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LEAD STORIES: If These Walls Could Talk: Unlocking the Interoperability of SCORM, S1000D, and DITA New Survey Indicates Reuse Top Priority OTHER NEWS: ASIDES: FAVORITES: LEAD STORIES Hawaiian Homestead Technology Centers Cultivate Social Return on Investment Using 21st Century Tech to Preserve Ancient Ways (Part 4)March 28, 2007: DCLnews
In our last newsletter readers met some of the inspiring workers of THTI in Klawock Alaska. Thanks to these talented and motivated workers the partnership in Alaska between the Native American Document Conversion Program, Tlingit and Haida of Alaska, and Data Conversion Laboratory has been a success. This edition takes us from Alaska to another one of the 12 Native American facilities mentored by DCL through the NADCP, this time to the warm islands of the Pacific where Hawaiian Homestead Technology Inc.,(HHT) runs three production facilities that provide employment for 29 families, many of which have only one working member.
Hawaiian Homestead Technology strives to create and sustain living wage technology jobs in economically challenged Native Hawaiian communities. And profits are invested back into community-based initiatives. The community production facilities operate on a philosophy that balances the "soundness of a business approach with the inherent strengths found in Native Hawaiian culture and values." If These Walls Could Talk: Unlocking the Interoperability of SCORM, S1000D, and DITAMarch 28, 2007: DCLnewsWhile at first this topic might sound a bit esoteric, it is important to anyone dealing with technical information and training people to use that information. S1000D is a standard defining task-based documents which describe how to perform a particular procedure. DITA defines topic-based documents which are more general and descriptive. SCORM defines educational materials. In preparing educational materials the need to incorporate task-based information and topic-based information often occurs. It can be frustrating and costly to constantly rework materials among the different formats. Perhaps more important is the time lag in getting information into the educational process. Frequently the engineering information is the first to be updated, and there's a big a lag until it gets into the training process. The interoperability of these standards would go a long way to smoothing the process among these three inter-related areas. As organizations around the globe begin examining the benefits of content standards, they often find that moving to a standard approach involves adopting a variety of standards and finding ways to make them work together to achieve critical business goals. Finding ways to cooperatively use widely accepted standards such as S1000D, DITA, and SCORM can help fill the gaps left by one or the other and offer frameworks that minimizes the impact of change.
In this exclusive DCL News article, Diane Wieland explores how some experts are saying the walls of DITA, S1000D, and SCORM could talk.
New Survey Indicates Reuse Top PriorityMarch 28, 2007You aren't the only one concerned about information consistency across all delivery systems-print, help, and web. This recent survey indicates that 56% of those asked listed "re-creating / re-formatting the same information for multiple outputs" as their biggest issue. No doubt, recreating, maintaining, and translating the same information over and over can be costly and time consuming. Other top issues include "re-editing and re-formatting content to comply with e-sub tools" (41.8%) and "inefficient document creation, review and approval processes" (41.8%).
When considering making improvements to their documentation processes, a whopping 90% listed "ease of maintaining information" as very important. "Solving issues sooner, rather than later" (78%) and "improving review and approval processes" (69%) where also listed as very important. EXTRA Upcoming conferences
DocTrainUX 2007 Documentation & Training: The User Experience: Eighth Annual Conference OTHER NEWS City of Wisdom. People of the Book.February 22, 2007: Publishers Weekly
In Jerusalem, Israeli vice prime minister, Shimon Peres, opened the twenty-third Jerusalem International Book Fair (JIBF) with astonishing statistic such as "Two-thirds of Jerusalemites read at least a book a week. And every second person dreams of becoming an author." So, it's no wonder writing is one of the hottest topics on the minds of the masses, and the JIBF is one of the hottest places to work on a book deal.
Where Will You Be When Your Storage Space Runs Out?March 2007: EMC2
The size of the digital universe will increase from 161 exabytes in 2006, to 988 exabytes in 2010-that's six fold in, er. . . exactly four years. If that doesn't worry you, consider this: IDC Information and Data is predicting the amount of information created and replicated will surpass our storage capacity some time in 2007.
DITA.XML.ORG and DITA Map: Two sources for DITA information
March 28, 2007: DCLNews
If you've heard all the talk about the Darwin Information Typing Architecture (DITA) and how it can help content-heavy organizations move to XML, but still don't know what all the fuss is about? We've provided links to some useful online DITA resources.
ASIDES The Games Doctors PlayFebruary 20, 2007: CNet News
The next time you need laparoscopic surgery pick a doctor with well-defined Dorsal Interossei. Or more easily, just ask him or her for their score on Super Monkey Ball. Dorsal Interossei are muscles of the hand that help control fine motor skills used in both gaming and surgical technique, and a recent study shows that doctors with high gaming skills had better laparoscopic surgical skills.
Heavenly Bodies Age with GraceMarch 20, 2007: NASA.govNews about the Hubble Telescope has been a bit of a solar tempest of emotion lately. First federal budget constraints eliminate funding for the old dear (she's 16 now). Then NASA announces that Hubble won't survive if much needed repairs aren't done by 2008. Then a revised evaluation suggests she could survive through 2010 and beyond, and funding for a repair mission was approved.
Now the Shuttle Atlantis is scheduled to do those repairs on her next mission. The launch is set for sometime in May 2007, but NASA is under the gun to repair hail damage to the shuttle caused by a freak storm last month. Though this repair will probably be her last, the latest fruits of Hubble's labor have NASA gushing over a new movie star.
QUOTE OF THE MONTH
FAVORITES Popular articles from recent issuesMarch 28, 2007
Using 21st Century Tech to Preserve Ancient Ways (Part 3): High Tech in Klawock, Alaska
DITA Writing Survey: Lack of Standards among Authors is Serious Issue
S1000D standard takes flight as fighters and airliners join forces, Navy ditches paper overboard DITA or S1000D - Which One Works For Me?; And is Either One Ready For Prime Time
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