creating a metadata strategy: setting up content for success
TRANSCRIPT
AZZARDCONSULTING
Creating a Metadata Strategy:
Intelligent Content Conference 2014 February 28, 2014
Setting Up Content for Success
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Some Introductions
Rebecca Schneider
o President, Azzard Consulting• Content Strategy & Staffing Firm
o 19 Years experience in Information Management
o Industries: Retail, Auto Manufacturing, Financial Services,
Telecommunications, Luxury Goods
o Twitter: #azzardconsult
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Table of Contents
About Metadata . . .
1. About Metadata & Metadata Types
2. Pros & Cons
Starting Out . . .
3. Creating a Value Proposition
4. Determining Metadata Needs
5. Presenting Metadata to Stakeholders
Planning & Implementation
6. Overall Planning Process
7. Implementation Plan
Governance
8. Governance Structure
9. Metrics
A Few More Things . . .
About Metadata. . .
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Metadata – It’s Famous!
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Some Definitions. . .
o Variations on a theme: • “Data about Data”
• Metadata is Data
• Metadata = Description (Jeffrey Pomerantz)
• Metadata represents aspects of concepts or things (Rebecca Schneider)
o Types of Metadata• Structural
• Chapters within a book.
• Administrative
• Dates, Permissions
• Descriptive
• Subject, Author, Title
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Why Bother?
The many uses of metadata:
o Create content structure
o Ease content publication
o Improve search and retrieval
o Facilitates intelligent content
o Provide basis for analytics
o Improve personalization
o Improve website experience
o Potentially increase conversion
(conversion could mean purchasing an
item, downloading a whitepaper,
creating an account, etc.)
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But wait!
Metadata challenges:
o Costs to maintain
o Costs to implement
o Bad data is worse than no data at all
o Multiple variants of metadata and
potential disconnect with various
consuming systems.
o Potential privacy issues
Starting Out . . .
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Creating a Value Proposition
o Who is this for?
o What do they value the most? • User Research
• Feedback (real-time or other types)
o What is the company or organization
offering?• Products?
• Services?
o Why would a customer purchase or
consume these offerings? Benefits?
o How can customer find, understand
and navigate these offerings?
o Are there alternatives elsewhere?
o What evidence is available to validate
the value proposition?
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Determining Metadata Needs
o What is the business goal (the value)?• Increase sales or market share?
• Increase brand loyalty?
o What does the user need?• Find documents or like content?
• Particular product or service?
o What is the content experience?• Website?
• Internal system?
• App? (Android, iOS)
How can metadata be used to meet these goals/needs?
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Metadata & Stakeholders
o Presentation can present some challenges -
Excel spreadsheets may not resonate. • Example below is small part of a 24 column, 165 row
metadata schema
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Metadata & Stakeholders (cont.)
o Use of domain models (mind maps)
and other visual tools can help client
understand metadata and content
relationships.
Planning & Implementation
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Metadata Planning . . .
o Establish a metadata working group/team
o Conduct discovery, which should include:• Stakeholder Interviews
• User Research
• Metadata Audit
• What metadata is currently being gathered,
who maintains it, etc.
• How is the current metadata being used?
o Create a needs assessment document –
which can be part of an overall metadata
strategy document.
o Identify appropriate metadata standards
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Planning & Implementation
o Conduct cost-benefit analysis, including
ROI estimates.• ROI estimates
• Build vs. Buy Analysis
o Establish plan for system architecture.
o Create a project implementation plan.
o Migration needs
o Data mapping needs
o Tagging/re-tagging needs
o Training and training documentation
o Analytics
o Refactoring plan based on
KPIs/Analytics
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Buy or Build?
o Metadata Standards• DITA (Darwin Information Typing Architecture)
• Dublin Core
• CDWA (Categories for the Description of
Works of Art)
• EBUCore (metadata for media)
• Schema.org
• And so many more . .
o “Buy”• Less flexibility
• Ready made
o Build• Customized to exact needs
• More effort to create
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Keep in mind . . .
o Your users (internal and external)
o What you are describing
o Future metadata needs
o Consuming systems
o Governance needs
o Training needs – consistency is key!
o Reality• Costs (Storage, Staff)
• Overall Maintenance Time
• Want vs. Need
Governance
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Metadata Governance
o Avoid chaos: create a metadata governance strategy with a
governance structure including roles and responsibilities.
o Typically, metadata governance will comprise one part of an
overall governance strategy.
Operational and organizational models needed to manage and ensure the continued success of content.
Governance Committee
Working Groups
Brand Accessibility Legal Taxonomy ContentStrategy
Operations Technology Marketing PublishingTaxonomy &
MetadataStrategy
Executive Sponsor
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Metrics
o Search Focus (metadata as filters) • What’s working for users? Are they finding what
they need?
• How often are filters used?
• Do they use “format” or “document type”?
• Do they result in conversions?
• How many papers/documents/videos
downloaded?
• How many purchases resulted?
• Are users searching for items that would work as a
filter?
• Top searches
• Trending topics (social media)
• Requires a nimble response
• Terms used in ad hoc description fields
• If content authors are creating additional
tags in a general ‘keywords’ field.
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Metrics
o Personalization Focus • Are metadata used in personalization resulting in
conversions?
• Conversion rates based on personalization
implementation.
• Downloads (latest whitepaper)
• Profile creation
• Cross-sell (related items such as Season
2 of Game of Thrones)
• Up-sell (more expensive items such as a
box set of Breaking Bad)
o Internal Reporting• Are metadata statistics leveraged for internal data
needs
• Content creation statistics
• User profile research
A Few More Things. . .
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Related Deliverables
o Metadata Strategy• The table of contents of this presentation!
o Metadata Schema• Typically, an Excel spreadsheet that describe metadata fields, their properties
(description, sample values, multi/single select options, etc.) and source of
actual data (taxonomy facet, outside system)
o Tagging Documentation• Guidance on specific uses for each metadata field and how to apply tags
within particular metadata fields. Also includes recommendations for metadata
maintenance (e.g. when to change based on business needs).
o Domain Model• Visual representation of metadata fields and their interrelationships.
Sometimes is included within tagging documentation.
o Governance Strategy• Provides recommendations on governance structure and processes for
metadata creation and maintenance. Can also include processes for taxonomy
governance as well.
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Recommended Reading
o Content Everywhere: Strategy and Structure for Future-Ready
Content by Sara Wachter-Boettcher (Rosenfeld Media, 2012)
o Introduction to Metadata, 2nd ed. Edited by Murtha Baca (Getty
Publications, 2008)
o The Discipline of Organizing. Edited by Robert J. Glushko (MIT
Press, 2013)
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Contact Information
o Email: [email protected]
o Web: www.azzardconsulting.com
o Twitter: @azzardconsult
Thank You!