What I Do (Professional Edition)
I’m a content strategist who lives in New York and works all over the place, both independently and with studios including Happy Cog and Mighty. I help companies and other organizations figure out appropriate online editorial strategies, create great content, and build sustainable publishing workflows.
For ten years, I was an editor at A List Apart, including about 5 years as lead editor. When I joined ALA, we were a hand-coded irregularly published magazine run by three people; when I left, we were a biweekly magazine with a staff of 12 and a custom CMS. There’s nothing like a large, motivated readership to teach you the importance of workflow, planning, and attentive editing, and A List Apart is where I learned my trade.
I edit books, too. Most recently, I edited the third edition of Designing with Web Standards by Jeffrey Zeldman with Ethan Marcotte, and John Allsopp’s Developing with Web Standards. I will be editing Adam Greenfield’s The City Is Here For You To Use.
Promoting Content Strategy & Strong Writing
I’m writing a book on content and editorial strategy for content practitioners, about which more soon. I just finished developing the Web Writing course for The Web Standards Project’s curriculum framework, a modern web design and development program that can be adopted by colleges and universities around the world. I speak annually at SXSW Interactive and have contributed the occasional talk to An Event Apart.
Credo
I believe that clear, honest, thoughtful communication—online and otherwise—can make our lives better (and good businesses more profitable).
I believe that poor communication wastes time and money, damages relationships, and hinders our ability to think clearly as groups and individuals.
I believe we can do better.
Contact
I’m on Twitter and you can contact me at erin@incisive.nu.
