In higher ed, any content worth its salt is going to convey some sense of the life on campus, whether it's student experience and an active research community. And that sense of life often boils down to people and their stories. Who are the people—real people, mind you, not stock photos and composite sketches—who make our campuses come alive? We can tell these stories well through profiles, both written and audio-visual. But what … [Read more...]
A Little More Conversation
May 10, 2012 by
Last week, I saw this great tweet by the University of Kentucky's Jeana Clark: @markgr IA = the building/rooms/floorplan. UX = Hospitality in the building.— jeana (@jeana_with_a_j) May 2, 2012 So, if UX is hospitality, how do we express that hospitality? In a hotel, hospitality may be conveyed in part through tone of voice, manner, the questions we ask and answer—in short, content. Ginny Redish, author of the essential … [Read more...]
Update Your Style Guide to Keep It Useful
May 4, 2012 by
Are you ready to get pumped about editorial style guide updates?!! (Would it help if I added a third exclamation point?) If you have a hard time keeping your editorial style guides current, you're not alone. Even the best of us need to work at keeping our style guides updated and useful. Angie Halama of Brain Traffic shares a great style guide pep talk to raise our spirits (or "spirts" if your editorial oversight is lacking). A … [Read more...]
Nimble Content Development
May 3, 2012 by
Much content development in higher ed happens in giant leaps -- major news channel launches, 18-month website redesigns, expansive social media campaigns, you name it. A big rollout can mean big impact, but it also means big resources and, potentially, big failure if we haven't done our due diligence. In the field of software development, there is an increasingly popular school of thought around agile development, which entails iterative … [Read more...]
Be Interesting, Please
May 2, 2012 by
It's fast and easy to create and publish content, right? Maybe, but not if you intend for your content to rise above the onslaught of emails, tweets, blogs posts and ads people are hit with every day. Crosby Noricks of Fast Company makes the case to "think like a publisher" by referencing an Instagram photo that reads, "I'll be interested, if you’ll be interesting." That's the voice of our readers asking us for a reason to … [Read more...]