The discipline of content strategy plans for the creation, delivery, and governance of useful, usable content (as defined by Kristina Halvorson).

It’s been around for as long as the web, but only in tiny pockets; most web projects still don’t consider content until the last minute, resulting in poor user experiences, stagnant websites, and unfulfilled objectives.

2009 was the breakout year for web content strategy; in 2010 it’s finally coming to Europe. This April, Paris will host the world’s first Content Strategy Forum, featuring an exceptional programme of leaders in this emerging field of practice. We’re honoured to be presenting: Jonathan Kahn’s session is called “A ‘Do It Yourself’ Guide to Content Strategy”.

On their way to Paris, Rachel Lovinger,  Karen McGrane, and Jeff MacIntyre—three of New York’s finest content strategists—will be speaking at a preview event here in London called “Content Strategy, Manhattan Style”:

Join Content Strategy UK and London IA as we welcome three of New York’s finest content strategists to London on Tuesday 13 April 2010.

Taking place at The Book Club in Shoreditch, this informal evening of discussion and socialising is the place to be if you want to learn more about the business value, opportunities, and practical application of this emerging field of practice. The event is free but space is limited, so get your ticket now.

Two great events, get your tickets now!

We’ve just launched a redesigned website for Penny Walker, a consultant who facilitates change for sustainability.

As part of the redesign process, we developed a new content strategy for Penny, building on her existing publishing activity in print. The new website lays out Penny’s core approach in detail (“Making change”), while a new blog combines regular essays with more free-form blog posts.

The redesign included a new identity by David Caines, and original photography and illustration.

Credits

The team collaborating with Penny on the redesign were:

• Design and illustration: David Caines
• Photography: Kalpesh Lathigra
• User research, content strategy, and editing: Matthew Grenier
• Web strategy, web development: Jonathan Kahn

There’s been a lively debate recently around the topics of web governance, web strategy, and their implications for web design in general. So we were delighted to hear that Lisa Welchman of WelchmanPierpoint, a thought leader in this area, is speaking in London on 12 November on the subject of Web Governance:

Fifteen years into mainstream Web adoption, most organizations operate their Web presence without fully understanding who in the organization is in charge of, and accountable for, the quality and effectiveness of the Web. The do-your-own thing, implement first and plan later mentality, which may have been useful during the start-up phase of a web site, is now choking the effectiveness and maturity of your Web presence as various factions tussle over who has absolute control or the “last-word” when it come to the web site. In order for the Web revolution to continue, organizations need to come to grips with the fact that policy and standards enable collaboration, not hinder it.

It’s a free breakfast briefing at Church House in Westminster (nearest tubes: Westminster or St James’s Park), hosted by technology vendor Vamosa. For more information, and to register online, check out the event page.

Highly recommended; we’ll see you there!

You might have heard people claim that blogging, and social networking tools like Twitter, can help your business in the way that advertising used to: a supercharged, free successor to traditional marketing.

But if you’re not sure how on earth that might work, you might want to check out some of best-selling author Seth Godin’s material. A great place to start is this series of four videos from the Amex Open series. Seth argues that the value of blogging comes as much from the process of thinking about what you’re going to say, as the audience you reach; and that social networks only have business value when they represent real relationships.

Highly recommended.

We’re delighted to welcome content strategist Kate Kenyon to the Together London roster. From her bio:

Kate Kenyon is a content strategist, senior production editor, and writer, with almost a decade’s experience of commercial website creation.

Read Kate’s profile.

Congratulations to Bold & Noble on the launch of their new collection, consisting of eight new prints in a choice of colours:

It is a big day. After three months of late nights, early mornings and inky aprons, the new collection is ready.

We love the new prints. Check them out for yourself…

We love this post by Erin Anderson of Brain Traffic, called “You’re so not welcome”:

Ironically, The Welcome isn’t even particularly welcoming. It’s kind of awkward, inauthentic, overly formal, and sales-y. It reminds us of the host who overenthusiastically greets you at a party, then proceeds to talk about himself the entire time before abandoning his beleaguered listener go find her own glass of punch.

An elegant explanation of why welcome copy on the homepage isn’t such a great idea.

We’re looking for a freelance PHP Developer for our client, a tiny software house based in the South East. (Please note, this role isn’t working directly for Together London.)

You’ll be based in the UK, set up to work remotely, and available for occasional meetings in London or the South East. You’ll be comfortable working independently, communicating over email, skype, and IM, and managing your own time. You’ll also be comfortable with “gig” style work — this is not a full-time position.

If you’re interested, check out the full job spec.

This year we’ve seen an increased focus on the issue of web governance—specifically around the discipline of content strategy, which we’ll write more about soon. Christine Pierpoint has a great post on the topic of web governance and legitimacy, called “Legitimizing your Web program”:

Even if you don’t have a written Web strategy, at some basic level most managers understand that the Web has taken over as the primary communications channel. … So, given all the critical functions supported by the Web, the notion that an organization would lack a formal Web operations strategy seems downright irresponsible, yet somehow the Web is rarely seen by managers as a legitimate business operation.

An insightful analysis of the big changes, happening right now, in the perception of the importance of websites to businesses. Worth a read if you’re facing similar issues in your organisation.

With the launch of Microsoft Internet Explorer version 8 imminent, .net magazine and our own Craig Grannell have launched a campaign to finally ditch Internet Explorer 6—the obsolete, insecure, and slow throwback from the early noughties, which, to the dismay of web designers worldwide, is still widely used, particularly in corporations.

From the Bring Down IE6 campaign site:

Craig Grannell asks designers and developers if it’s finally time to take IE6 behind the shed and shoot it.

If you have the misfortune to still be using IE6, visit the site to see a polite warning suggesting you upgrade—something that’ll become common from now on. This is a campaign that’s going to prevail—so if it’s in your power, upgrade, and if not, send the link to the person with the keys. For your own sake…