What if we were truly open to the language in our cities, our neighborhoods, our city blocks? What is our environment telling us to do? In this workshop, we’ll let the language of the city guide us to explore how words, specifically the words of our immediate contexts, shape our behavior. By being open to the possibilities, we’ll explore how language influences both the micro and macro actions we take. We’ll go on expeditions in the morning—studying street signs to doorways to receipts—comparing patterns in the language maps we’ll construct. In the afternoon, we’ll look at what these patterns suggest for the products and services we design. You’ll walk away having learned how words influence behavior, how products and services have used language for behavior change, and having tools for thinking about language and behavior change in the work you do. Spend the day letting words use you, so you can go back to work to use them with renewed wisdom.

1. Webstock
2014
Content Strategy
Workshop
Use Your Words
Content strategy to
influence behavior

2. Welcome!
You should walk away having journeyed the language of Wellington
with some new insights and influences to take back to your every day
—at and away from the desk.

3. What to expect
—We’ll be taking all kinds of pictures
—You’ll be working in teams
—It will be fun, but also action-packed
—You’re invited to be observant and to be bold

4. Schedule
—09.00am
—10.30am
—11.00am
—12.30pm
—01.30pm
—03.00pm
—03.30pm
—05.00pm
Part One: Content strategy and behavior design
Morning tea
Part Two: Expedition
Lunch
Part Three: Making meaning
Afternoon tea
Part Four: Presentations and wrap-up
End

5. Introductions:
Tell us why you’re
here today.

6. Let’s get started...
This is not your typical content strategy workshop. It’s more about the hidden power of language all around us.

7. Content strategy plans for the
creation, publication, and
governance of useful, usable content
—written or in other media.
—Wikipedia, Kristina Halvorson, and other smart people

8. Content strategists work to define
which content will be published
and why it would be published
in the first place.

9. Take this photo of a Martian sky taken this month by NASA Curiosity Rover.

10. Content strategists make meaning for a given audience. And when content strategists collaborate with designers ...

11. Audiences begin to see a complete picture.

12. Design without an interface
still has user experience
considerations.

13. content strategy on the
canvas of the invisible
Source: 21 Balançoires (21 Swings),” Daily Tous Les Jours
As interfaces dissipate into human behavior and items formerly known as buttons and screens dissipate into public spaces, our roles take on
different challenges. Design will be more attentive to the canvas of the invisible over the visible.

14. Content strategy has a
new stack
Material for creation is now embedded and transmitted through a new stack--one that contains concepts like mobile, social, sensors, and
context to be successful. This design will succeed if it's responsive, dynamic, and smart in both social environments and private spaces. And
that sort of design is not always rewarded for what is seen, but for what is not.

15. We’re talking about words
layered on/filtered through/
processed by our
environments.
Source: Jan Chipchase
Today.

16. Explicitly and implicitly
Even when it’s the absence of words that influences behavior.

17. Source: Hans Monderman
There is no project more spectacularly visible than the late Hans Monderman’s shared space work. Conceived as a way of decreasing
accidents by increasing the amount of ownership each person takes on, this first prototypical site saw a dramatic reduction in accidents: down
to nearly zero. Today, we’re not going to just talk about the presence of language...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q47umjW7GfE

18. language of
behavior change
... but its absence. What does the physical language of interaction design--present or not--encourage one to do?

19. Webstock
2014
Content Strategy
Workshop
Part One.
Deep dive: how words
influence behavior

20. el puente
die Brücke
Source: Krulwich Wonders
Our first story is about a bridge.
This is one of the most famous bridges in the world. Shout out some words that come to mind when you see this bridge.
http://www.npr.org/blogs/krulwich/2009/04/06/102518565/shakespeare-had-roses-all-wrong

21. fragile!
elegant!
beautiful!
peaceful!
slender!
pretty!
Source: Krulwich Wonders
Does it look this way to you?

22. strong!
dangerous!
long!
sturdy!
big!
towering!
Source: Krulwich Wonders
Or more like this?

23. Source: Krulwich Wonders
According to the piece, “The first batch of words — such as beautiful, elegant, slender — were those used most often by a group of German
speakers participating in an experiment by Lera Boroditsky, an assistant psychology professor at Stanford University. She told the group to
describe the image that came to mind when they were shown the word, ‘bridge.’ The second batch of words — such as strong, sturdy,
towering — were most often chosen by people whose first language is Spanish. What explains the difference? Boroditsky proposes that
because the word for ‘bridge’ in German — die brucke — is a feminine noun, and the word for ‘bridge’ in Spanish — el puente — is a
masculine noun, native speakers unconsciously give nouns the characteristics of their grammatical gender.”

24. grammar affects our
experience and perception
of the world
... “Boroditsky created a pretend language based on her research — called ‘Gumbuzi’ — replete with its own list of male and female nouns.
Students drilled in the language were then shown bridges and tables and chairs to see if they began to characterize these things with their
newly minted genders. .... They did. Boroditsky suggests that the grammar we learn from our parents, whether we realize it or not, affects our
sensual experience of the world. Spaniards and Germans can see the same things, wear the same cloths, eat the same foods and use the
same machines. But deep down, they are having very different feelings about the world about them.” —Krulwich Wonders

25. Webstock
2014
Content Strategy
Workshop
Exercise:
Observation
Wow. Well what if we, smart people, were conscious of this fact? Could we control it? Let’s find out.

26. Watch this video clip.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=57kolSnpjQQ

27. Webstock
2014
Content Strategy
Workshop
Exercise One
—Estimate and write down your best response.

28. Webstock
2014
Content Strategy
Workshop
Exercise One
—Estimate and write down your best response.
—How did you fare?

29. Webstock
2014
Content Strategy
Workshop
Discuss
What is the effect of “sensationalizing”?

30. 40
Average estimated speed (mph)
40.5
39.3
35
38.1
34.0
31.8
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
Smashed
Collided
Bumped
Hit
Contacted
Source: Drunk Tank Pink
Our association with words can even make us believe that things aren’t there.
Drunk Tank Pink: “In the 1970s, Elizabeth Loftus studied how labels distorted memories. For example, whether people who witnessed a car
accident recorded and recalled their memories faithfully, or whether their recollections changed based on the words used. In one experiment,
people watched car accidents from a Seattle Police Department driving safety video. After each video, drivers estimated how fast the car were
traveling before the accident. Everyone saw the same videos, but the questionnaires used used one of five different terms to describe how
cars interacted. Some were asked how fast they were going when cars ‘hit’ one another, others were asked when they ‘smashed, collided’ into
one another. And although they saw the same video, the estimates differed. Sensationalized accidents made cars travel faster.”

31. Dennises + Dentists
Stephens + Stephanies
It’s not just our grammar and cultural upbringing, but our very names themselves. Our very names can affect who we become.
http://www.radiolab.org/story/91539-placebo/

32. X
What we don’t think about as much in naming is how it can translate into hard numbers.
This is the stock ticker symbol for United States Steel.

33. X
RSH
And Radio Shack’s ticker (“RISH?”)

34. X
RSH
GOOG
And Google.
Compare the pronounceable (fluent) tickers with unpronounceable (disfluent) tickers, just after one day of trading, stocks yield a 15% gain
across NYSE and ASE, but those with disfluent tickers yielded only 7% gain.

35. Proportion of lawyers who are partners
100%
Fluent names
90%
Disfluent names
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0
0-3
years
4-8
years
9-15
years
16+
years
Years since graduating from law school
Source: Drunk Tank Pink
Drunk Tank Pink: “Fluency can also affects whether or not we want to purchase stocks or products, but also life outcomes. This graph shows
the mid-career advantage of having a fluent name. Compared with lawyers with disfluent names, lawyers with fluent names are 8% more likely
to be partners 4-8 years ager graduating and 7% more likely to be partners 9-15 years after graduating.”

36. % increase in name-letter donations
300
260%
250
200
150%
150
100%
100
50%
33%
50
0
Rita
2005
Katrina
2005
Ivan
2005
Francis
2005
Charley
2005
30%
Mitch
1998
28%
Wilma
2005
Hurricane name and year
Source: Drunk Tank Pink
...”In fact, language can affect not only what is there, but what isn’t there. We have a magnetic attraction toward our name letters. (p 15) For
each of the seven hurricanes examined, the proportion of Red Cross donations from people whose names shared the hurricane’s initial
increased, immediately after the hurricane.”

37. “How am I doing?”
—FORMER NEW YORK CITY MAYOR, ED KOCH
The Media Equation: “Last year Ed Koch passed away. Three-term mayor, he was famous for this line, how am I doing? His question closed
speeches, opened events, and generally made a great soundbite. Imagine the mayor turning to you smiling, asking this same question. Your
response to him will likely be ‘you’re doing great!’ But if a New York Times reporter calls you later that day and asks you that same question,
‘how is the mayor doing,’ you’re likely to give a more truthful response, ‘not so well.’ What explains the two different responses?”

38. the media equation
... “When the mayor asks the question, he’s implicitly communicating what would make him happy and what he’d like to hear. When someone
else asks the question, the mayor’s feelings are not at stake, and honestly prevails. This phenomenon is called the ‘media equation.’”

39. the media equation
A general communication theory that claims that people tend
to treat computers and other media as if they were either real
people or real places. The effects of this phenomenon on
people experiencing these media are often profound, leading
them to behave and to respond to these experiences in
unexpected ways, most of which they are completely unaware.
People are polite most of the time. And though violations exist, people, whether they’re talking to computers, televisions, or physical objects -or people -- will generally try to make them happy.

40. the media equation
A general communication theory that claims that people tend
to treat computers and other media as if they were either real
people or real places. The effects of this phenomenon on
people experiencing these media are often profound, leading
them to behave and to respond to these experiences in
unexpected ways, most of which they are completely unaware.

41. Individuals’ interactions with
computers, television, and
new media are
fundamentally social and
natural, just like interactions
in real life.”
—REEVES, NASS, 1996
When people ask about themselves, they will usually get a much more positive response than if a third party asked the same question. The
interesting part is that this isn’t just true for people, but of things as well.

42. polite + polite
aggressive + aggressive
passive + aggressive
outgoing + shy
The theory explains that people tend to respond to media as they would either to another person (by being polite, cooperative, attributing
personality characteristics such as aggressiveness, humor, expertise, and even gender) – or to places and phenomena in the physical world –
depending on the cues they receive from the media. Numerous studies indicate that this type of reaction is automatic, unavoidable, and
happens more often than people realize.

43. NPR prototype
Take these examples.

44. Zappos

45. Level

46. Exercise Two
Feedback

47. Exercise Two
—Choose a partner.
—One person plays a “user”, the other plays the “computer.”
—Role play situations where the user forgot his or her password.
—In different turns, the computer responds with the following
attributes: polite, cooperative, humorous, expert, aggressive,
mean

48. Discuss
What were the effects of different responses
on how you felt? How willing you were to
continue?

49. Webstock
2014
Content Strategy
Workshop
Part Two.
Expeditionary listening:
patterns and behaviors
revealed in the city
Go into the city for an hour and be guided by the language you encounter "where is the city telling you to go". Every time you "hear" a
message from the city, check-in and photograph the sign that made you react.
- A store sign that made them go in...
- graffiti that made them turn left...
- A street sign that made them go right...
Then use your check ins/and language photos to tell a story about what the city was telling you to do... instead of "what your city thinks you
are" ... "what your city is telling you to do"....

50. What if we were truly open to the language
in our cities, our neighborhoods, our
building? What is our environment telling us
to do? Let the language of the Wellington
guide you in exploring how words shape
our behavior. Is Wellington a great place?

51. What if we were truly open to the language
in our cities, our neighborhoods, our
building? What is our environment telling us
to do? Let the language of the Wellington
guide you in exploring how words shape
our behavior. Where will it take you?

52. Webstock
2014
Language of a city
—Implicit
—Explicit
Content Strategy
Workshop

53. Webstock
2014
Content Strategy
Workshop
Language to guide behavior
—Sidewalks
—Streets
—Retail
—Transit
—Entertainment
—Policy & Regulations

54. What does the city tell you to do?
Be mindful of traffic!

55. Webstock
2014
Content Strategy
Workshop
Expeditionary protocol
—Surrender to the language of the city
—Do as the city tells you to
—Photograph each change
(if the city tells you to stop, stop)
—Do so for 60 minutes; Return at 12.00
By being open to the possibilities, we'll explore how language influences both the micro and macro actions we take. We’ll go on expeditions in
the morning—studying street signs to doorways to receipts—comparing patterns in the language maps we’ll construct. In the afternoon, we’ll
look at what these patterns suggest for the products and services we design. You’ll walk away having learned how words influence behavior,
how products and services have used language for behavior change, and having tools for thinking about language and behavior change in the
work you do. Spend the day letting words use you, so you can go back to work to use them with renewed wisdom.

56. What to look for...

57. Fair game
street signs, store signs, road
markers, receipts, lucky numbers,
superstitions, billboards, skywriting,
bumper stickers
Keep in mind sensational language, positive/negative language

58. Off limits
symbol signs, audio cues,
non-directives

59. “when you experience serendipity
in cities it’s a clear indicator
of a healthily functioning
urban ecosystem.”
—ADAM GREENFIELD

60. Go.

61. Webstock
2014
Content Strategy
Workshop
Part Three.
Making meaning

62. Discuss
—What did you see and hear?
—Did sensational language influence you?
—What disposition does the city have—
positive, negative, aggressive, expert?
—Did the city present its directions implicitly
or explicitly?

63. What is the city’s Power of 10?
places to sit, playgrounds to enjoy,
art to touch, music to hear, food to
eat, history to experience, people to
meet.
At the core of the Power of 10 is the idea that any great place itself needs to offer at least 10 things to do or 10 reasons to be there. These
could include a place to sit, playgrounds to enjoy, art to touch, music to hear, food to eat, history to experience, and people to meet. Ideally,
some of these activities are unique to that particular spot and are interesting enough to keep people coming back. The local folks who use the
space most regularly are the best source of ideas for what uses will work best.
https://www.pps.org/reference/the-power-of-10/

64. Discuss
—What are your top 3?

65. Source: Craig Mod
Digital products can be difficult to consider because their boundaries are invisible. There’s no way to understand the digital product. How to do
so—like Craig Mod did when he worked at Flipboard, print out a book of the experience of making the product to get your head around it?

66. Source: James Bridle
Or like James Bridle did with the Iraq War.

67. Webstock
2014
Content Strategy
Workshop
Exercise:
product map
Language has such an influence on how we make decisions.

68. Challenge
—Create a map for the city of Wellington.
—Prioritize lists of nouns and verbs.
—Tell its story through a product map.
—Print or sketch 10 photos.

69. Suggested Anatomy
—Team name
—Your method
—Power of 10
—Nouns/Verbs
—Sentence
—Concept map

70. Discuss
What story is the city telling? Why?

71. Recap
—Sensationalizing language
—Feedback, the media equation
—Gestural language of a city
—Power of 10 method
—What makes a great place/product method
—Concept product maps

72. 1996
The Media Equation:
How People Treat
Computers,
Television, and New
Media like Real
People and Places.
Byron Reeves,
Clifford Nass
2013
Drunk Tank Pink:
And Other
Unexpected Forces
that Shape how we
Think, Feel, and
Behave.
Adam Alter
2013
Ongoing
Designing for
Behavior Change.
Stephen Wendel
Works that Work:
Magazine of
Unexpected
Creativity.
Typotheque

73. Thanks.
liz@bobulate.com
@bobulate