Handout to accompany Andrea's Information Development World mini-workshop mini-workshop slides: https://www.slideshare.net/aames/miniworkshop-content-architecture-where-humans-and-machines-agree http://informationdevelopmentworld.com/speakers/andrea-ames/

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Building a Content Model
Use this checklist and worksheet to create an abstract content model for your organization.
Checklist: Questions to answer before you start/as you go
Is your ecosystem ready to build and use a content model?
Do you have stakeholder support?
Are your key silos bridged?
Do you have a basic process that everyone (across silos) is wiling to (or already) follows for
planning and creating content?
Is your content context well understood?
Who are your content users?
What kinds of content do they use?
How do they use it?
o Where?
o When?
In what forms and formats do they use it?
What kind of content are you creating now?
Does it overlap with the kinds of content your users want and need?
What patterns can you discern from that content?
o How is it similar?
o How is it different?
What abstract pieces can you pull out of those pattern?
o Titles
o Abstracts
o Tasks
o Specific kinds of images, diagrams, etc.
What else do you need to make the abstract model consumable?
Documentation?
Education?
Consulting?

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Content model: type structure worksheet
User
Deliverable
Required
elements
Optional
elements
Subject Context* Format** Channel(s) Owner
*Start with a general concept, here, and break out specifics when you've determined what they should
be, e.g., product, platform, version, user task
**Medium/media, mime type
Definitions
Deliverable
Subject
<Contexts>
Format
Channel
Owner