Content Strategy, Part 2: Naked Truths and Fundamentals by Rick Wilson. “Analysis begins in earnest by developing a list of rigorous questions that force introspection and real discovery – people, processes, policies, technology, budgets, current assumptions, new assumptions, etc.
It is the ‘reality check.’” To paraphrase Samuel Coleridge, poet and philosopher: “The worth and value of knowledge is in proportion to the worth and value of the source [content].” So, how do you create and distribute knowledge? And how do you measure and weigh the value? A couple of notions I really don’t have a complete answer, but I have two notions to start with. Notion One is a carry-forward from Part 1 of this series: Content is information.
Notion Two is that content has rhythm and flow, which arise from the movement of content through a sequence of processes that, in the end, assist in opening up the “prospects” noted above. Notion One suggests that we want to enhance content in any way possible to foster the “prospects of experiences yielding knowledge.” The naked truth Next. Extended Learning Content Management by John DiGiantomasso. “By separating Content, Style, and Flow, and integrating extensibility, an extended Learning Content Management System allows courseware authors to leverage their learning content and present it in countless different ways for a wide variety of target platforms and in a remarkably short timeframe.”
If you have used PowerPoint (or countless other tools, including word processors and spreadsheets), you understand the concept of separating content from style. With these tools, you can enter plain content and apply a number of “style sets” to it, changing its appearance. Experience eventually teaches users that it is a bad idea to embed styles within content. With embedded styles, it is a time-consuming effort to restructure content for use in other places, where the styles in the various re-used bits would not match or would conflict.
And yet, we routinely structure our eLearning content in such a way that we embed “flow.” However, I believe we can do better. Content and styles Figure 1. Content Strategy: What It Is, and Why You Need It (Part 1) by Rick Wilson. “We are at a crossroads. Meeting the objectives of content for both business and consumer in this age of digital disruption comes down to some wizardry and craftsmanship. While my theme here, and in the following articles, holds true for our business of learning, we have to think in a broader context.” The first thing I have to say is this: “Anyone attempting to make a distinction between good learning experiences and good content doesn’t know the first thing about either.” In a world where anyone and everyone seems to be authoring content (and more and more of it), is there any reason to care about how well content gets put together? Is there any reason to care about what happens to that content on its merry way to distribution, or after it is in the hands of the consumer?
Well, let’s not throw in the towel just yet. Here’s where I am going. Among these distinguished thinkers in the corral are the mobile-learning mavens and social-learning enthusiasts. Content: what a concept Figure 1.