taking content strategy to people who already think they have one
DESCRIPTION
How the Guardian’s custom CMS & API helped take content strategy to a traditional publisher, presented at the 2011 Content Strategy Forum in London. Essay version available at http://www.currybet.net/cbet_blog/2011/09/csforum11-martin-belam.phpTRANSCRIPT
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“Taking content strategy to people who already think they have one"
Martin BelamContent Strategy Forum, September 2011
Lead User Experience & Information Architect,The Guardian@currybetEssay version of this talk available at: bit.ly/q9tzJ5
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I joined The Guardian full-time in 2009
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This is best description I’ve ever seen of what I do
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1. Write newspaper
2. Print newspaper
3. Wrap fish‘n'chips in newspaper
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1. Write newspaper
2. Print newspaper
3. Wrap fish‘n'chips in newspaper*remember to have sent the British Library a copy
**and our own library
***and send the front page to @suttonnick in advance
*****and sub-edit it, check it with legal, write the headlines,clear the rights for the images, make late changes, re-sub it,
syndicate the best bits, and get the files packaged up
****and publish it all to the web
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1. Write newspaper
2. Print newspaper
3. Wrap fish‘n'chips in newspaper*remember to have sent the British Library a copy
**and our own library
***and send the front page to @suttonnick in advance
*****and sub-edit it, check it with legal, write the headlines,clear the rights for the images, make late changes, re-sub it,
syndicate the best bits, and get the files packaged up
****and publish it all to the web
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Oh. Did I say “web”?
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There are more and more platforms to come
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Not all content works for all mediums
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Getting it wrong sends the wrong signal
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Our content now lasts longer than a day
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And we are looking to extend that life cycle
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You get some metadata and “furniture” in print
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but there is so much peripheral digital content
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Teams of people agonise over the words on the left
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The words on the right? Not so much...
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And to extend our range of content sources
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We now have to manage other people’s content
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Our CMS is some homebrew called “R2”
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Workflow? Permissions? Meh.
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Tags are magic!
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Every article has tags to tell us...
PublicationContent typeContributor
SectionTone
Subject keywords
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Tags govern where stories appear
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And we can combine them (however unlikely)
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We can segment content from our contributors
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And we can sometimes get over-enthusiastic
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We can “batch tag” and edit content
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If tags are magic, then an API is wizardry
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It is like a glorified advanced search. For machines.
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!Those of a nervous or non-technical
disposition may wish to look away now
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The Guardian API architecture (simplified)
Main Oracledatabase
R2 CMS
In Copy
Solr instance
Client libraries
Apps!
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Create once. Publish everywhere.
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Create once. Publish everywhere.(-ish)
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We also use our website API on our website
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And incorporate apps other people have made
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The golden rule is “get the model right”
Photo by TheIguana - http://www.flickr.com/photos/51035797337@N01/3012247640/
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1 Don’t patroniseEvery person and every organisation starts fromsomewhere.
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2 A portfolio of errorsShow someone where other traditional publishers have failed, rather than simply criticise their own e!orts.
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3 Don’t start with articlesDemonstrate your worth by tackling all the bits of content that a traditional publisher won’t be thinking about.
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4 Never use ‘hipster ipsum’Leave that to the UXers.The value you will bring is in dealing with content, so always highlight the content.
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5 Don’t forget your IAI heard a lot of talk yesterday about tasks, navigation and labels. Learn (and please improve) on prior art
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6 Build APIsWell, don’t build them.That bit is really hard.But persuade people why they need them, and then help them to get theircontent models right.
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The future
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Thank you.Tweet questions to @currybet