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10, Issue 6 |
June 2008
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LEAD STORIES
OTHER NEWS
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Warning! Failing to Reuse Critical Content can Cause Injury
- YouTube for Documents
- Kids say Books are Best
GREAT WEB SITES YOU'VE LIKELY NOT SEEN
Howdydothat
ASIDE
;-)
Linc Volt: Neil Young's 19.5 Foot Green Car of the Future
QUOTE OF THE MONTH
FAVORITES
Popular articles from recent issues
EXTRA
Upcoming conferences
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DITA/TechComm Conference
November 3-6, 2008 -- Raleigh, NC USA |
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Come join us for an "anti-conference," an event for real users with real technical needs, where we provide access to real experts with real answers.
In four highly-focused days this conference combines the technical ideas of DITA and XML with the publishing tools used for technical communications. So you'll get the solutions you need to publish faster, smarter, and better.
Stop wasting time struggling on your own. Come let our experts--and users who've been there--show you how!
Register now at http://www.brightpathsolutions.com/nobull and save up to $100 by using the discount code "DCLABS NEWS."
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LEAD
STORIES
Structured Writing - it Liberates the Soul (and Makes for Good DITA)
June 30, 2008: DCLNews
One of the most common reasons for project failure when converting to a component content management system is writers not making the leap from unstructured to structured authoring. Many writers still resist structured authoring, fearing it will rob them of their creativity and make them replaceable. However, some writers, like Amanda Cross, learned that the opposite is true. Writing with structure makes authoring documents faster and easier, freeing the writer to invest more time in the tasks that they find interesting and that their employers find indispensable.
Click for full article
DocBook to DITA Conversion Automation - Improving the Yield?
June 30, 2008: DCLNews
With DITA implementations on the rise, and an entrenched DocBook community already in place, the resulting market interest has spurred interest in automated DocBook to DITA conversion. So I would expect offerings of automated DocBook to DITA conversion scripts to emerge in the next 6-10 months. This article addresses the real questions, "What should I expect from automated tools?" and "Will they work for me?" from the viewpoint of live experience with numerous DocBook to DITA conversions. The answers to these questions are not usually obvious.
Click for full article
OTHER NEWS
Warning! Failing to Reuse Critical Content can Cause Injury
May 24, 2008: Joel Amoussou's Random Thoughts
When it comes to S1000D, the principles of reuse are best illustrated through the oft-repeated warnings and cautions across a variety of documents. The nature of the aerospace industry warrants careful review and approval of these bits of content as failure to communicate them effectively can lead to injury, death, or damage to aircraft. But reusability is more than just writing and approving a piece of content, the author must be able to query databases to find meaningful content for reuse. In this blog post Joel Amoussou discusses principles and practices that facilitate reuse in S1000D documents to streamline processes across the entire aircraft lifecycle.
Click for full article
YouTube for Documents
June 21, 2008: Network World
Need something more robust than Google Docs for your document file sharing? Services described as "like YouTube for documents" are popping up on the web. This article reviews one of those services, which offers free unlimited space, and the ability to publish documents either privately (for yourself or a group) or publicly. They can be rated by readers and embedded anywhere on the Web. You can create custom RSS feeds to alert group members when documents have been changed, tag documents, and perform searches just like other user-generated sites. Only this one won't get blocked by your IT department for offensive content. Check out this service that Mark Gibbs of Network World calls "one to watch."
Click for full article
Kids say Books are Best
June 5, 2008: Economist.com, June 11, 2008: Scolastic.com
Just as the Economist runs an article on how book publishing is at the tipping point of going digital, Scholastic releases a counter-intuitive study of kids ages 5-17 who say "No matter what I can do online, I'll always want to read books printed on paper." In fact 62% of kids surveyed say they prefer to read books printed on paper rather than on a computer or a handheld device. The kids say they will always read books-hardcopy books-because they can't get everything they want from a screen; that technology will supplement books, not replace them. Just when technology thinks it knows what people wants, along comes the next generation . . .
Click for full article on economist.com
Click for full article on scholastic.com
GREAT WEB SITES YOU'VE LIKELY NOT SEEN
Howdydothat
Want to know how to make a lava lamp at home, or how to never lose your luggage? How about how to relight a used match? Those and many other How-To's are at Howcast.com. This web site is part YouTube, part movie studio, part DIY channel, offering professionally produced video and user-generated content on how to do just about everything. It even has a wiki where users can write, edit, and view written instructions on things like "How to Really Help Feed the Hungry." So check it out, you might learn "how-to" do something new.
Click to visit
ASIDE
Linc Volt: Neil Young's 19.5 Foot Green Car of the Future
June 1, 2008: The Wichita Eagle
You may be familiar with rocker and car lover, Neil Young's 2007 release, Chrome Dreams, but did you know he also has green dreams? Dreams of driving green, that is. He and Wichita, Kansas mechanic Johnathan Goodwin, are setting out to show how a couple of car lovers can change the world by converting a 1959 2.5 ton, 19.5 foot Lincoln Continental Mark IV, now called the Linc Volt, into an electric car. "What I'm interested in is being able to push the technology," says Goodwin. "I love big American cars with power," says Young. "So does everybody else. Why give up on that?" See the video and read the story:
Click for full article
QUOTE OF THE MONTH
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"It takes 20 years of hard work to become an overnight success."
-- Diana Rankin, writer and public speaker
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FAVORITES
Popular articles from recent issues
June 30, 2008
Striving for Success in DITA Conversion - A Quick Reference
http://www.dclab.com/converting_to_dita.asp
How to Rewrite your Content for Reuse: Part II
http://www.dclab.com/reusable_content2.asp
How to Rewrite Content for Reuse: Part I
http://www.dclab.com/reusable_content.asp
Content Sharing at Redback-Lessons Learned
www.dclab.com/content_sharing_redback_interview.asp
EXTRA
Upcoming conferences
DCL will have a 'Best Practices for Conversion' display at the Best Practices Conference 2008, September 15-17, 2008, Inn and Spa at Loretto, Santa Fe, NM
DCL will be attending the XyUser Group Fall Conference 2008, September 21-24, 2008, FireSky Resort, Scottsdale, AZ
DCL will be exhibiting at the ATA e-Business Forum, October 21-23, 2008, InterContinental Hotels and Resorts, Budapest, Hungary
Don Bridges will be speaking on "Improving the migratability of your legacy content to DITA XML" at DITA/TECHCOMM Conference 2008, November 3-4, 2008, McKimmon Conference Center, Raleigh, NC
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DCLnews Staff
Publisher:
Mark Gross, President DCL
Editor:
Diane Wieland for
The Content Wrangler,
dmwiel@comcast.net
Data Conversion Laboratory, Inc.
61-18 190th St., 2nd Floor
Fresh Meadows, NY 11365
Telephone: 718-357-8700
Website: www.dclab.com
Editorial: dclnews@dclab.com
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Content Management Strategies/DITA North America 2010 Conference,
2010 ATA e-Business Forum,