All Things Content with Kevin Nichols

AI is a groundbreaking technology disrupting nearly every industry, especially the content field. Services like ChatGPT are making writing many forms of content exponentially faster than traditional methods, and similar tools are being integrated into products like Dropbox and social media platforms to improve their usefulness and efficiency. Because of the explosion of interest and implementation into AI, terms like generative AI, artificial intelligence, natural language processing, and machine learning are assumed to be referring to the same concept. What are the differences between these terms? And how can a content specialist without a background in computer science start to learn how to utilize this revolutionary new tech?

Kevin called on his friends from Reltio, Megan Gihooly and Rob Sylvester, to help answer these questions. They explore AI's definitions and use cases, particularly in content development. Megan and Rob expound on the importance of machine learning in AI and how it can solve customer problems. They emphasize the need for clear and structured content to train AI models effectively, as these models are only as valuable as the information fed into them. Lastly, the episode concludes with a reminder to approach AI tools cautiously and focus on solving specific problems rather than relying on plug-and-play solutions.

As a Sr. Director of Self-Help and Content Strategy at Reltio, Megan Gihooly, leads innovative initiatives that help customers unify their data autonomously using the Reltio platform. With over 20 years of experience in technical and marketing content, change management, e-learning, and process development, she is passionate about creating engaging and effective content experiences that drive business outcomes and customer satisfaction. She has successfully launched an award-nominated documentation portal, adopted a new content tech stack that supports publishing in minutes, and secured executive support for a generative AI assistant inside the doc portal and the product. Megan also has a strong background in customer experience, having worked at Zoomin, a SaaS content delivery platform, where she delivered customer insights, collaborated with cross-functional teams, and impacted revenue and growth.

Rob Sylvester, a Senior Staff Machine Learning Engineer at Reltio based in San Francisco, was born and raised in Alaska. He's pretty good with computers but much better at working with people, and he enjoys it a lot more. His background is in full-stack web development and linguistics, but nowadays, his professional interest is centered almost entirely on NLP and deep learning. He has a degree in Italian and is an avid fan of Italian cinema.

Megan's Info:

Given that the modern consumer ecosystem is so complex, finding ways to organize and optimize the customer experience can be difficult. There are countless ways customers can interact with a brand, whether that be through email, mobile apps, SMS messages, in-person experiences, and many more. The amount of options for consumers to utilize and for companies to track can be overwhelming. Due to how complicated customer experiences are today, diligent use and maintenance of customer journey maps are a necessity. 

To help outline best practices for customer journey mapping, Kevin Nichols is joined by his good friend, Steven Keith of CX Pilots. Steven and Kevin share their experiences of clients ignoring journey maps and the benefits when those maps are given proper attention. They also go over the process of creating a customer journey map, its components, and how to get all the relevant and necessary corporate teams involved. Steven and Kevin provide an updated view on how customer journey mapping is important in 2024 and how AI is evolving traditional processes. 

Steven Keith is an internationally recognized expert and keynote speaker for customer experience in professional services firms. Steven works with companies in the Fortune 10 as well as the Fortune 10,000 by helping them transform their strategies and operations to become more systematically empathetic to their internal and external customers.  

Steven’s Info:

Did you know that more people would rather clean a toilet than call customer support? Due to this, combined with the fact that employing a customer support team during a recession is an expensive luxury, many companies are opting to close down their support teams. Instead, they’re shifting their focus to developing knowledge-center content, where customers can find their own answers to their questions. However, does this turn meet all customer needs? How can you make the best knowledge center possible? Are there benefits in maintaining customer support teams?

Join Kevin as he interviews his longtime friend and content industry veteran Scott Abel. They discuss different forms of content that can be housed in knowledge centers, the different purposes that content can be used for, and the changes to knowledge-center content caused by the recent pandemic. They also discuss how personalization can be utilized for that content and how the knowledge centers fit within the entirety of the customer experience. 

Known as "The Content Wrangler," Scott Abel is a content strategist who helps companies improve how they author, maintain and deliver information to those needing it. He's co-authored "Intelligent Content: A Primer" and "The Language of Content Strategy" and creator of the Content Strategy Series of books from XML Press. In addition, Scott hosts the most popular content-focused webinar show on BrightTALK, attracting tens of thousands of viewers annually. Scott co-produces several events including the annual Information Development World, Technical Documentation RoundUp, and Content Intelligence conferences, and is a presenter at content industry conferences including Intelligent Content Conference (an event he co-founded and later sold to Content Marketing Institute), Content Marketing World, Localization World (North America, Europe, Asia), Content Strategy Applied, and Society for Technical Communication Summit. His blog, TheContentWrangler.com, is a popular destination for communication pros seeking information about content management strategy and related topics.

Scott’s Info: 

In the current digital space, the field of content design remains a topic of fascination. What exactly is content design, and what is it not? As explained by content strategist and this episode’s guest Sarah Johnson, it can be described as “designing with words”. She talks with Kevin about how she discovered her calling in content design after a career as a novelist and a computer programmer. Later, she explains the difference between content design and content strategy, as well as between content first design and content design. Sarah then speaks about the process and framework she leverages for effective content design. Sarah and Kevin also discuss the importance of communication skills in the field, the role of empathy and conversation mapping, and the intersection of content design, user experience, and customer experience.   

Sarah is an Associate Senior Manager of Content Strategy at CVS. She also teaches content strategy at Bentley University’s User Experience Center in Waltham, Massachusetts. She has twenty-five years of experience with companies such as CVS, TIAA, Fidelity Investments, and Bank of America. Sarah works with content teams to help them grow leadership and user experience skills, running content strategy summits within her UX teams. She also spearheaded a workshop entitled “The Art of the Difficult Conversation”, which she developed in conjunction with Search Inside Yourself Leadership Institute. The workshop went on to be offered corporate-wide at TIAA. Sarah is a graduate of the InnerMBA offered by SoundsTrue, LinkedIn, and NYU.   

Sarah's Info:  

How can designers leverage content as a vehicle for social change? What legal ramifications will proceed from new forms of content like Augmented Reality and the Metaverse? These are just some of the questions Heather Snyder Quinn is asking. In this episode, Kevin sits down with Heather to inquire about her work on her project “Mariah: Acts of Resistance”. “Mariah”, co-designed by Adam DelMarcelle, tells the story of a young woman who overdosed on heroin that viewers experience as they tour the Sackler wing of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC. They do this by holding up their cell phones to artifacts procured by the Sackler family, viewing pieces of Mariah’s story via the augmented reality app that Heather designed. Kevin and Heather talk about how art responds to authority before delving into the topics of speculative design and design fiction. Their conversation leads to further discussions around the future of freedom of speech, the power of Big Tech in modern society, and the impact the Metaverse and other emerging technologies will have on our conception of reality.    

Heather is usually where she “isn’t supposed to be.” You will find her playing in unexpected places, physical or virtual, and collaborating with people from an array of backgrounds. She uses design fiction to empower communities to imagine possible futures and understand technology’s impact on human freedoms. Yale Law School, The World Economic Forum, MIT Press, The Washington Post, Hyperallergic, and NASA have recognized her work. Dedicated to improving society through the field of design, she serves as Director of Design Futures for Design Incubation, Co-chair of Speculative Futures Chicago, and was previously co-chair for AIGA Chicago’s Women Lead. She is an Assistant Professor of Design Futures at Washington University in Saint Louis, Director of the Parallel Futures Lab, and mother of two daughters.  

Heather’s Info: 

Is academia a potential career when working in content? Professor Kim Sydow Campbell is living proof that it is, but what is the typical course of action for someone looking to join her profession? Kevin discusses this topic with her, a valuable conversation for any student looking for a career in writing. They also talk about what technical communication is, the history of the field, its importance in various industries, and how she incorporates it into her courses. Professor Campbell describes the class projects that involve her students working with private companies to gain real-world experience.

Kim Sydow Campbell is a professor and Director of Corporate Relations at the University of North Texas. As the Director, she develops and maintains relations with corporate partners on behalf of the University’s Department of Technical Communication to increase the relevance of degree programs to the industry, sponsorships of course projects for students, access to industry data or sites for faculty research, and the quantity and quality of full-time and internship placements for students. She previously was a professor and associate dean at The University of Alabama. Before this latest period in academia, she was Editor of Transactions on Professional Communication at the Institute of Electrical & Electronics Engineers (IEEE). Professor Campbell originally got her BA and Ph.D. at Louisiana State University, first getting her degree in English Linguistics, and later her Ph.D. in Linguistics and Professional Writing.

Kim's Info:

What is the connection between media studies and content strategy? On this episode, Robert Mills, founder of Fourth Wall Content, explains how his background in narrative theory led him to working in content. Kevin and Robert discuss the many ways forms of media, particularly film, subconsciously convey information to observers. Using examples ranging from cinema to fairy tales, the two decipher media codes that storytellers and directors use to tell and create stories. In addition, Robert explains how an understanding of these covert and subtextual themes can apply to the world of marketing and branding across a customer journey, empowering content specialists with the knowledge needed to tell their client’s own stories.

Robert Mills is a content and communications strategist based in the UK. Having a track record at multiple agencies, he started his own in 2021 to work with clients on various content-focused projects. A writer with a diverse skill set, he graduated college with a journalism degree and has also worked as an Audience Research Executive at the BBC. He now runs his businesses out of the log cabin at the bottom of his garden.

Robert’s Info:

In this episode of “All Things Content”, Kevin is joined by content strategist, musician, and documentarian Matt Geraghty. Matt describes his journey growing up as a musician and becoming fascinated with the musical traditions of other cultures. He talks about how those interests led him to creating multiple documentaries highlighting the untold stories of many artists and communities in Latin America. In addition, he and Kevin discuss the intersection of content and art, and how Matt’s work in the corporate world and artistic landscape supplement each other.

Matt Geraghty is a multi-instrumentalist, music producer and filmmaker best known for his cross cultural and inclusive music collaborations across New York City, Chicago, Europe and Latin America.

Matt founded JUST PLAY in 2013, a music and documentary project developed from meetings and improvisations with musicians from New York, New Orleans, Havana, San Juan and Peru. Matt created the project to increase the visibility of artists across the African Diaspora in the Americas. JUST PLAY, now with 275 artists, is a traveling artist collaboration project based on 3 central pillars: creativity, freedom, and global unity.

For news about upcoming performances, news and ongoing projects follow Matt through the links below:

Matt’s Info:

In this episode, Kevin is honored to interview his good friend and content pioneer, Rahel Bailie. Listen in as Rahel describes her journey developing the very fields of content strategy and content operations during the early stages of the internet. In addition, learn how content operations are a necessity for growing organizations looking to scale their content libraries and processes.

Rahel Ann Bailie is Chief Knowledge Officer at Scroll, an STC Fellow, an industry author, and a results-driven content strategist. She has a strong track record of developing successful digital content projects, tackling the complexities of managing content for clients globally. Her strength is diagnostics: calculating how to use content to deliver compelling experiences and to increase ROI of product lifecycle content. She is also a supporter of content structure and standards.

Rahel is the co-author of Content Strategy: Connecting the dots between business, brand, and benefits (XML Press, 2013) with Noz Urbina, and co-editor of The Language of Content Strategy (XML Press, 2014) with Scott Abel. She has contributed to a number of other industry books. Rahel also teaches in the first-ever Content Strategy Master’s Program at FH-Joanneum in Austria.

Rahel's Info:

On this episode of “All Things Content”, Kevin and John discuss whether the “default” digital experience will retain its current position in digital personalization. If the default state goes away, what will it mean for content and digital experiences, and what will replace it?

John Berndt is a person of many talents with accomplishments and interests in a number of fields including business, music, philosophy, and art. When the Web began in 1993, John was able to design some of the first large websites—a professional momentum which has never slowed. Having worked on hundreds of significant websites in varied markets, he has a world-class sense of what it means to build leading digital properties.

On this inaugural episode of "All Things Content", Kevin sits down with Paula Land to discuss the benefits and challenges that come from performing content inventories and audits.