Center for Information Development Management

Linking DITA Topics Through Relationship Tables

DITA provides a powerful means of linking using relationship tables. The benefit of using a relationship table is the ability to create and maintain links in one place with the map rather than in the topics. Links can be created both between topics of the same information type and between topics of different information types that are not directly related through parent/child relationships. Therefore, the best practice for linking in DITA is to use a relationship table within a map.

Wikinomics: What does it Mean for Technical Communication?

Communication technology has changed the way we think of the workplace. It is no longer a physical location with equipment and personnel coming together in one place. Equipment and people can now be spread across the campus, across the city, across the country, or across the globe. At the same time the authors write that the hierarchical structure of companies is changing along with the geography. Employees no longer need to do specific tasks given to them by a local supervisor, but instead they can all take responsibility for the welfare of the organization. Each and every employee can have his or her ideas for innovation taken seriously. An interesting corollary to this discussion, not brought up by Tapscott and Williams, are benefits of the collaborative workplace, not directly related to the bottom line.

Is a Documentation Wiki in your Future?

If we can solicit user participation in a Web 2.0 knowledge community (a volunter wiki documentation, for example), we might have a powerful means for creating high quality content. But how should this process work?

Baumol's Disease: Is There a Cure?

Baumol would never have expected in 1967 that a technological innovation like the internet would make it possible to create a sealed-off labor force in a third-world country.

Is DITA Going to Tip?

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.

Job Postings

A collection of job postings to answer the needs of information-development managers around the world.

Structuring Your Documents for Maximum Reuse

A major topic among information development managers these days is single sourcing--writing information once and using it many times. Structured documents are critical for single sourcing. So, let's explore: what we mean by structuring documents; why structuring is useful; some of the concerns that writers have about structuring documents.

Making a Business Case for Single Sourcing

As we learned in the February 2001 issue of Best Practices, in JoAnn Hackos' review of the book, The Balanced Scorecard, selling innovative ideas to upper management is important. The Balanced Scorecard approach includes a customer perspective, an internal-business-process perspective, and a learning and growth perspective, in addition to the financial perspective. A solid and balanced business case allows you to gain management support and reach your goal.