How the Guardian’s custom CMS & API helped take content strategy to a traditional publisher, presented at the 2011 Content Strategy Forum in London. Essay version available at http://www.currybet.net/cbet_blog/2011/09/csforum11-martin-belam.php

1. “Taking content strategy to people
who already think they have one"
Martin Belam
Content Strategy Forum, September 2011
Lead User Experience & Information Architect,
The Guardian
@currybet
Essay version of this talk available at: bit.ly/q9tzJ5

2. I joined The Guardian full-time in 2009

3. This is best description I’ve ever seen of what I do

4. 1. Write newspaper
2. Print newspaper
3. Wrap fish‘n'chips in newspaper

5. 1. Write newspaper
*****and sub-edit it, check it with legal, write the headlines,
clear the rights for the images, make late changes, re-sub it,
syndicate the best bits, and get the files packaged up
2. Print newspaper
***and send the front page to @suttonnick in advance
****and publish it all to the web
3. Wrap fish‘n'chips in newspaper
*remember to have sent the British Library a copy
**and our own library

6. 1. Write newspaper
*****and sub-edit it, check it with legal, write the headlines,
clear the rights for the images, make late changes, re-sub it,
syndicate the best bits, and get the files packaged up
2. Print newspaper
***and send the front page to @suttonnick in advance
****and publish it all to the web
3. Wrap fish‘n'chips in newspaper
*remember to have sent the British Library a copy
**and our own library

7. Oh. Did I say “web”?

8. There are more and more platforms to come

9. Not all content works for all mediums

10. Getting it wrong sends the wrong signal

11. Our content now lasts longer than a day

12. And we are looking to extend that life cycle

13. You get some metadata and “furniture” in print

14. but there is so much peripheral digital content

15. Teams of people agonise over the words on the left

16. The words on the right? Not so much...

17. And to extend our range of content sources

18. We now have to manage other people’s content

19. Our CMS is some homebrew called “R2”

20. Workflow? Permissions? Meh.

21. Tags are magic!

22. Every article has tags to tell us...
Publication
Content type
Contributor
Section
Tone
Subject keywords

23. Tags govern where stories appear

24. And we can combine them (however unlikely)

25. We can segment content from our contributors

26. And we can sometimes get over-enthusiastic

27. We can “batch tag” and edit content

28. If tags are magic, then an API is wizardry

29. It is like a glorified advanced search. For machines.

30. !
Those of a nervous or non-technical
disposition may wish to look away now

31. The Guardian API architecture (simplified)
Solr Client Apps!
Main Oracle libraries
database instance
R2 In
CMS Copy

32. Create once. Publish everywhere.

33. Create once. Publish everywhere.(-ish)

34. We also use our website API on our website

35. And incorporate apps other people have made

36. The golden rule is “get the model right”
Photo by TheIguana - http://www.flickr.com/photos/51035797337@N01/3012247640/

37. 1 Don’t patronise
Every person and every
organisation starts from
somewhere.

38. 2 A portfolio of errors
Show someone where other
traditional publishers have
failed, rather than simply
criticise their own efforts.

39. 3 Don’t start with articles
Demonstrate your worth by
tackling all the bits of content
that a traditional publisher
won’t be thinking about.

40. 4 Never use ‘hipster ipsum’
Leave that to the UXers.
The value you will bring is in
dealing with content, so
always highlight the content.

41. 5 Don’t forget your IA
I heard a lot of talk yesterday
about tasks, navigation and
labels. Learn (and please
improve) on prior art

42. 6 Build APIs
Well, don’t build them.
That bit is really hard.
But persuade people why
they need them, and then
help them to get their
content models right.

43. The future

44. Thank you.
Tweet questions to @currybet