to dita or not to dita

contentstrategy101.com

To DITA or not to DITA?

Sarah O’Keefe (@sarahokeefe), ScriptoriumAlyssa Fox (@afox98), NetIQ

Toni Mantych (@tcmpdx), ADP

flickr: pleeker


Before we begin…

❖ Everyone is muted except for the presenter

❖ Please ask your questions through the Questions area in the webcast interface

❖ The presentation is being recorded; attendees do not appear in the recording


Sarah O’Keefe @sarahokeefe❖ Founder and president, Scriptorium

Publishing, www.scriptorium.com

❖ Based in North Carolina

❖ Coauthor with Alan Pringle of Content Strategy 101 (just released!)

❖ Interested in collision of content, publishing, and technology

http://www.scriptorium.com

http://www.scriptorium.com


Alyssa Fox@afox98

❖ Senior Manager of Information Development, NetIQ

❖ STC Secretary and 2012 Summit Program Chair

❖ 15+ years of tech comm

❖ Interested in usability, targeted documentation, and Agile

❖ Houston, Texas


Toni Mantych@tcmpdx❖ Information Architect, ADP

❖ Overseeing migration of 60 people to DITA

❖ 20+ years as a writer; 10+ years in tech comm

❖ Portland, Oregon



Agenda

❖ Why DITA? (Toni)

❖ Why not DITA? (Alyssa)

❖ Advantages and disadvantages

❖ Most important factors in the decision

❖ Mistakes were made


To DITA… (Toni)

flickr: roryfinneren


…or not to DITA (Alyssa)

flickr: thegirlsny


Biggest advantage (Toni)

flickr: bunnicula


Biggest advantage (Alyssa)

flickr: jayhem


Biggest challenge (Toni)

flickr: ryanh


flickr: onmagazine

Biggest challenge (Alyssa)


Decision factors

❖ Team size

❖ Deliverable requirements

❖ Localization requirements

❖ Skill sets

❖ Budget

❖ Corporate culture


No business case…

❖ Overwhelming cost of migration

❖ Little reuse

❖ Need for authoring flexibility

❖ No localization


Can’t meet requirements with current toolset…❖ Custom deliverable formats

❖ Need for heavy metadata

❖ Flexibility

❖ Localization

❖ Component-based product architecture

flickr: ndanger

Lessons learned…


What could change your decision?


flickr: ted_major

What could change your decision?


flickr: ndanger

Getting off the platform


Sample business cases

❖ http://www.contentstrategy101.com/

❖ 8 case studies

❖ Sample cost calculations

http://www.contentstrategy101.com



❖ Available now!

❖ Print, EPUB, and Kindle

❖ www.contentstrategy101.com

Scriptorium Publishing Services, Inc.P.O. Box 12761 Research Triangle Park, NC 27709 USA

Poor content has profound e!ects inside and outside the organization—it damages your reputation, shrinks sales, and causes legal problems. Content Strategy 101 is an invaluable resource for transforming your technical content into a business asset.

“As experienced practitioners, O’Keefe and Pringle have performed a real service to our industry by providing a very practical guide that will ultimately lead people to come to grips with the real content within their organizations.”Joe Gollner, Director, Gnostyx Research

“A blueprint for planning and implementing successful content projects.”Scott Abel, !e Content Wrangler

“O’Keefe and Pringle’s take on content strategy for technical communicators is a reminder that regardless of our background—marketing or tech, web or print—we need to get out of our silos and work together toward our one real goal: helping our customers.” Sara Wachter-Boettcher, content strategist and author of Content Everywhere

Join the conversation at contentstrategy101.com.

Content Strategy 101Transform Technical Content into a Business Asset

Sarah S. O’Keefe Alan S. Pringle

Foreword by Ann Rockley

Content Strategy 101 Sarah S. O’Keefe and Alan S. Pringle




Upcoming events

❖ Business case for content strategy in tech comm webcast

❖ Lavacon conference (Portland, OR)

❖ tekom/tcworld (Germany)

❖ Register/more information at www.scriptorium.com/events

http://www.scriptorium.com/events

http://www.scriptorium.com/events


Questions?

to dita or not to dita

Technology

dita alyssa ickr

dita toni ickr

platform ickr

biggest advantage alyssa

biggest challenge alyssa

biggest advantage toni

biggest challenge toni

pleekerto dita