{
    "version" : "https://jsonfeed.org/version/1",
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    "title" : "The Content Corner: Government as API |Digital.gov",
    "description": "The Content Corner: Government as API",
    "home_page_url" : "/preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/","feed_url" : "/preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2016/02/22/the-content-corner-government-as-api/index.json","item" : [
    {"title" :"The Content Corner: Government as API","summary" : "Here at DigitalGov, we generally focus on federal governmental digital efforts within the U.S. It is where we live and operate, so it makes sense, but many governments across the world struggle with the same issues and leverage technology as a common solution. When I came across an article where Australia announced its “government as","date" : "2016-02-22T11:10:39-04:00","date_modified" : "2025-01-27T19:42:55-05:00","authors" : {"tyrus-manuel" : "Tyrus Manuel"},"topics" : {
        
            "application-programming-interface" : "Application programming interface",
            "content-strategy" : "Content strategy"
            },"branch" : "bc-archive-content-3",
      "filename" :"2016-02-22-the-content-corner-government-as-api.md",
      
      "filepath" :"news/2016/02/2016-02-22-the-content-corner-government-as-api.md",
      "filepathURL" :"https://github.com/GSA/digitalgov.gov/blob/bc-archive-content-3/content/news/2016/02/2016-02-22-the-content-corner-government-as-api.md",
      "editpathURL" :"https://github.com/GSA/digitalgov.gov/edit/bc-archive-content-3/content/news/2016/02/2016-02-22-the-content-corner-government-as-api.md","slug" : "the-content-corner-government-as-api","url" : "/preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2016/02/22/the-content-corner-government-as-api/","content" :"\u003cp\u003eHere at DigitalGov, we generally focus on federal governmental digital efforts within the U.S. It is where we live and operate, so it makes sense, but many governments across the world struggle with the same issues and leverage technology as a common solution. When I came across an article where Australia announced its “\u003ca href=\"https://www.govcms.gov.au/about/news/govcms-announces-implementation-omni-channel-and-government-api\"\u003egovernment as an API\u003c/a\u003e” platform was available, it seemed like a great opportunity to see how another country is tackling \u003ca href=\"/preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/08/20/top-5-reasons-to-use-government-wide-open-and-structured-content-models/\"\u003estructured and open content\u003c/a\u003e.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch2 id=\"streamlining-services\"\u003eStreamlining Services\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn late 2014, the Australian government began feasibility studies of \u003ca href=\"http://www.itnews.com.au/news/finance-floats-whole-of-govt-cloud-email-desktop-buying-scheme-396208\"\u003econsolidating a range of digital services and leveraging the cloud\u003c/a\u003e. A central website hosting program (similar to \u003ca href=\"https://sites.usa.gov/\"\u003eSites\u003c/a\u003e) was included in an effort to provide email and desktop software as a service (SaaS). The website hosting platform called \u003ca href=\"https://www.govcms.gov.au\"\u003egovCMS\u003c/a\u003e went through an early adopters phase as a pilot and then was released government-wide in early 2015.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTo date, govCMS hosts 51 websites with 16 currently in development, offering a choice of SaaS or Platform as a Service (PaaS) implementation for agencies that require greater flexibility, but wish to use the same codebase. The service also provides an open source and responsive design that meets Australian best practices. This coupled with the elimination of the entire vendor and procurement process (I assume Australian procurement is as time-intensive as ours) has drawn 25 Australian agencies to adopt the platform. The \u003ca href=\"https://www.govcms.gov.au/about/news/govcms-announces-implementation-omni-channel-and-government-api\"\u003elatest addition to govCMS\u003c/a\u003e may attract even more agencies to sign up.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch2 id=\"omnichannel-content\"\u003eOmnichannel Content\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWith the launch of the “government as API” feature of govCMS, the Australian government has made the ingestion and dissemination of content, from any source, much simpler and safer.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFirst, the service leverages the power of the shared govCMS platform and allows easy sharing of any content that exists within the system. Again, this provides the same kind of content reuse that our own agencies such as \u003ca href=\"/preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2016/02/04/does-content-syndication-work/\"\u003eNIH are providing via syndication\u003c/a\u003e. A single content source can be edited once and then is updated wherever it is being used throughout any site using their shared platform, a full realization of the \u003ca href=\"/preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2015/06/01/the-content-corner-humanizing-structured-content/\"\u003eCOPE (create once, publish anywhere)\u003c/a\u003e mantra. But wait, there’s more!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNot only does govCMS make it easy to share internal content between other sites on the platform, it also can consume content from external sites. Here’s the cool part: external content is normalized “to enable interoperability between diverse applications, and to adapt to and enforce content models.” So at least in principle it will suck in any content you find and make sure that it adopts your own \u003ca href=\"/preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2016/01/07/content-models-as-simple-as-pizza-pie/\"\u003econtent models\u003c/a\u003e (like our article and event models). The power of this is two-fold:\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eIt makes sure the external content matches the look and feel of your site and will be responsive for your users, and\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eIt allows this content to become easily sharable within the govCMS platform as well.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis creates content that is shared and can be shared anywhere, by anyone, on any device—fully omnichannel communication!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAgain, I have not seen this work, but as opposed to syndication, which is great but is basically creating a dedicated connection to an external piece of content, this process actually creates a new piece of content that correctly conforms to your standards. It helps create what the Australian government refers to as a “single source of truth” similar to how NIH can provide their syndicated content as a single, trustworthy source.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOne of our primary missions in the public sector is to provide that single (consistent) source of truth, and with our continued efforts with structured content, \u003ca href=\"/preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2015/06/24/the-api-briefing-government-apis-in-a-post-apps-world/\"\u003eAPIs\u003c/a\u003e and content models I feel we are closer and closer to achieving that goal. Just as when I spend time with my U.S. digital government peers, I always am inspired and invigorated by the efforts of other countries and their accomplishments. You go, Australia!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eYou’ve just finished reading the latest article from our Monday column, \u003ca href=\"/preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/topics/content-strategy/\"\u003eThe Content Corner\u003c/a\u003e. This column focuses on helping solve the main content issues facing federal digital professionals, including producing enough content and making that content engaging.\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n"}
  ]
}