The principle of separating content from its presentation is more critical than ever.  So why is it so hard to get buy-in for it? The post Separating content and presentation: Moving past FUD appeared first on Story Needle ..read more

Presentation on how JSON Schema supports multi-source content and swappable UIs. The post Using JSON Schema for content models and design systems appeared first on Story Needle ..read more

When are copies of content appropriate, and how should you manage copies? Should content ever be repetitive?  Is duplicative content always bad? Answers to these questions are typically provided by specialists: CMS implementers (developers skilled in PHP or another CMS programming language), SEO experts, or webmasters. Specialists tend to focus on technical effort or performance—the technical penalties—rather than strategic issues of how people interact with messages and information—the users’ goals. Discussions become overly narrow, with important issues taken off the table.  But if ..read more

To control how content changes, teams must be able to track the content’s history. A complete profile of changes in the content’s maintenance and usage can guide how and when to intervene.  Content maintenance isn’t about maintaining the status quo.  Maintaining content requires change management.  Maintenance has always been a vexing dimension of content operations. Some forms of content resist change, while others change organically in a messy ad hoc manner.  Previously, I examined the digital transformation of content workflows to improve the accuracy of content as it is ..read more

Organizations aspire to make data-informed decisions. But can they confidently rely on their data? What does that data really tell them, and how was it derived? Paradata, a specialized form of metadata, can provide answers. Many disciplines use paradata You won’t find the word paradata in a household dictionary and the concept is unknown in the content profession.  Yet paradata is highly relevant to content work. It provides context showing how the activities of writers, designers, and readers can influence each other. Paradata provides a unique and missing perspective. A forthcoming book ..read more

Content compliance is challenging and time-consuming. Surprisingly, one of the most interesting use cases for Generative AI in content operations is to support compliance. Compliance shouldn’t be scary Compliance can seem scary. Authors must use the right wording lest things go haywire later, be it bad press or social media exposure, regulatory scrutiny, or even lawsuits. Even when the odds of mistakes are low because the compliance process is rigorous, satisfying compliance requirements can seem arduous. It can involve rounds of rejections and frustration. Competing demands. Enterprises recog ..read more

Content previews let you see how your content will look before it’s published.  CMSs have long offered previews, but preview capabilities are becoming more varied as content management is increasingly decoupled from UI design and channel delivery. Preview functionality can introduce unmanaged complexity to content and design development processes.   Discussions about previews can spark stong opinions. Are content previews: Helpful? Unnecessary? A crutch used to avoid fixing existing problems? A source of follow-on problems? All of the above? Many people would answer previews a ..read more

Content workflows remain a manually intensive process. Content staff face the burden of deciding what to do and who should do it. How can workflow tools evolve to reduce burdens and improve outcomes?  Content operations are arguably one of the most backward areas of enterprise business operations. They have been largely untouched by enterprise digital transformation. They haven’t “change[d] the conditions under which business is done, in ways that change the expectations of customers, partners, and employees” – even though business operations increasingly rely on online content to functio ..read more

Structured content enables online publishers to assemble pieces of content in multiple ways.  However, the process by which this assembly happens can be opaque to authors and designers. Read on to learn how orchestration is evolving and how it works. To many people, orchestration sounds like jargon or a marketing buzzword. Yet orchestration is no gimmick. It is increasingly vital to developing, managing, and delivering online content. It transforms how publishers make decisions about content, bringing flexibility and learning to a process hampered in the past by short-term planning and ju ..read more

Content models can be either a friend or foe.  A content model can empower content to become a modular and flexible resource when developed appropriately. Models can liberate how you develop content and accelerate your momentum. However, if the model isn’t developed correctly, it can become a barrier to gaining control over your content.  The model ends up being hard to understand, the cause of delay, and eventually an albatross preventing you from pivoting later.   Models are supposed to be the solution, not the problem Content modeling can be challenging. Those invol ..read more