Content Design

Definition

Content Design

the content management task during which the content is designed and associated templates and transformation software are developed

Classification

As illustrated in the preceding figure, Content Design is part of the following inheritance hierarchy:

• Type: Concrete
• Superclass: Task
• Subclasses:
  • None

Responsibilities

The typical responsibilities of Content Design are to:

• Identify and define the different kinds of content.
• Identify and define the target users of these kinds of content.
• Develop templates for entering new content.
• Develop transformation software for entering acquired or migrated content.
• Define expiration dates for content as well as what will happen to the content when it expires (e.g., archived, deleted).

Preconditions

Content design typically can begin when the following preconditions hold:

• The construction phase has started.
• The initial conventions for content design (e.g., guidelines, standards) have been produced during the process engineering activity.
• The following documents are largely complete and are relatively stable:
  • System Requirements Specification
  • Glossary
  • Domain Model Document
  • Information Architecture Document
  • Database Design Document
  • Human Interface Design Document
• The content management team has been adequately staffed with content designers who have been adequately trained in content content design.

Completion Criteria

Content design is typically complete when the following postconditions hold:

• All required external content has been acquired.
• The retirement phase has started.

Steps

Content design typically involves the following teams performing the following steps in an iterative, incremental, parallel, and time-boxed manner:

• Content Management Team:
  • Determine the need for new content by reading and understanding the associated:
    • Informational (data) requirements in the:
      • System Requirements Specification
      • Glossary
      • Domain Model Document
    • Information architecture:
      • Information Architecture Document
    • Content design:
      • Database Design Document
      • Human Interface Design Document
  • Identify and define the different kinds of content.
  • Identify and define the users of the different kinds of content.
  • Develop templates for entering new content into the raw content database.

Techniques

Content design can typically be performed using the following techniques:

• Design Patterns
• Conventions (e.g., standards and guidelines for content design).
• Reusable Templates

Work Products

Content design typically results in the production of the following work products:

• Content defininitions
• Content templates
• Content/User Matrices

Guidelines

• Content design should be performed iteratively, incrementally, and in parallel with other content management tasks.