A Brief Look at DITA in Current Technical Communication Practices_SIGDOC 2017
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The document discusses the evolution and current usage of DITA (Darwin Information Typing Architecture) in technical communication, highlighting its structured approach that supports content reuse and consistency. It outlines the different topic types within DITA, the sectors adopting it, and the increasing demand for technical writers with DITA experience, along with a shift from traditional tools to XML-based tools. Overall, DITA adoption is growing, particularly in tech-related sectors, with a noted willingness from firms to pay a premium for expertise in DITA.
A Brief Look at DITA in Current Technical Communication Practices_SIGDOC 2017
- 1. A Brief Look at DITA in Current Technical Communication Practices Keith Schengili-Roberts, Market Researcher IXIASOFT
- 2. 2017 Who’s This Guy? Keith Schengili-Roberts • Working in Tech Comm since early 1990s • Working with DITA since 2004 • Write an industry blog: DITAWriter.com • Market Researcher and DITA Evangelist for IXIASOFT • Chair of OASIS DITA Adoption Committee, member of LwDITA SC and DITA TC • Author of four technical titles, contributor to recently-released Current Practices and Trends in Technical Communication
- 3. 2017 Who is Using DITA? • Most recent count: 696 firms worldwide
- 4. 2017 What Makes DITA “DITA”? DITA is an acronym: • “D” is for “Darwin”, alluding to his concept of evolutionary adaptation, as DITA is based on specialization and inheritance • All topic types inherit features of top-level generic “topic” type • “IT” is for “Information Typing”, defining the semantic structure of individual topics • Topic types are: Concept, Task, Reference, Glossentry and Troubleshooting • “A” is for “Architecture”, as this is a structured standard that is also extensible • An example: Lightweight DITA uses DITA’s structure but can be written using HTML5 or Markdown
- 5. 2017 DITA and Content Reuse • DITA was built around the idea of content reuse • Individual topics and parts of topics can be used in different maps • Ensures content consistency • Reduces localization costs • Content reuse is a key advantage of the DITA specification over other standards
- 6. 2017 What Sectors are Using DITA? • Overall trend is that DITA adoption is firmly entrenched in tech-related sectors and is moving gradually into other sectors
- 7. 2017 Sector Growth Over Time
- 8. 2017 Where is DITA Being Used?
- 9. 2017 XML Knowledge Has Eclipsed FrameMaker Knowledge for Tech Writing Hires DITA XML FrameMaker
- 10. 2017 Overall Decline in Job Posts for “Traditional” Tools
- 11. 2017 Gradual Increase in XML-based Tool Skills in Job Posts
- 12. 2017 Firms Are Willing to Pay More for DITA Experience • Consistently firms are willing to pay a premium for technical writers with DITA experience
- 13. 2017 Near Term Growth Seems Likely for DITA + CCMSs • From a survey of 700 technical writing professionals:
- 14. 2017 QA Blog: ixiasoft.com/en/news-and-events/blog Twitter: @IXIASOFT (and @KeithIXIASOFT) IXIASOFT DITA CMS Users LinkedIn group: linkedin.com/groups?gid=3820030 Member of OASIS DITA Technical Committee
Editor's Notes
- #3: http://www.istc.org.uk/publications-and-resources/istc-books/current-practices-and-trends-in-technical-and-professional-communication/ Was also a Content Strategist at a Digital Consultation firm a few years ago, and working on growing SEO organically for our clients was part of the job, so I learned a lot from my time in that role
- #4: This image is compiled from the logos of only 560 companies ;) I also keep track of just under 1,700 individuals who claim DITA knowledge and where they currently work
- #6: DocBook focuses on book rather than individual topics; most recent version (v5.1) now includes “assemblies” which allows some level of reuse S1000D focuses primarily on needs of aerospace industry; reuse is limited to data module level (and only one use per document)
- #8: This may just be that I am better able to find firms that use DITA now, but it is safe to say that this does show a general overall trend.
- #9: These numbers are based on people self-reporting on LinkedIn that they have DITA XML experience. Overall trend within the past year is that the rest of the world is growing in DITA users faster than in the US.
- #10: So consistently since late 2014 there have been more job postings calling for general XML knowledge than FrameMaker (note that there is overlap between these terms)
- #11: Acrobat had fallen, but has now resurged; FrameMaker continues overall decline, ditto RoboHelp
- #12: Note that the scale between this slide and the last one is different; has a long way to go to beat “traditional” tech writing tools