When we create content—whether it’s a tweet, a blog post or a program description—we can no longer anticipate the default experience to be the desktop web browser. Our content is going places—sometimes places we can’t predict. It could be an iPhone, a Kindle, even a Nintendo Wii. As it is dispatched to digital corners far and wide, is it equipped to do its job, no matter the context? Will content goals and user needs remain well … [Read more...]
Communicate Clearly With Less Content
I love content, but nothing gets me pumped more than cutting it. Crop. Delete. Remove. Archive. Why? Because the road to clear communication often leads to less content, not more. The purpose of content is to communicate. For higher ed web professionals, it's easy to lose sight of this. Many people are responsible for constantly creating content — new blog posts, twitter updates, event descriptions, landing pages, "related links." But … [Read more...]
It’s the Strategy, Stupid
What do the letters "CMS" mean to you? Do you read them as "cry myself to sleep" because your campus content management implementation has been largely ineffective? If so, where does the problem lie: with the tool, or with the strategy supporting it? If you let the tool lead the process, you end up ignoring the pressing content needs and concerns that, ideally, should shape both the selection and implementation of a CMS. This is why at last … [Read more...]