{
    "version" : "https://jsonfeed.org/version/1",
    "content" : "news",
    "type" : "single",
    "title" : "Expert Insight on Content Strategy and Structure for Future-Ready Content |Digital.gov",
    "description": "Expert Insight on Content Strategy and Structure for Future-Ready Content",
    "home_page_url" : "/preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/cm-topics-button-component/","feed_url" : "/preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/cm-topics-button-component/2016/10/25/expert-insight-on-content-strategy-and-structure-for-future-ready-content/index.json","item" : [
    {"title" :"Expert Insight on Content Strategy and Structure for Future-Ready Content","summary" : "We recently interviewed Sara Wachter-Boettcher, author of Content Everywhere: Strategy and Structure for Future-Ready Content. Sara, a frequent conference speaker, runs a content strategy consultancy, and is the co-author of Design for Real Life. She has extensive experience consulting with major brands, universities, agencies, nonprofits, and others to make their content more memorable, manageable, and","date" : "2016-10-25T13:00:10-04:00","date_modified" : "2024-04-02T09:45:13-04:00","authors" : {"christen-geiler" : "Christen Geiler"},"topics" : {
        
            "content-strategy" : "Content Strategy",
            "information-architecture" : "Information architecture",
            "product-and-project-management" : "Product and project management"
            },"branch" : "cm-topics-button-component",
      "filename" :"2016-10-25-expert-insight-on-content-strategy-and-structure-for-future-ready-content.md",
      
      "filepath" :"news/2016/10/2016-10-25-expert-insight-on-content-strategy-and-structure-for-future-ready-content.md",
      "filepathURL" :"https://github.com/GSA/digitalgov.gov/blob/cm-topics-button-component/content/news/2016/10/2016-10-25-expert-insight-on-content-strategy-and-structure-for-future-ready-content.md",
      "editpathURL" :"https://github.com/GSA/digitalgov.gov/edit/cm-topics-button-component/content/news/2016/10/2016-10-25-expert-insight-on-content-strategy-and-structure-for-future-ready-content.md","slug" : "expert-insight-on-content-strategy-and-structure-for-future-ready-content","url" : "/preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/cm-topics-button-component/2016/10/25/expert-insight-on-content-strategy-and-structure-for-future-ready-content/","content" :"\u003cp\u003eWe recently interviewed \u003ca href=\"http://www.sarawb.com/\"\u003eSara Wachter-Boettcher\u003c/a\u003e, author of \u003cem\u003eContent Everywhere: Strategy and Structure for Future-Ready Content\u003c/em\u003e. Sara, a frequent conference speaker, runs a content strategy consultancy, and is the co-author of \u003cem\u003eDesign for Real Life\u003c/em\u003e. She has extensive experience consulting with major brands, universities, agencies, nonprofits, and others to make their content more memorable, manageable, and sustainable.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"image\"\u003e\n  \u003cimg\n    src=\"https://s3.amazonaws.com/digitalgov/_legacy-img/2016/10/600-x-450-Sara-Wachter-Boettcher.jpg\"\n    alt=\"Sara Wachter-Boettcher.\"/\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\n\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eHow would you describe structured content?\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMost content on the web is unstructured, meaning it’s just a page with blobs of text on it. Structured content, on the other hand, is more like a recipe. It has obvious chunks to it that help a reader understand what they’re looking at, and that are consistent from one recipe to the next: ingredients, instructions, and so on. These patterns create consistent types of content you publish, and allow you to use and reuse content as needed.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eHow does an organization find its content strategy?\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAn organization determines its content strategy by defining its capability areas and potential customers. Once defined, the organization can focus on developing a unique credibility in a specific area.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAn organization can’t have \u003ca href=\"/preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/cm-topics-button-component/topics/content-strategy/\"\u003econtent strategy\u003c/a\u003e and \u003ca href=\"/preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/cm-topics-button-component/topics/content-strategy/\"\u003estructured content\u003c/a\u003e until it learns to operate in a structured way.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch2 id=\"the-broader-story\"\u003eThe Broader Story\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eWhat is the biggest challenge for Federal agencies in adopting the practice of content strategy?\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn her opinion, one of the biggest challenges is when folks who create web content get stuck in the culture of their organization and don’t see the importance of making changes to show their content in a new way. The key being “thinking of their content in a broader story.” Frequently, we see web content creators forget to focus on their audience connection points when they should be thinking of the web as an inter-connected system. When this happens, it truly opens new opportunities and possibilities. \u003cdiv class=\"image\"\u003e\n  \u003cimg\n    src=\"https://s3.amazonaws.com/digitalgov/_legacy-img/2016/10/600-x-450-Magic-book-Lobke-Peers-shevvers-iStock-Thinkstock-147289491.jpg\"\n    alt=\"An open book with wisps of light.\"/\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\n\n\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eDoes this happen outside the Government?\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn her work, Sara has noticed that entrenchment happens everywhere, in both public and commercial organizations. Web sites in large organizations get cobbled together by the various teams within an organization that are all working, but not necessarily together. Not everyone is writing for the web, which in turn can cause a content problem, as wells as an information architecture problem.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch2 id=\"fixing-the-problem\"\u003eFixing the Problem\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eWhat do you see as the solution?\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOne solution to fix these problems is to get people thinking about content strategy—and patience is key to that success. There are many \u003ca href=\"/preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/cm-topics-button-component/2016/01/07/content-models-as-simple-as-pizza-pie/\"\u003etechniques\u003c/a\u003e to get \u003ca href=\"/preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/cm-topics-button-component/2016/05/05/how-to-create-portable-content-with-structured-content-models/\"\u003econtent models\u003c/a\u003e created, but changing way people think may take a while.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eYou need to have a clear set of principles, determining the goal of the web site, what content is important to your audience and what it really needs from the site—and then get the organization to work in a structured way to deliver it.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis is another instance where \u003ca href=\"/preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/cm-topics-button-component/2016/08/04/that-six-letter-word-change/\"\u003echange is essential\u003c/a\u003e. Sara notes, “If you work in an organization, you have been trained to think through the lens of the organization—[which] makes it very hard to think about users. People need to get into the habit of thinking about the customer, and then think about the steps and the questions they have and use it as a tool to reflect on the content. Why would they be looking for some information? What is the scenario?” Asking questions like these forces people to revise the way they examine their organization’s web content to help them move forward with a strategy that works.\u003c/p\u003e\n"}
  ]
}