A presentation at Content Design Community Event with DWP in in Leeds, UK by Rik Williams
Working with content structure — an overview with GDS
Rik Williams Senior Content Strategist Government Digital Service (GDS) @Rik_Williams
I’m a new Content Strategist (back-end) at GOV.UK GDS
Core takeaway
“Perhaps because polish is so visible […] many people erroneously believe it to be the most important part of writing. But polish is merely the plaster on the walls of structure.” Jack Hart GDS
Adapted from: Factor Firm
👑 GOV.UK Simpler, clearer, faster Adapted from: Factor Firm
Technology Structure Experience layer Adapted from: Factor Firm
Technology Structure Experience layer Adapted from: Factor Firm
Source: Michael Andrews, Story Needle
Rendered design (web) GDS
Interaction design (app + web) GDS
Lead Image Place name Structural design (channel agnostic) Rating score Place type Call to Action GDS
Session structure
Part A — talk Structured content — recap Content structuring — primer GDS
Part B — mini workshops Pieces — deconstructing Atlas Obscura Reuse — remixing pieces of structure Going deeper — complexity hidden in C2As GDS
Part A — talk
Part A — talk Structured content — recap Content structuring — primer GDS
“Content that is divided into the smallest reasonable pieces and explicitly organised and classified in order to be understood and used by computers and humans.” Mike Atherton GDS
“Structuring content within a well-defined content model makes content scalable, reusable, adaptable, and measurable.” Maxwell Hoffman GDS
“In a nutshell, structured content matters because you can get so much more out of your content with a lot less work — and get better analytics for tracking effectiveness.” Rahel Bailie GDS
“Well defined leads to well designed” Lindsay Sutton GDS
Source: Sophia Prater
“People don’t care about the containers, they care about the things they contain.” Carrie Hane GDS
Why structure content at all? 📰 Presentation 🔍 Findability ♼ Reuse Localisation GDS
Goal: 📰 Content structured for presentation GDS
Govspeak markdown applies semantic structure to content which then cascades into its presentation GDS
Goal: 🔍 Content structured for retrieval and machine learning GDS
GDS
Goals: 📰 🔍 Content structured for search optimisation (Schema.org microdata) GDS
…content extracted from a mainstream guide and presented in a ‘People also ask’ featured snippet GDS
Goals: 📰 🔍 ♼ Content structured for syndication GDS
Source: Sakib Supple, The Guardian
“Reuse: The practice of using existing content components to develop new documents.” Ann Rockley GDS
Goals: ♼ Content structured for localisation GDS
GDS
Part A — talk Structured content — recap Content structuring — primer GDS
“A content model breaks content […] down into its component parts, describes them in detail, and maps out how they relate to one another.” Lauren Pope GDS
“Content models* enable us to store, process and publish content as granular units instead of whole documents.” Cleve Gibbon *+ maps (and other documentation) GDS
Source: Michael Andrews, Story Needle
Content Model The available pieces of content and metadata and their relationships to each other. GDS
Content Type The required pieces of content and metadata assembled to meet a goal. GDS
Source: Brent Heslop, ContentStack
Source: Brent Heslop, ContentStack
Source: Brent Heslop, ContentStack
Source: Sophia Prater
Content-first (or bottom-up) design means… GDS
Thinking of the system, then the detail. GDS
Alignment with authentic mental models. GDS
Making the right thing the first time. GDS
Inclusive/accessible via consistent and predictable wayfinding across content. GDS
Streamlined projects with happier teams. GDS
Simplified, de-cluttered content-first designs. GDS
Content-first (or bottom-up) design is… GDS
User Researcher-friendly — synthesising research insights into structure will expose high-risk assumptions/questions early. GDS
Source: Sophia Prater
Content Designer-friendly — gives early engagement and enables visibility to the types and scale of content that might need creating and governing. GDS
Content Strategist-friendly — breaking data into its fundamental components helps sensemaking by wrangling complexity into understanding. GDS
Interaction Designer-friendly — provides the pieces they have to work with and a methodology for identifying things that will need patterns in any design system. GDS
Stakeholder-friendly — mapping and modelling content creates opportunities for subject matter experts to contribute from the outset and at their level of expertise. GDS
“…pieces…” 🧐🤔 GDS
Things The fundamental units of content in the users mental model of the domain. GDS
“A content model should honour and respect the users mental model.” GDS
Relationships How the Things relate to each other. GDS
Calls-To-Action The affordances that the content Things offer users on the front and the back-end. GDS
Attributes The specific pieces of core content and metadata that build instances of content Things. GDS
Recipe Name Stars Rate Chef Image Reviews Save Show Lede Size Print Ingred. Quant. Time(s) Share Add GDS
Part B — mini workshops
Part B — mini workshops Pieces — deconstructing Atlas Obscura Reuse — remixing pieces of structure Going deeper — complexity hidden in C2As GDS
Reverse engineer an Instance of a Place from Atlas Obscura, a digital magazine and travel company. GDS
Working individually, find as many pieces of content structure as you can. GDS
Things Core Content Metadata Calls-to-Action GDS
bit.ly/dwp-mural GDS
bit.ly/dwp-ao GDS
7 mins GDS
Place Name Status Edit Contrib. Lede LatLong Add Img Trip Images Counter See All Story Caption Topics Add List Course Body Country View Map GDS
Part B — mini workshops Pieces — deconstructing Atlas Obscura Reuse — remixing pieces of structure Going deeper — complexity hidden in C2As GDS
Reuse, remix and reassemble Attributes for contextual navigation in a digital interface. GDS
Select and prioritise a handful of Attributes for use in a ‘card’ interface component in Atlas Obscura. GDS
A schematic of a card component in Google’s Material design system. GDS
7 mins GDS
Part B — mini workshops Pieces — deconstructing Atlas Obscura Reuse — remixing pieces of structure Going deeper — complexity hidden in C2As GDS
C2A in a prototype …but what happens next? 🧐🤔 Often overlooked structure, mechanics etc.
Atlas Obscura relies on Contributors (users worldwide) to create and add photos for Places they visit. GDS
This is (mainly) so that thousands of Places in the system can have 1-many photos of them. But how does this happen? GDS
7 mins GDS
User Photo Source Upload Caption Add +1 Alt text Submit Help text Cancel GDS
Admin Photo Source Confirm Caption Reject Alt text 2i (??) GDS
Summary
Adapted from: Factor Firm
“Well defined leads to well designed” Lindsay Sutton GDS
Thanks! #content @Rik_Williams rik.williams@digital.cabinet-office.gov.uk
Discussion
A structured content primer and workshop for Content Designers working in government. Specifically at the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).
The following resources were mentioned during the presentation or are useful additional information.
A Mural whiteboard with the three worksheets for playing with content attributes, their reuse and hidden complexities.
The instance of a Place in Atlas Obscura that was cited in the workshop.
Who created the initial structured content talk.
for free. You
can too.