Content Plan

[Dave W]

Hi,

Maybe this is really at the heart of the IKE project, but I'm looking
for an Enterprise Content Strategy/Plan. I know that they exist out
there, maybe not so much for higher ed but for other enterprises. Does
anyone have something that would go by that description?

I'm much more on the technical and architectural end, and I'd like to
see what makes up a good content plan.

Thanks

Dave W

[Jay Collier]

Can you say more about what you're looking for?

The closest we have is a blueprint which describes how various types
of content and relate to each other:

http://batesmedia.net/2008/12/19/the-next-phase-home-web-3/

We're using this blueprint to envision what distinctive features are
needed for each type via use cases:

http://www.ikeproject.org/home/discovery/feature-requests
http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=pDRBDCXPE33NgVDyPj29QUA
http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=pDRBDCXPE33NgVDyPj29QUA&gid=0

-Jay

[Dave W]

There are some really good parts to what you have done, and while I'm
not sure exactly what I'm looking for, I was thinking some more about
the generation, maintenance, and strategic direction of content. Some
of the spreadsheet seems to delve more into the technical solution or
the requirements for a CMS/Application infrastructure.

In theory, and this is just a theory, and enterprise Web Content Plan
would contain:

-Strategic messaging (maybe audience based as you have in your
planning area)
-Guidelines on content writing
-Guidelines on freshness, and maintenance of content
-Guidelines on content reuse, componentization
-Maybe something on common content types and document workflow?


I was thinking this would be implementation independent.

Maybe I'm in a pipe dream world though...?

Cheers

Dave

[Jay Collier]

Thanks for the clarification, Dave.

Not only not a pipe dream, but I know there are many schools with have
these types of guidelines.

Two places to start: the CUWebD group site and a Google search for
samples to adopt.

http://cuwebd.ning.com/
http://bit.ly/oqrQe

-Jay

[Dave Wolowicz]

Ahhh yes... the WebD group.

I have it pouring into my gmail account. I no longer monitor it though. I'll take a search through it.

Cheers

Dave

[Jay Collier]

Dave-

Here's an interesting paper on best practices that includes references
to the kinds of topics you'd mentioned. (Forwarded from our friends at
Cornell:

"Becoming a Citizen-Centered Government ... Best Practices in Web
Management"

http://egsc.usgs.gov/isb/pubs/ofrs/2004-1359/

-Jay

[Anne Soucek]

Hi Dave,

Are you familiar with these? 

UVA has a comprehensive Web content strategy plan that we've consulted at as our school (UMaine Machias) works to formalize our own Web content policies: 

http://www.virginia.edu/webstandards/

In addition, Case Western Reserve's Web Development Blog isn't a fully formed content strategy but does have some excellent ideas about content development.  I especially like the idea of delivering the information in the form of a blog; reflecting the dynamic nature of content development and perhaps allowing more responsiveness to users:

http://blog.case.edu/webdev/

And A List Apart covers the topic well:

http://www.alistapart.com/issues/274

Best,
Anne