INTRODUCTION

Content Modeling is an art and science. Art = designing something simple, clear, relevant. Science is engineering elegant structures with integrity and consistency to house sustainable content.

Content Modelling IS data modelling for content. However it mines, defines and redefines content.

Content model is a formal representation of structured content as a collection of content types and their inter-relationships.

1. Mine all the different types of content. 2.Define each types and their attributes. 3. Refine how content types related to one another.

Create documents to keep track: flow charts, spreadsheets, word docs to keep track of each piece of content, its type and attributes.

Content model helps clarify requirements and encourages collaboration between analysts, designers, developers, testers and content creators.

Lots of CMSes are developed without thinking about who and how they are working with content.

Summary of Intro:  

Content models are formal representations of structured content.

Content models should be simple, clear and relevant.

Content modeling is both art and science.

Value modelling over the model. Continues for evert.

Align multi disciplinary teams.

Understand roles and responsibilities to request and receive value.

BENEFITS OF CONTENT MODELLING

Adaptive content: be water. Content modelling is plumbing.

Content modelling enables adaptive content to transform and transport content everywhere it needs to be. Raw. Self-describing (can tell you what it is). Modular (can be put together and reassembled), like for responsive.

Content modelling is critical to communicating the structure and meaning of content to designers. “If you give the content a voice, you can build for it better.”

Smart components: user = audience. Content = audience. Component= technology. >>> this is how you use structured content in personalization.

Authors experience: they struggled with leaving Word. Didn’t want to do attributes. Had to show them value. Solution was to show them what happened when you tag content and how it helped their work.

Summary of Benefits

Adaptive processes use the model to make content flow like water.

COMPONENTS OF A CONTENT MODEL

1. Which content should be modeled? Always content that you want to manage editorially: The copy, images, media assets and meta data. Other things: links, nav bar, logos, instructions should be managed for other languages but maybe not editorially.  Dynamic content: not modelled: user name, location, date. Other Content: ads, social, ecommerce are not necessarily in the CMS.

2. Determining the content types: identify the unique content types by: reuse requirements, like author, topic. Functional requirements, example video. organizational requirements, like a press release is similar to other content but has special display needs. Workflow requirements: different people or processes or different rules for archiving.

3. Tips for finding content  types: to brainstorm, think content not pages. Scan the website, documentation, print collateral. Focus on nouns, anything goes. LIST EVERYTHING. think about content in terms of the businesses needs. Talk to subject matter experts and content stakeholders. Be wary of verbs and functions. Dig deeper or skip. Make plurals singular. Check out the mobile version. Consider potential new types.

4. Tips for rationalizing content types. Review the candidate types and rationalize them down.

-Filter but don’t delete. Yet.

-Remove duplicates. Cluster similar content types

-Differentiate types from topics

-Separate core content types from assets

-Break up lumpy content types

-Overlay workflow needs

-Revisit the site and validate content types

-Write one line descriptions for each content type

-playback your thinking to anyone and everyone on the project

-make sure the content types resonate.

5. Content types: the fewest number of dependent asset pieces that create a single independent piece that can stand alone. Example: assets are the image, title, caption, link. All come together to create a photo content type.

6. Identify each content attribute for each content type: DESIGN FOR TODAY, not for 10 years in the future. Your model can and will evolve for future needs

conduct a deeper dive into each core content type. Consider the content you see and the content you don’t see (metadata). Use consistent naming for common attribute. Look for patterns but resist the temptation to consolidate early. Keep an eye out for different types that surface in the deeper dive.

Consider: layout: do some things need to displayed in a  completely different style or on varying places on the page. Reuse: separate fields of data that can be used in many places.Sorting and filtering: example: sort content by date or filter by city.

ATTRIBUTES AND RELATIONSHIP

When is an attribute is a relationship?

PUTTING IT TO WORK

Business brief: we need to be responsive.

Strategy: define a clear multi-device screen strategy, plan for screens desktop, mobile and widescreen