Archive - Mar 9, 2008

Audience and Task Analysis for DITA OT

The DITA OT user guide (authored by Dick Johnson and Anna van Raaphorst) is an excellent reference and has tons of useful information. It's one of the best references on the DITA OT. Sometimes, however, I feel that it's sheer size is a challenge for users, especially first-timers. We as a community need to help improve the existing DITA OT documentation by making it more user-friendly. Both Anna and Dick are busy and I have volunteered to reorganize the user guide and possibly break it down into smaller ones targeted by specific audience groups.

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Self on Help

Parallel Documentation Universes

Until a few weeks ago, I was unaware that there was a company employing some 200 technical writers just two kilometres from where I teach technical communication in Melbourne, Australia.  Likewise, a manager at the company was unaware that my university provided post-graduate education in technical communication. We were operating in two parallel universes. The company involved operates in the "engineering technical publications" field, which seems to be quite separate (and isolated) from the "IT and corporate technical communication" field.

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