the u.s. constitution: content strategy for democracy

@HollyMunson // hollyvwmunson.com // Content Strategy Philly // Jan. 19, 2017

THEN = content strategist + museum educator + program coordinator + web writer @ National Constitution Center

NOW = freelance writer + editor + content strategy consultant

Image source: National Constitution Center

* Disclaimer: Throughout this presentation, I only speak for myself, not my former employer.

1. Why the Constitution is a pretty rad content strategy

2. Content strategy lessons from the Founding Fathers and other folks in constitutional history

● Not content governance

● How to effect radical organizational change

● Rethink role of government in society or content in organization

● How to navigate politics to make that change

• A body of fundamental principles or established precedents according to which a state or other organization is acknowledged to be governed

• The highest law of the land; the last word; the standard against which government laws and actions must be judged

• Plan for the creation, publication, and governance of useful, usable content (Kristina Halvorson)

• The planned use of content to achieve a goal (David Thomas)

• The things you do at 3 o’clock on a Tuesday to delight a reader or viewer, reinforce an important message, or help another human being get something done in this world (Lori Packer)

• Developing content that meets user needs, supports business goals, and reflects the organization’s identity and values (me)

● A plan and framework for creation and maintenance

● A standard against which all activities are judged

● Setting intentions and limits around what you will do, whether you’re starting a website or a nation

Messaging architecture

● Who we are and who we are not

● What each branch of government can do and what it cannot

Information architecture

● Checks and balances

● More than a “parchment barrier”; the built-in structure achieved core strategy

● Each branch of government has defined, distinct duties

● Outlines process for ratification and amendment

● Popular sovereignty

● Federalism

● Government powers are specific and limited

● Preserves essential rights of the people

● Compelling vision: freedom, uniting and empowering the people

● Informed by past experience (Revolutionary War, tyranny, weak/divided nation)

● Founded on existing values, yet aspirational and open to the future

● Oldest and shortest = not a coincidence

● Justice O’Connor: “neither so rigid as to be stifling, nor so malleable as to be devoid of meaning”

● The ultimate core strategy: human freedom

● History, people, even sacred civic texts: none are perfect

● History = winners + white dudes

● Primary documents need context

● Can’t truly reverse-engineer success

● Can’t focus on everything

The Declaration of Independence

● Where: Independence Hall in Philly

● What: a list of grievances against the king of England intended to justify separation from British rule

● When: drafted and signed in 1776

● Who: drafted by Thomas Jefferson; signed by a bunch of dudes

The Articles of Confederation

● Where: Independence Hall in Philly

● What: a charter to create a government for the fledgling nation, particularly for directing Revolutionary War efforts

● When: drafted in 1776, ratified in 1781, in effect until 1789

● Who: John Dickinson* and Continental Congress committee* “Penman of the Revolution”; president of PA and DE; lived in Germantown, Wilmington, and at 6th & Market; also at Constitutional Convention

The Constitution of the United States of America

● Where: Independence Hall in Philly

● What: the fundamental framework of America’s system of government

● When: drafted and signed in 1787, ratified in 1788*

● Who: drafted in part by James Madison; written and signed by a bunch of dudes

* North Carolina and Rhode Island took their time and waited till 1790.

FYI: Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, John Hancock were NOT at the Constitutional Convention

1. Draft strategy like James Madison

2. Launch strategy like George Washington

3. Advocate for strategy like Hamilton & Madison

4. Maintain strategy like Ruth Bader Ginsburg

5. Evolve strategy like Wayne Wheeler and Rosa Parks

● What challenge they faced

● Why it sounds familiar

● What they did

● What we can do

● Ineffective government

● Paying taxes was optional

● Congress couldn’t pay soldiers or foreign debt

● Congress couldn’t engage in war, enter into treaties or alliances, coin money or regulate its value

● Congress could barely handle civil unrest

● U.S. becoming “the sport of transatlantic politicians of all denominations”

● John Jay: during the war, “Justice was with us,” but now “we are going and doing wrong”

● “in a state of mortal stupefaction or lethargy”; “a half starved, limping Government, that appears to be always moving upon crutches, & tottering at every step”

● Conflicting priorities, with every-state-for-itself approach

● States clashed over boundaries, land rights, trade, value and printing of money

● North vs. South, small vs. large states

● PIRATES

● Managers want you to do your job without giving you the resources to do your job

● You’re stuck being reactive (putting out fires) instead of proactive (setting and meeting goals)

● You’re just trying to keep the peace between squabbling departments and silos

● Wrote the rough draft of the Constitution

● “Father of the Constitution”

● A systematic examination of ancient and modern systems of government

● Also the “work of many heads & many hands” with similar ideas:

○ Complex structure

○ Stronger central government

○ James Wilson knew “all the political institutions of the World” and could trace “the causes and effects of every revolution from the earliest stages of the Grecian commonwealth down to the present time”

● Americans had been designing and redesigning their governments since 1776

○ States enacted the world’s first written constitutions

○ PA had the strongest state constitution; direct democracy

● But a national government was novel, too similar to monarchy

● Delivered what Congress needed… not what it asked for

● Go ahead, have an existential crisis about your assignment!

● Carl Sagan: “If you wish to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first invent the universe.” (see: Scott Kubie, “Clarity through content strategy,” Confab 2016)

Find opportunities to:

● Question assumptions

● Temper hype

● Correct misconceptions

● Warn of pitfalls

● Offer reassurance

● Change the scope when it’s really needed (and when you have a relationship to support drastic change)

● Sara Wachter-Boettcher & Eric Meyer, Design in Real Life: “We’ll never gather every single perspective; we can’t interview the universe every time we build a website. … We don’t do open-ended research to get The Answers. We do it to see just how incomplete our questions were in the first place.”

● Do the hard work to make things simple (GDS)

● Immersive subject-matter research

● Journalism as a service

○ Life is complicated and hard

○ Research + reporting + storytelling should make life simpler and easier

● How to connect with SMEs: explaining workshop exercise

● Thing Explainer by Randall Munroe

● Limited to 1,000 most common words

● Elevator becomes “lifting room”

● Cells become “the tiny bags of water you’re made of”

● Tectonic plates become “the big flat rocks we live on”

● NASA’s Saturn V rocket becomes “Up-Goer Five”

● How would you explain this subject to a layperson?

● Are there any alternative or synonymous industry terms to describe this subject?

● How would you describe the typical users for this subject?

● What are their demographics?

● What are their motivations? What are the possible triggers for them to seek information about this subject?

● What is their mental/emotional state when they seek information about this subject?

● What are their goals? What are their possible next steps?

● No official authority

○ Convention delegates had been appointed to propose changes to the Articles of Confederation, not to design a new government

● You work in an organization that doesn’t have a content strategy or hasn’t fully embraced and incorporated it

● You don’t have as much institutional authority as you would like or need

● Managers and stakeholders are skeptical or unaware of what you want to do

● Public relations

○ Corresponded with John Randolph and Henry Knox to understand “prevailing sentiments”

● Relationships

○ “His military service made Washington a hero; his retirement made him a legend”

○ Empathy, mutual respect with soldiers and ordinary citizens

● Sneakiness + scrappiness

○ Military experience: fight with the army you have, not the one you want

○ “Resolved unanimously” to transmit the Constitution to the state legislatures for approval by convention

○ “Unanimously” = decision to transmit the document, not the substance of the document

○ Washington: “Not every one has opportunities to peep behind the curtain, and as the multitude often judge from externals, the appearance of unanimity in that body, on this occasion, will be of great importance”

● Public relations

○ Presence of Washington and Franklin lent legitimacy to convention

○ Do your own polling

○ Talk one-on-one with stakeholders before group meetings

○ Try informal settings

● Relationships

○ Relate, not just interact

○ Show genuine interest in stakeholders—motivations, passions, priorities, fears, sensitivities, history

○ Tap into institutional memory

○ Connect with frontline staff

■ No project should be an exclusive, privileged effort

■ Invite all to submit suggestions to the core team

● Sneakiness + scrappiness

● Be subtle, not sneaky; be assertive, not dogmatic (see: Sara Wachter-Boettcher, “New forms, old places,” Contents magazine, 2012)

● Content tactics (see: Lori Packer, “No content strategy? Try content tactics,” Confab Higher Ed 2014)

○ Tactic = a device for accomplishing an end

○ Prioritization: focus on the things that you do best

○ Implementation: do those things really, really well

○ Promotion: tell everyone about the cool thing you did

○ Evaluation: measure the results

● Unsexy stuff: tagging, reorganizing info on a key page, coordinating an editorial calendar

● Make the case

● Convince the people to ratify the Constitution

● Ratification

○ Pauline Maier: “one of the greatest and most probing public debates in American history”; “politics was in a real sense the first national game”

● Madison: the Constitution was “nothing but a dead letter, until life and validity were breathed into it, by the voice of the people”

● Get alignment

● Madison: “The difficulty of uniting the minds of men accustomed to think differently can only be conceived by those who have witnessed it.”

● Management/stakeholder buy-in

● Foster a sense of urgency (Hamilton)

● A good leader never lets a crisis go to waste

● Ultimatum: “just take it as it is; and be thankful”

● “with all its faults,” “the best that was to be attained”

● Federalist No. 1: “It has been frequently remarked, that it seems to have been reserved to the people of this country to decide, by their conduct and example, the important question, whether societies of men are really capable or not, of establishing good government from reflection and choice, or whether they are forever destined to depend, for their political constitutions, on accident and force.”

● Connect with skeptics/derailers (Madison)

● Intaking and synthesizing amendments that became Bill of Rights

● Richard Henry Lee: approving the Constitution was “little better than putting oneself to death” with an expectation that “the doctor, who wished our destruction, would afterwards restore us to life”

● Madison was “constantly haunted with the ghost of Patrick Henry”; had anxiety dreams about amendments

● Foster a sense of urgency

● Scott Kubie, Confab 2016: “The strategy will never speak for itself. Content strategy is a plan, yes, but it can’t talk, it can’t sell itself, it can’t persuade people on its own, you have to be focused on clarity and understanding to do that in the organization.”

● John Kotter (Leading Change, A Sense of Urgency, Buy-in, The Heart of Change Field Guide)

○ Sense of urgency = single most important step

○ Skills and resources can’t make up for complacency

○ False urgency = fear, anger, franticness

● Tips for communicating for buy-in:

○ Develop a compelling story; provide context for the change

● Tips for communicating for buy-in:

○ Develop a compelling story; provide context for the change

○ Use metaphors and analogies

○ Keep it simple and jargon-free

○ Reinforce messaging and educate at every opportunity

● Connect with skeptics/derailers

○ Meghan Casey: “Objections are needs or concerns in disguise” (like Washington and relationships) (see: “Give content strategy a fighting chance,” Brain Traffic blog, 2011)

● John Kotter, Buy-in:

○ Don’t shut out the critics—invite them in

○ Respond clearly, simply, earnestly, and with common sense

● 24 attacks + 24 responses

○ “We don’t need your idea, but the “problem” it “solves” doesn’t exist.”

○ “OK, a problem exists, but your solution isn’t a good one.”

○ “OK, a problem exists and your solution is a good one, but it will never work here!”

● She is sometimes a lone voice arguing for equality

● Sometimes we are a lone voice arguing for usability, quality, or strategy

● She dissents when it matters

● Dissenting is not ideal: it means you lost

○ But you can lay the groundwork for the future

○ Justice Harlan, Plessy v. Ferguson (1896)

○ Chief Justice Warren’s majority opinion, Brown v. Board of Education (1954)

○ Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire and Rubber (2007)

○ Days later, Congress amended Title VII

○ 2009: Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act

● She plays the long game

● “Anyway, hope springs eternal. If I lose today, there’s hope that tomorrow will be better.”

● “I will continue to give voice to my dissent if, in my judgment, the court veers in the wrong direction when important matters are at stake.”

● Collegial

○ BFFs with Scalia

● Reasonable minds can disagree

● Dissent when it matters

○ Anne Peterson: HiPPO = Highest Paid Person’s Opinion

○ “Let’s put this headshot and letter from our CEO on the home page”

● No lifetime appointments, so do it gently

● Make it clear when a request departs from strategy/standards

● Constitution/content strategy = setting intentions and limits around what you will do in your project

● Use your strategy and standards/best practices to make it less personal

● Preventative approach: build preclearance into your process

● Use it as an opportunity to clear up confusion and make the case (again) for the strategy

● See: Ahava Leibtag, “Navigating challenging content strategy conversations,” Confab 2016; “The people puzzle: Making the pieces fit,” Kerry-Anne Gilowey, CSF Conference 2014; Hilary Marsh, “Managing the politics of content,” GatherContent, 2015)

● Collegial

● Don’t burn bridges

● Look for common ground

● The Constitution/law wasn’t working for them.

● We have a strategy, but it needs some updating.

● Wayne Wheeler

○ Anti-Saloon League

○ The force behind the temperance movement that culminated in the 19th Amendment

○ “Wayne B. Wheeler controlled six Congresses, dictated to two presidents of the United States, directed legislation in most of the States of the Union, picked the candidates for the more important elective state and federal offices, held the balance of power in both Republican and Democratic parties, distributed more patronage than any dozen other men, supervised a federal bureau from outside without official authority, and was recognized by friend and foe alike as the most masterful and powerful single individual in the United States.”

● Single-issue advocacy, by any means necessary

● Racists, nativists, progressives, suffragists, populists

● Pressure politics: mass media, plus intimidation and threats

● Find a unifying vision

● Charles Duhigg, The Power of Habit: “Social habits are what fill streets with protesters who may not know one another, who might be marching for different reasons, but who are all moving in the same direction.”

● Rosa Parks

○ Not the first to refuse giving up a bus seat

○ Enmeshed in her community

• Secretary of local NAACP

• Attended Methodist Church

• Involved in youth program at Lutheran Church

• Volunteered at a shelter on weekends

• Member of a botanical club

• Wednesday night women’s group knitting blankets for a hospital

• Volunteer dressmaker for poor families

• Gown alterations for wealthy white debutantes

● Strong and weak ties

○ E.D. Nixon—NAACP

○ Clifford Durr—civil rights attorney

○ Jo Ann Robinson—educator and activist

● Peer pressure

○ Studies show people we are slow to respond to strangers in need but quick to respond to friends in need

○ Montgomery Bus Boycott

● Look for allies in unexpected places

● Strong and weak ties

● Stand up for the stress cases

○ Design in Real Life, Sara Wachter-Boettcher & Eric Meyer

○ Stress cases = the moments that put our design and content to the test in real life

Don’t try these at home:

● Lock your stakeholders in an unventilated room in Philadelphia in the summer

● Lock a state congressman in a closet so you can vote without him

Add to your reading list!

• Plain, Honest Men: The Making of the American Constitution, by Richard Beeman

• Ratification: The People Debate the Constitution, 1787-1788, by Pauline Maier

● We the content strategists do ordain and establish this content strategy to make a more perfect Internet and world.

THANK YOU!