Guidelines for Semantic Content & Content Strategies?

Question

Been looking for articles/posts/Books that include what others consider important about Content Strategy and the principles of Semantic Content (and accessible content) and how others are working Content Strategy into their requirements and designs. Believe strongly in the concept Content Strategy as a design principle, that it should drive the design.

I've seen a couple that start the discussion, but don't go far enough, like this list http://www.userfocus.co.uk/resources/contentchecklist.html Specifically looking for strategies, best practices, guidelines, etc. - more than just a list.

FYI - Asked this question on the UxExchange, and am still looking for resources out there. I broadened the question a bit, please let me know if too broad.

Answer 1

As far as I'm concerned, Kristina Halvorson is the current thought leader in this area. She works at Brain Traffic. Their blog has a lot of good content, such as this article about maintaining non-text content.

She also wrote a book, aptly titled Content Strategy for the Web, and an article outlining several key aspects of content strategy for A List Apart: http://www.alistapart.com/articles/thedisciplineofcontentstrategy/. It's very high level but should serve as a good point of reference and is relatively strategic. For instance:

At its best, a content strategy defines:

• key themes and messages,
• recommended topics,
• content purpose (i.e., how content will bridge the space between audience needs and business requirements),
• content gap analysis,
• metadata frameworks and related content attributes,
• search engine optimization (SEO), and
• implications of strategic recommendations on content creation, publication, and governance.

Finally, here's a great article from their blog that throws together a bunch of resources on content strategy: http://blog.braintraffic.com/2010/06/a-big-ol%e2%80%99-list-of-content-strategy-resources-for-you/

I know you weren't looking for more lists, but hopefully Kristina and co. can serve as a good starting point for delving deeper.

Hope that helps!