What do they know? A lot.

Posted by Dan on August 04, 2010

There's a phenomenal series running in the Wall Street Journal about digital privacy (or the lack thereof) called What They Know, which found that:

...the tracking of consumers has grown both far more pervasive and far more intrusive than is realized by all but a handful of people in the vanguard of the industry.

Today's article is about the extensive information some websites have about you even before you tell them anything: "On the Web's Cutting Edge, Anonymity in Name Only." It's pretty powerful stuff -- or alarming, depending on your point of view. Previous articles explored the range of tracking technologies (the Journal calls it "spying") installed on your computer by popular websites, and how Microsoft chose not to include strict privacy features in its latest version of Internet Explorer.

It also includes some nifty interactive features like this Tracker Scorecard showing which sites use which tracking technologies. It turns out that dictionary.com, of all places, is the worst privacy offender of the 50 most popular U.S. websites.

Everyone who browses the Web (which is to say, everyone) should know about this. It's outside the Journal's firewall so you don't need a subscription.

Content strategy on and off the Web

Posted by Dan on August 02, 2010

I'm a big fan of Kristina Halvorson and content strategy. Her book Content Strategy for the Web is redefining best practice in web development and restoring content to its rightful place at the center of the online universe.

halvorson.png

In fact, we consider it vindication. Wechsler has always emphasized content. We renamed our content leads "content strategists" four years ago to recognize their central role in the process — and our unusual approach to developing content. At Wechsler, content strategy isn't just about the Web. We take a strategic approach to all content.

What does that mean in practice?

Online or off, it's about structuring content. The goal of persuasive communications (unlike creative or narrative communications, like fiction or journalism) is to change how the reader (or user) thinks about something. Elements of verbal and visual information must be delivered in a way that engages, informs and ultimately leads to a new way of thinking.

To achieve this goal, Wechsler's content strategists take responsibility for content from start to finish of a project. They are jointly responsible for the development process with either the experience lead (on a Web project) or the design lead (on a print project). They interview clients, decide what content to include, collaborate on creative concepts and architecture, assign projects to writers (or write it themselves), edit drafts, review proofs, process client changes, ensure consistency, answer proofreader queries and perform quality control. They are, in fact, our in-house experts on each client's business, products, marketing goals, style preferences, compliance guidelines and personality quirks.

We used to call them editors. But that didn't come close to capturing their range of responsibilities or centrality to our process. So we think content strategy is a great idea. We're with you all the way, Kristina!