Content modelling: Making content smarter

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Content modelling Making content smarter Angus Gordon Weave (weaveweb.com.au)

Transcript of Content modelling: Making content smarter

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Content modellingMaking content smarter

Angus GordonWeave (weaveweb.com.au)

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What is content modelling, and why should I care?

Why am I the right person to do content modelling?

Where do I start?

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What is content modelling, and why should I care?

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If this was how Facebook collected information, they couldn’t...

● Deliver content related to user interests● Connect users to other users● Adapt user profile pages to different devices● Promote users’ birthdays to their friends● Sell targeted advertising

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What makes Facebook smart is structured content.

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Structured content is chunked

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Structured content is constrained

● Formats● Allowed values● Sizes / character counts

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Structured content is machine readable (where relevant)

2009-03-23

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Most website content is unstructured or minimally structured.

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Content modelling is identifying opportunities to turn unstructured into structured content...

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...and documenting those opportunities as a coherent system, the content model.

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● Content types● Fields (attributes,

properties)● Relationships

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Why should I care?

● Stop your content breaking on mobile● Build relationships between content items● Help authors keep content consistent● Single source of truth means easier maintenance● Make your content future ready

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The content model ultimately needs to be built into the CMS.

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So why don’t we just leave it to the developers?

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Why am I the right person to do content modelling?

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Typical workflow

Wireframes

Developer

Content model

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Results

● Assumptions● Ambiguous or unclear labels● Under- or over-engineered solutions● Hacks and workarounds● Poor usability for authors

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Collaborative workflow

Wireframes

Content strategist + developer

Content model

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A content model communicates intention and shared language. It doesn’t have to be a rigorous spec.

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What makes someone good at content modelling?

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Analytical

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Context

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Empathy

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How do I start?

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Three questions

● What are my content types?● What fields do they need?● What are their relationships?

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Three questions

● What are my content types? → High level audit● What fields do they need? → Deep selective audit● What are their relationships? → Diagram

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Three things to remember:

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1. A content model is not an ontology.

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In other words, model what’s useful, don’t try to model all the things.

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2. Be presentation agnostic.

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3. Test with real content early and often.

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Thank you!

@angusgmelb@WeAreWeave

http://www.meetup.com/We-Are-Content-Strategy/