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By Milan Davidovic
At the most recent FUN meeting we were treated to presentations by local content management practitioner Ann Rockley and Front Runner DITA Program Manager Tim Grantham. Ann's presentation argued for content analysis as the initial step to improving an enterprise's management of its content. Tim's presentation gave us a glimpse into a project he is currently working on and showed us how the design of the product can inform the structure of product information.
Content analysis identifies what an enterprise's content does and the pieces of content that do it. Of particular concern are overlaps in which two or more separate pieces of content perform the same function. Such overlaps increase the likelihood of inconsistent information, so identifying and eliminating them at the outset is important in getting content ready for migration to a content management system (CMS). Ann described a content analysis method, showed us some examples, and shared some stories from the field.
Tim's presentation was from the perspective of creating content for a new product. In such a case, how can we create content that it is more effectively managed and more effective in achieving its intended objectives? This is a rather different task than preparing existing content for migration to a CMS.
These days, it is canonical among technical writers that proper user instructions explain how to perform tasks rather than simply describe use of the product's features -- for example, we generally prefer "scheduling a system backup" to "using the system backup feature". The product featured in Tim's presentation, however, has an interface well-aligned with the tasks the product is intended to perform, and we therefore need look no further for cues as to how to organize the user instructions. A task-based interface makes organizing product information and presenting it in a context-sensitive way (through help files) easier. This cohesion between the product and its documentation holds much promise for the usability of both .
A quick poll of some of the attendees yielded the following highlights:
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An explanation of how to use a spreadsheet to model content.
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A discussion of the challenges of using DITA for documentation of products other than software.
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Caveats about localization and the DITA content reference (conref) attribute, and about InDesign and XML.
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The idea of using the product design to guide content analysis.
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Reminders of the importance of interaction with your client, and of in-depth analysis before deciding on content management technology.
Overall, the evening was a good one for seasoned professionals and those relatively new to content management and DITA. Thanks to Ann and Tim for presenting at this event, and thanks to Betty, Lorna, Rhys, Susan, and Zvi for sharing their thoughts on the program with me.
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