Content strategy and the Google knol

[Jeffrey MacIntyre]

Good morning and happy Friday, colleagues.

WHAT'S THIS?
A progress update--and invitation to discussion--about the content
strategy knol on Google: http://knol.google.com/k/jeffrey-macintyre/content-strategy/
.

SUMMARY:
We (R. Stephen Gracey, Colleen Jones and Jeff MacIntyre) have come
together as a part-time editorial team to work on and manage the knol.
We are asking for your input and feedback here in this thread, now and
in the future.

WHAT'S THE KNOL?
Once upon a time there was no content strategy. We mean, no Wikipedia
entry for it. But in a certain sense, it felt the same to Jeff. He was
sad, and got down to documenting his angst. First, in this here knol.
Second, in an ALA piece last year (http://alistapart.com/articles/
contenttiousstrategy). The knol was a second chance at publishing what
was intended for a Wikipedia entry on content strategy. More
idealistically, Jeff wanted a realtime publishing platform that would
enjoy good SEO and help provide more of a statement about this field
of practice and its practitioner community.

SO WHAT?
Today the Wikipedia entry has been achieved--your donations to
@stribs--and yet it's the knol, for the moment, that enjoys choice
visibility through its Google pagerank: it bobs around the three slot
on searches for either 'content strategy' or 'content strategist'
today. We hope to maintain the knol to serve the wider content
strategy community, building on the collaboration and knowledge
sharing that are now gaining momentum. How great would it be if we
could start gestating a content strategy knowledge base? Right now the
knol is okay; it could be far better with some time and dedication. We
feel the knol can boost our community presence and help articulate
what we do as content strategists.

OUR PLANS:
Generally speaking, we aim to ...
* Add more links to relevant resources and further reading. (We
recently added links to the Google Group and LinkedIn group and want
to bolster the knol's function as a reference hub.)
* Gather your ideas and evaluate specific contributions to update the
knol, maintaining the focus on impartiality, clarity, knowledge-
building, and usefulness.
* Maintain "placeholders" for content that doesn't exist yet, but
which we all feel would be valuable.
* Structure a sustainable division of labor for the curation and
maintenance of specific subtopics.
* Improve the function and organization of the knol for quick
reference, for scanning and for identifying fresh content--while still
retaining older, more detailed or "fringe" information.
* Test ideas and content for the eventual community home at
contentstrategy.org or other destinations.

THE FUTURE:
We have a Wikipedia entry. We will, one day, have contentstrategy.org.
Work is afoot to establish a footprint online for the New York meetup
series and its community. Content strategy resources are suddenly
plentiful, and so we'll all want to integrate our efforts over time
and establish more specific objectives for each--and we have certain
thoughts in this area. For the moment, however, we feel that the knol
has immediate value for preparing elements of content that may be of
use to the .org, to wikipedia or other outlets in future. It's too
soon to know, but not too soon to start talking about it. Consider the
knol a test bed.

WHAT YOU CAN DO:
A. Please comment on these plans, offering suggestions for the knol
here, now or anytime.
B. Evaluate the knol. Join the comments fray on the knol itself. Rate
the entry.
C. Start talking about the big picture question: what kind of
knowledge do we want to document and share within our community? What
might you be able to contribute or point us to ... today?

NEXT STEPS:
We have initiated a conversation among ourselves already--we didn't
want to bore you with details--and have a variety of go-forward ideas
that will be tempered by our time, good sense and sanity. This team
will gladly review specific on-spec contributions by those interested
in providing them, so long as we might ask your patience and
forebearance: our time will be limited, and improvements may be
incremental. We hope you will find our goodwill and spirit to the task
at hand, however, in no such short supply.

Again, we hope in this effort to be of service to you, the content
strategy community.

Cheers,
Stephen, Colleen, and Jeff

[Elena Melendy]

Jeff, Colleen, Stephen:

Here's my first contribution, related to "A. Please comment on these plans":

They are fabulous. Thoughtful, well-organized, and necessary. Thank you, thank you.

B and C will come later, when I've had time to do more than read through your message.

Best,

Elena

--
Elena Melendy
Content Strategy and User Experience
http://elenamelendy.com
el...@elenamelendy.com
Mobile: 917-517-1976

Content | Strategy | Experience | Design