More than ever, content needs to cross boundaries—be they device or country, channel or language—to keep up with the pace of organizations, users, and the web at large. But fixed firmly to inflexible pages, today’s content is often stuck, only accessible and understandable from a single location, in a single layout, using a single language. When pushed and pulled by everything from responsive designs and mobile sites to APIs, read-later apps, and internationalization efforts, it simply can’t keep up. There’s a better way: a way to stop creating more content for every new device or channel, and to start creating content that does more. It all starts with structure.
11. What does
this have to do
with IA?
EuroIA 2012
@sara_ann_marie
12. We’ve done hierarchy.
Home
Main Main Main Main Main
Sub Sub Sub Sub Sub
Sub Sub Sub Sub Sub
Sub Sub Sub Sub Sub
Sub Sub Sub Sub Sub
Detail
Main Detail
Main Detail
Main
Main Main Main
EuroIA 2012
@sara_ann_marie
23. Writers enter content into
the CMS once
It’s stored without
presentational code
Then sent via API to
Editors approve and NPR and 3rd parties
double-check
metadata
EuroIA 2012
@sara_ann_marie
59. It’s IA,
brought to the
micro level.
EuroIA 2012
@sara_ann_marie
60. Say
what?
www.flickr.com/photos/davidw/2132684141
61. ‘‘
The structural design of shared information
environments.
Morville & Rosenfeld
EuroIA 2012
@sara_ann_marie
62. ‘‘
The art and science of organizing and labeling
websites...to support usability.
IA Institute
EuroIA 2012
@sara_ann_marie
63. We’re not
starting from
scratch.
EuroIA 2012
@sara_ann_marie
64. Developers have
been modeling
data for decades.
EuroIA 2012
From Web Database Applications with PHP & MySQL @sara_ann_marie
by Hugh E. Williams and David Lane (O’Reilly, 2003)
74. The content audit
✦ You might already be doing this, or working
with someone who does
✦ Typically asks things like:
- What content do we have?
- Who’s responsible for it?
- Is it accurate?
- Is it any good?
EuroIA 2012
@sara_ann_marie
75. The content audit, revisited
✦ We must also ask: What type of content is this?
✦ What’s the inherent shape of that sort of content?
- Can we identify its pieces and parts?
✦ What does it take to make it whole?
- What’s essential for the content to be
meaningful?
- What’s extra or secondary?
EuroIA 2012
@sara_ann_marie
79. A content model is:
✦ A structural model that matches how your
content inherently works
✦ A way to visualize the relationships between
content elements and types in a system
✦ What will give your content the flexibility to
adapt
EuroIA 2012
@sara_ann_marie
80.
81. Start with a
single type of
content, like our recipe.
Document what makes
it a recipe?
82.
83. Then, how do our
different content types
fit together?
84. Once you’ve done this,
the fun begins.
EuroIA 2012
@sara_ann_marie
99. Systems work
for robots
www.flickr.com/photos/johngreenaway/3356358479/
100. And meaning
works for us
www.flickr.com/photos/mujitra/4868415523
101. Let’s put
our IA skills
to work.
EuroIA 2012
@sara_ann_marie
102. THANK YOU,
EURO IA
sarawb.com // @sara_ann_marie
Content Everywhere will be out this fall!
http://rfld.me/content-everywhere
Flickr images used via CC-Attribution license unless otherwise noted. EuroIA 2012
Illustrations used with the permission of Eva-Lotta Lamm. @sara_ann_marie