[Proposal for LavaCon 2015] How do you keep your content moving forward, while you are weighed down with baggage from the past? Come hear the editors of the DITA 1.3 specification talk about creative strategies they put into place to streamline the process of developing a version of the specification, improve the quality and usability of the content, and get to their destination on schedule.

1. Keeping the Content Train on the Tracks
(and on Topic)
Robert D Anderson and Kristen James Eberlein
Lavacon 2015

2. How can critical content evolve
when it also cannot change?
• When customers rely on your content, your
content might become mired in the past.
• In many cases, new or revised content must
remain compatible with prior versions.
• How can problematic content be updated,
while simultaneously moving to the future?

3. DITA 1.3: A case study
• DITA 1.3 is the latest version of the DITA standard
• Creating DITA 1.3 came with…
– Editorial restrictions: Strict guarantee of backwards
compatibility (old rules cannot change)
– Cost issues: No tool budget, mostly volunteer resources
– Historical issues: Problematic content from old versions
– Customer issues: One specification, many audiences
– People issues: When a document is (generally) produced
by consensus, how should we handle disagreements?
– Perception issues: 1000+ pages? Really?

4. In this session, you will learn
• How the editors of DITA 1.3 handled those issues and
more – usually, with success:
– What process changes allowed us to add new content
instantly (versus 2+ years with DITA 1.2)?
– How did we add new content while simultaneously
reducing page count?
– Dealing with the audience tug-of-war: Does improved
readability necessarily equal less precision?
– Entire businesses depend on this document. How do we
make sure they have a voice?
– Producing this document is, and must be, a team effort.
With no real stick, how did we find the right carrots to
improve participation?

5. About the speakers
• Robert D Anderson
Robert has spent over 15 years working
on SGML/XML publishing tools at
IBM; 13 of those years have been
spent primarily with DITA or the DITA
Open Toolkit. Robert is co-editor of
the DITA 1.1, 1.2, and 1.3
specifications, making him one of
those rare developers who has to use
the tools that he supports. If you're
not careful, he will tell you (and show
you!) how he uses DITA to publish his
music collection and book library.
• Kristen James Eberlein
Kris is Chair of the OASIS DITA Technical
Committee and owner of Eberlein
Consulting LLC, a company that helps
people develop or refine their DITA
implementations. She also is co-editor of
the DITA 1.2 and 1.3 specifications.
Trained as a historian, she’s worn almost
all the content worker hats you can
imagine: Information developer, team
lead, information architect, tool smith …
When not herding cats, she drives a Mini
Cooper S and takes trains whenever
possible.

6. About the speakers
• Robert D Anderson
Robert has spent over 15 years working
on SGML/XML publishing tools at
IBM; 13 of those years have been
spent primarily with DITA or the DITA
Open Toolkit. Robert is co-editor of
the DITA 1.1, 1.2, and 1.3
specifications, making him one of
those rare developers who has to use
the tools that he supports. If you're
not careful, he will tell you (and show
you!) how he uses DITA to publish his
music collection and book library.
• Kristen James Eberlein
Kris is Chair of the OASIS DITA Technical
Committee and owner of Eberlein
Consulting LLC, a company that helps
people develop or refine their DITA
implementations. She also is co-editor of
the DITA 1.2 and 1.3 specifications.
Trained as a historian, she’s worn almost
all the content worker hats you can
imagine: Information developer, team
lead, information architect, tool smith …
When not herding cats, she drives a Mini
Cooper S and takes trains whenever
possible.