I’ve been an evangelist for intelligent content — structured, modular, format-free, semantically-rich, reusable content — for more than a decade. But, because adopting intelligent content is no trivial matter — it requires rethinking our content and reengineering how we work — only a small percentage of content is produced in this way today.
One of the most common objections to intelligent content comes from content creators — writers and their ilk — many of whom reject the creation of reusable content components as somehow lacking in creativity. The argument goes something like this.
Writing is a creative discipline. It’s a form of art. Reusing components of modular content is not art. It’s blasphemy. And, it’s not creative at all. So, no, we don’t want your content reuse.
Of course, nothing could be further from the truth. Planning, crafting, and repurposing reusable content involves significant creativity. But, don’t take my word for it. Check out this video from documentary filmmaker (and TED Talk alumni) Kirby Ferguson, creator of Everything is a Remix, an online series exploring how creativity incorporates copying and recombining from other sources.
