L e a d   S t o r i e s:
S1000D standard to revolutionize content reuse in defense documentation
STM open access interviews: Pros and cons speak out

O t h e r   N e w s:
U.S. army to cut $80 million in misordered parts with new software
PDAs help the homeless
1,500 airports to adopt new electronic chart system
Content management finally gets its own professional organization
UNESCO workshop recognizes potential of e-books

E v e n t s
Conference, e-labeling and beyond

A s i d e s:
To err is human - it's also a precursor to success

F a v o r i t e s:
Popular articles from recent issues

LEAD STORIES

S1000D standard to revolutionize content reuse in defense documentation

As a prelude to a series of interviews on defense industry documentation specifications, DCLnews provides an overview of the new S1000D documentation standard used by the military, aerospace, and industry.

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STM open access interviews: Point-counterpoint

DCLnews talks to two leading publishers - Jan Velterop of BioMed Central, who is for open access to scientific and medical literature, and Peter Banks of the American Diabetes Association, who is opposed to it.

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OTHER NEWS

U.S. army to cut $80 million in misordered parts with new software

To help streamline the logistics of maintenance and repairs in combat situations, the U.S. army is about to field test Enigma Inc.'s 3C software with its eight-wheeled, armored Stryker vehicles. The army hopes that Enigma's software will be useful in bringing down a misordered parts rate that currently totals $80 million annually, and in meeting a goal to reduce the number of mechanics by 66 percent. "[Wrongly ordered parts and] mechanics and field engineers can be very expensive. Anything you can do to make their operations more efficient will have a big financial impact," says John Snow, Enigma vice president of marketing and business development.

Also used by commercial auto making, aerospace, semiconductor and telecommunications firms, Enigma's XML and SGML-enabled software is designed to aggregate, normalize and index data from PDF, ASCII, RTF and other files, letting customers assemble web-assisted electronic "encyclopedias."

In Stryker vehicles, the Enigma-based encyclopedia will initially run on an onboard handheld computer featuring a touch-screen controller and plug-in capability for diagnostic buses. The Stryker's encyclopedia will draw information on parts and maintenance from 50 different technical manuals.

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PDAs help the homeless

Clinicians in Unity Health System's Health Care for the Homeless program will use PDAs to access a proprietary electronic medical records system while treating patients in the field. The program offers care to homeless people, or those at risk for homelessness, from mobile medical units at about 10 sites across the Rochester, N.Y., area. Care includes physical, mental and dental health assessment, treatment, and referrals.

The program serves about 3,500 patients each year. But before the PDA system was introduced doctors were having a hard time keeping up-to-date records because patients, being homeless, didn't always show up at the same site, which caused some confusion about medication and diagnoses.

Unity Health System chose a PDA-based records system to help its homeless program providers better collect patient data as well as store and print medical forms. The new records system is also designed to enable the caregivers to electronically send a copy of the data to Unity Health System.

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1,500 airports to adopt new electronic chart system

1,500 airports across the world are to be connected to Lufthansa Airlines' new electronic chart system, the Lido Route Manual, which contains all the aeronautical information available globally, and is designed to create a paperless cockpit. Dr. Peter Franke, chief executive officer of Lufthansa System Group, said by the end of the year, all of the airlines 650 airports serviced by Lufthansa would have been adapted to the chart, which is also a cost-saving device.

"We also plan to add around 1,500 airports to our database by the end of 2005, so that other airlines can also switch to the innovative charts. We are already involved in intensive discussions within a few airlines," Dr. Frankel said.

Since Lufthansa Airlines started flying on the Lido Route Manual system last September, 50% of its take-offs and landings were carried out on the new charts.

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Content management finally gets its own professional organization

Content management has come of age - a group of thirty content management experts from around the world has formed "CM Professionals" (CM Pros), a professional body devoted to furthering best practices based on the shared experiences of experts and peers in the field.

CM Pros president Bob Boiko, author of the "Content Management Bible", says: "As the first group of its kind, CM Pros is a membership organization that enables content management practitioners to share information, practices, and strategies."

Tony Byrne, editor of CMS Watch and CM Pros treasurer, adds: "We ... envisage a variety of members only services, including a newsletter, professional discounts and summit-type gatherings devoid of marketing hype."

(Read an interview with Tony Byrne of CM Watch at: http://www.dclab.com/content_reuse_tony_byrne.asp)

And Ann Rockley, author of "Managing Enterprise Content" and secretary of CM Pros says that CM Pros will raise awareness of content management as "an essential discipline that builds value, both financial and human, for companies and organizations."

CM Professionals will hold its first CM Summit, in conjunction with the Gilbane Conference on Content Management Technologies, on Tuesday, November 30, 2004 in Boston, Mass. (U.S.A.). See: http://www.gilbane.com/CM_conference_Boston_04.html.

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UNESCO workshop recognizes potential of e-books

Early this month UNESCO held a workshop in Bangalore assessing the potential of e-books - an industry estimated to be worth $400 billion by 2005. The workshop presented a positive picture of the market for e-books, but also highlighted the challenges - short-lived hardware and software technologies, and the often incompatible and non-interoperable formats and standards.

"The e-book industry and market place is a nebulous one with each of the players continuing to test the waters and gingerly transiting into the arena," commented Shalini Urs, who leads a UNESCO e-book project strategy group at Mysore University. "While most of the stakeholders believe in the potential of e-books, none is ready to take the plunge - not yet!"

Keen to prove they were up for the challenge, leading e-book publishers John Wiley and Springer gave demonstrations of their products during workshop intermissions.

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EVENTS

Conference, e-labeling and beyond: Techniques for structured product labeling (SPL), XML and risk prevention

Is XML finally making it into the Pharma world? This two-day conference will feature educational sessions and demonstrations by some of Pharmaceutical Labeling's best-known names and companies. You will be able to:

• Attend a Labeling workshop conducted by Leander Fontaine.

• Hear about Emerging Initiatives in Prescribing Safety from Express Scripts.

• Learn about the Pharmacovigilance Considerations of the Package Insert from a former FDA Medical Director.

• Discuss the pros and cons of using MedDRA.

Plus! As a special bonus session, attend a Hands-On Live SPL/XML Demonstration and Work with a Trainer from the SPL Working Group in Creating an SPL Submission Using the XML Application.

Don't miss it! Click below to download the conference brochure: http://wt.dlisys.com/barnett/1pdfs/BI1015/BI1015EM6.pdf

ASIDES

To err is human - it's also a precursor to success

Why are there so many great sayings about making mistakes? Probably because we make such a lot of them - it's what makes us human. But it can also be argued that failure is a precursor to success because we learn by making mistakes. Fortunately, many great people have provided us with handy adages to keep our spirits up while tread the error-strewn path to success. Here's just a few:

"Experience is the name everyone gives to their mistakes." Oscar Wilde.

"Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep." Scott Adams.

"Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake." Napoleon Bonaparte.

"If I had to live my life again, I'd make the same mistakes, only sooner." Tallulah Bankhead.

Discover more at: http://www.chemistrycoach.com/quotatio.htm

FAVORITES

Popular articles from recent issues

Publishing for Nothing, Science for Free
http://www.dclab.com/stm_open_access.asp

Converting From PDF To XML & MS Word: Avoiding The Pitfalls
http://www.dclab.com/converting_from_pdf.asp

Content Management Systems - Hot Out Of Kindergarten - Look Set To Make The Grade - Interview with Tony Byrne of CM Watch
http://www.dclab.com/content_reuse_tony_byrne.asp

Stumped? Take Heed From The Farmer's Daughter
http://www.dclab.com/pebblefable.asp

PDF Conversion: How, For Whom, And When?
http://www.dclab.com/pdf_conversion.asp