University of Chicago News
Enterprise Digital Publishing Platform: Structured Content · Component Architecture · Editorial Workflow Transformation
Re-architected the University of Chicago’s flagship news platform into a modular, component-driven publishing system supporting immersive storytelling, podcast integration, and scalable content syndication.
- Role:
- Lead Engineer
- Employer:
- IfThen
- Client:
- University of Chicago
- Team:
- 5 dev, QA, PM ~6 stakeholders
- Industry:
- Higher Education
- Timeline:
- 4 months (2018 - Present)
Impact
- Enabled immersive long-form storytelling and serialized editorial formats
- Eliminated developer dependency for narrative layout and story packaging
- Introduced structured content API supporting cross-site syndication
- Established scalable architecture supporting evolving editorial formats
My Role
- Led structured content modeling and component architecture design
- Architected Drupal entity and field schema for reusable content composition
- Implemented paragraph-based storytelling components aligned to design system
- Designed API layer for content syndication across university properties
- Integrated external event and video feeds into Drupal content workflows
- Collaborated with design and editorial teams to balance flexibility with governance
Technical Architecture
Implemented as a structured, component-driven publishing platform built on Drupal.
System Overview
- Drupal CMS leveraging entity system and normalized field architecture
- Reusable paragraph-based content components for narrative composition
- Decoupled content and presentation layers via structured data modeling
- Design system and component library ensuring consistent UI rendering
- LiveWhale event integration for centralized event publishing
- Content API enabling syndication across university digital properties
Architectural Decisions
- Transitioned from page-centric publishing to component-based content modeling
- Separated content structure from presentation to enable long-term extensibility
- Balanced editorial flexibility with system governance through predefined components
- Introduced reusable entity abstractions to reduce template-level coupling
This architecture shifted the platform from static article publishing to a scalable digital storytelling system capable of supporting evolving editorial formats without structural redesign.
Stack
Frontend
Backend
Infrastructure
Context
The University of Chicago News platform had grown beyond its original 2018 redesign. Expanded editorial output, serialized storytelling, and the Big Brains podcast introduced narrative formats that exceeded the capabilities of a traditional article-template system.
Editorial teams required tools to dynamically package and prioritize stories without relying on development resources. The existing architecture constrained presentation flexibility and tightly coupled content to specific templates, limiting extensibility.
The objective was to evolve the platform into a modular, scalable publishing system capable of supporting immersive storytelling, cross-site content syndication, and long-term architectural sustainability while preserving editorial efficiency and governance.