Michael Andrews

Michael Andrews literally wrote the book on metadata for web content (actually two books).

Metadata puts the structure in structured content. It helps both humans and computers understand what your content is about and how it relates to other content. It ensures that your content is always up to date, easy to find, and able to be tailored to your customers' unique needs.

In today's hyper-connected and ever-evolving digital media landscape, every online publisher needs a content metadata strategy.

Michael and I talked about:

his work as a Content Strategy Evangelist at Kentico Kontent and his prior work in agency, consulting, and in-house content strategy roles

his definition of metadata

the range of benefits of attaching metadata to your content

how metadata helps search engines find and display content

the benefits of metadata standards like schema.org and Open Graph

how to attach metadata to content (, which )typically happens in a content management system)

the differences between internally used metadata which is used for workflow and other administrative purposes and externally facing metadata which is published along with the content

the emergence of "unbundled" content and how metadata helps reconnect content components, permitting new practices like omnichannel publishing via APIs

how accessing content via APIs permits modern business practices like content personalization

his approach to metadata strategy: taking a holistic approach, thinking across the content lifecycle to account for all possible metadata scenarios

how a metadata strategy (along with good governance practices) can help span organizational silos

the role of taxonomy in metadata - it permits teams to align on a common terminology

how metadata can help align content to your customer journey map

how getting started with metadata can help you start thinking about modularizing your content

Michael's Bio

Michael Andrews is Content Strategy Evangelist at Kentico Kontent. Over the past two decades, he has advised organizations in half a dozen countries about content strategy and user experience in diverse industry sectors. His previous roles include working as a Senior Manager for Content Strategy for Publicis Sapient, one of the world’s largest digital agencies. Based in Washington DC, he’s a frequent speaker at industry conferences such as Lavacon, Taxonomy Bootcamp, and the Information Architecture Conference. Andrews has published two books on the role of metadata in content strategy. He holds an MSc, with distinction, in human-centered computing systems from Sussex University in England.

Connect with Michael on Social Media

Twitter

LinkedIn

Michael's Books

No More Silos: Metadata Strategy for Online Publishers

Metadata Basics for Web Content: The Unification of Structured Data and Content

He has also published an e-book at Kentico Kontent, The Complete Guide to Content as a Service (CaaS).

Video

Here’s the video version of our conversation:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vh1-bdbyioY

Podcast Intro Transcript

Digital content is evolving to guide customers through unified experiences across a variety of channels and devices. These new publishing practices require unbundling conventional publications like documents and manuals into smaller chunks of content. You then need a way to re-assemble those chunks into new content formats. Metadata provides the connective tissue that makes this possible. Michael Andrews can help you understand why and how to build a metadata strategy to revitalize your organization's content.

Interview Transcript

Larry:

Hi, everyone.