Jason Aiken, Sr. Product ManagerQuark Enterprise Solutions

Structured Authoring for Business-Critical Content

§ Jason Aiken, Sr. Product Manager§ 20 years content automation experience

§ 10 years as a customer: implementing usable solutions§ 7 years as a consultant: integrating automated systems§ 3 years as a vendor: evangelizing leading products

§ E-mail: jaiken@quark.com

§ Phone: (303) 894-3265

Introductions

Quark Software

Quark Publishing Platform

Customer’s App

QuarkXPress

Quark AuthorWeb Edition

High Fidelity Print and PDF

QuarkXPress

3rd Party CMS / System of Record

HTML for Web and E-mail

Gateway App

App StudioSaaS Portal

Content Automation Workflow

XML Author

3rd party adapters:• XML Authoring• Publishing• Delivery

ECM

§ Introduction to 2016 Content Automation Research

§ Challenges around structured authoring fornon-technical authors

§ Smart Content as a solution

§ Opportunities for broader adoption

§ Q&A

Quick Agenda

Content Automation Research

Quark-InfoTrends Survey

Research Details

§ Q4 2015 web survey with InfoTrends§ Active from November to December 2015§ 151 enterprise respondents in total

§ Objective: to better understand technology and investment outlook§ Understand current spending levels§ Provide insights into short- to mid-term growth

Challenges for business-critical content

Structured Authoring

§ We love to bash Word

§ People use simple tools§ 1.2 billion users of Microsoft Office

§ 140 countries§ 107 languages

§ 1.1 Billion WPS Office installations

Dr. WordLoveHow I Stopped Worrying

(about Semantic Purity)

and Love Word (well, not quite)

“Word is Marginally Less Than a Bad Thing”

Steps to extend XML-based Content Automation to the Non-Technical

Fine-Grained Knowledge Capture is the Altruistic Value

Automation Provides Business Value

Structured Input (GIGO) is the Requirement

Authoring Usability Closes the Gap

§ Authors must take action to experience rules§ Rules are discovered, not explained§ Users click around to understand them

§ Highly constrained content models§ Context-specific rules = a foreign user experience§ Usability suffers, adoption suffers

§ Successful task execution decreases with complexity§ Simple actions do not work, like copy/cut/paste

§ Hierarchy § When sections = containment§ Non-recursive, nested divisions

§ Requires all intermediate levels be present§ Users can’t easily promote/demote sections

Structured Authoring Challenge #1The Hidden Rules

§ First insert markup, then type§ When can I do the actual writing?§ Isn’t this backwards?

§ Balanced markup rules§ Requires targeted development for common use cases§ Examples: Emphasis, Highlighting, Commenting, Change-

tracking

§ Many More

Structured Authoring Challenge #2You Must Change

§ Gross edits example1. Cut nested elements from one context2. Paste to a new context3. Common result: You can’t nest here!4. How to resolve multiple user choices?

§ Return to first principles§ Why restrict?§ Let downstream processing do heavy lifting

The Common ResponseImprove the Tool

Visuals Make it EasyStyle Matters

§ List in Para or List outside Para? § Author doesn’t care§ Do it one way, be consistent

§ Fixed formatting: Indent§ Implies containment§ Satisfies output well enough

How many hours wasted?

§ What§ A methodology and a Relax NG schema

§ Who§ Non-technical users producing business-critical content

§ Why§ Authoring usability – the key to broader adoption§ Simple XML architecture for non-technical documents

§ When§ Presented at 2015 Balisage; 2016 CM / DITA Strategies§ Working toward open standardization

Smart ContentTurns it Around

§ Archetypes§ Baseline for semantic processing§ Starting point for configuration§ HTML-friendly syntax <section type=“introduction”>

§ Familiar to web developers§ Built for standard tech: CSS, JavaScript, etc.

§ No order and occurrence controls*§ Section type defines available block and inline types§ Any block may appear in any order§ Any inline may appear in any block§ Removes many hidden rules

*Exceptions exist, e.g. fixed figure structure: title, image, description

Let’s talk Smart Content

Content Type Smart Content HTML DITA

Sections section section topic

Text Blocks p p p

Inline elements tag b, i, u, span, etc. phrase

Unordered or ordered lists ul, ol ul, ol, list type= type

Tables table Table table

Images image Img image

Media media video, object object

Metadata XML meta fragment tag attribute = value tag attribute = value

Basic Content Types

§ Attributes - reserved for system implementation

§ Customer metadata - captured as XML fragment

<section type=“summary”><meta>...your taxonomy here...</meta><title>Section Title<title/>

</section>

Metadata

<collection name="contributors"><member name="contributor">

<group name=“details”><attribute name="role">

<value>Supervisor</value><value>Admin</value>

</attribute><attribute name="name">

<value>Sam Markup</value></attribute>

</group></member><member name="contributor">…

</member></collection>

Metadata Enhanced for Authoring

§ Collection: enables UI generated for repeated structures: Add+

§ Member: identifies boundary for one collection member

§ Group: enables UI to collect fields together§ Enables hierarchy

by nested groups§ Attribute: like you

know, except…§ Multi-value support

§ …this feature and that markup?§ For example, myconcept specialized from concept

specialized from topic§ Answer: return to the goal

§ Primary audience: non-technical users = SMEs§ SMEs write simpler content, in terms of structure§ SMEs avoid programmer-like concepts & complexity

§ Choose to stay closer to HTML§ Enable extensibility where possible/reasonable§ Balance customer demand vs. a fully defined structure

What About…

§ Every well-known context sets expectations§ Dr. David Weinberger: information concepts framed by paper§ Original Star Trek vs. Next Generation and others§ Established party line vs. Bernie or Trump§ “XML Documents” separate formatting from content

§ Repurposing anything is a difficult challenge§ The past overwhelms the new§ Examples: Quark vs. a new startup; unreleased vs. released SW§ Sometimes this challenge is cause enough for a change§ Subtle terminology differences do not matter to the outside

When Relevance Fails Us

“Let me tell you about this great XML mark-up I read last weekend…”

§ Well-defined context§ Dominated by Tech Docs and (really smart) XML specialists§ Heavy expectations for completeness to DITA spec

§ Result§ High risk to simplified-DITA efforts

§ Distraction from mission§ Full-spec compliance = check-box style requirements§ Negative social commentary

“DITA is great if your authors think like programmers”

an XML Services Professional

What about DITA?

What does it look like?

§ Non-Technical authoring usability§ A focus since 2008§ Targeting highly specialized experts

§ Success in Financial Services§ Investment Research Reports, Fund Fact Sheets§ Standard Operating Procedures for global banking

§ Other Customers§ Long docs tied to training/testing, specifications § SOPs in Government, Health & Safety,

Manufacturing, Life Sciences, and Transportation

Smart Content Results“Best vendor we have ever worked with”

“Our developers like working with your architecture”

“It looks like you designed a solution just for us”

“Without you, this would not have been possible”

Content Automation Research

Key Findings & Recommendations

Key Findings

§ Improving customer experience drives investments§ Key driver for business investment in content

automation: to improve customer satisfaction.

§ Reducing cost is a lower priority today.

§ Growing need for mobile content automation§ Mobile devices: part of the plan for sales & service

representatives over the next 12-24 months§ Suggests a growing need for content automation

solutions that support mobile business workforce

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

Total Manufacturing Government &Public Services

Healthcare Hospitality FinancialServices

Technical Documentation Training MaterialProduct Data Sheets Customer Communications (bills, statements, welcome kits, etc.)Policies and Procedures Sales Enablement CollateralMarket Intelligence Standard Operating Procedures Financial Reports/Investor Materials/Annual Reports Magazines/Books/Newspapers/JournalsInvestment Research Government LegislationMedical Documentation Catalogs

Applications Considered as Being Business-Critical by Industry

Q8:Whichofthefollowingapplicationsdoyouconsiderbusiness-criticalcontentforyourorganization?PleaseselectuptoFIVEresponses.

27.1%

28.6%

31.3%

35.8%

49.0%

83.4%

23.0%

38.2%

36.7%

34.7%

39.2%

34.4%

14.6%

18.2%

27.8%

16.3%

23.6%

12.2%

12.6%

33.8%

10.9%

8.3%

7.4%

18.2%

7.5%

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

“I’m satisfied with our digital content capabilities.'

“My stakeholders want more web content.'

“I’m not confident my organization’s content is consistent across print, Web and mobile channels.'

“My stakeholders want more mobile content.'

“Our content strategy is fragmented across our organization.'

“Interactive and engaging content is critical.'

“Content is critical for delivering an outstanding customer experience.'

Fully Agree Somewhat Agree Neutral Somewhat Disagree Fully Disagree

Organization’s Perception About Their Content Strategy (All Businesses)

4.3

3.9

3.9

3.7

3.8

2.7

4.8

N = 151 Respondents

Q10: Do you agree with each of the following statements about your content strategy?(Mean: Fully disagree=1, Fully agree=5)

Mean:

22% 26%17%

27%15%

50%

20%

43%40% 54%

47%

67% 37%

25%

40%

20% 22% 8% 7% 17%

30%

25%

30%

15% 12%21% 20% 17% 19%

10%

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

Total Manufacturing Government &Public

Services

Healthcare Hospitality FinancialServices

Media Other

20 people or more

10 to 19 people

5 to 9 people

2 to 4 people

People Involved in New Content Development by Industry

Q14: When your organization develops new content, on average how many people are involved? (Mean: People)

Financial Services sector has the most

people involved in new content development

Recommendations

§ Content automation vendors: take a vertical approach§ Challenge #1: different types of content across industries§ Challenge #2: specific content needs vary by department

§ Businesses: rethink your content automation topic areas§ Revisit the benefits and added value of content automation for you§ Choose the right technology based on your current and future

content distribution needs§ Research the right solutions

§ Solutions range from authoring and approval to content management, content assembly, multi-channel delivery, and tracking

§ Single solutions which automate content lifecycle processes are very attractive, especially for businesses that struggle to leverage full content capabilities

§ Adopt the right strategy for change management: inclusion

www.quark.com/smartcontent

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