Bernard Aschwanden's workshops are informative and entertaining. Aschwanden recently held an XML/DITA workshop at Northeast Ohio STC. Here is a review from NEO STC senior member Lori Neuman:
Software Saturday Beats Laundry, Chores and Carpool Any Day!
Lori Neuman, Senior Member
Rockwell Automation
Saturday morning. Early. I got up, got dressed like I was going to work, grabbed my coffee, and headed back to college. I left behind my sleeping family, and a laundry list of the usual Saturday chores. I was off to Tri-C to create in XML!
Bernard Aschwanden of BrightPath Solutions was better than I could have imagined. In addition to his vast knowledge, he provided the sort of witty repartee I don’t always get to indulge in my daily life. He was quick with the one-liners and sardonic humor as he dished out perhaps the clearest explanation of DITA and XML authoring I have ever heard.
For those of you new to the DITA camp, the acronym stands for Darwin Information Typing Architecture. It’s a set of XML-based constructs for authoring. Those of us (myself included) who work at companies embracing DITA know the justifications. Re-using content because it’s retrievable and reusable because it’s tagged with DITA elements. Freeing up writers to create technical masterpieces because we don’t have to spend time formatting. All good. But DITA is also cool because it’s XML, and, that, as we know, is the language of the Internet. It impresses my 13-year old stepdaughter (though she won’t admit it) to actually know someone who can author web content. I can tell because of the way she fails to hide her covert admiration when I toss out “BRB!” (be right back) in Internet-speak when I leave the room, or ROTFL (rolling on the floor laughing) when she says something funny.
Back to DITA and XML. After showing us what DITA looks like, and how it fits into the larger world of XML, Bernard got down to it. Although he used specific tools, never once did this session feel like he was shilling for a vendor. Bernard showed us how to author in both Adobe FrameMaker (Structured; V. 8), and JustSystems XMetal, two power players in the emerging DITA authoring world. Bernard pointed out strengths and weaknesses of each tool, and showed us how to go from one tool to the other. For those of us who ever believed that it was easy to convert Word files into something else, like FrameMaker, and were sorely disappointed, this was Nirvana. Because it’s XML, and because it used DITA constructs, going between one DITA-compliant software and another is truly painless. As it turns out, FrameMaker is great for authoring because of the simple authoring pane and tag view it displays. XMetal, on the other hand, is a great single-source engine, allowing you to dynamically create many outputs, including online help.
The day whizzed by, aided not only by Bernard’s swift, on-track delivery style, but by the boxes (yes, boxes!) of Starbucks Café Verona our Chapter hosts and hostesses provided. Cool authoring tools, my favorite coffee, and a break from the usual grind. Great way to spend my Saturday!
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
Thursday, January 10, 2008
DITA: Why should you care? And why care now?
There are a few core reasons to care about DITA (regardless of whether or not you've been asked to use it in the past).
First, consider your current status. You likely are an independent contractor or an employee (or hope to be one or the other).
Second, DITA gives you access to ideas that are likely to be of great value regardless of the type of documents you create. Since DITA has an implied architecture and a set of logical rules beyond the structural rules, you gain a new view about how to write. DITA is topic based and really explores ideas that many writers may not have had a chance to explore in the past. Even if you don't use DITA, the ideas of topic-based writing and associated documentation planning should be of great benefit to you.
Third idea to consider: DITA is pretty cutting-edge even now, but it's far more popular than a year or two or three ago. It's at a tipping point and the major tech comm tool vendors are getting serious about it. Most CMS tools support it right out of the box. Adobe, PTC (Arbortext) and JustSystems have put a lot of time and money into developing for it. It's built for help development, book publishing, translations, software and hardware documentation and more. There are many companies using it now, and many more coming on board. The more you know about it, the easier it is to be the evangelist within your organization and to be seen as the expert.
Fourth on the list is that you gain new expertise. As you begin to get more familiar with DITA and how you can work in a team environment, you become the local resource. If you do end up getting your company onboard the DITA bus, you are the one that people will depend on to make things happen. You are the expert and get sent to training, you travel to conferences, and you have more job security. The last person anyone wants to lose is the one who knows the inner workings of the entire system.
Finally, a fifth reason to explore DITA is that it gives you a chance to play with features that you don't even know about yet. Very neat content reuse, powerful map documents, the free DITA toolkit and more. As you get a chance to see and learn about DITA you expose your mind to new ideas. The ideas may not even be used in the context of DITA, but you get a chance to see how and why the minds at IBM developed a documentation architecture that is growing far beyond the initial scope of the project. The wide range of ideas can be applied to what you currently do to improve your documentation and improve the way that you write, the way that people read content, and even the way that information is exchanged--both inside your company and with partners.
By learning about DITA, you will increase your value within your company, your value to potential employers and clients, and your ability to improve current documentation. You'll learn new and interesting ways of working with software and become the recognized leader in the technology at work. You'll also learn about the technological side of the architecture. Attending the upcoming STC Chicago workshop is a great way to spend a day and you leave with new knowledge. Heck, if you luck out, you may even leave with swag from leading software vendors like Adobe. :)
First, consider your current status. You likely are an independent contractor or an employee (or hope to be one or the other).
- If you are an independent consultant, you work with a variety of clients and face a changing roster of projects on a regular basis. If you see yourself in a role that is evolving, if your client is likely to buy out others (or to be bought out), it could be worth exploring DITA. That way, if a new client asks, "Are you familiar with structured writing?" the experience of having learned about DITA can help secure a new contract.
- If you work for a company (as a writer), consider what your role may be internally 2 years or 5 years from now. Will it be the exact same position, with the same manager and coworkers, performing the same role? If so, then maybe DITA isn't worth exploring. If you have your niche carved out and are in a solid and stable work environment AND you love what you are doing, great! Stick with it. If you see yourself in a role that is evolving, if your company is likely to buy out others (or be bought out), or you expect that your job/manager/coworkers may change, it could be worth exploring DITA--even if it's just to have the jump if a new manager ever says "Are you familiar with structured writing?" The experience of having learned about DITA can help secure the role of 'expert' internally.
- If you work for a company (as a manager), then you likely have to face the question of "how can we do more, with less" and DITA may be the answer. You can effectively reuse content. From a phrase as small as a few words to entire topics, reuse is one of DITA's great strengths. You'll also end up with writers who create more consistent, more professional content. The speed with which you can convert materials (think single sourcing) or build a help system or convert legacy content to a new software tool will impress even the toughest skeptics. Finally, writers will be able to focus on what they do best: Writing! Instead of spending time planning to implement a full set of nested heading and bullet lists only to have it all change for another publication, writers can write. The layout and formatting is based on function and structure rather than writer effort. As a manager, you will see staff becoming more effective and doing what they were hired to do in the first place. And doing it well.
Second, DITA gives you access to ideas that are likely to be of great value regardless of the type of documents you create. Since DITA has an implied architecture and a set of logical rules beyond the structural rules, you gain a new view about how to write. DITA is topic based and really explores ideas that many writers may not have had a chance to explore in the past. Even if you don't use DITA, the ideas of topic-based writing and associated documentation planning should be of great benefit to you.
Third idea to consider: DITA is pretty cutting-edge even now, but it's far more popular than a year or two or three ago. It's at a tipping point and the major tech comm tool vendors are getting serious about it. Most CMS tools support it right out of the box. Adobe, PTC (Arbortext) and JustSystems have put a lot of time and money into developing for it. It's built for help development, book publishing, translations, software and hardware documentation and more. There are many companies using it now, and many more coming on board. The more you know about it, the easier it is to be the evangelist within your organization and to be seen as the expert.
Fourth on the list is that you gain new expertise. As you begin to get more familiar with DITA and how you can work in a team environment, you become the local resource. If you do end up getting your company onboard the DITA bus, you are the one that people will depend on to make things happen. You are the expert and get sent to training, you travel to conferences, and you have more job security. The last person anyone wants to lose is the one who knows the inner workings of the entire system.
Finally, a fifth reason to explore DITA is that it gives you a chance to play with features that you don't even know about yet. Very neat content reuse, powerful map documents, the free DITA toolkit and more. As you get a chance to see and learn about DITA you expose your mind to new ideas. The ideas may not even be used in the context of DITA, but you get a chance to see how and why the minds at IBM developed a documentation architecture that is growing far beyond the initial scope of the project. The wide range of ideas can be applied to what you currently do to improve your documentation and improve the way that you write, the way that people read content, and even the way that information is exchanged--both inside your company and with partners.
By learning about DITA, you will increase your value within your company, your value to potential employers and clients, and your ability to improve current documentation. You'll learn new and interesting ways of working with software and become the recognized leader in the technology at work. You'll also learn about the technological side of the architecture. Attending the upcoming STC Chicago workshop is a great way to spend a day and you leave with new knowledge. Heck, if you luck out, you may even leave with swag from leading software vendors like Adobe. :)
Tuesday, January 08, 2008
The Brand Called You
Before I attended last November's evening seminar, I didn't know much about the topic of branding, so I checked the Web. Found an article by Tom Peters who periodically appears on TV programs, radio, and has written several books about the corporate world and especially its management. In the article's section, What's the pitch for You?, Peters mentions ways to brand yourself that Glory Borgeson had also mentioned -- join a special project or task force, write articles, speak or attend industry conferences, lead meetings, etc.
Friday, January 04, 2008
At-a-Glance photo identified
January's STC Chicago At-a-Glance quiz featured the (former) Carson Pirie Scott building façade.The photo revealed detail from the decorative ironwork above the main entrance at 1 S. State Street. The building was renamed the "Sullivan Center" in August 2007 as a tribute to architect Louis H. Sullivan.
Congratulations to all who responded with the correct answer. The winner's name will be posted here.
Migrating to structured content
Structured content evangelist Scott Abel makes the case for moving to structured XML authoring here and here and here.
Take a look and you'll understand why we've devoted our first big event of 2008 to the topic of migrating to XML and DITA.
Take a look and you'll understand why we've devoted our first big event of 2008 to the topic of migrating to XML and DITA.
Another reason to like Common Craft
Lee LeFever shares what he knows about how to run a successful independent consultancy, including 15 lessons learned in 2007.
Here's an example:
Here's an example:
It's not always about how it works - it's about why anyone should care. The opposite of love is not hate, it's indifference (Elie Weisel). The path to a solid explanation is making people care as a first priority.
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