The first step in assessing content is the inventory process, and it seems daunting upon first look. There are usually many parts to a website, and each part can contain any number of pages, images, videos, and documents, not to mention endless text and other miscellaneous content files. This week in Digital Content Strategies, we began the process of performing a content inventory for Client Z. It made me reflect on the scale of a content assessment.

If, for example, a museum didn’t bother to catalog, organize, and classify their artifacts, curators wouldn’t know what they have and where it is located. Keeping an updated inventory is critical for them as they house and display these precious assets. It is also critical for a business or organization to know what and where its content assets are in order to maximize their potential.

The next step in the assessment of content is the audit, quantitative and qualitative. Continuing the example of the museum artifacts on display, knowing the numbers of visitors to an exhibit (quantitative) and the ease of location, ease of learning, and accuracy of the displays (qualitative) would help the museum curators decide how and where to display related artifacts. Again, it is also important for a business or organization to know how its content is performing and working for them.

What did you read or watch that surprised, delighted or disappointed you? Why?

In my previous blog post, Always keep on your toes, I mentioned that I am new to the field of technical communication. Therefore, nearly all of the information in each module is new to me each week. Chapter 8 of our textbook, Content Audits and Inventories by Paula Ladenberg Land, goes into great detail for defining audit criteria for audits. For someone like me, who hasn’t thought about content audits before taking this course, it is really helpful to have someone break down each criterion with detailed descriptions of each possible one. I feel like it is a chapter that I will reference often while I am conducting my inventory and audit for our project in Digital Content Strategy and hopefully in future audits.

What was most meaningful for your own career goals? Why?

Even though the video of the MadCap Flare Demonstration by Jennifer Morse was included in Module 2, I watched it this week while we were in the midst of Module 3. I had already installed Flare on my Windows computer and imported files from Client Z, but I still didn’t have a good idea of how Flare worked. The demonstration video just made something click for me while I watched Jennifer Morse walk us through the concepts of Flare and share her screen while navigating through the software.

Suddenly, I understood how Flare takes content and breaks it down into blocks that are used and reused to create new content. The example of updating the FAQ icon helped me understand how convenient it is to be able to update the icon in one location, rather than in every location that uses it. Her graphics were simple yet informative, and the screencast was just the visual that I needed to put it all together.

After watching this video, I opened up Flare on my computer again, and I was able to look through and see how Client Z has their content organized and understand it much better. I think that using these software tools and navigating through real-world applications is the single most important aspect of this course for someone like me. These experiences are valuable to gain the confidence to continue trying, even when I don’t feel like I know what I’m doing. Doing more helps me learn more.