The document discusses author experience in content management systems. It argues that the purpose of a CMS is to facilitate managing content through its entire lifecycle from creation to archiving. It emphasizes that author experience needs to consider the needs of authors, businesses, workflows and end-users. Key aspects of good author experience include consistent and easy-to-use interfaces, domain-modeled processes, and producing personalized and adaptive content for end-users across all channels and devices.

1. OnrampMaking the case for author experience
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2. Rick Yagodich
17 years in the web
Founder of Excolo
Author of:
AUTHOR EXPERIENCE:
bridging the gap between people and
technology in content management
Twitter: @think_info
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3. What we will cover
Quiz?
For authors
For business For workflow
For end-users
What?
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4. The information superhighway…
Quiz?
For authors
For business For workflow
For end-users
What?
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5. The information superhighway…
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6. The information superhighway…
Destination: end-user experience
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7. The information superhighway…
But where do we get on?
Where is the on-ramp?
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8. Quiz
Quiz?
For authors
For business For workflow
For end-users
Creating content
for the end-user
experience
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9. Quiz
What is the purpose of a CMS?
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10. Quiz
What is the purpose of a CMS?
To be the butt of a bad joke?
There’s a reason they call it a
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11. Quiz
What is the purpose of a CMS?
The purpose of a content management system is
to facilitate the human process
of managing the communication content lifecycle
from creation, through use, to archiving
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12. Communication
Facilitate the human
process of managing
content
For authors
For business For workflow
For end-users
Creating content
for the end-user
experience
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13. Communication
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14. If there’s only one output, store in the output format, and input directly to that format too.
Communication
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15. To output to multiple channels, you need a translation layer, and adaptive-optimised storage.
Communication
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16. Adaptive-optimised storage is complex. A translation layer is needed to manage it cleanly.
Communication
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17. Author experience for authors
Facilitate the human
process of managing
content
For business For workflow
For end-users
Creating content
for the end-user
experience
For authors
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18. Author experience for authors
Defining author
An author is anyone who uses
the author environment
of the content management system
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19. Author experience for authors
Fit-for-purpose
language
Constent
decoupling
Design
patterns
• Domain-modelled
interface copy
• Consistent
terminology
• Consistent
paradigms
• Content only
• No presentation
• One context at a
time (by default)
• No access to source
code
• Ease of learning;
occasional use effort
• Consistent
approaches
• Domain-modelled
interface logic
• Tools that help
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20. For authors
Author experience for the business
Facilitate the human
process of managing
content
For workflow
For end-users
Creating content
for the end-user
experience
For business
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21. Author experience for the business
Frustration erodes
quality
Consistency and
reuse
Multi-channel
content
• Poor systems
frustrate
• Frustrated users pay
less attention
• Distracted users
make mistakes
• No per-channel
content
• Content model
designed for
repurosing
• The same message
everywhere
• Adaptive content
• Contextual delivery
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22. For authors
Author experience for the business
Facilitate the human
process of managing
content
For end-users
Creating content
for the end-user
experience
For business For workflow
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23. Author experience for workflow
More than
approvals
Domain-modelled
process
Holistic
systems
• Work flows
between content
variants
(SME, edited,
segmented, etc)
• Modelled
business
processes
• Designed for the
specific business’
needs
• Enhancing off-line
processes
• The entire
content
ecosystem
considered
• A model for
different
environment to
communicate
Bridging comms
silos
• Highly structured
content
• Distributed
authoring
responsibility
• Repurposed
content
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24. For authors
Author experience for the end-user
Facilitate the human
process of managing
content
For workflow
Creating content
for the end-user
experience
For business
For end-users
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25. Author experience for the end-user
Personalised &
adaptive content
Any channel,
any device
Content
consistency
• Granular content
adapts
• Behaviour- and
context-based
profiling
• More intelligent
content delivery
• Reduction of page
parity
• Optimised journeys
• Appropriate
interaction models
• End-user choice
• All content
everywhere (but
different sized
chunks)
• No channel
penalties
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26. In summary
Facilitate the human
process of managing
content
Creating content
for the end-user
experience
For authors
For business For workflow
For end-users
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27. Author Experience
• Available 13 October 1014
• Published by XML Press
• Part of the Content Wrangler series on
Content Strategy
• http://theAXbook.com/
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28. Questions?
Facilitate the human
process of managing
content
Creating content
for the end-user
experience
For authors
For business For workflow
For end-users
@think_info