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

How can critical content evolvewhen 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?

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?

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?

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 EberleinKris 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.