The Power of Flexible ContentHOW and WHY NPR’s content goes everywhere

Zach Brand @zbrandSr. Director Technology & StrategyNPR, Digital Media

“From NPR News in Washington..” –Jack Speer et al

“From NPR News in Washington..” –Jack Speer et al

X 35M / Week

X 784

“Please give generously” –Your local station

!=

NPR Digital Media

API

Various Terms…

COPE (Create Once Publish Everywhere) Flexible Content CrossMedia TransMedia

So Why Should YOU Care about Flexible Content?

Three Reasons…

1) It’s Worked Well For Us…

NPR News iPhone app

NPR News Android app

Relaunched NPRmobile site

NPRiPad app

NPR MusiciPhone app

API launchedin 2008

NPR MusicRemix

NPR BlogsMade API Friendly

Facebook Integration

Player 2.0

Homepage ImprovementsStory Page

Improvements

0 - 50

> 1,000,000,000

> 800,000

#2) Getting Found is Getting Harder..

… and Thousands More

#3) …and Everybody Else Is Doing It.

Our Principles…

Don’t Attempt to Build the ‘One System’

COPE (Create Once Publish Everywhere)- COPE drives all other architectural decisions

- Realized at NPR with the NPR News API

Content Management Tools & Presentation Layers

Understand Your Atom- Story is the Atom for NPR

- Stories contain ‘Assets’ (ie. text, audio, video, images, etc.)

- Stories belong to ‘Lists’

It is better to be incomplete than inaccurate

Good ToolsGood People

…Flexible Content

1997(No CMS)

2003(CMS)

2005(CMS)

2008(API)

NPR’s Target Audiences for the API Ourselves

- Supports the entire infrastructure of our new site

- Improvements to CMS to enable custom feeds by Editorial and Design

Stations

- Enables us to serve content to our member stations more easily

- Enables our stations to serve their communities better

Partners

- Creates new opportunities because - easy to implement with very little integration cost

- Makes existing opportunities easier to maintain and grow

Public

- Engages the community – part of NPR’s Public Service Mission

- Lots of great widgets, tools, sites built using the API

Launch Expectations:Improve development efficiencies for NPR.org

Some sophisticated stations will use the API

Partner integration will be easier

The public will do amazing things with the API

Good ToolsGood People

…Flexible Content

NPR Addict iPhone App

The Life of a (FLEXIBLE) Story at NPR

CMS API PresentationLayers

1 23 4

1: NPR CMS

2: NPR API

3: API Presentation Layers (or other Apps)

4: Examples of Presentation Layers

The Life of a (FLEXIBLE) Story at NPR

CMS API PresentationLayers

1 23 4

System Architecture Supporting COPE

System Architecture Supporting COPE

System Architecture Supporting COPE

JavaJSP

Struts

System Architecture Supporting COPE

R / WMySQL

System Architecture Supporting COPE

R / OMySQLCluster

NoSQL-likeXML

Repository

System Architecture Supporting COPE

PHP5

SimpleXMLPHP5

Good ToolsGood People

…Flexible Content

Good Design Requires Flexibility Too… You Still Have to Make the Presentation Compelling

“From Washington DC… this is NPR”

HTML5 / Tablet Site

NPR.org Audio Player

iPhone App Android AppMobile Site

Google Chrome Extension

iGoogle Gadget

WBUR.org

Connecticut Public Broadcasting

Photos Courtesy Derik Elis, CBTV

NPR API

CPTV’s Drupal Based CMS

Website

What We Learned

Launch Expectations:Improvements to development efficiencies for NPR.org

Some sophisticated stations will use the API

Partner integration will be easier

The public will do amazing things with the API

Actual Results:NPR dramatically improved development efficiencies

NPR’s mobile strategy took off

Some sophisticated stations have used the API

Partner integration has been easier

API has facilitated business development opportunities

The public has done some interesting things

We’ve been able to do amazing things with the public

Paid Dev Public Dev

$$$

Yeah, About That Chart….

Figuring it out…

US Election RelatedTraffic Bumps

Bomb Found DowntownStaff WriterAug 8th 2010

A Small pipebomb was found behind the Safeway on 7th and Adams. Police believe it was the work of teenagers and stated that the device did not appear to be functional.

Bomb Found DowntownStaff WriterAug 8th 2010

A Small pipebomb was found behind the Safeway on 7th and Adams. Police believe it was the work of teenagers and stated that the device did not appear to be functional.

Somewhere in a Small Town

Bomb Found DowntownStaff WriterAug 8th 2010

A Small pipebomb was found behind the Safeway on 7th and Adams. Police believe it was the work of teenagers and stated that the device did not appear to be functional.

Bomb Found DowntownStaff WriterAug 8th 2010

A Small pipebomb was found behind the Safeway on 7th and Adams. Police believe it was the work of teenagers and stated that the device did not appear to be functional.

Meanwhile in New York

WTF?OMG

A thousand words of COPE

Make it ALL reusable

API Keys and Consumption by Audience

Page Views to NPR Tech Center

NPR Story API : Requests per Month

Oct 2010: 1.6 Billion Stories Served by API

Challenges Still Ahead

•Extending to Network Use

•Performance

•Rights Management

•Which Presentation Layers to Focus On•Laser or Shotgun?

To Recap Content & Technology Are Inextricably Linked

Team Structure and Process Should Recognize this

To Be ‘Findable’ Your Content Should Be Flexible.

Flexible Content (i.e. Embraces COPE):

Requires An Investment x2

Improves Editorial Efficiency

Will Help Drive Growth / Relevancy

Revolutionizes Your Biz Dev

Creates Opportunities with Public

Accelerates Your Tech Development

Questions?

Twitter: @zbrand API : www.npr.org/api Blog http://www.npr.org/blogs/inside