From Monet to MTV, what practices connect the salons of Paris with Danger Mouse, NFL.com, and Facebook? More importantly, what's your place in that continuum? If you work with content, embrace your place in the ethical debate of creation and curation. It's nothing new—but it's time for user experience practitioners to acknowledge it. Why? Both companies' and consumers' expectations of user experience have matured, promoting content strategy in interactive teams, efficient projects, and satisfying user experiences. Content strategists shape communication goals, hierarchy, and taxonomy. Innocent choices? Or politics, discrimination, and the dark side of design? If you ignore these pitfalls of content strategy, what are the ethical implications? We'll discuss this through the lens of content correlation and "merchandising" on news sites, editing and mashing up to “create” anew, and curating in traditional settings like museums. From seemingly benign audits and style guidelines through published content packages, do curators create meaning? If so, how should content strategists confront similar choices? It's been a breakout year for content strategy. Come hear why now we need to confront its ethical relevance—and learn about the missteps of teams that don't—through the lens of case studies and the perspective of the new publishing landscape.
Margot Bloomstein is the principal of Appropriate, Inc., an independent brand and content strategy consultancy based in Boston. She crafts brand-appropriate user experiences to help retailers, universities, and other clients engage their target audiences and project key messages with consistency and clarity through both traditional and social media.
Presenting at SXSW for the second year in a row, Margot speaks regularly on the evolution of content strategy within interactive agencies; recent engagements include Gilbane, Web 2.0, Web Content 2010, and more intimate regional events across the country. In Boston, she helps organize the Content Strategy New England meetup group and spends lots of time at the dog park.
