Presented at MinneBar, Best Buy Headquarters, Richfield, MN. April 7, 2012.

1. Scalable, Adaptive, Agnostic
The Next-Generation CMS Authors Need
You to Build
Meghan Seawell
MinneBar - April 7, 2012
@m3ggiesue
#minnebarCMS

2. Everything is content.
#minnebarCMS

3. Proliferation of devices
● Shipments of smartphones + tablets
exceeded that of PCs in 2011
● 60% of time spent on smartphones
comprises new activities
● Global mobile data traffic expected to grow
to 26x its current volume over next 5 years
● 5.3 billion mobile subscribers worldwide
(77% of the world population)
mobiThinking, “Global mobile statistics 2011,” http://mobithinking.com/mobile-marketing-
tools/latest-mobilestats

4. "Mobile as we know it today
is the tip of the iceberg."
Noz Urbina
#minnebarCMS

5. More devices means...
● More platforms
● Different display
● Varying content needs
○ context
○ interaction
#minnebarCMS

6. CMS today
#minnebarCMS

7. "Fragmenting our content
across different 'device-
optimized' experiences is a
losing proposition, or at least
an unsustainable one."
Ethan Marcotte
#minnebarCMS

8. Responsive design
● Adjusts
display
● Suppresses
content
● Does not
assume
context
● Adaptive
● Limited

9. "Resizing visuals is not the
solution to platform
proliferation."
Ann Rockley
#minnebarCMS

10. Today, we're still...
● Retrofitting content to fit new design
● Chasing authors for revisions/adjustments at
back-end
● Having non-authors make content decisions
○ what to suppress?
○ what to display?
#minnebarCMS

11. But what if...
● We built a system that could send content
anywhere it needs to go?
○ anywhere it might need to go in the future?
● Instructions for handling content were
written into the content itself?
● Instead of building containers, then filling
them with content, we created "content like
water" that flows into anything?
#minnebarCMS

12. The vision
● "Content store"
○ Consistent structure
○ Well tagged
● Create once
● Travels everywhere
#minnebarCMS

13. Intelligent content
● Structurally rich
○ semantically structured
○ structure has meaning
○ easily manipulated
● Semantically aware
○ tagged with metadata
● Discoverable
● Reusable
● Reconfigurable
#minnebarCMS

14. "The more structure
you put into content,
the freer it will become."
Rachel Lovinger
#minnebarCMS

15. #minnebarCMS

16. What NPR did
● Defined primary content type (news story)
● Broke it into components
○ headline
○ by-line
○ copy
○ etc.
● Store in CMS, free of code
○ code = dirty
● Web publishing tools assemble and send to
platforms
#minnebarCMS

17. COPE
http://blog.programmableweb.com/wp-content/npr_architecture_diagram.jpg

18. NPR today

19. Dramatically different?
● Primarily an author mentality shift
○ from pages to topics
○ for multiple platforms
○ in granular chunks
● Shift in perceptions about CMS
○ inclusion of presentation layer
● Technology can do this already
○ but not in a way that's accessible
#minnebarCMS

20. What we need to make
● Content management system that doesn't
generate display
○ leaner
○ scalable
● Easy to create intelligent content
○ structurally rich
○ semantically aware
● Author-friendly content creation
○ highly usable
#minnebarCMS

21. STEP 1
Design the author
experience.
#minnebarCMS

22. "CMS is the enterprise
software that UX forgot ."
Karen McGrane
#minnebarCMS

23. Two employees, one CMS
● Jane, central marketing
○ plans elaborate content system
■ structure
■ channels
■ workflow
○ needs to implement
● Lisa, outbased SME
○ has knowledge about topic
○ needs to get her information out
#minnebarCMS

24. Profile of an author
● Goal: Get info out
● Knowledge areas
○ topic (SME)
○ company/organization
○ writing (maybe)
● Pain points
○ coding
○ metadata
○ finagling technology
#minnebarCMS

25. Lisa's needs
● Clarity
○ "My information goes here!"
○ "I know what this field means!"
● Simplicity
○ "All I need to do is type!"
● Parameters
○ "This text can only be 200 characters!"
● Predetermined choices
○ "Now I select my editors!"
#minnebarCMS

26. STEP 2
Workflow –
for people.
#minnebarCMS

27. Workflow questions
● Will workflow be linear?
○ writer to editor 1
○ editor 1 to editor 2
○ editor 2 to publisher
● Route to multiple editors?
● How will changes be tracked?
● When will display be previewable?
#minnebarCMS

28. The CMS that gets
preview right
will win.
#minnebarCMS

29. STEP 3
Establish/enable
content hierarchies.
#minnebarCMS

30. How to define structure?
● Jane can establish content structure within
the CMS
● XML
○ travels
○ customizable
● Include standard option
○ DITA? RDF? OWL?
○ Opportunity to be creative
#minnebarCMS

31. Organization within CMS
● How to define content hierarchy?
○ today, by website navigation
○ in structured, hierarchies may vary across platforms
○ by company/org structure?
● What information about content needs to be
visible? filterable?
○ content name?
○ last edited? (by whom?)
○ where published?
#minnebarCMS

32. Related content
● Supports or related to topic
○ images
○ documents
○ other topics
● Where do relationships live?
○ within each topic?
○ in separate location?
○ multiple places?
#minnebarCMS

33. Derivative content
● Modified for different applications
○ Donate - Original
○ Donate - Volunteer Extravaganza 2012
● Parent-child relationship?
○ how to differentiate from other content hierarchies
#minnebarCMS

34. Formatted content
● Inherent format
○ bulleted lists
○ numbered lists
○ tables
● Can it live in a format-
free environment?
#minnebarCMS

35. STEP 4
Interact with platform
publishing tools.
#minnebarCMS

36. Platform publishing
● How much capability to include?
○ open, available for access?
○ preview functionality?
○ show "site" maps?
○ altogether separate app?
● Any inclusion must be distinctly separate
from content creation and management
#minnebarCMS

37. STEP 5
Collaborate.
#minnebarCMS

38. By working together,
across disciplines,
we can create
adaptive content systems
that can go wherever
the future takes us.
#minnebarCMS

39. Learn more at...
● Managing Enterprise Content, Ann Rockley, http://www.rockley.com
● Nimble Report, Rachel Lovinger, http://nimble.razorfish.com
● Intelligent Content Conference slides, http://www.slideshare.
net/intelligentcontent
● Delivering Dynamic Content Solutions Using XML, Noz Urbina, http:
//www.slideshare.net/nozurbina
● Future-Ready Content, Sara Wachter-Boettcher, http://www.alistapart.
com/articles/future-ready-content/
● Content strategy Google group, http://groups.google.
com/group/contentstrategy?pli=1

40. Get in touch
● Meghan Seawell
● @m3ggiesue
● meghan.seawell@gmail.com
● linkedin.com/in/meghanseawell
#minnebarCMS