The document discusses key steps for achieving and sustaining content quality, including defining content, understanding the content lifecycle, establishing a content strategy, using appropriate tools, leveraging automation, engaging authors, and understanding that information quality outcomes depend on content quality. It emphasizes balancing the various components, getting feedback from information use, and customizing tools and processes to support authors.

1. Copyright © Joe Gollner 2014
Getting it Right:
Building Quality into your
Content @joegollner

2. Commentary: Introduction
This presentation was delivered as a webinar
hosted by STC France on July 8, 2014.
See http://stcfrance.org
The goal of the presentation was to explore the
key steps to be taken in order to achieve and
sustain content quality.

3. A Practitioner with
Content Technologies
for 25 years (!)
A little too interested in exploring
the nature of content
& what it means to
manage & leverage it.
Based in
Ottawa, Canada
The Content
Philosopher blog
www.gollner.ca
The Messenger

4. Content Quality: Topics
Some Definitions
Content Quality
Tools of the Trade
The Role of Automation
The Human Element
The Outcomes

5. Content
Is what we plan, design, create, reuse &
manage so that we can deliver a range
of effective information products
Content is potential information
(it is the asset we manage)
Information
Is the meaningful organization of data
communicated in a specific context to
achieve specific goals
Information is a transaction (a product)
that contains & delivers Content
Key Definitions
Aqua
Mechanica

6. Content Components
Text Modules
Media Resources
Data Sources
Relationship Links
Metadata Properties
Concept Taxonomies
Assembly Maps
Governing Models
Validation Criteria
Processing Rules
Formatting Instructions
Distribution Rights
Authority References
An information product is composed
of numerous content components
coming together to create an effective
information transaction
Content Assets come together to make Information
The phrase “Potential information” encompasses all
of the components that must come together
to produce an information product.

7. Contentus / Contenta / Contentum:
that which is assembled & contained
Ingredients
Tools
Procedures
Packaging
Presentation
The Essence of Content

8. Commentary: Defining Content
The example of the Sachertorte is a useful way
to understand this particular approach to
defining content. If we are to reproduce an
exquisitely delicious torte then we need more
than just the ingredients. It would be possible,
even likely, to mix those ingredients, bake them,
and then be left with a mess. Tools, skills and
a proven recipe outlining the step-by-step
preparation instructions are all needed. Just so
with content. If we rewind an effective
information transaction, we will find all the
pieces that need to come together to produce
a comparable information event.

9. Commentary: Defining Content – 2
By introducing such a sharp distinction between
content and information, we make it possible
to focus fully on the challenges of managing
and optimizing content. It also makes it clear
that managing information is a different, but
no less challenging, area of specialization.
These two domains overlap in the Information
Product that is published from the available
content assets and that is transacted within
the context of one or more business processes.

10. The Secret Life of Content

11. Why is this Important?
A discussion of Content Quality
must begin with a clear understanding of what Content is
The definition of
content as potential
information
underscores its
technical dimension
Content is typically
encountered in a
published form, which
is the result of many
pieces being assembled & delivered using automation

12. The Content Life Cycle
Content
Acquisition
Content
Management
Content
Delivery
Content
Engagement
How content is created,
converted or licensed
How content is selected,
assembled & published
How content is changed,
controlled & protected
How content is improved
by user feedback

13. Commentary: Balance within the Content Lifecycle
The content lifecycle activities effectively
encompass all of the things that happen to
content and that can be done with content.
These activities share numerous
inter-dependencies, and improvements in
one area will often be dependent on supporting
improvements being made in other activities.
It is one of the key functions of a
Content Strategy to establish and maintain
a working balance among the content lifecycle
activities.

14. Content Strategy: A Plan for Continuous Improvement
Content
Acquisition
Content
Management
Content
Delivery
Content
Engagement
Content
Strategy

15. Peter Drucker (Management Thinker)
Quality in a product or service is not what the supplier puts in. It is
what the customer gets out and is willing to pay for….Customers
pay only for what is of use to them and gives them value. Nothing
else constitutes quality.
John Ruskin (English Artist / Art & Social Critic)
Quality is never an accident.
It is always the result of intelligent effort.
Aristotle (Greek Philosopher)
Quality is not an act, it is a habit.
The Content Philosopher
Quality is the alignment of results with requirements
Defining Quality

16. Commentary: Quality as a Form of Balance
The alignment of results & requirements as the
essence of quality is an important thing to stress.
Over-investment in solution capabilities,
or gold-plating as it is also known, is as serious
a problem as under-investment. Gold-plating is
a serious problem because it leads, quite
quickly, to elevated system complexity and with
that increased development & support costs.
It is important to balance investments so that
they align with business priorities which usually
means addressing client needs effectively.

17. Content Quality

18. Information Quality Feedback Loop
Content quality can only be measured indirectly
It is information that interacts with real users & their tasks
Content
Acquisition
Content
Management
Content
Engagement
Content
Delivery
Content
Strategy
Information
Product
User
Task
Guidance
Feedback
Feedback & analytics from information use is what drives Content Engagement

19. Content Quality Feedback Loop
The Key Challenge for the Content Quality Process
Content is associated with many information products & uses
Content
Acquisition
Content
Management
Content
Engagement
Content
Delivery
Content
Strategy
Information
Product
User
Task
Guidance
Feedback
The more variety in information products, the greater the content quality challenge

20. Commentary: Quality Feedback Loops
Any one content component may participate in
potentially large numbers of information
products. Dozens of information products being
produced from a set of content components is
common. In some projects, a content component
can find itself being published in thousands of
concurrent information products.
These information products reflect different
product versions, different audience views,
different languages, different formats,….
Content quality is determined by aggregating
feedback on all active information products.

21. Do we have good quality content
if it is accurate & up-to-date
but only useful in one of the
needed information formats? No!
Rhetorical Question

22. Tools of the Trade

23. Content Creators & Editors
Need to be able to work
efficiently & naturally
This calls for:
A stable & responsive tool for
editing XML content
A management environment
that supports the discovery &
reuse of content components
Referencing & reuse activities
are continuously streamlined
Improves content consistency
Tools Matter

24. Customizing your
XML Editor to bring
authors “closer” to
their content
and to all outputs…
Enhanced validation services
Provide useful feedback to authors
Tailored Authoring Experiences
Schematron
ISO/IEC 19757-3:2006 Information technology
-- Document Schema Definition Language (DSDL)
-- Part 3: Rule-based validation -- Schematron

25. Authors will increasingly need to experience content
as it will be experienced by users
Previewing
is the
first step
Information
Prototyping
allows
authors
to explore
user tasks
as a way to
refine content
From Previewing to Information Prototyping

26. Commentary: Information Prototyping
Information Prototyping extends the previewing
function to the generation of complete
environments that users will experience.
More and more users interact not so much with
individual information artifacts as with networked
collections of information items that they search
and navigate through in order to complete tasks.
Authors need to be able to see content as it will
be experienced by users. A tangible sense of this
will feed directly into how the content is prepared.

27. Information Prototyping
Makes it possible to engage users
in formal usability tests
Key Questions
Are users able to perform
their key tasks?
When more complex situations arise,
can users find the right information
quickly?
Does the information formatting
work well with the target device?
Information Usability Testing

28. The Role of Automation

29. Automated
processes can
analyze your
content & give
authors input
Analysis can
be tailored
to address
known issues
or goals
Automated Content Analysis
www.acrolinx.com

30. Commentary: Content Analysis
All analysis processes should be welcomed.
The analysis results should be integrated &
displayed in ways that are informative & useful.
Authors & managers find ways to interpret them.
Running analysis processes on content provides
a secondary benefit. It subjects content to
processing scenarios (e.g., with third party tools)
that can uncover low-level issues that can
cause trouble elsewhere. (Processability is
integral to the nature of content.)

31. The processes by
which content
becomes information
products are critical
How well these
processes are
designed, built &
supported will determine
how reliable & responsive they will be
An important area of technical specialization
Information Prototyping can be used to continually test processes
Content Processing Pipelines (often the weak link)

32. The Human Element

33. Ultimately a
Management Responsibility
Tactics for
engaging Authors
Provide useful feedback
Eliminate inefficiencies
Involve authors in the
design & evolution
of information products
Help to bring authors close
to how the information
will be used
Content Quality depends upon Author Engagement

34. Commentary: Author Engagement
There will be significant politics & cultural
dynamics in any initiative to change the way
content is handled.
Management needs to display leadership
but is usually engaged elsewhere. Management
contributions are more likely to take the form of
abrupt changes to the budget or plan.
Making up for the general weakness of
management leadership in most organizations
will be your biggest challenge.

35. Outcomes

36. The effects of content quality
surface in many ways
This can be a challenge
The investment in content quality
can be hidden behind the effects
Organizations often forget
where high quality information
products come from
It is our task to make sure that
organizations understand the
importance of content quality
& that they do not forget it…
Information Quality is the Outcome of Content Quality

37. Commentary: Selling Content Quality
A useful tactic is to pitch new information
products that are only possible through
well-managed content.
Management will still only see the new
information products and quickly forget that
they depend on well-managed content.
Often you will need to introduce a stream of
new and improved information products that
together cannot be achieved without
well-managed content.

38. Questions & Comments