Episodes

In episode 90 of The Content Strategy Experts podcast, Gretyl Kinsey and Simon Bate talk about using text strings and microcontent. This is part one of a two-part podcast. “They’re starting to get the idea of taxonomy and how important it is for all parts of their business to communicate using the exact same language. If this can be captured and put in one place, then those strings can be available to everybody.” – Simon Bate Related links: The misuse of metadata (podcast) Tips for developin...

In episode 89 of The Content Strategy Experts podcast, Gretyl Kinsey and Bill Swallow talk about strategies for avoiding the misuse of metadata and DITA XML-based content. “The more you fine-tune how your content model needs to operate, the easier it’s going to be to move it forward over time. The more you start taking shortcuts and using metadata for purposes other than what it was intended for, the more problems you’re going to have.” – Bill Swallow Related links: Making metadata in DITA w...

In episode 88 of The Content Strategy Experts podcast, Alan Pringle and special guest Amber Swope of DITA Strategies talk about information architecture. “Information architecture is a role, not necessarily a position, but by ignoring it, you end up without the discipline and the consistency that really enables great customer experiences.” – Amber Swope Related links: DITA Strategies Information architecture in DITA XML (podcast) Twitter handles: @alanpringle @DITAStrategies Transcript: A...

In episode 87 of The Content Strategy Experts podcast, Sarah O’Keefe and special guest Nenad Furtula of Bluestream talk about finding the value when selling structure. Why do so many tech pubs departments fail to get support for structured content and what can we potentially do to change that? Related links: Bluestream Content Solutions Steps to structured content (podcast, part 1) Steps to structured content (podcast, part 2) Twitter handles: @sarahokeefe Transcript: Sarah O’Keefe: Welcome...

In episode 86 of The Content Strategy Experts podcast, Gretyl Kinsey and Bill Swallow continue their discussion about the steps to structure, how to move from unstructured content to structure, and what each level of maturity looks like. “Step five is when you’re thinking even your structure is structured. You’re really thinking about how to take this to the highest possible level, how to get the most out of your automation, and how to make sure that the way you’re delivering your content is ma...

In episode 85 of The Content Strategy Experts podcast, Gretyl Kinsey and Bill Swallow talk about the steps to structure, how to move from unstructured content to structure, and what each level of maturity looks like. “It’s important to keep in mind when you move from step two to step three that your authoring tools may change. The writers might have gotten used to working with one set of tools in steps one and two. But as you move to structure, the tools that you’re using for unstructured conte...

In episode 84 of The Content Strategy Experts podcast, Sarah O’Keefe talks with Val Swisher of Content Rules about why companies fail and how to succeed at delivering personalized experiences at scale. “It all has to be completely standardized in order to be successful. There have to be small, individual, standardized chunks of content that are devoid of format that can be mixed and matched. Then the output can be personalized to the person who asked for it and sent to them at that moment in ti...

In episode 83 of The Content Strategy Experts podcast, Gretyl Kinsey and Jake Campbell talk about the next generation of DITA. What happens when you need to update your existing DITA structure? “When you’re building everything out the first time around, you can do as much user acceptance testing as you want—but the best user acceptance testing is going to be live testing.” —Jake Campbell Related links: Improving DITA workflow Twitter handles: @gretylkinsey @JakeScriptorium Transcript: GK:...

In episode 82 of The Content Strategy Experts podcast, Elizabeth Patterson and Bill Swallow talk about taking a phased approach to content strategy when you have limited resources and how you can prioritize that approach. “It’s really easy to allow your scope to expand. Try to keep it finite. Try to keep the phases small.” —Elizabeth Patterson Related links: The true cost of quick fixes (podcast, part 1) The true cost of quick fixes (podcast, part 2) Twitter handles: @billswallow @Patterso...

In episode 81 of The Content Strategy Experts podcast, Gretyl Kinsey and Alan Pringle discuss document ownership and the role it plays in content development workflows and governance. “You’ve got to quit the focus on the tools. The tools are not going to solve mindset problems. Those are two distinct different things. You’re talking about technology, and you’re talking about culture. Culture is a lot harder to change.” —Alan Pringle Related links: Content lifecycle challenges Twitter handle...

In episode 80 of The Content Strategy Experts podcast, Gretyl Kinsey and Sarah O’Keefe discuss information architecture in DITA XML and other forms. “You have to look at information architecture in metadata starting from a taxonomy point of view. This means you are looking at the structure of the content as well as the organization of the data that’s used for search and filtering.” —Gretyl Kinsey Related links: Making metadata in DITA work for you Twitter handles: @gretylkinsey @sarahokeef...

In episode 79 of The Content Strategy Experts podcast, Gretyl Kinsey and Bill Swallow continue their discussion and talk about solutions to quick fixes. “A big part of your content strategy should be how requests come in, how the timelines are built, and what you’re responding to and how you’re responding to them in the first place.” —Bill Swallow Related links: The true cost of quick fixes (podcast, part 1) Twitter handles: @gretylkinsey @billswallow Transcript: Gretyl Kinsey: Welcome to...

In episode 78 of The Content Strategy Experts podcast, Gretyl Kinsey and Bill Swallow talk about the true cost of quick fixes in your content strategy. “Even if a quick fix might save you some time or a little bit of upfront cost or upfront effort on planning, it’s almost always going to add costs in the long run.” —Gretyl Kinsey Related links: Content strategy pitfalls podcast: tools Content strategy pitfalls: planning (podcast, part 1) Content strategy pitfalls: best practices (podcast, pa...

In episode 77 of The Content Strategy Experts podcast, Alan Pringle talks with Chris Hill of DCL about content reuse and what it looks like across different industries. “You really have to start seeing content creation as a collaboration and build trust between the people who create content.” —Chris Hill Related links: Harmonizer Use cases for content reuse Reuse in DITA and beyond (podcast) Twitter handles: @alanpringle @dclaboratory Transcript: Alan Pringle: Welcome to The Content Strat...

In episode 76 of The Content Strategy Experts podcast, Elizabeth Patterson and Alan Pringle talk about expectations versus realities of tools when moving to smart structured content. “You can have different people using different tools and still pour all of the content into the single content management system. People connect to it differently based on the authoring tool that they prefer, and what works best for them.” —Alan Pringle Related links: ROI for content strategy: Getting around roa...

In episode 75 of The Content Strategy Experts podcast, Elizabeth Patterson and Bill Swallow talk about how content reuse can help you save on your localization costs. “The savings you get from a reduced word count is all fine and good, but the translation is only as good as the quality of the translation itself.” —Bill Swallow Related links: Reuse in DITA and beyond (podcast) Use cases for content reuse Twitter handles: @PattersonScript @billswallow Transcript: Elizabeth Patterson: Welcom...

In episode 74 of The Content Strategy Experts podcast, Gretyl Kinsey and Simon Bate continue their discussion about the benefits of establishing a taxonomy. “Communicate with the stakeholders. Don’t just get their input and then go away. Communicate all along what you’re doing and identify your benefits.” —Simon Bate Related links: The benefits of a taxonomy (podcast, part 1) Tips for developing a taxonomy in DITA Twitter handles: @gretylkinsey @simonbate Transcript: Gretyl Kinsey: Welcom...

In episode 73 of The Content Strategy Experts Podcast, Gretyl Kinsey and Simon Bate talk about the benefits of establishing a taxonomy. “Filtering is possible through the use of taxonomies. They have a real world benefit for people looking to find something.” —Simon Bate Related links: Tips for developing a taxonomy in DITA Twitter handles: @gretylkinsey @simonbate Transcript: Gretyl Kinsey: Welcome to The Content Strategy Experts Podcast, brought to you by Scriptorium. Since 1997, Script...

In episode 72 of The Content Strategy Experts Podcast, Gretyl Kinsey and Barbara Green of ACS Technologies continue their discussion about getting started with DITA. “We experienced far more change than I anticipated from the time Scriptorium first came in to evaluate our situation. I remember you saying, “Expect change, expect resistance to change,” but reality is the great teacher of life.” —Barbara Green Related links: Getting started with DITA (podcast, part 1) Managing DITA projects: Fi...

In episode 71 of The Content Strategy Experts Podcast, Gretyl Kinsey and Barbara Green of ACS Technologies talk about getting started with DITA. “We ran the conversion and got the content in DITA. It wasn’t structured the way it would be if you had started writing in DITA from the beginning. If I ever had another project, I would know to really take that into consideration.” —Barbara Green Related links: Managing DITA projects: Five keys to success Twitter handles: @gretylkinsey Transcrip...

In episode 69 of The Content Strategy Experts podcast, Bill Swallow and Stephani Clark of Jorsek talk about using a scaled approach with DITA projects. “The desktop publishing and single user tools are always going to have a much lower price tag than a DITA CCMS will, but there’s a trade off for what you’re getting.” —Stephani Clark March 2025 update: We have moved LearningDITA to a new platform. The Introduction to DITA course is still free, and you can sign up for courses at store.scriptori...

In episode 68 of The Content Strategy Experts podcast, Gretyl Kinsey and Simon Bate talk about unusual outputs from DITA sources. ” With DITA, it’s incredibly flexible. We can generate almost any type of output that we want to with it.” —Simon Bate Related links: DITA to InDesign: getting your paragraph styles in order DITA to InDesign: the gruesome details Strange bedfellows: InDesign and DITA Twitter handles: @gretylkinsey @simonbate Transcript: Gretyl Kinsey: Welcome to The Content Str...

In episode 67 of The Content Strategy Experts podcast, Kaitlyn Heath and Sarah O’Keefe continue their discussion on measuring content value based on accounting principles. “Language evolves. Your content actually needs maintenance, just like your house.” —Sarah O’Keefe Related links: Content accounting: Calculating value of content in the enterprise Content accounting: Measuring content value (podcast, part 1) Twitter handles: @sarahokeefe @kheathScript Transcript: Kaitlyn Heath: Welcome ...

In episode 66 of The Content Strategy Experts podcast, Kaitlyn Heath and Sarah O’Keefe discuss measuring content value based on accounting principles. Related links: Content accounting: Calculating value of content in the enterprise Twitter handles: @sarahokeefe @kheathScript Transcript: Kaitlyn Heath: Welcome to The Content Strategy Experts podcast brought to you by Scriptorium. Since 1997, Scriptorium has helped companies manage, structure, organize and distribute content in an efficient ...