News, perspectives and links from Together.
What’s the relevance of content strategy to user experience designers? I’ll be attempting to answer that question in 6 minutes and 40 seconds this Thursday, at UK UPA meets Pecha Kucha Night hosted by SapientNitro in the City.
My presentation is called “Wireframes are Works of Fantasy”. Check out the details and grab a ticket.
-Jonathan
Check out the video of the presentation.
UK industry magazine New Media Age published a feature on content strategy this week, including a couple of quotes from us. It’s great to see the discipline getting so much attention in the industry. It’s a solid introduction to content strategy, well worth a read:
Everyone’s a content producer these days. But the growing volume of content that brand owners distribute across multiple digital platforms is driving a fresh challenge up the corporate agenda: how to create a publishing culture that allows you to plan and manage content more strategically.
To avoid NMA’s paywall, visit the article via google.
We were delighted to help organise “Content Strategy, Manhattan Style” in London on 13 April, featuring three of New York’s finest content strategists: Rachel Lovinger, Karen McGrane, and Jeff MacIntyre.
Here are three short video clips from the event:
Want to see more? Check out the full video.
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.
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.
The team collaborating with Penny on the redesign were:
Read the full write-up: A manifesto for making change.
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!
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.
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.
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.
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