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Editor's Notes

• #2: We’re going to tell you a story of content at CIPD. A story that Sam and I, Pauline, Matt, Vanessa, Asha, Nicola … and a whole host of others have been involved in. A story of where we are now, and where we’re going; where we must go
• #3: It’s a collective narrative of content; a chorus of frustration, but also of passion. We have a chaos of content at CIPD! We’re suffering from an ‘infobesity crisis’
• #5: So what is content strategy? A question we’ve been wrestling with for quite a while. Is content king? Are we all publishers now? What in fact is content? An existential crisis. And as we grappled with the question: what does ‘content strategy’ mean? And what does it mean for CIPD? Sam and I came up with a phrase – a mental model if you will – GRC and GCR Getting the Right Content is the nuanced message of who we are. Content that inspires, stimulates, teaches. That questions the world and provides practical answers. Content that shapes the profession. Content that customers want, or don’t yet know they want From this point in our story we’re going to focus on getting the content right bit. The tools, the technology, the workflow, the management, the governance, the processes that can deliver on what’s possible now, but also what’s possible technically, digitally – in the future.
• #6: And we named our project Athena. Goddess of Wisdom. Goddess of War. To add to the pantheon. So now it’s time to introduce a new set of characters: content consultancy Mekon – based down the road in Sutton. And together we embarked on an audit of our content – what do we have exactly? Where is it all? Who looks after it? What is its purpose? We put forward a set of recommendations to the ET in April this year.
• #7: They were to build a global metadata framework Use Sharepoint to support enterprise document management – parked idea for the moment; but we should maybe take another look at it. Build a Create Once Publish Everywhere infrastructure – the tools and technology to build content once and manage it centrally. We proposed that we start with research content – it’s our foundational content, in some ways it’s the simplest in its construction, but also the most influential. The insights and thought leadership that should cascade through our content value chain. And finally to prototype, explore what’s possible when we have these new tools and new ways of working – build a vision of what’s possible in the training and B2B space – because that’s where we commoditize our content Three strands of work that inform and shape each other.
• #9: So there’s the big picture, let’s look at the detail. I joke that XML is like HTML on steroids: more structure, more semantics, more power. DITA XML is even better - agile, intelligent, more strategic if you like. Metadata is the tags that makes content intelligent – tells computers what to do with our words. As we got stuck in to working on the metadata we realized that we needed to extend our scope, to update it – to make it fit for purpose for who we are now. We realized we needed a new taxonomy. Taxonomy is the words we use to describe ourselves, and the areas in which we operate [our domain space if you will]. It is fundamental to our ability to search our content within and across all of our internal and customer-facing content platforms. If we can hook up what we’re doing with Athena with the CRM work, it will allow us to make connections between customers’ experiences and preferences and the content we deliver to them. And central to all of this work is the content model.
• #10: We’ll structure and manage content in logical chunks – lego bricks if you like, which we can re-build, re-assemble, mash up - to build new products.
• #11: So what is it that we’re building? Content will be authored in a simple tool – people will be writing in XML, in chunks, but they won’t see any code. Those chunks of content will be managed in a Component Content Management System, where they can be bundled together into new products for export or publication. If we make a change in the original chunk that change will be cascaded to all of the other places where that chunk has been re-used or referenced. The XML is passed to a transformation engine where it is converted to different outputs – to e-book and PDF. And from PDF we can print. The reason that we can’t manage all of our content in the WCMS, or in a VLE is because they are onward channel platforms. They are designed to manage and publish content in a way that is specific to the web, or to eLearning. We need something that works across all of our content. So we’re building the foundations – the architecture of future agility
• #13: We will get out Subject Matter Experts – the people writing the content - to add the right taxonomy (the terms that describe what it is that they are creating), because they are best placed to know. And that structure and meaning will follow through the content value chain, on its journey to our customers, however they find or consume it. And we’ll buy a tool and set up a framework that will allow us to flex and adapt the taxonomy as CIPD and the world of work changes. Our new taxonomy will enable customers (and staff) to make connections, to build a collaboration of ideas. Because, to quote Sam who quotes Stephen Johnson who paraphrases Louis Pasteur ‘Chance favours the connected mind’. And when we say ‘publish everywhere’ we mean everywhere. This architecture will also support our international ambitions. We can efficiently manage translation and localisation workflows from within this framework. We will build on the fantastic work that Pauline’s been doing in that area.
• #15: And what about the training prototype? That taste of the future We’ll prototype a course builder for bespoke training courses, where we can find content, showcase it, and storyboard it Imagine: Francois is sat with a client and they want a bit from this training course, a bit from a research report with a bit of their own content …Francois can work it out there and then with them – creating something new by reusing, reimagining our existing content Send the instructions back to base to build it Imagine a CIPD colleague sat with the HR team of a Saudi bank – doing the same, but adding in locally relevant case studies. We’re also prototyping a training app: for digital delivery of content for face to face training (on tablet + slides) Imagine an app where the trainer can access and include content from the latest research report in the training course; where trainer and students can make and store their own notes – even communicate with one another during the course And where they can access those materials, their notes and other related, connected content via other platforms, CPD tool, VLE, website even – after the course. This is functionality that builds on the foundational architecture; but this is functionality in which we’ll need to make a further investment: in a content server and publishing platform. And it will offer us so much more besides: Much easier way to distribute content to our onward delivery platforms Give us an easier way to build collaborative workflows, and to manage our content. But also in this prototype we’re exploring new ideas and new technology in the learning space.
• #16: We’re building an ecosystem of platforms. We must understand and balance business priorities and the need for strategic partnerships but also be very mindful of the fact that we need our content to do so many things for us, we need to own (in every sense of the word), our re-usable content assets And mindful that our content systems (all of our systems) must play nicely together. That they are ‘open’, friendly and knit together – use open standards and open source software where ever possible. Because who knows what’s round the corner? Gotta take the long view – how might it all need to connect? Let’s build an architecture of agility to allow us to react quickly.
• #18: Let’s imagine what Athena might deliver to us in one and in two years’ time First year, we’ll choose and implement the CCMS and get research content flowing in and delivering as e-books, PDF, and print But we can also further envision and define what’s possible and start to make all the preparations for year two Second year – that’s when we’ll make the real magic happen, deliver on that glimpse of the future that we’re building right now.
• #19: So now let’s start the next chapter in our story, And one last thought – We’re shifting the mental model again, at the Getting the Content Right end of the content continuum; further defining what we mean by content strategy - in its complexity but also the elegance of its simplicity. Content capability. The definition of capability: “the ability to achieve efficiently what one has to do” Thank you for listening.