IAC23
Content strategists sometimes talk about structured content as a panacea. Good structure sets content free, we say: it helps content teams adapt to change as new channels proliferate, and it guarantees resilience by ‘future-proofing’ content.
But that’s not how it always works in practice.
Sometimes, even getting stakeholders interested in structured content is a challenge – they can’t get on top of content in a single channel, so the future we promise seems a pipedream. In other cases, clients will buy into a content modelling project, but it won’t have the long-term benefits we hope for.
Angus Gordon has spent over a decade as a content strategist and advocate of structured content. In this talk, he speaks from experience about why structured content intiatives don’t always go to plan, whether because of technology, people and organisations, or the content itself. And he’ll suggest ways we can advocate for and practice structured content while avoiding the pitfalls.
Angus is lead content strategist at Weave, an Australian content strategy and content design agency. Weave has a diverse range of clients, with a focus on government, higher education and nonprofit.
Angus has long been interested in the structural side of content strategy, including information architecture, content modelling and taxonomy. His work often involves taking tactical opportunities to make structural improvements while redesigning content around user needs – for example, looking for opportunities to bring structural consistency to a government website as part of a large-scale content rewriting exercise.
Angus lives in Melbourne with his partner.