skills and tools for tw in web2.0 era tc europe

“Times they are changing…” Bob Dylan

Skills and Tools for Technical Communicators in Web 2.0 era

Author: Alessandro Stazi

TC Europe Colloquia Aix-en-Provence

25/4/2014

Briefly Alessandro Stazi, 49 years old, ICT Engineer. Documentation & Training Manager in CrossIdeas

www.crossideas.com

2 Skills and Tools for Tech Comm in Web 2.0 era

http://www.crossideas.com/

My blog

www.artigianodibabele.it


Once upon a time… Web 1.0

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Web 1.0 is very alike to traditional Shannon – Weaver diagram

Skills and Tools for Tech Comm in Web 2.0 era

But Web 2.0 is arrived…

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“Many to many” relations and contents multiplatform everywhere Skills and Tools for Tech Comm in Web 2.0 era

And Web 3.0 is already here…


…but contents everywhere, tagged for more intelligent searching/semantyc engines.

We can’t tag a traditional, printable manuals of 500 pages… so we must move from old, monolithic documents to new modularized contents.

Search Result

No more a “right place” to find information… (Mark Baker source, EPPO, 2014)

Web 3.0 semantyc engine

Web 3.0 example


Phrase in natural language into App of my smartphone “I want to eat in a typical restaurant”

Web 3.0 semantyc engine

Web Site Restaurant

XML Geo Loc Tag

GPS coordinates of my smartphone

Main Consequences

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• Information overload • Governance through software • Contents everywhere: Mobile/Multiplatform • Contents Task/Context driven • Syndicated contents


Information Overload (1/4) One of us… in a common day…


Information Overload (2/4) THE PAST: user who seeks information!


Information Overload (3/4)

11 Spivack source, 2008


Information Overload (4/4) THE FUTURE: the information who seeks the user… because

information is CONTEXTUALIZED for user task…


No more “right places” (as old printable manuals) where to find information, because information are everywhere and continuously changing.

Main Consequences

13 Tutti abbiamo bisogno di un Help… On Line!


Minority Report (2002)… do you remember? A so far future…


Tendency: software governance anywhere

Machinery and industrial processes will be managed “remotely” and “mobile”, with software GUI and visual dashboards.

The documentation for user support will be more integrated in

administration software GUI as Online Help.


Main Consequences

5/4/2014 16



We are always OnLine and Mobile (1/2) • For the International Data Corporation (IDC), in 2020

we will have 35 billion connected mobile devices. • “…Tablet purchases by businesses will reach 13 million

units this year (2012), more than tripling by 2016 to reach 53 million units”(Gartner)

• “…On the smartphone side, Gartner is forecasting a win for Android in the enterprise… more than 56% of smartphones purchased by businesses in North America and Europe will be Android devices in 2016” (Gartner)


We are always OnLine and Mobile (2/2)

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Morgan-Stanley source, 2012 Skills and Tools for Tech Comm in Web 2.0 era

Main Consequences

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Content Task/Context driven Provide the RIGHT information to the RIGHT person

at the RIGHT time in the RIGHT way


An example? On Line Help


Main Consequences

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Syndicated contents (1/2)


Personalized display based on: • User preferences • Community attributes • Contextual information • Other … …to receive the right contents at the right time from anywhere, joining modularized contents

Syndicated contents (2/2): Lenovo example


http://www.lenovopartnernetwork.com/resources/sales-tools/content-syndication

We need new competences, methods, tools!


Main Competences and Solutions

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• Authoring/Publishing Topics based processes • Methodologies/Standards: DITA, IM, FD, …? • Technologies: XML, CSS, XSLT, HTML5 • Tagged Contents • Tools: CCMS/CAT • Vertical contents Task/Context driven Skills and Tools for Tech Comm in Web 2.0 era

Contents Reuse

Save time/money for updates Reduced Time to Market

Collaborative & shared writing

Contents Multi-Channel

Technology integration

XML/CSS/HTML5

Contents/Topics Data Base

Contents Multi-Language


Tagged Contents

Authoring/Publishing processes Topics based

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• Authoring/Publishing Topics based processes • Methodologies/Standards: DITA, IM, FD,…? • Technologies: XML, CSS, XLST, HTML5 • Tagged Contents • Tools: CCMS/CAT • Vertical contents Task/Context driven


DITA, IM, FD or other? (1/2)


Old monolithic contents broken in modules of different granularity…

…in which way?

DITA, IM, FD or other? (2/2)


• DITA (Darwin Information Typewriting Architecture) Concept-Task-Refence

• IM (Information Mapping) Procedure-Process-Principle-Concept-Fact-Structure-Classification

• FD (Functional Design) Functional Units (“speech acts”) + Consistency Rules

(Usage-Content-Sequence-Wording-Design-Marking)

• Other?


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• Authoring/Publishing Topics based processes • Methodologies/Standards: DITA, IM, FD, …? • Technologies: XML, CSS, XLST, HTML5 • Tagged Contents • Tools: CCMS/CAT • Vertical contents Task/Context driven


Technologies: XML, CCS, HTML5 (1/2) XML • Structured data • Platform indipendent

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CSS (and more powerful XLST) • Keep separated contents layer from style & presentation layer • Same content + different CSSs = different look & contents multichannels • XML + CSS = Structure + Flexibility • XML + XSLT = Structure + Flexibility + Transformation & Logical operations

HTML 5 • Collection of .htm files direct addressable, redistribuible in any way • Integration into Web App (Internet/Intranet)/Mobile Application • Multi-browser /Multi-platform • Social networks/Multimedia interactions


Technologies: XML, CCS, HTML5 (2/2) Example The same XML content (a table) with two different CSS

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HTML 5



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• Authoring/Publishing Topics based processes • Methodologies/Standards: DITA, IM, FD, …? • Technologies: XML, CSS, XSLT, HTML5 • Tagged Contents • Tools: CCMS/CAT • Vertical contents Task/Context driven


Tagged Contents (1/3)

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Contents can be tagged for different aggregation goals

Admin Install

User Aggregate contents for different types of documents

Aggregate contents for different users

Aggregate contents for different channels

Make contents searchable for Web 3.0 semantyc engines Skills and Tools for Tech Comm in Web 2.0 era


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Cont

Cont

Cont Cont Cont

Cont

Cont Cont

Cont

Cont Cont

Cont

Cont Cont

Cont

Cont Cont

Cont

Cont


PDF

HTML Admin Install

Help On Line



Example of “two levels” Tagging (Argo CMS – Kea s.r.l. source)

Tags for conditional reuse of contents (title styles for different docs) Tags for the status of a document (approved, to be completed, …)


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• Authoring/Publishing Topics based processes • Methodologies/Standards: DITA, IM, FD, …? • Technologies: XML, CSS, XSLT, HTML5 • Tagged Contents • Tools: CCMS/CAT • Vertical contents Task/Context driven


Collaborative Writing

Topics Data Base

Administration Manual

Quick Start Manual

Quality Sistem Docs

Installation Manual

White Paper

Brochure

Help on Line

Automated Templates

Multichannel & Multiplatform

Form

at &

Sty

le (C

SS)

Author 1

Author 2

Author 3

Author N

Access Profiling

Centralized Repository

Translation

CAT Tools XML-based

Authoring/Publishing basic diagram with CCMS

Skills and Tools for Tech Comm in Web 2.0 era 39


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• Authoring/Publishing Topics based processes • Methodologies/Standards: DITA, IM, FD, …? • Technologies: XML, CSS, XSLTS, HTML5 • Tagged Contents • Tools: CCMS/CAT • Vertical contents Task/Context driven


Vertical contents Task/Context driven (1/2) ONLY the information to perform my task… that is ONLY the

REALLY NEEDED information!


Vertical contents Task/Context driven (2/2) Minimalism can help us… The four basic principles of minimalism are: Principle 1: Choose an action-oriented approach Principle 2: Anchor the tool in the task domain Principle 3: Support error recognition and recovery Principle 4: Support reading to do, study, and locate 1 & 2 means… Task oriented 4 means… locate information quickly in the Context


Vertical contents example: OnLine Help(1/2) ISO/IEC 18109 Software and system engineering – Guidelines for the design and

preparation of user documentation for application software

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Online information

Online presentation Online documentation

User assistance eLearning Manuals

OnLine Help


Vertical contents example: OnLine Help (2/2)

Information seeks the user… in the user task context!

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The RIGHT information to the RIGHT person at the RIGHT time in the RIGHT way!

Topic based and content

reuse approach!


OLH is… an hypertext Topic based

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Every Topic is “Topic one” and different “knowledge path” are present...

Cap. 1 Cap. 2 … Cap. n

… not like a traditional, sequential, hierarchical manual.


OLH is… browsable in different ways

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• TOC • Index • Full-text Search

• Next/Before Topic • Links • Breadcrumbs


OLH is… Task oriented


Today we have spoken about…


Alessandro Stazi [email protected] [email protected] Blog: www.artigianodibabele.it Skype: alexandros66 Twitter: The Twriter

Thanks for your attention!


mailto:[email protected]

mailto:[email protected]

http://www.artigianodibabele.it/