Last week we announced the keynote speaker for the 2014 Technical Communication Summit, Jonathon Colman. A former student member of STC and current content strategist at Facebook, his keynote topic will be “Information Entropy: The Next 10,000 Years of Content Strategy.” Below is the description Jonathon provided for his talk. To find out more information about this year’s Summit and to register, visit http://summit.stc.org.
Information Entropy: The Next 10,000 Years of Content Strategy
As content strategists, UX professionals, and technical communicators, much of our work is focused on solving problems for real people with defined needs and contexts who live and work in the here and now. We take a holistic approach, break down silos within our organizations, and iteratively create real value for the people who use our products and services.
But how does our work change—and how must we adapt our approaches and strategies—when we’re planning for projects that last for not one year, or even 10 years, but for 10,000 years or more?
Using real-world examples from NASA’s Voyager program, the Yucca Mountain Nuclear Waste repository, and other long-term projects, Jonathon will talk about the challenges of creating information that degrades elegantly over space and time—information that’s still useful, usable, accessible, and meaningful for people whom we’ll never know in our lifetimes.
The answers to these problems give us a new perspective on our work, on the natures of clarity and simplicity, and on what it means to build a brand that endures with messages that last.