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The myriad of ifs, buts and howevers are acknowledged, thank you for your
input everyone. My original query, whilst depending on those very ifs, buts
and howevers, was about writing content.
I repeat, writing content.
I know what else needs to be considered when undertaking the conversion of a
team to single source output (I've done it once already on a small scale). I
know that all these things are dependant on the decisions of others, I know
that it's not a clear cut thing. I get it. Analysis, understanding the
audience, the outputs, the technical limitations, financial impact,
emotional impact etc etc etc.
</slightly ranty mode off>
Sincerely, thank you to all for taking the time to respond.
If I find anything useful on this I'll post to the list.
Gordon
P.S. Mike, I shudder to think what kind of project requirement would begin
with (emphasis is mine) "ONCE we've written ... thousands of discrete
topics, we NOW require a database...". Ouch, good luck with that one.
-----Original Message-----
From: techwr-l-bounces+gordon -dot- mclean=grahamtechnology -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
[mailto:techwr-l-bounces+gordon -dot- mclean=grahamtechnology -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- c
om] On Behalf Of Mike Starr
Sent: 25 June 2007 14:23
To: techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
Subject: Re: Writing structured content [recap]
However...
Once we've written hundreds or even thousands of discrete topics, we now
require an organizational database to make these topics available for use.
Each topic must then be associated with metadata that describes the topic
itself so we can understand specifically what the different topics are about
and when it's appropriate to incorporate that specific topic in a larger
assembly of topics. The formation of that metadata into a database will
require careful planning in order to make the database readily searchable. I
can envision the metadata often requiring far more storage space than the
topic text itself.
Having said that, the availability of the discrete topics is still going to
require an analytical process by a content planner (formerly known as a
technical writer) who's developed a sufficient amount of product knowledge
in order to select appropriate topics for the subject matter based on the
audience requirements. The greater the number of topic authors, the more
difficult the analytical process becomes as the content planner will have to
familiarize herself with the actual content of the available topics in order
to make rational selections.
And if we cannot incorporate cross-references into the actual topics, do we
then lose that ability in the finished document? Or do we add
cross-references as elements of the finished document that are not part of
the topic database?
Mike
--
Mike Starr WriteStarr Information Services
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Graphic Designer - Desktop Publisher - MS Office Expert
Phone: (262) 694-1028 - Tollfree: (877) 892-1028 - Fax:(262) 697-6334
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----- Original Message -----
From: "Gordon McLean" <Gordon -dot- McLean -at- GrahamTechnology -dot- com>
To: <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com>
Sent: Monday, June 25, 2007 8:00 AM
Subject: RE: Writing structured content [recap]
> It might well be that a set of guidelines is the starting point, and
> that, in fact, the 'rules' of writing content that can be reused
> aren't all that much different from what we have now.
>
> Understanding the structure is part of it, and yes that will include
> understanding when NOT to include some information... But presuming we
> are past that point, maybe there ISN'T a need for a training course in
> this area, maybe it is purely down to understanding the structure and
> following a set of simple guidelines.
>
> But I'm not sure, nor convinced, it's that "easy". As Fred says, at
> some point, once structure is understood, and the writer knows what
> NOT to include, the content that will be used has to be written. I
> presumed there was an approach to this type of writing, breaking the
> thought model out of chapter/book mode and into chunk mode, but maybe
> there isn't. Maybe it is just a set of "dos and donts"..
>
> One thing is for sure, this thread has certainly pressed home the
> importance of nailing the early requirements and fully understanding
> the structure of our documentation.
>
> Gordon
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