Web 2.0 And The End Of DITA

Slide 3: Topics Current Trends in the Content Landscape Some Lessons Learned Entering the Age of Full-Spectrum Publishing How DITA fits in Why DITA Matters The End of DITA

Slide 4: Content Management Pop Quiz In building a system to manage & process content… a. Meticulously capture the business requirements. b. Rigorously document the structural rules that apply. c. Carefully define a detailed system architecture. d. Industriously build processing components to address the requirements given the structural rules and the realities of the system architecture. e. All of the above. f. None of the above. E or F? Sadly “F” may be the right answer…

Slide 5: Current Trends in the Content landscape There are two relevant, but apparently divergent, trends: Simplicity wins, again. Web 2.0 phenomenon is expanding & accelerating An era of interactive openness with users and communities Huge volumes of very simple, but still structured, content Dominant feature: Uncontrolled growth. Complexity endures, again. Enterprise applications are becoming content aware Integration of content in all forms is accelerating Applications are appearing that consume high-precision content Dominant feature: Uncontrolled growth. Prescriptive design methods cannot handle this growth

Slide 6: The Good News and Bad News about Content These trends bring change The Good News The demand for content is expanding rapidly The Not So Good News The complexity confronting authors & publishers & technology providers is growing rapidly Structured Markup Has evolved in this context Investments have been made over 20 years Many lessons have been learned

Slide 7: Case Study: Ultimate TechDoc The application of structured markup to a widely diverse range of systems proved instructive

Slide 8: Case Study: Bilingual Technical Documentation Managing complexity remained a persistent challenge despite the dramatic benefits and savings being realized

Slide 9: Case Study: The Right Path Proved Challenging At the time, the concepts and techniques being used were ahead of the available technology. Many tools were found to be “diabolical”.

Slide 10: Case Study: Multimedia Publishing High Profile Customer Major enhancement of a successful CD ROM product Issues with first release demanded a new approach Feature requests introduced challenging requirements Cost-effectiveness of production process needed improvement New information sources identified for inclusion New edition Would incorporate seven different publication sources Movie details, Movie reviews, film industry biographies Awards information and glossary of film terminology Estimated number of content objects: 3 million Challenge: achieving high levels of quality and precision while reducing costs and accelerating editorial processes

Slide 11: Case Study: Optimization for Accelerated Editing <MOVIE COLOR=“c” RATING=“1.5” MPAA=“PG”> <MTTILE>Lighting, the White Stallion</MTITLE> Multiple <RELEASE><LENGTH>95</LENGTH> <DATE>1986</DATE> Sources <GENRE>Drama</DRAMA></RELEASE> <D><NAME><ALTNAME><CALLED><NAMEPART>William</NAMEPART> </CALLED><FAMILY>Levey</FAMILY></ALTNAME></NAME></D> <A><NAME><ALTNAME><CALLED><NAMEPART>Mickey</NAMEPART> </CALLED><FAMILY>Rooney</FAMILY></ALTNAME></NAME></A> <NOTES><PARA>Extremely weak family fare with<PERSON> <CALLED> <NAMEPART>Mickey</NAMEPART><FAMILY>Rooney</FAMILY> </CALLED></PERSON> a wealthy man whose racehorse is stolen. <PERSON><CALLED>The Mick</CALLED><ALSO>Mickey Rooney</ALSO></PERSON> can’t save it.</PARA></NOTES></MOVIE> Optimized for Editing <movie c 1.5 PG>Lighting, the White Stallion (1986: Drama): 95 [ Warning: <d>[William * Levey] <a>[Mickey * Rooney] SGML Extremely weak family fare with [Mickey * Rooney] a wealthy man minimization! ] who racehorse is stolen. [The Mick = Mickey Rooney] can’t save it.

Slide 12: Case Study: Leading Edge e-Publishing Solution Features: Results: Automated conversion, Solidification of market leadership, markup enrichment, Product functionality enhancement, markup optimization, Product content expansion, metadata extraction, Editorial process streamlining, link identification & generation, reduced publishing costs, and publishing. and improvement in profitability.

Slide 13: Entering the Age of Full-Spectrum Publishing Options: Enhance use of automation or learn to type like Jack Kerouac XML Multi-Format Automatic Publishing Authoring with Structured Markup

Slide 14: DITA – A Fundamentally Sound Architecture Darwin Information Typing Architecture (DITA) Online Access Wireless Access Customers Call Centre Staff Print Manuals PDF Sources Topics Repositories Maps Products Providing a proven framework for addressing the challenges posed by full-spectrum publishing.

Slide 15: The Tao of DITA: Specialization Maps Type Hierarchy Default Topic Behaviour Applications Core Behaviour Concept Task Reference Specializations Specific Specialization Overrides Domains Base highlight programming software UI Elements new semantics specialization Adaptability in each area provides implementers with great flexibility when building and, most importantly, adapting solutions.

Slide 16: DITA in Action: Evolving Solutions Iterative implementation allows adaptation of technology & practices The DITA base models & Open Toolkit were key tools

Slide 17: What XML has meant for Content Authors Authoring in XML exhibits to contradictory challenges Too much markup Gets in the way of creating content Forces a reliance on unfamiliar tools Adds a level of technical complexity to what is a creative task Not enough markup Some content demands precision Authors need clear guidance and useful feedback in order to satisfy this demand As more content is delivered to applications, this is more common

Slide 18: What DITA can mean for Authors Promoting simplified markup for most content Providing a start-up solution for publishing (Open Toolkit) Allowing specialization to be introduced When more detailed markup guidelines help authors When precise markup is essential for downstream use

Slide 19: DITA in Action: Dynamic Specialization & Reuse Content Service Discovery Specialized Requirements Requirements Taxonomies Architecture Topic Description Description Procedure Data Concept Task Reference Data Data Description Data Description Procedure Procedure Data Data Specialized Information Types Specialized Delivery Processes Procedure Data Data Annotation Formatting Effectivity Data Procedure Data Change Procedure Data Data Specialized Procedure Data Domains

Slide 20: Why DITA Matters The initial focus of XML has not been on content The focus of XML on enabling application integration has added markup complexity DITA represents a serious effort to direct attention towards the challenges of content DITA specifically provides ways to address the contradictory challenges of XML authoring

Slide 21: What’s Next DITA is an Opportunity The technology providers can focus on solving key problems We can work together to refine a good shared solution for creating high quality content Specialization Reuse DITA could be critical Communicating knowledge effectively has never been more important Another ingredient is needed…

Slide 22: Web 2.0 – The Social Web An infrastructure for performing sophisticated tasks through dynamic social interaction mediated by distributed components

Slide 23: Embedded Markup Considered Harmful Ted Nelson Has been a vocal critic of structured markup Sees it as an impediment & an intrusion Partly right Markup must become invisible with the Ted Nelson meaning remaining in view Partly wrong Social interaction always entails the mediation of meanings (organizational / individual) Markup can be concealed and meanings can be socially mediated using Web 2.0 innovations

Slide 24: The End of DITA End: realization of final purpose When key features of DITA become part of the infrastructure DITA specialization techniques DITA reuse mechanisms The creation of high quality content becomes something that comes as naturally as “chatting” DITA would become “invisible” It could happen...

Slide 25: Stilo International Over Twenty Years of Experience in e-Publishing Defense CALS Initiative Microsoft CDROM Publishing Wall Street Journal Interactive European Parliament Global 2000 Clients Boeing, Airbus, Embraer, BAE… Wolters Kluwer, Caterpillar… IBM, SAP, HP, Sun, Toshiba… Providers of OmniMark Premiere Content Processing Platform Providers of the Stilo Migrate content migration service

Slide 26: OmniMark 8 Content Processing Platform OmniMark provides critical capabilities Scalable streaming architecture Powerful pattern matching Context management Content validation Full XML / SGML support Universal character support Equally well-suited to: Migrating legacy content to XML Enhancing the usefulness of content markup Transforming XML into an unlimited range of formats Ensuring conformance with evolving industry standards Progressively raising the level of quality control being applied

Slide 27: OmniMark: Scalable & Efficient Content Processing People The OmniMark content processing platform has evolved over the last 20 years to provide the most robust and complete tool for processing content. OmniMark is used around the world by leading organizations to transform their content assets into high quality information services that drive business results.

Slide 28: 28 On-Demand Online Advanced automation Content Migration Service Analyzing Web-based wizard guides Grouping migration activities Mapping Converting Engages subject matter experts Validating efficiently Bursting Reduces cost – improves results Testing

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