Articles
Interview with Vanessa Deconinck - Paris
Our second interview in the Speaker Interview Series for Content Strategy Forum 2010 is with one of Paris’ own, Vanessa Deconinck. We are very excited about Vanessa speaking at Content Strategy Forum 2010 because she is one of the few people in France currently working under the title of Content Strategist. Her insights suggest a lot with regard to the state of content strategy in France, and what content strategy hopefuls might take to heart when getting started here. In addition to her breakout presentation, Vanessa will be our French representative in the closing panel on Content Strategy in Europe.
Hi Vanessa. Thank you for doing the interview with us. Our conference is helping to bring attention to content strategy in Europe, but we haven’t been able to touch base with any French content strategists outside of yourself, so readers will be keen on hearing what insights you can provide.
STCF: You studied Russian in school (suggesting you are at least tri-lingual), have worked as a freelance radio journalist, and later in various web management positions: interaction, intranet, editorial… How long now have you been working independently and calling yourself a content strategist?
Deconinck: Beyond the various positions you mention lies a common objective: effectively delivering the best information possible.
Working in the web industry I have often found myself in an uncomfortable position.
On one hand, as a project manager, and maybe because of my journalistic background, I was often disappointed by the lack of attention given to content and editorial issues in the design process and its consequences: content shoved into unsuited interfaces, deterioration of the user experience and brand message.
On the other hand, as an online editorial manager I was frustrated by the importance given to editorial calendar over findability and content delivery issues.
Discovering Content strategy in 2008 has been a relief! Finally a discipline was saying something that I had been thinking: copy and data are the two sides of the same content coin and should not go separately. Attention to content should be thought of as a holistic process.
This has been both my pledge and stake since… with varying degrees of success because of the early stage of maturity we are in in France.
STCF: Even in the U.S. where content strategy is still taking root in the Web, brand management and news media domains, the field, Content Strategy, is still largely unknown in most other sectors of business, government, education… When you talk about your services with French clients, how do you describe content strategy? Is there a true French equivalent or translation of the title Content Strategist, like “Statégiste de contenu”?
Deconinck: At this time in France there’s no translation or equivalent of the term “Content Strategist”. The profession isn’t recognized or even identified as one yet.
The different tasks of content strategy can be performed—sometimes ignored—by various practitioners (Designers, Information Architects, Editorial Managers, SEO Experts, Communication officers…) depending on the project’s scope and budget or team members’ awareness to content related issues.
Nevertheless there’s a growing concern on the clients’ side about communication effectiveness, editorial governance and satisfaction of the users while on the internet specialists’ side the User Experience and Design (UXD) disciplines are emerging at last.
The situation is promising for Content Strategy.
STCF: We can’t help notice that your visibility online is fairly low; no company name, no web site, a quiet Twitter account (@vedeka)… Your LinkedIn profile is the only concrete source of online information we can locate. If we were a client seeking content strategy services, how would we know to find you? How do you market yourself?
Deconinck: First of all, I need to clarify a misunderstanding: I’m not working independently. I have been very lucky to join a company where my pledge for Content Strategy has been heard and where I can work on these aspects on a long term perspective. And that is something interesting to note here, that none of these aspects were a part of my job description when I was hired a year ago, but they have since been recognized as crucial.
Of course, if I had been working independently, my self-marketing needs would, by definition, be stronger… and my visibility hopefully higher!
Today in France, it is the discipline of Content Strategy itself that requires promotion, and I’ve been thinking about how to address that issue in 2010.
STCF: Many would say the French often prefer overall effect to detailed perfection, image to factual details, and style over substance. Do you think that’s true? If so, to what extent does content strategy conflict and/or coincide with the French mentality?
Deconinck: Saying so may sound like a cliché and for this reason appear simplistic to many; however, behind the light style lies a profound idea. French vision of design finds its roots in the history of French decorative arts, and therefore, as a direct heritage, it is more inclined to ornamentation while the Anglo-Saxon approach aims at production and favors functionality.
This can also explain why user experience (UX) was born in the US and why its emergence in France is slower than in other European countries having different design history.
Although Content Strategy is a recognized field of user experience design and therefore could suffer from what was mentioned above, my feeling is that it will be perceived as an editorial governance and will benefit from a rich publishing past.
STCF: Somewhat related to the previous question, do you think there could be a single, comprehensive model of, say, Web content strategy that is internationally applicable (as is the case with other kinds of standards such as Web accessibility), or is content strategy something we should expect to see evolve more organically on a local scale?
Deconinck: That’s an interesting question. Let’s imagine that a leading international company decides a redesign for the European market. Europe counts 27 countries and 23 different official languages (in European Union); however, because of its European presence, business priorities or what have you (economic agendas aside), the compagy chooses 5 countries (and to make it simple 5 languages). What would the dream team be? One (1) information architect, 1 content strategist, and 5 translators? One (1) information architect and 5 content strategists? Five (5) information architects and 5 content strategists?
Because I consider my work to rely on words and data, I would not feel confident delivering recommendations for a language other than my own. That’s a first argument against a single comprehensive model.
Then comes the nature of Content Strategy: it’s a process rather than a standard, it’s multiple by definition.
I tend to think the “grammar of content strategy” (tools, theory, methodology, deliverables …) can be shared and common, but its “style” has to be local.
STCF: In your abstract for the Forum, you say “not to use ‘content’ as a keyword in your search or you might stay unemployed longer than expected!” We assume you specifically mean when looking for content strategy jobs, right? In fact, using ‘content’ in French job searches does return positions like “webmaster”, “chargée de contenus”, “rédacteur-référenceur”, and so forth, but these are not exactly content strategy jobs. Can forum attendees expect you to provide some tips and tricks for finding content strategy work in France? Or marketing oneself for content strategy work?
Deconinck: Of course I was mentioning Content Strategy work!
It’s interesting to notice though that “contenu” (content) returns far less positions than “éditorial” (editorial).
If you take a closer look at these retrievals, you’ll notice that in the majority of the cases, “content” has two meanings. It’s either used as a synonym of “copy” or in relation to a content management system being used.
“Content” in France right now equals no analysis, no strategy, no data, a little bit of copy and some pasting into a CMS!
This reminds me about the situation Violaine Truck relates in her review of Kristina Halvorson’s book.
STCF: Some of your peers in the UK, like Clare O’Brien, are doing interesting things with “measuring” content using such criteria as “quality”, “value” and “performance”. Understanding, of course, that content strategy in France is at a different stage of growth than it is in the UK, would you say that some of the metrics content strategy folks in the UK are working with have merit in the French market? In other words, would this kind of approach to content be a marketable service in France? Would clients be interested in knowing the value of their content and how to “culture” it over time?
Deconinck: I’m not familiar enough with Clare’s CUT Score to express a clear opinion about it.
However, since it is the users themselves who are scoring the content, it is related to others metrics pertaining to users’ behaviors, trends, preferences which are commonly used.
We are at an exciting turning point with organizations expressing a growing concern about meeting their user’s needs but struggling to address this issue effectively.
STCF: What is your general feeling about the relevance or efficacy of the Content Strategy Forum 2010 being in Paris? Will this event help springboard content strategy in France? If so, what would you suggest be done to keep the momentum going?
Deconinck: I was thrilled Paris was chosen to host the Conference.
First of all because it is an European location and hence a great opportunity for us European practitioners to gather and address our specific problematic when a lot has come from the States.
Second because it’s in France, taking place when UX practices are emerging (local UX-IA meetings, French speakers at international conference …). This is a very exciting time for French Internet professionals.
Between the Content Strategy Forum in April, the EuroIA Summit being planned for the following fall, and the recently formed UX Paris group on LinkedIn, 2010 is especially full of exciting promises in France.
To keep the momentum going I see two major directions that would need to be followed in France.
- Structuring field study and community tools. Through the production and translation of theory, books, best practices, case studies (…) and the participation in networks (local to international), discussion lists (…)
- Promoting and evangelizing. The above mentioned initiatives need to be publicized toward a broader audience, including data and web copy experts (writers, editors, journalists, managers, referencers…), communication professionals, UXD practitioners and the like).
STCF: Do you think there will be much local (French) interest in the Content Strategy Forum? If so, who would you suspect be the most interested audiences? What would be the best way to get their attention?
Deconinck: Because Content Strategy deals with every stage of content life cycle, it directly concerns a wide range of specialists: Information Architects, Designers, Project Managers, SEO experts, editorial consultant or managers, web writers, web journalists…
Because it aims to support “meaningful interactive experience”, it favors the client whose satisfaction is any agency or independent worker objectives …
The potential audience is huge but scattered. To reach its attention, the Forum would need to use every existing professional communication channel.
Since the discipline isn’t clearly identified, the message conveyed would probably need some adjustments to be understood in terms of benefits.
STCF: …
Thank you again for the interview, Vanessa. By our own reckoning, you are one of the content strategy pioneers in France, suggesting that when the field gets more established here, we can expect to see you as a local champion, a content strategy thought leader in the French domain, a celebrity!
We look forward to meeting you next April, and having a lot more great discussion.