Main skills and tools for Technical Communicators in the next future.

1. “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

2. Briefly
Alessandro Stazi, 49 years old, ICT Engineer.
Documentation & Training Manager in CrossIdeas
www.crossideas.com
2Skills and Tools for Tech Comm in Web 2.0 era

3. My blog
www.artigianodibabele.it
3Skills and Tools for Tech Comm in Web 2.0 era

4. Once upon a time… Web 1.0
4
Web 1.0 is very alike to traditional Shannon – Weaver diagram
Skills and Tools for Tech Comm in Web 2.0 era

5. But Web 2.0 is arrived…
5
“Many to many” relations and contents multiplatform everywhere
Skills and Tools for Tech Comm in Web 2.0 era

6. And Web 3.0 is already here…
6Skills and Tools for Tech Comm in Web 2.0 era
…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

7. Web 3.0 example
7Skills and Tools for Tech Comm in Web 2.0 era
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
XMLGeo LocTag
GPS coordinates of
my smartphone

8. Main Consequences
8
• Information overload
• Governance through software
• Contents everywhere: Mobile/Multiplatform
• Contents Task/Context driven
• Syndicated contents
Skills and Tools for Tech Comm in Web 2.0 era

9. Information Overload (1/4)
One of us… in a
common day…
9Skills and Tools for Tech Comm in Web 2.0 era

10. Information Overload (2/4)
THE PAST: user who seeks information!
10Skills and Tools for Tech Comm in Web 2.0 era

11. Information Overload (3/4)
11
Spivack source, 2008
Skills and Tools for Tech Comm in Web 2.0 era

12. Information Overload (4/4)
THE FUTURE: the information who seeks the user… because
information is CONTEXTUALIZED for user task…
12Skills and Tools for Tech Comm in Web 2.0 era
No more “right places” (as old printable manuals) where to find information,
because information are everywhere and continuously changing.

13. Main Consequences
13Tutti abbiamo bisogno di un Help… On Line!
• Information overload
• Governance through software
• Contents everywhere: Mobile/Multiplatform
• Contents Task/Context driven
• Syndicated contents

14. Minority Report (2002)… do you remember?
A so far future…
14Skills and Tools for Tech Comm in Web 2.0 era

15. 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.
15Skills and Tools for Tech Comm in Web 2.0 era

16. Main Consequences
5/4/2014 16
• Information overload
• Governance through software
• Contents everywhere: Mobile/Multiplatform
• Contents Task/Context driven
• Syndicated contents
Skills and Tools for Tech Comm in Web 2.0 era

17. 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)
17Skills and Tools for Tech Comm in Web 2.0 era

18. 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

19. Main Consequences
19
• Information overload
• Governance through software
• Contents everywhere: Mobile/Multiplatform
• Contents Task/Context driven
• Syndicated contents
Skills and Tools for Tech Comm in Web 2.0 era

20. Content Task/Context driven
Provide the RIGHT information to the RIGHT person
at the RIGHT time in the RIGHT way
20Skills and Tools for Tech Comm in Web 2.0 era

21. An example? On Line Help
21Skills and Tools for Tech Comm in Web 2.0 era

22. Main Consequences
22
• Information overload
• Governance through software
• Contents everywhere: Mobile/Multiplatform
• Contents Task/Context driven
• Syndicated contents
Skills and Tools for Tech Comm in Web 2.0 era

23. Syndicated contents (1/2)
23Skills and Tools for Tech Comm in Web 2.0 era
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

24. Syndicated contents (2/2): Lenovo example
24Skills and Tools for Tech Comm in Web 2.0 era
http://www.lenovopartnernetwork.com/resources/sales-tools/content-syndication

25. We need new competences, methods, tools!
25Skills and Tools for Tech Comm in Web 2.0 era

26. Main Competences and Solutions
26
• 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

27. 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
Skills and Tools for Tech Comm in Web 2.0 era
Tagged
Contents
Authoring/Publishing processes Topics based
27

28. Main Competences and Solutions
28
• 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
Skills and Tools for Tech Comm in Web 2.0 era

29. DITA, IM, FD or other? (1/2)
29Skills and Tools for Tech Comm in Web 2.0 era
Old monolithic
contents broken in
modules of different
granularity…
…in which way?

30. DITA, IM, FD or other? (2/2)
30Skills and Tools for Tech Comm in Web 2.0 era
• 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?

31. Main Competences and Solutions
31
• 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
Skills and Tools for Tech Comm in Web 2.0 era

32. 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
Skills and Tools for Tech Comm in Web 2.0 era

33. Technologies: XML, CCS, HTML5 (2/2)
Example
The same XML content (a table) with two different CSS
33
HTML 5
Skills and Tools for Tech Comm in Web 2.0 era

34. Main Competences and Solutions
34
• 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

35. Tagged Contents (1/3)
35
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

36. Tagged Contents (2/3)
36
Cont
Cont
Cont
Cont Cont
Cont
Cont
Cont
Cont
Cont
Cont
Cont
Cont
Cont
Cont
Cont
Cont
Cont
Cont
Skills and Tools for Tech Comm in Web 2.0 era
PDF
HTMLAdminInstall
Help On Line

37. Tagged Contents (3/3)
37Skills and Tools for Tech Comm in Web 2.0 era
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, …)

38. Main Competences and Solutions
38
• 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

39. 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
Format&Style(CSS)
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

40. Main Competences and Solutions
40
• 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
Skills and Tools for Tech Comm in Web 2.0 era

41. Vertical contents Task/Context driven (1/2)
ONLY the information to perform my task… that is ONLY the
REALLY NEEDED information!
41Skills and Tools for Tech Comm in Web 2.0 era

42. 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
42Skills and Tools for Tech Comm in Web 2.0 era

43. 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
43
Online
information
Online presentation Online documentation
User assistance eLearning Manuals
OnLine Help
Skills and Tools for Tech Comm in Web 2.0 era

44. Vertical contents example: OnLine Help (2/2)
Information seeks the user…
in the user task context!
44
The RIGHT information to the RIGHT person
at the RIGHT time in the RIGHT way!
Topic based and content
reuse approach!
Skills and Tools for Tech Comm in Web 2.0 era

45. OLH is… an hypertext Topic based
45
Every Topic is “Topic one” and different “knowledge path” are present...
Cap. 1 Cap. 2 … Cap. n
… not like a traditional, sequential, hierarchical manual.
Skills and Tools for Tech Comm in Web 2.0 era

46. OLH is… browsable in different ways
46
• TOC
• Index
• Full-text Search
• Next/Before Topic
• Links
• Breadcrumbs
Skills and Tools for Tech Comm in Web 2.0 era

47. OLH is… Task oriented
47Skills and Tools for Tech Comm in Web 2.0 era

48. Today we have spoken about…
48Skills and Tools for Tech Comm in Web 2.0 era

49. Alessandro Stazi
alessandrostazi66@libero.it
alessandro.stazi@crossideas.com
Blog: www.artigianodibabele.it
Skype: alexandros66
Twitter: The Twriter
Thanks for your attention!
49Skills and Tools for Tech Comm in Web 2.0 era