How and why was the content cooperation of Suomi.fi developed?

Together with a few web editors, were participated in the Design in Government conference in Rotterdam in 2019. It was the first time content design had been given a prominent role in a conference programme. We participated in workshops and discussion events which were led by service designers and communication specialists from different countries and in which good experiences were shared and solutions to common problems were discussed. Especially the work carried out by GOV.uk in the development of online contents and creation of networks stuck in our minds and we wanted to pick the most suitable lessons learnt from their experiences to Suomi.fi. This started a development project in which we reformed the model used for producing the content of Suomi.fi.

At the beginning of the development project, we set as our goal that we want to create content that is genuinely customer-oriented. This would be possible when we engage specialists from many different fields and different tasks.

What changed?

The cross-administrative contents of Suomi.fi have already been produced for many years. We have always had the contents checked by specialists from several organisations, but the different specialists have never met each other during the process. We have also not been able to sufficiently take advantage of the organisations’ expertise when writing the contents. 

We created a new model with two main objectives in our mind: 

1. the customer is at the centre of content production 
2. the specialists find their participation in the work meaningful 

The model is based on thorough background work 

To support the development of the model, we interviewed five different partner organisations to obtain knowledge about the needs and wishes of the network members. We then familiarised ourselves in more depth with the principles of content design. It was essential for the development of the content cooperation model to examine the customer’s problem and find out what the customer's needs are even before starting to write the content. The other main idea was to develop genuine cooperation with the organisations in the network.

How was the model implemented? 

While we were developing the content cooperation model, we produced contents in three different networks. We tested slightly different working methods and tools in different networks. We had not completed the model when the content work was started. We boldly began to experiment and renew our own way to work. We gave up what was not necessary and picked up practices that we found effective. To support web editors, we compiled a workbook which guides them in the different stages of the model. In addition, we decided to introduce the model here in SuomiDigi so that everyone interested in the topic can familiarise themselves with our content cooperation model. 

The model is still not quite ready. We are testing the different parts of the model and trying different methods and tools in different networks. We also take into account the feedback we receive from the networks. 

Familiarise yourself with the principles of content design 

• What is content design? (Content design London)Opens in a new window.
• Content design: planning writing and managing content (GOV.UK)Opens in a new window.

MINNA MÄKINEN