Ask HN: What content format do you prefer for tech content

1 points by jsaundersdev 6 years ago | 2 comments

I run a boutique digital transformation company called NextLink Labs. Our goal is to help companies adopt best of breed DevOps related tooling and processes that can fundamentally change the way software is built and business is done. We have a few items up in our insights section, but education is such a big part of our goal here we want to make sure we are producing content others will enjoy consuming.

Right now a few options:

1. Short intro content on things like Terraform, Consul, Vault, k8s, Ansible, gitlab CI, github actions, helm, and security related to the above things

2. Extensive deep dives into the above topics features but done in a series of posts

3. Extensive deep dives into a topic all in one article

4. Short article paired with an extended twitch steaming session demonstrating how to make some reference architecture or ci/cd pipelines or other example

5. Tweet storm (ugh)

Im looking for any recommendations on format of content desired and also some topic requests relating to DevOps, Cybersecurity, and cloud architecture.

Ive been working in this consulting space a long time. But new to content and plan to be putting out a lot of it. Tell me what the people want!

newguy1234 6 years ago |

I'm also in Ed tech space so I guess I am biased...but essentially:

1. Comprehensive curriculum. If I am going to spend time on your service I want to be able to get a working knowledge of the subject. Far too many Ed tech projects are simply an "intro" to the subject. The first chapter should be the intro while the rest is actually learning how to apply the knowledge or skill. Quality is key here. You are better off having the best online cyber security course rather than a collection of 10 average courses.

2. Interesting content. The content needs to be interesting, entertaining or engaging. Video and interactive content is key her (codecademy and the math content on Khancademy nails this). Bonus points if your interactive content is custom written for the subject.

3. A way for the learner to self-evalute skills or knowledge. Great, I read your chapter and learned a lot but did I really master the concepts in the chapter? I won't know unless I am able to take some exercises and get some feedback on my work. You would be surprised how many online courses have none of this or very poorly designed.

4. Analytics on my performance. I need to know if I am mastering the content. Bonus points if the platform/course tells me how to improve or what to study next.

5. Discussions. I need some way to discuss with others about the subject. Make sure trolls and spam are kept far away.

6. Design needs to be logical and user friendly. I should be able to learn very quickly how to use the site. All advanced settings in a separate page (settings dashboard).

7. Mobile friendly (especially for high end devices).

8. No progress locking content.

9. Prefer free over paid. Freemium model is also good. For any pay to use features or content you better bring serious value to the table.

10. Prefer to give less personal information. Why exactly do you need my date of birth, home address, phone number, name of my first born etc. You get the point.

11. Multiple paths to learning the content - textbook style (blocks of text), interactive video, interactive text efc.

clintonb 6 years ago |

Regardless of length or target experience level, I prefer text. Text is indexable by search engines and easily searched in my browser.