Size
•Socialize the new model and processes
•Remember to review, rinse, and repeat!
Then break off a piece and start

56. Thank you!
Questions: @sarahbeckley