The directory is structured according to how news reaches its users online:
Physical Infrastructure > Network & Transport Layer > Application Protocols > Channels of Delivery > Content Type > Content Format > Building Blocks > Devices and Interfaces
Based on this flow of information, the directory has four core dimensions, and one open dimension.
- Content Type: What primary container is the story delivered in?
Content Type refers to the container in which the news and journalism appears — the media object or delivery unit. It establishes the dominant modality and helps define the technical and experiential parameters of the content.
Content Type helps systems and people understand the media form and constraints of the story. It’s foundational to how content is designed, stored, surfaced, and experienced.
- Content Format: How is the story structured for meaning?
Content Format is the editorial architecture — the specific way information is organized to serve a purpose, fulfill an user need, or express a tone.
Codifying Content Format allows for repeatable, modular, and interoperable storytelling. It makes it possible for AI systems, agents, or workflows to understand not just what the content is, but how it’s intended to function — whether it aims to inform, clarify, persuade, or engage. A standard here could enable content generation, classification, and personalization at scale.
- Building Blocks: What components construct the story?
Building Blocks are the modular, cross-format elements that make up a piece of content. These elements are reused across multiple Content Types and Formats, shaping the structure, pacing, and experience of a story.
Codifying Building Blocks enables modular storytelling, dynamic assembly, and format-agnostic content design — critical for AI workflows, interface adaptability, and production efficiency.
- Channels of Delivery: Where and how is the story encountered?
Channels define the distribution environments through which content reaches audiences — from websites to apps, newsletters to voice assistants.
Each channel brings different constraints, behaviors, and opportunities. Understanding where content will appear is crucial for formatting, pacing, tone, and interaction design. It also helps train systems to optimize delivery contextually.
- User Needs: What Users Seek - Individually and Collectively (Placeholder)
User Needs capture the underlying motivations behind why people engage with digital news — both at a personal level and within society at large. This is an open, flexible dimension, designed to be tailored according to a news organisation’s data and strategic goals.
The placeholder uses the Public Method, developed by NPO.