My friend and fellow writer Kai Weber raises an interesting question in a post called “Does structured writing stifle creativity?” The migration to XML architectures has a lot of people asking similar questions.
I have long pondered a more broad version of the question: Is technical writing really a creative profession?
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From late summer to the present, I have been developing and supporting a library of MadCap Flare templates for the NCI Center for Biomedical Informatics and Information Technology (NCI CBIIT). The CBIIT Technical Writing team is transitioning to Flare from a FrameMaker-to-ePublisher workflow.
Flare templates provide a lot of publishing power and flexibility. Using Flare, I was able to provide a single sourcing solution that includes templates for authors, collaborators, and contributors. I am now building a Flare Knowledge Base on the NCI Wiki (Confluence-based) so that NCI CBIIT Flare users can search for and contribute to a repository of tips and solutions. I will write more about my process for developing the templates in an upcoming post.
I have also been serving as technical editor on a collaborative project between the NCI and the Health Level 7 (HL7) organization. The project involves implementation of the Services-Aware Interoperability Framework, also known as SAIF (pronounced “safe”). I work closely with enterprise architects to develop content that will eventually become part of a blended learning solution for NCI analysts, architects, and developers.
NCI CBIIT is also considering a DITA strategy. As part of the preliminary work, I conducted a formal evaluation of two prospective DITA editing tools. You can view the results of my testing on the HL7 Wiki: XML Tool Considerations page. I welcome comments from readers who are experienced with either tool.
In the meantime, here’s to 2010! I wish you the best.
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Recently I have read a lot of books about the state of web content. I have been contributing web content for many years, and I have long advocated that well-structured, clear content is vital to a successful user experience. So I am fascinated to see the sudden surge of interest in content strategy.
It’s about time.
Web sites have long been products of shiny bauble design: Make it pretty and they will come. A site lures you in, but you quickly discover that you cannot find what you’re looking for. Either there’s not enough information, or there’s too much information, but it’s so poorly structured and organized that you give up.
Information architects (IAs) who focus on design over content have long fueled this problem. The best IAs realize the value of the user experience, where design and content are fully integrated. They focus on both aspects. But sometimes the scope and breadth of site requirements place too much responsibility on them. A partnership becomes necessary.
Enter the content strategist.
In this post, I discuss two books that are shaping the body of resources on content strategy. This is not an in-depth review of either book. Both are only around 200 pages long, and I don’t want to give away all of the authors’ secrets. After reading this post, I hope that you will read these excellent resources.
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