The Darwin Information Typing Architecture (DITA) is an XML-based architecture for authoring, producing, and delivering technical information. DITA divides content into small, self-contained topics that can be reused in different deliverables. The extensibility of DITA permits organizations to define specific information structures and still use standard tools to work with them. DITA is often compared against DocBook, a similar XML schema.
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The abbreviation DITA stands for 'Darwin Information Typing Architecture', an information architecture based on XML. DITA is not a mere reinvention of the wheel: rather, it sets the standards for known structuring requirements. The most striking feature of this architecture is the clear orientation towards a technology for structuring, which has already proved its worth in online documentation.
Closs, Sissi. tekom (2006). Articles>Information Design>XML>DITA
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The Darwin Information Typing Architecture (DITA) is an XML-based, end-to-end architecture for authoring, producing, and delivering technical information. This architecture consists of a set of design principles for creating 'information-typed' modules at a topic level and for using that content in delivery modes such as online help, books, and Web sites.
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DITA, DocBook and the Art of the Document
Both the DITA and the DocBook specification are quite alive and well in organizations, and each is evolving into its own distinct application niches, with DITA looking to be turning into the default standard for large scale enterprises, while DocBook works more effectively at the small to intermediate level. What’s perhaps more interesting is the Microsoft Word, even with support for XML as provided by OOXML, is not making as much of an inroad in the structured document market, in great part because it is fairly difficult to constrain people’s use of the word-processing program to a limited, finite subset of potential styles.
Cagle, Kurt. XML.com (2008). Academic>Documentation>DocBook>DITA
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DITA: From the Perspective of Someone Actually Using It
In this podcast, Marlene Martineau of New Dawn Technologies explains why they adopted DITA, how they adopted it, the benefits they're experiencing, and the reasons why she'll never go back.
Martineau, Marlene. Tech Writer Voices (2008). Articles>Information Design>XML>DITA
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DITA: Opportunities To Help Shape The Standard, Promote DITA Adoption, Develop Real-World Solutions
Want to get involved in the formation of one of the most important XML standards impacting content professionals? You can. And, you should. The folks at OASIS—the Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards—have made it easy for just about anyone to participate.
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A gathering place for information about DITA.
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DocBook and DITA Editors: Is Their Future Online?
Thanks to my Google News Alert service, I recently discovered some on-demand XML Editors supporing DITA. While Salesforce democratized software on-demand in the CRM market, I am still perplexed on the future of on-demand pure play software. So let's see first what makes on-demand software, also known as Saas (Software as a Service), so attractive nowadays. I see five compelling reasons.
Talbot, Fabrice. LiveTechDocs (2008). Articles>Information Design>Software>DITA
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Dynamic Content Delivery using DITA 
This whitepaper defines a new publishing paradigm, which we will call dynamic content delivery. Dynamic delivery changes the rules, putting the reader in charge of what content is important and how it should be packaged. It transforms publishing to an audience of many to publishing to an audience of one.
Severson, Eric. Flatirons Solutions (2007). Articles>Content Management>XML>DITA
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Frequently Asked Questions about the Darwin Information Typing Architecture
DITA experts Don Day, Michael Priestley, and Gretchen Hargis address the topic architecture of DITA, tips and techniques, and general DITA questions.
Day, Don, Michael Priestley and Gretchen Hargis. IBM (2001). Articles>Information Design>XML>DITA
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Writing, compiling, and maintaining documentation is a necessary evil. While moving to DITA might not improve the quality of your documentation, it can streamline the process of creating and managing those documents.
Nesbitt, Scott. InformIT (2006). Articles>Documentation>XML>DITA
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Introduction to DITA References
DITA is quickly becoming the dominant XML schema for topic-oriented authoring. DITA is a highly practical way of moving to XML authoring in general and granular content reuse in particular. DITA distinguishes itself from predecessor standards by explicitly rejecting the book paradigm in favour of a topic-oriented model.
Prescod, Paul. IDEAlliance (2004). Articles>Information Design>XML>DITA
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Introduction to the Darwin Information Typing Architecture (DITA)
The Darwin Information Typing Architecture (DITA) is an XML-based, end-to-end architecture for authoring, producing, and delivering technical information. This architecture consists of a set of design principles for creating 'information-typed' modules at a topic level and for using that content in delivery modes such as online help and product support portals on the Web. This document is a roadmap for DITA: what it is and how it applies to technical documentation.
IBM (2001). Articles>Information Design>XML>DITA
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We seem to be heading in the right direction. The danger is that we keep talking to one another rather than evangelizing to a broader community.
Hackos, JoAnn T. Center for Information-Development Management (2005). Articles>Documentation>Standards>DITA
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Lessons From The Trenches: DocZone.com Is Doing It With DITA
Interviews Chris Hill of DocZone.com and explores the lessons his firm learned while implementing the Darwin Information Typing Architecture (DITA).
Abel, Scott. Rockley Group, The (2006). Articles>Content Management>XML>DITA
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Lone-DITA's goal is to provide resources for solo Technical Writers, or those who are part of a small documentation team, who want to implement DITA at their organization.
Lone-DITA. Organizations>Information Design>Technical Writing>DITA
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Makes the case for DITA and provides a compare-and-contrast of DITA and DocBook.
Dumbill, Edd. Intercom (2006). Articles>Documentation>Standards>DITA
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Moving 50,000 Pages of Unstructured Content to DITA
In 2006, Business Objects faced a major challenge. How to migrate over 50,000 pages of unstructured non-topic based documentation it had acquired through rapid growth and acquisitions. The answer was to use DITA to standardize content creation, management, translation and publishing processes company-wide. In this short podcast, David Holmes talks about how he and his team migrated 50,000 unstructured pages to DITA. (DITA is an XML architecture that allows you to better single source your content.)
Holmes, David and Tom H. Johnson. Tech Writer Voices (2008). Articles>Interviews>Content Management>DITA
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Moving from Information Mapping to DITA 
Is your company making the move from Information Mapping to DITA (Darwin Information Typing Architecture)? The author compares and contrasts the two methods and shares insight on how to ease the pain of switching from one to the other.
Hughes, Michael A. Intercom (2008). Articles>Information Design>XML>DITA
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Musings on Structured, Topic-Oriented Authoring
A blog post that presents a few thoughts on using technologies like DITA to author documentation.
DMN Communications (2008). Articles>Documentation>XML>DITA
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When you start working with DITA, there are some things that you may feel you need for traditional reasons that you won't find in DITA. Before you try to modify or specialize DITA, it may be worthwhile to rethink some technical writing practices that are outdated and not recommended today.
Doyle, Bob. XML.org (2008). Articles>Writing>Technical Writing>DITA
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Planning for DITA Success Part Two: How to Deploy DITA, Step-By-Step
This paper, the second of a series, closes the loop by examining implementation issues from a technical perspective. It explores best practices within the five key steps of a successful transition.
Manning, Steve. Rockley Group, The (2007). Articles>Documentation>Standards>DITA
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Planning for DITA Success: How to Set Up the Right Team and the Right Strategy
This two-part series explores why DITA has created such a buzz in the content management arena, particularly among technical documentation teams--and how you can prepare for long-term DITA success.
Manning, Steve and Su-Laine Yeo. Rockley Group, The (2007). Articles>Content Management>Standards>DITA
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Streamlining Content Creation and Publishing with XMetaL and DITA
To streamline the product documentation process, many technical publication teams are moving to Darwin Information Typing Architecture (DITA). Learn best practices for applying this information model, and hands-on techniques for improved content creation and publishing with JustSystems XMetaL.
Silver, Jerry. Intercom (2007). Articles>Content Management>XML>DITA
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Striving for Success in DITA Conversion - A Quick Reference
Planning your conversion is always helpful, and should be part of your overall content strategy review.
Urbina, Noz. Data Conversion Laboratory (2008). Articles>Content Management>XML>DITA
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Subsetting and Customizing DITA
This article explores ideas related to subsetting and customizing the DITA specification without the addition of new elements. Instead, we explore taking default rules and adapting them to meet the needs of specific writing and publishing environments. Introductory information about the DITA specification and the difference between subsetting and specialization is provided.
Aschwanden, Bernard. Publishing Smarter (2006). Articles>Information Design>XML>DITA
