Content?

So the toughest part of any job is to make people understand what you do unless of course you are the CEO.

As for me, I work with content and I work on content and that is so exciting. Every professional in each industry generates content all the time. And still if all this content is not effectively understood, presented, managed, stored, preserved or used…it ends up being reused only by the author in another organization since in the same organization people either do not know that such content ever existed or cannot search for it.

The key for an engineer, doctor, designer, lecturer, writer, strategist, consultant or any other professional is to manage the content which they are generating. It is a critical skill. And content is not only the written word but it is communication in any form. So when people are making videos or recording audios in board rooms, they are actually working on content.

Any person who specializes in content needn't be a remarkable writer but a person with a deep understanding of how communication in any industry can be best captured, presented, searched and made reusable. Before starting to work on generating any content, follow the We, Them and I model.

Start with the ‘we’ of the content - Your target readers and peer group. Structure the content in a way which will be best understood by the ‘we’ group and structure it in the best way that they are to understand. Use terminology which is best understood by your peer group.

Then its them - an unknown audience who may later use your content. Which means your content should be reusable and should also be easily searchable. That also means no reference to people by names, if any, but with their designations/ roles.     

Lastly its I - The last you have to think is ‘I’. And think of I when you start to create the content and are done of thinking about what goes as content. It also means that your content should be free from personal prejudices or opinions. 

Tendencies are usually to focus on the ‘I’ primarily, then ‘we’ and perhaps never think of ‘them’ while creating content. The thinking usually goes - If it appeals to me, it must appeal to my audiences. If you aren't good with user experiences, take feedback from your audiences rather than making those risky assumptions or presumptions. 

We are just not used to seek what we want to find in surroundings which we usually get easily

Recently I read Brad Pitt finds Varanasi staggering. Ashton Kutcher will pose as if spellbound with Vrindavan. Now what exactly are we missing here?

Either these people are too media intimidated to say the truth or wear a special pair of shades, which we Indians are clearly devoid of coz, honestly, all I find these places to be is – only- filthy. And this when I am already used to the rubbish and chaos of metros and everybody’s insensitivity towards it. Come to think of it, not even one person around me is bothered about my peace, the one honking relentlessly or the one trying to break the queue or the one with the most screeching ringtone ever or making the loudest conversation ever. Each person around me is just so not bothered.

What next? Do I book myself to a tranquil holy city holiday hoping it to bring me peace for a few days?

Visit to the holy cities is tormenting. Touts, muck, conmen, holy men haunting you for money… even the slightest thought of peace or anything enchanting cannot touch me. You just want to get out of the place sooner than you came in. Try closing your eyes for a few seconds to chant, the commotion and the fear of being pick pocketed is so overwhelming, that you can’t even feel what the place is or ever was. I am sorry but I cannot pretend to get into a trance or appreciate anyone who has gotten into it after seeing urine, shit and the unfathomable stink from the holy waters. I am no Naipaul but I cannot overlook the obvious. Small conveniences are still so inconvenient, shockingly, considering we are such a powerful economic dynamo.    

On the contrary, I feel peace is where all the westerners hail from. Open clean spaces, nature, cool breeze and silence can give you tranquility and beauty like nothing else. So if they really say the truth about India, they find here what we cannot and we find there what they cannot.

Perhaps we are just not used to seek what we want to find in surroundings which we usually get easily.