Melbourne planner’s guide copy
The Melbourne Planner's Guide is the Melbourne Convention and Visitor’s Bureau flagship publication for the business events industry – a one-stop-shop for planning a conference, exhibition, incentive travel program or meeting in Melbourne and Victoria. For the past 3 issues I have written destination content for the print and online versions of this definitive guide.
www.ess.nsw.gov.au rewrite
Everyone is interested in carbon, and it was with great interest that I embarked on a project working with Stamford Interactive rewriting content for the NSW Government’s Energy Savings Scheme website www.ess.nsw.gov.au.
The brief was to make about 80 pages of content findable, accessible and usable. I made the content scannable, simplified language, wrote links content, and keyword-rich headers. I documented everything in an ESS website style guide – hopefully a handy document for content managers and future writers that work on updating the site.
This project included the rare treat of having the content tested with real users, which gave us some insight into what the target audience thought of what they were reading. We found that we were close, with the exception of needing to chip out a few acronyms – not too onerous a job.
www.ess.gov.au went live in January 2012.
www.ngv.vic.gov.au content design
It is a rare treat for a content specialist to be brought into a large website project from its inception (usually we come in much later to fill the gaps). The National Gallery of Victoria was planning a comprehensive redesign of its website and invited me to get involved. The two-year project included a new look-and-feel, new technology, IA, and revision of content and its management. Step one was to talk to NGV stakeholders and write an internal requirements document to help NGV understand what it needed, and to inform the clever IA Roland Maxwell (Boojum) and Tim K and his design team at Reactive in completing their jobs. Next I wrote a content definition and recommendations document detailing the business rules and legal and technological requirements of the content – which helped to inform the technical specification of the new content management system.
I also collaborated with the in-house Multimedia content and design team to devise an online style guide, wrote business implementation and launch strategies, prepared content, tested and was part of the exciting late-night launch. I am lucky to have continuing contact with the Multimedia team as they ‘live in’ the new website and learn about how best to manage it, what its users are doing etc.
Launched: early June 2010
vecci.org.au
The Victorian Employers’ Chamber of Commerce and Industry has been busy working with Victorian businesses for the past 150 years. I was asked to get involved in updating their website content to better reflect the breadth of services that VECCI deliver, as part of a larger organisation restructure, rebrand and redesign of www.vecci.org.au. To understand what was needed, I interviewed stakeholders, drew up an inventory and wrote 220 pages of content. I also devised a process for approvals and production, helped update the organisation’s writing style guide, designed naming conventions for content and the site linking policy.
Compass
I always jump at the chance to work with the Carbon Down crew. Who wouldn't - they are great clients who do interesting stuff, and I get to help save the planet.
Compass is their latest initiative - a website that provides resources and solutions for reducing carbon to Victorian business. The idea is to get the supplier to load their information (background or about a product) onto the site where it is available to businesses to use, review and recommend.
The beta version is out and content being uploaded - it will be very interesting to see what the community makes of this timely and relevant idea.
Broadband Innovation Fund, NGV
When Multimedia Victoria’s Broadband Innovation Fund issued a grant to the National Gallery of Victoria to present its collection to education audiences, I was asked to project manage the proposal to launch. Two areas of the collection were selected – Edo period Japanese woodblock prints and Indigenous art. Then websites designed and activities developed to be used on interactive whiteboards in the classroom for a middle years (9-15 years) school audience.
The result:
- a very clever interactive theatre/scriptwriting activity featuring samurai and mythical characters as well as an informative website Pictures of the Floating World
- a website that presents works in the collection with stories and interpretation, videos of artists and gorgeous photographs of central and Western Australia in Tradition and Transformation.
Launched early 2009
Small Business in the Carbon Jungle Widget
We all know there’s more to know about carbon. My understanding of emissions, climate change and regulation increased substantially when I had the chance to work with the Carbon Down crew. I ran a content workshop during which we worked out what to say to small businesses to present in an ‘interactive fact sheet’. It launched in February in beta version.
Heritage website
The new revised Australian Government heritage website, which I spent 9 months writing, recently went live. Its launch was delayed by the change of government in late 2007 and re-jig of the Department of Environment. This project introduced me to the diversity and intrigue of Australia’s heritage, which includes places and items of natural, cultural and historic significance. I also learnt about the laws, institutions and international conventions that are designed to protect them. I edited approximately 200 pages of content about Australia’s listed heritage places and their management, contributed suggestions as to the site information architecture and content segmentation, selected images of heritage-listed places, and worked with department representatives to devise templates for future content updates. Client: Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts.<br> Project duration: May-December 2007 New site launched April 2008
www.visitnoosa.com.au
Tourists and travellers rely heavily on the WWW for information about destinations and to organising a holiday in a far away place. Tourism Noosa redesigned its website so that it more accurately describes everything that Noosa and surrounds offer the prospective visitor – great beaches and natural landmarks, lots of wildlife, abundant accommodation and places to eat and good bike riding. In the name of research and knowing my topic I was pleased to visit Noosa to more accurately understand that about which I wrote. New site launched January 2008
www.nationalpublishers.com.au
My friend Ian Davis is busy generating all sorts of communications and information for government communications managers, super funds and professional associations. It’s a nice change being involved in a project from go to ‘whoah’. Ben Bailey and I collaborated on this project – we worked out the site segmentation and IA, devised a design around Ian’s logo and talked to Ian about managing his content in a content management system. Ben implemented the whole shebang in Expression Engine (which is what we used to get this site out into the WWW). Launched mid-February 2008
Family Special campaign, V/Line
As a result of working with the marketing crew at V/Line I now know a lot more about Victoria’s regional train services. Did you know your V/Line ticket entitles you to travel on local and metropolitan services? And that prices have gone down significantly in recent years. For the 2007-08 school holidays a Family Special campaign offered families cheap tickets to regional Victoria. I wrote destination-specific content for Bendigo, Ballarat, Echuca, Geelong and Melbourne. Launched Dec/Jan 2007-08
Days in the Diocese destination content
In 2008 a lot of young Catholics are coming to Sydney, Australia, for World Youth Day and to see the Pope. Melbourne is promoting our fair city to visiting pilgrims. I was commissioned to write information about all the free attractions, the Melbourne Archdiocese, Mass times in our churches and cathedrals, plus some travel logistics including transport, events, and visas. Published on wwwbackpackvictoriacom early 2008.
Sydney to Melbourne touring brochure and website
There are several scenic routes to drive between Melbourne and Sydney. Tourism Victoria, Tourism New South Wales, and Australian Capital Tourism decided that they would promote the Great Alpine Road, the Sydney to Melbourne Touring Route and the Capital & Country Touring Route to both trade and consumer audiences.
I was brought on board to write a 74-page print product manual to be used by trade helping visitors plan their trip, and adapt that content for the consumer website.
NGV media website
The NGV wanted media workers around the world to know about its busy program of exhibitions and public programs, and decided that they could reach them online.
Wearing my my business analyst hat, I talked to the Media and PR team, Photographic and Copyright Services people, and the Multimedia folk at NGV, surveyed journos and reviewed what other galleries are doing for media, and put all of my findings into a recommendations and requirements document.
Phase two of the project involved being an information architect and content designer. When everyone agreed on our mission, I started drawing up a content inventory, designed wireframes and wrote use cases that described how the content management system and website should work. I participated in the building phase of the project as the tester and intermediary between the developer and the media team.
Finally I produced the content for the site, filling the CMS with 70 press releases, media kits and 11 collections of sample images.
I am told that the first query fielded by the site was from an international journalist with whom the NGV had not formerly dealt!
Genuine Noosa Better Business Program
Noosa Council and Tourism Noosa recognise that all local businesses contribute to a visitor’s experience. They have devised Genuine Noosa, a program that aims to ensure that their business members operate professionally. Someone else had written the first instalment of the program’s syllabus, which was to be delivered online. The content needed, however, a bit of help to work well in a web context. I devised a content structure and access points that guided program participants through each relevant, industry-specific section, and rewrote the 220-page site in plain English.
Energy Safe Victoria website rewrite
Energy Safe Victoria is a state government body that works to raise industry and community awareness of electricity and gas safety. The (relatively) new body had inherited content from its predecessors, which had been generated by different owners in different styles. I worked to the IA that Stamford Interactive consultants had devised to rewrite existing online content and to generate new content from other ESV sources. The 200-odd page site is divided by audience group and has added functionality for professionals wanting to renew licences etc.
Content redesign, Mildura Tourism
I found out that Mildura is a great place first-hand, which helped me to devise a new structure, work out the content inventory and then generate over 100 pages of information about what to see, do and where to stay in the city and surrounds for the site redesign project.
Troupe du Jour, Comedy for business
I designed the content segmentation and consulted with stakeholders to establish the tone for the site and to source content for www.troupedujour.com.au. I collaborated with Ben Bailey on the front-end design and came up with keyword-rich content, meta data, page titles etc to enhance site’s findability.
Launch: June 2006
Community Water Grants
Australian Government departments of the Environment and Heritage (now Department of Environment and Water Resources) and Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry run an annual grants program called Community Water Grants (the name says it all). I improved the architecture and content segmentation of <a href="http://www.communitywatergrants.gov.au" title="Link to external website">www.communitywatergrants.gov.au</a> to enhance usability and accommodate new content for the latest grants round, and edited content to the program’s style guide. We met a tight deadline and got good feedback from the pollies! Launched June 2006
