A content data and interaction model is an overview of a particular type of content on your website. We use models to outline and plan content that is repeatable (usually) and structured like a directory listing, publication, lab, degree program, product etc.
Models show how your users interact with content and can be a guide for anyone who creates content or who decides how it should display on your site.
A content model usually includes:
- Considerations (User Scenarios and Approaches) — things you may want to keep in mind about this type of content. Can include previous audience research, established or future goals, complicating factors, or recommendations for voice and tone.
- Relationships – various ways that this content is related to other content types or data on your site.
- Core & Optional Data — information you consistently want to display or use. Often these are separate fields within the content type.
- Standard Display Options — description and basic wire of the typical ways that this content type is shown on the web or in print.
- Examples — real world examples of how your organization or other organizations show this type of content.
This is a Person content model we developed for the Sanger Institute in the UK. Sanger led the research for the original Human Genome Project. The information focuses on the particular applications of a Person in a science or research context.
![Image of a Person content model developed for the Sanger Institute](https://www.insidenewcity.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Content_model_Person_Full.jpg)
One of the things we’ve learned in our audience research for institutions like Sanger is that individual researchers are an important touchstone for people who want to learn about a topic or keep up with the latest research on a topic. So a profile page for an academic needs to support that goal.
That understanding informed our Sanger content model for the related Lab content type, which you can see here:
![Screenshot of a Lab content model](https://www.insidenewcity.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/ContentModel_Lab_full.jpg)
All of this built up to the creation of a template layout for research labs that features the principal investigator and also allows the user to easily discover the work and results of the full lab team.
![Screenshot of Berriman Lab Group illustrating how the Person and Lab content models were applied](https://www.insidenewcity.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Content_Model_Berriman_Group.jpg)