Structured Authoring for Business-Critical Content
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The document presents an overview of Jason Aiken's experience and insights into content automation, specifically focusing on structured authoring for business-critical content. It outlines findings from a survey on technology investments and key challenges non-technical authors face when using structured authoring tools. Recommendations are provided for content automation vendors and businesses to enhance user experience and improve content strategies.
Structured Authoring for Business-Critical Content
- 1. Jason Aiken, Sr. Product Manager Quark Enterprise Solutions Structured Authoring for Business-Critical Content
- 2. § Jason Aiken, Sr. Product Manager § 20 years content automation experience § 10 years as a customer: implementing usable solutions § 7 years as a consultant: integrating automated systems § 3 years as a vendor: evangelizing leading products § E-mail: [email protected] § Phone: (303) 894-3265 Introductions
- 4. Quark Publishing Platform Customer’s App QuarkXPress Quark Author Web Edition High Fidelity Print and PDF QuarkXPress 3rd Party CMS / System of Record HTML for Web and E-mail Gateway App App Studio SaaS Portal Content Automation Workflow XML Author 3rd party adapters: • XML Authoring • Publishing • Delivery ECM
- 5. § Introduction to 2016 Content Automation Research § Challenges around structured authoring for non-technical authors § Smart Content as a solution § Opportunities for broader adoption § Q&A Quick Agenda
- 7. Research Details § Q4 2015 web survey with InfoTrends § Active from November to December 2015 § 151 enterprise respondents in total § Objective: to better understand technology and investment outlook § Understand current spending levels § Provide insights into short- to mid-term growth
- 13. Challenges for business-critical content Structured Authoring
- 14. § We love to bash Word § People use simple tools § 1.2 billion users of Microsoft Office § 140 countries § 107 languages § 1.1 Billion WPS Office installations Dr. WordLove How I Stopped Worrying (about Semantic Purity) and Love Word (well, not quite) “Word is Marginally Less Than a Bad Thing”
- 15. Steps to extend XML-based Content Automation to the Non-Technical Fine-Grained Knowledge Capture is the Altruistic Value Automation Provides Business Value Structured Input (GIGO) is the Requirement Authoring Usability Closes the Gap
- 16. § Authors must take action to experience rules § Rules are discovered, not explained § Users click around to understand them § Highly constrained content models § Context-specific rules = a foreign user experience § Usability suffers, adoption suffers § Successful task execution decreases with complexity § Simple actions do not work, like copy/cut/paste § Hierarchy § When sections = containment § Non-recursive, nested divisions § Requires all intermediate levels be present § Users can’t easily promote/demote sections Structured Authoring Challenge #1 The Hidden Rules
- 17. § First insert markup, then type § When can I do the actual writing? § Isn’t this backwards? § Balanced markup rules § Requires targeted development for common use cases § Examples: Emphasis, Highlighting, Commenting, Change- tracking § Many More Structured Authoring Challenge #2 You Must Change
- 18. § Gross edits example 1. Cut nested elements from one context 2. Paste to a new context 3. Common result: You can’t nest here! 4. How to resolve multiple user choices? § Return to first principles § Why restrict? § Let downstream processing do heavy lifting The Common Response Improve the Tool
- 19. Visuals Make it Easy Style Matters § List in Para or List outside Para? § Author doesn’t care § Do it one way, be consistent § Fixed formatting: Indent § Implies containment § Satisfies output well enough How many hours wasted?
- 20. § What § A methodology and a Relax NG schema § Who § Non-technical users producing business-critical content § Why § Authoring usability – the key to broader adoption § Simple XML architecture for non-technical documents § When § Presented at 2015 Balisage; 2016 CM / DITA Strategies § Working toward open standardization Smart Content Turns it Around
- 21. § Archetypes § Baseline for semantic processing § Starting point for configuration § HTML-friendly syntax <section type=“introduction”> § Familiar to web developers § Built for standard tech: CSS, JavaScript, etc. § No order and occurrence controls* § Section type defines available block and inline types § Any block may appear in any order § Any inline may appear in any block § Removes many hidden rules *Exceptions exist, e.g. fixed figure structure: title, image, description Let’s talk Smart Content
- 22. Content Type Smart Content HTML DITA Sections section section topic Text Blocks p p p Inline elements tag b, i, u, span, etc. phrase Unordered or ordered lists ul, ol ul, ol, list type= type Tables table Table table Images image Img image Media media video, object object Metadata XML meta fragment tag attribute = value tag attribute = value Basic Content Types
- 23. § Attributes - reserved for system implementation § Customer metadata - captured as XML fragment <section type=“summary”> <meta>...your taxonomy here...</meta> <title>Section Title<title/> </section> Metadata
- 24. <collection name="contributors"> <member name="contributor"> <group name=“details”> <attribute name="role"> <value>Supervisor</value> <value>Admin</value> </attribute> <attribute name="name"> <value>Sam Markup</value> </attribute> </group> </member> <member name="contributor">… </member> </collection> Metadata Enhanced for Authoring § Collection: enables UI generated for repeated structures: Add+ § Member: identifies boundary for one collection member § Group: enables UI to collect fields together § Enables hierarchy by nested groups § Attribute: like you know, except… § Multi-value support
- 25. § …this feature and that markup? § For example, myconcept specialized from concept specialized from topic § Answer: return to the goal § Primary audience: non-technical users = SMEs § SMEs write simpler content, in terms of structure § SMEs avoid programmer-like concepts & complexity § Choose to stay closer to HTML § Enable extensibility where possible/reasonable § Balance customer demand vs. a fully defined structure What About…
- 26. § Every well-known context sets expectations § Dr. David Weinberger: information concepts framed by paper § Original Star Trek vs. Next Generation and others § Established party line vs. Bernie or Trump § “XML Documents” separate formatting from content § Repurposing anything is a difficult challenge § The past overwhelms the new § Examples: Quark vs. a new startup; unreleased vs. released SW § Sometimes this challenge is cause enough for a change § Subtle terminology differences do not matter to the outside When Relevance Fails Us “Let me tell you about this great XML mark-up I read last weekend…”
- 27. § Well-defined context § Dominated by Tech Docs and (really smart) XML specialists § Heavy expectations for completeness to DITA spec § Result § High risk to simplified-DITA efforts § Distraction from mission § Full-spec compliance = check-box style requirements § Negative social commentary “DITA is great if your authors think like programmers” an XML Services Professional What about DITA?
- 28. What does it look like?
- 29. § Non-Technical authoring usability § A focus since 2008 § Targeting highly specialized experts § Success in Financial Services § Investment Research Reports, Fund Fact Sheets § Standard Operating Procedures for global banking § Other Customers § Long docs tied to training/testing, specifications § SOPs in Government, Health & Safety, Manufacturing, Life Sciences, and Transportation Smart Content Results “Best vendor we have ever worked with” “Our developers like working with your architecture” “It looks like you designed a solution just for us” “Without you, this would not have been possible”
- 30. Content Automation Research Key Findings & Recommendations
- 31. Key Findings § Improving customer experience drives investments § Key driver for business investment in content automation: to improve customer satisfaction. § Reducing cost is a lower priority today. § Growing need for mobile content automation § Mobile devices: part of the plan for sales & service representatives over the next 12-24 months § Suggests a growing need for content automation solutions that support mobile business workforce
- 33. 0% 20% 40% 60% 80% Total Manufacturing Government & Public Services Healthcare Hospitality Financial Services Technical Documentation Training Material Product Data Sheets Customer Communications (bills, statements, welcome kits, etc.) Policies and Procedures Sales Enablement Collateral Market Intelligence Standard Operating Procedures Financial Reports/Investor Materials/Annual Reports Magazines/Books/Newspapers/Journals Investment Research Government Legislation Medical Documentation Catalogs Applications Considered as Being Business-Critical by Industry Q8: Which of the following applications do you consider business-critical content for your organization? Please select up to FIVE responses.
- 34. 27.1% 28.6% 31.3% 35.8% 49.0% 83.4% 23.0% 38.2% 36.7% 34.7% 39.2% 34.4% 14.6% 18.2% 27.8% 16.3% 23.6% 12.2% 12.6% 33.8% 10.9% 8.3% 7.4% 18.2% 7.5% 0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% “I’m satisfied with our digital content capabilities.' “My stakeholders want more web content.' “I’m not confident my organization’s content is consistent across print, Web and mobile channels.' “My stakeholders want more mobile content.' “Our content strategy is fragmented across our organization.' “Interactive and engaging content is critical.' “Content is critical for delivering an outstanding customer experience.' Fully Agree Somewhat Agree Neutral Somewhat Disagree Fully Disagree Organization’s Perception About Their Content Strategy (All Businesses) 4.3 3.9 3.9 3.7 3.8 2.7 4.8 N = 151 Respondents Q10: Do you agree with each of the following statements about your content strategy? (Mean: Fully disagree=1, Fully agree=5) Mean:
- 35. 22% 26% 17% 27% 15% 50% 20% 43% 40% 54% 47% 67% 37% 25% 40% 20% 22% 8% 7% 17% 30% 25% 30% 15% 12% 21% 20% 17% 19% 10% 0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% Total Manufacturing Government & Public Services Healthcare Hospitality Financial Services Media Other 20 people or more 10 to 19 people 5 to 9 people 2 to 4 people People Involved in New Content Development by Industry Q14: When your organization develops new content, on average how many people are involved? (Mean: People) Financial Services sector has the most people involved in new content development
- 36. Recommendations § Content automation vendors: take a vertical approach § Challenge #1: different types of content across industries § Challenge #2: specific content needs vary by department § Businesses: rethink your content automation topic areas § Revisit the benefits and added value of content automation for you § Choose the right technology based on your current and future content distribution needs § Research the right solutions § Solutions range from authoring and approval to content management, content assembly, multi-channel delivery, and tracking § Single solutions which automate content lifecycle processes are very attractive, especially for businesses that struggle to leverage full content capabilities § Adopt the right strategy for change management: inclusion
- 37. www.quark.com/smartcontent Interested in Standardization? Help contribute to an emerging industry trend Complete a card, get Content Automation for Dummies Google “Quark Author demo” Download the InfoTrends white paper Questions? Interested in Learning More?
- 38. Thank You