Networking, Collaboration, Celebration, and Continuous Learning
An Online Community for Content People
Who is it for? Information developers!
Who are information developers?
Content Experts!
We’re experts in conveying ideas effectively across fields, genres, subjects, and media.
We’re communication professionals who specialize in content-based communication.
Information developers understand that effective content-based communication includes both text and non-text – both writing and design.
We understand that content always exists in service to something else, and that it should convey information that is easy to find, read, use, understand, and remember.
Community
Free- Free MiniCourse
- Member Dashboard
- Photo and Document Sharing
- Community Groups
Science-Based
Content Design
Academy Program (Monthly) - Free MiniCourse
- Member Dashboard
- Photo and Document Sharing
- Community Groups
- Live Monthly Workshops
- Recordings of Previous Workshops
- Monthly Office Hours
- Academy Program Groups
*Cancel Anytime!
Science-Based
Content Design
Academy Program (Yearly) - Free MiniCourse
- Member Dashboard
- Photo and Document Sharing
- Community Groups
- Live Monthly Workshops
- Recordings of Previous Workshops
- Monthly Office Hours
- Academy Program Groups
You Are Not Alone
We Get You!
Unique Challenges
Creating effective content – content that benefits both end users and organizations – requires a set of sophisticated skills and expert knowledge. It can take years to develop this knowledge, and seasoned information developers are subject-matter experts in their own right.
Content professionals face unique challenges:
- Working with subject-matter experts who are often busy with other tasks.
- Meeting deadlines that are determined by organizational activities other than content development.
- Reporting to supervisors who are experts in fields other than communication or content creation.
- Being undervalued or viewed as a cost center or “necessary evil.”
- Gaining access to front-end users for real, unbiased feedback.
- Being subject to writing, design, and brand standards that may work well for marketing, but don't always work for complex, instructional, and high-value content.
- Making do with inadequate tools and resources.
- Role definitions that make career advancement difficult.
- Leading “from behind” with little or no authority.
- Creating an end product that, when successful, is "invisible" and allows users to focus their attention on something other than the product we have so carefully created.
Success
Are You an Information Developer?
Content-Based Communications
Information developers understand the power of clear, content-based communication – of taking complex ideas and translating them into information that is easy to find, read, understand, use, and remember.
We’re natural problem-solvers, acting as the liaison between domain-specific subject-matter experts and end users. We’re advocates, urging our organizations to support the success of users through content that is accurate, complete, relevant, timely, clear, and credible.
Who is It Not For?
This community is specifically for learning how to create content that is trustworthy, credible, and usable, so it facilitates user success. It is not for learning how to create coercive content (content that misleads, manipulates, or forces certain user behaviors).
We believe that the ability to communicate clearly through content is a valuable and specialized skill set in its own right, and includes developing skills and knowledge that can be applied across fields, genres, and media. This is not a community focused on specific subject matter (such as software, health care, or business development), but a community focused on empowering people through content – across all fields, genres, and media.
Information developers balance the needs of both end users and organizations. We are not a community solely about content production, but also about content development – about ensuring that organizational systems and values support the creation of high-quality content in ways that are sustainable and cost-effective.
