Norm Walsh Answers DITA Or Docbook Question

March 28, 2006 Blog No Comments

Sun Microsystems DocBook guru Norm Walsh attended the recent DITA 2006 conference in Raleigh, NC. Here’s what Walsh had to say about the event and the DITA versus DocBook argument. “I only saw a few hours of the DITA conference, but I think it was a good show. I wish I’d seen more. I remain skeptical about some aspects of the DITA vision, but that’s not really important. Reasonable people can disagree about the details. The DITA and DocBook approaches differ somewhat, and there are a lot of differences down Read the full article…

DITA 2006 Audio Files Available

March 27, 2006 Blog No Comments

If you were unable to listen to DITA 2006 Live, now’s your chance. The folks at the MyTechnologyLawyer.com Radio Show have archived both shows (over four hours of radio programming), making them available in streaming audio format (you’ll need Windows MediaPlayer to listen). In the future, after some post-production cleanup, the files will be made available in .mp3 format—perfect for use in your iPod—as well as on compact disc. Listen to DITA 2006 Live (part 1 and part 2).

Day Two DITA 2006 Conference Evening Update

March 25, 2006 Blog No Comments

Day Two of the DITA 2006 Conference was an exciting one, indeed…loaded with interesting presentations and activities. I had a great time co-hosting four hours of internet radio programming with Scott Draughon, host of MyTechnologyLawyer internet radio show. There were so many listeners to the morning program that we exceeded capacity (500 listeners) and some folks were unable to listen in. Archived versions of the programs are in post-production now and will be made available soon on compact disc. The show guests offered up valuable information, some of which had Read the full article…

DITA 2006 Day One Activities

March 23, 2006 Blog No Comments

Today is the first of three full days of educational sessions and hands on workshops at DITA 2006, the first annual conference focusing exclusively on the Darwin Information Typing Architecture. The event is well attended (about 200 participants) and includes technical communicators from the United States and Canada, as well as from South Africa, the United Kingdom and Japan. The exhibition area includes a small—but relevant—group of vendors touting their latest software and services aimed at the DITA audience. CMS vendor SiberLogic is giving away a nifty Pocket Guide to Read the full article…

OASIS Launches DITA XML.org Focus Area

March 22, 2006 Blog No Comments

The Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards (OASIS) today announced the release of the DITA XML.org Focus Area, a website that the organization describes as “the community gathering place and information resource for the Darwin Information Typing Architecture (DITA), an approved OASIS Standard that builds content reuse into the authoring process. “Interest in DITA is tremendous right now, and there is strong support in the community for a resource to share information,” noted Don Day of IBM, chair of the OASIS DITA Technical Committee. “The DITA XML.org Focus Read the full article…

Live From DITA 2006

March 22, 2006 Blog No Comments

Today I am reporting from the IBM campus in Raleigh, NC during Day Zero of the DITA 2006 Conference. I’m attending the Introduction to the Darwin Information Typing Architecture workshop, taught by IBM DITA guru Michael Priestley. This full day workshop is jam-packed (standing room only) with technical writers and documentation managers from around the globe. Priestley started the workshop with a brief history of DITA, outlining the markup languages that have come before DITA, and the goals and vision set forth by IBM to handle the hundreds of thousands Read the full article…

Unleashing The Power Of Open Source In Document Management

March 21, 2006 Blog No Comments

Optaros, an open source consulting and systems integration firm, has released a new whitepaper entitled, Unleashing the Power of Open Source in Document Management. According to Optaros, the whitepaper explores “the differences between enterprise content management and document management, overall functions of document management, and why open source is well positioned to help with enterprise challenges. Seven open source document management solutions are reviewed in terms of architecture and the main categories of functionality.” Read the whitepaper.

Making The Business Case For Content Management

March 20, 2006 Blog No Comments

If you’re looking to convince your boss that content management is a smart move, you’re going to need some ammunition. Here you’ll find links to web sites where you can learn about the hurdles preventing some organizations from adopting content management, what the common business drivers are, and how to determine total cost of implementation. Knowing this information up front can help you make the case for adopting content management, prepare an appropriate budget, and develop a reasonable project plan to help you avoid the mistakes made by others. Implementing Read the full article…

Documentation Managers Provide Insight Into Single Sourcing Adoption

March 19, 2006 Blog No Comments

According to results of a survey conducted by TechCom Manager, 53.7% of documentation managers surveyed say single source publishing has solved all or most of the problems experienced while “writing documentation targeted to multiple audiences with various needs.” Of the remaining 43.6% of respondents, 11.1 said single sourcing has “made our writing process more complicated, resulting in more work, not less”. 13% said (for unknown reasons) single sourcing “does not work” for them, while an astounding 22.2% of documentation managers said they don’t single source their content because “they don’t Read the full article…

OpenDocument Format Alliance Announced

March 17, 2006 Blog No Comments

According to the New York Times, 30 companies, trade groups, academic institutions and professional organizations have formed the OpenDocument Format Alliance, whose goal is to promote and advance the use of the OpenDocument Format (ODF). According to the Alliance web site, the OpenDocument Format (ODF) is “an open XML-based document file format for saving and exchanging editable office documents (including memos, reports, and books), spreadsheets, charts, and presentations. OpenDocument was developed as an application-independent file format by Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards (OASIS), a vendor-neutral standards organization. Read the full article…

California State Offers Localization Program

March 16, 2006 Blog No Comments

Localization (L10N) is the process of adapting products and services (web sites, documents, manuals and software applications) in accordance to linguistic, cultural, technical, and other locale-specific requirements of the target audience. While it’s a hot topic in communication circles (there are many great paying positions available), too few professionals writers possess the skills and experience neccessary to claim to be expert localizers. Enter academia. California State University’s Chico-Localization Program aims to help increase the number of skilled localization experts by offering a Localization Certification Program. The mission of the program, Read the full article…

What I’m Reading

March 14, 2006 Blog No Comments

Some books

What’s In The Jukebox?

March 14, 2006 Blog No Comments

Some stuff

Why Join?

March 14, 2006 Blog No Comments

Become a member of TheContentWrangler.com community. It’s free. And, it’s valuable! Members receive: Our monthly email newsletter Special discounts on training, conferences, books, and more Access to a large and influential network of content professionals Invitations to participate in industry surveys and access to survey results Content placement consideration on TheContentWrangler.com That’s not all! Only members can take advantage of our ask The Content Wrangler service, a helpful advice service designed to help you find answers to your most pressing content questions. If we don’t know the answer, we’ll try Read the full article…