Doctohelp, the leading microsoft wordbased authoring solution, is ideal for users who prefer to create content in word, have a more book or chapterlike approach to content development. Moving technical communications to the authorit cloud. In this talk, sharon burton will show you the top 10 mistakes made by companies and how you can avoid. The issue of whether to use sentencecase or titlecase for topic and section titles can be nearly as controversial and personal for. Publications from technical communication research and practice frequently discuss the pros and cons of structured authoring, single sourcing, topicbased architecture, and component content. As technology evolves, so must the written content to use this technology. In the first installation of this 3part series on componentbased authoring, knowledge center contributor eric severson introduced componentbased authoring and described its significant.
The formatting and presentation are postauthoring considerations, and activities probably not performed by a technical author. Presented at spectrum 2008 in rochester, ny by rob hanna. The top 10 mistakes companies make when moving to topic. Articles on writing, management and hiring writing. A comparison topicbased authoring bookbased authoring multiple authors per. Moving content, especially unstructured content, can be expensive and time. Moving to topicbased authoring to accommodate digital publishing isnt just an overnight change where youll come in the next day and your content fits perfectly into this new environment. The business value of xml and the darwin information. Its a place where you can think and do much more about the writing aspect of academic writing. Documentation teams have had to become more open especially within the software world.
Index of articles on writing, training, management, careers and more by experienced professionals in the business of writing. If you are looking to move to a structured writing environment such as dita, its the first set of steps towards that goal. If topicbased authoring is so great, why arent all corporations implementing the change. Index of articles on writing, training, management. How to open your structured content authoring to a broader. In the podcast, i chat with gowri ramkumar about documentation processes, why metrics are problematic.
Pharma has medical writers, who become adept at document management solutions. Adobe techcomm blog adobe technical communication blog. Potentially, you can write a better book that provides more value, wisdom, expertise, fun, accessibility, real life examples, etc. It is defined in contrast with bookoriented or narrative content, written in the linear structure of written books. The obvious immediate disadvantage is cost, time, and effort to implement the change. Introduction to topicbased writing ncr information engineering about this presentation purpose. Well start at 3 minutes after the hour make sure your sound is working 10 mistakes when moving to topicbased authoringsharon burton twitter. In this episode were going to look at topicbased authoring. If you can only afford one book on the subject, this should probably be the one. Discussion of the implied changes moving to a topicbased writing. Fundamental to most topicbased information development is the concept of the separation of content from presentation and delivery. Many of the leading technical authoring tools use a topicbased approach to content. One of the challenges of working within a modular, topic. Topicbased authoring lets you create and reuse content, reduces project schedules, and improves your workflow.
Chapter 1, interpreting and aligning national, state, and local standards. You want to stay ahead of the curve to provide dynamically created technical publications for your customers. If we see wikis as something that dont do topicbased writing, therefore, this can only mean that the information design sense of the word topic has been largely eclipsed by the compositional mechanism. The team realized they needed to move to topicbased authoring and singlesource publishing to multiple outputs. Some of the many benefits of a topicbased approach to. This book, which is for k12 teachers, teacher educators, administrators, and staff developers, explores conceptbased learning. I recently appeared on the knowledgebase ninjas podcast in an episode titled metrics dont work. Were not moving out of tech pubs, but we are moving into other industries such as pharma and insurance. To provide an introduction to topicbased writing what it is how we. By using the manual writing expertise that you have at your disposal. In this article, we focus on the benefits of topicbased authoring in translation.
Technical writers need a different skill set when moving to structured writing, topicbased authoring or an xml environment, sarah explained. When a narrative flow is necessary to get your ideas on your authoring screen, you can also create one long topic in flare, then chunk it out when you have finalized h1 topic headings. Content may not easily fall into categories the way you want it to. Welcome to the reallife way of learning topic based authoring, git. Moving from pdfbased content to dynamic dita xml pdf allowed us to share documentation with others without losing formatting information, and to collaborate on. Book building capabilities for managing multiple project assets chapters, document content were one of the prime drivers for many users moving to framemaker 7.
Janice summers, singlesourcing solutions, specializes in helping people whove only ever used unstructured desktop publishing applications learn structured authoring. Well start at 3 minutes after the hour make sure your sound is working 10 mistakes when moving to topicbased authoringsharon. Choose your topic based on your childs needs and interests. Quantum, a data storage solutions leader, delivers. The book will have more credibility if your coauthor possesses expertise you lack. Since topicbased authoring is a natural fit for framemaker, it is a popular authoring tool companion or. Is topicbased authoring the future for technical writing. The book includes a thorough explanation of the dita model and the major elements used to create your topics using the task, concept, and reference information types. Transcript of our podcast episode topicbased writing. Effectively moving to dynamic publishing requires adaptability. The cognitive science behind intelligent content semantic specialization should be a leading differentiator for selecting dita for projects, yet it is one of its most underutilized features. In this talk, sharon burton will show you the top 10 mistakes mad.
The lavacon conference on digital media and content. It can also help you better meet the needs of your users. A roadmap for writing, editing, and architecting in dita ibm press at. Rich functionality at a reasonable cost quantum began an evaluation of content. But moving to topicbased authoring can be one of the most expensive things youve ever done. Acknowledging the value of moving to topicbased authoring and electronic content delivery was just the first step. We are living in a culture where traditional books are being replaced. In technical communication, topicbased authoring is a modular approach to content creation where content is structured around topics that can be mixed and reused in different contexts.
From book authoring to topic based authoring separating content and presentation write for multiple output formats use one source topic for multiple product variations move from word or. To get managers behind a migration to topicbased authoring tba, focus on benefits and savings. A roadmap for writing, editing, and architecting in dita ibm press book online at best prices in india on. Below is a transcript of our podcast episode topicbased writing. This is a more modular approach to creating user guides and help systems, and if you are used to writing. Prior to making the move to topicbased authoring, planning is the key to a successful transition. If you are embarking on dita, arm yourself with lots of knowledge going in. Topic based writing workshop command line interface. Are you more comfortable with unstructured desktop publishing applications and.
I am a techcomm student, what can i learn with open source platforms like gnome. However, if the necessity for an alternative structure arises, dita. One of the biggest challenges in moving to a new content development environment is migrating existing content to new tools. Due to flares elegant user interface and assortment of power tools, topicbased authoring will soon become second nature. Structured authoring for beginners are you new to structured authoring and topicbased writing.
Structured authoring for beginners singlesourcing solutions. Structured authoring workshop tc summer camp 2017 tc camp. In many cases, topic based authoring and object reuse is the organizations goal, and outofthebox dita works well in their environment. Presented at stc summit in atlanta, ga in may 2009. If welldone, you get a good idea of how the practical. Disadvantages of online survey research include uncertainty over the validity of the data and sampling issues, and concerns surrounding the design, implementation, and evaluation of an. Its a place to focus directly on the reader rather than primarily on the referees. To envision a complete solution, the workgroup investigated the use of xml. Sessions sharon burton content strategy comments off on the top 10 mistakes companies make when moving to topicbased authoring. What not to do when moving to topicbased authoring. Sentencecase versus titlecase for topicbased authoring. Topicbased authoring is the most costeffective way to develop content in the do more with less world we live in. Book building framemaker techcomm technical communication suite book building capabilities for managing multiple project assets chapters.
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