Don Day presents on connecting intelligent content with micropublishing. He discusses different types of content renditions like infographics, single-page websites, microsites, and micropublishing ezines. Day argues these can be unified through a structured content framework like DITA. He demonstrates migrating an existing presentation into DITA and rendering it in different formats including a white paper, ezine, one-page site, and website to show how content can be reused across formats. Day concludes the process is repeatable and teaches how to better leverage content value.

1. Connecting Intelligent Content
with Micropublishing
and Beyond
Don Day
Principal Consultant
Contelligence Group LLC

2. Who is Don Day?
Publishing Technologies
Collecting and using old film
cameras

Created IBM's first SGML
application for AIX online help

Listening to assorted, eclectic,
independent music artists

Helped design IBMIDDoc DTD

IBM's W3C Primary Rep to XSL and
CSS Working Groups

Led workgroup that designed the
DITA framework, and initiated
OASIS, DITA-OT activities

Created IBM's DITA Wiki prototype

Extending "DITA for the Web" to
crossover use in Web publishing


Loving on my cats and family, in
that order
Model rocketry
Copyright © 2012 Contelligence
Group, LLC

7 October 2012
Hobbies
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3. What We’ll Cover
• Overview of renditions with common
content types
• The Challenge
• The Candidate
• The Process
• The Results

4. Thesis proposition:
• What is the difference between
•
•
•
•
An infographic,
A single-page web site,
A microsite,
And a micropublishing eZine?
• And how can Adaptive Content unify their production?
• Definitions and Examples
• As seen through a structured content framework
Deep dive…

5. Infographics
• From information and graphics
• Pictures intended to convey concepts, visualize data, organize
information
• When and how to create an effective infographic
• http://optimalexperience.com/2014/02/when-and-how-tocreate-an-infographic/
Examples:
• The DNA of a Successful Book
• http://dailyinfographic.com/the-dna-of-a-successful-bookinfographic
• Creating Valuable Content / A Step-by-Step Checklist
• http://www.ahamediagroup.com/includes/leibtag_content_chec
klist.pdf

6. Single-page Web Site
•
•
•
•
Aka “One Page Sites”
A full web site concatenated into a single page
Like an infographic, is easy to scroll
Unlike an infographic, is searchable and clippable
Examples:
• One Page Love (a compendium)
• http://onepagelove.com/
• Berroguetto (musical group)
• http://www.berroguetto.com/

7. Microsite
• Key use for brand positioning
• Car makers might have one model per site
• Also used for landing pages and campaigns
Examples:
• How to Develop a Microsite: 5 Examples to Get You Started
• http://contentmarketinginstitute.com/2010/12/micrositesamples/
• Mobile DITA Showcase
• http://mobiledita.com/

8. Micropublishing eZine
• Small newspapers and magazines delivered electronically (mail
or web)
• High attention to typography, readability, user experience
• Effectively an online, open distribution alterative to eBooks
Examples:
• The micropublishing explosion has begun
• http://pando.com/2013/06/03/the-micropublishing-explosionhas-begun/
• The Magazine
• https://the-magazine.org/
• Medium
• https://medium.com/

9. Observations:
• Different renditions, common content types
• That is, “titled , information-rich modules, usually text”
• Specifically not covering data visualization for now
• Easy to observe, not easily apparent how to do
• Obvious question:
• Is there value in reusing content across multiple deliverables in
this way?
• The ROI call may depend on user preference, maintenance of
versions, ease of extending.

10. Challenge:
• By definition, Adaptive Content seems right for this role
• How to get that value out of Adaptive Content?
• Step back:
• What is Adaptive Content anyway?
• Adaptive content automatically adjusts to different environments
and device capabilities to deliver the best possible customer
experience, filtering and layering content for greater or lesser depth
of detail. (Ann Rockley)
• What is it that actually enables multi-format rendering?
• Ability to find and reuse subsets of interest, particularly within
chunks
• Ability to apply late-bound behaviors to inner items of interest

11. Analysis:
• What are the issues?
•
•
•
•
Hard to change from what you know (human issue, not technical)
Unimaginative WCMS tools (limited structure going in)
“Inner styles” usually hard coded in body content
Limited ability to filter inner substructures (in-body
conditionality)
• [shortcodes] as hacks for inner structure with inner logic
• What are our options?
1.
2.
Develop Structured Content for Adaptive Use
Develop Adaptive Uses for Structured Content

12. Developing Structured Content
for Adaptive Use
• Many roads to Nirvana.
• We’ll follow a Use Case approach.

13. Use case: “5 Technologies”
• Scott Abel, aka The Content Wrangler, has a popular slide deck
called ‘5 Technologies Content Marketers Can’t Afford to
Ignore.”
• http://www.slideshare.net/abelsp/content-marketing-futurist
• Why this sample was compelling:
• Scott agreed that we give this a try!
• Is an active marketing message; new audiences will justify the
investment of doing the hard work
• In the “Bite, Snack, Meal” school of progressive disclosure, the 5
steps have nice “snack” definition; the whole set is a “meal”
• Demonstrates why intelligent content matters
• Like Han Solo in carbonite: amazing visual with limited reuse.

14. Migration to XML
• PowerPoint has structure:
• Normally Save As > Outline/RTR produces reasonable lists
• Text in Text Fields is not structured, can’t be exported as lists
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•
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Scott used “Plan B” – the content was pretty but hidden
Solution: Print to PDF then Select All using the text copy tool
Revised to reorder sequences and add list structure back in
Final conversion into DITA format for the rendering tests
Result: actually a well organized white paper!

15. Order out of chaos
•
5 Revolutionary Technologies *
•
About Scott Abel *
•
The Problem *
•
The Solution *
•
•
What is Technology? *
#1 Automated Translation
•
Why do we need to know this? *
•
•
What is Automated Translation? *
•
How do we get started? *
#2 Automated Transcription
•
Why do we need to know this? *
•
•
What is Automated Transcription? *
•
How do we get started? *
#3 Terminology Management
•
Why do we need to know this? *
•
•
What is Terminology Management? *
•
How do we get started? *
#4 Adaptive Content
•
Why do we need to know this? *
•
•
What is Adaptive Content? *
•
How do we get started? *
#5 Component Content Management
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What is Component Content Management? *
•
Why do we need to know this? *
•
How do we get started? *
•
Wait, there's much more! *
•
Final Thoughts *

16. What we ended up with:

17. Why DITA?
• Any XML is certainly worth considering, if the structure and
semantics serve your needs.
• But note: Microsoft Word’s XML format is a poor example of
structured and semantic XML.
• DITA and DocBook are good examples of XML with useful
hooks for Web applications.
• DITA topics and maps, in particular, are very good matches for
the content regions in typical web pages.
• The Battle for the Body Field
• http://alistapart.com/article/battle-for-the-body-field
• Why DITA, Especially “for the Web?”
• http://contelligencegroup.com/ditaperday/why-dita-especiallyfor-the-web/

18. Why Not HTML5?
• Yes, it is popular.
• Yes, it has structuring and semantic markup that is very similar
to many elements in DITA.
• But the W3C workgroups over that standard prefer not to limit
innovation by imposing schemas on content written for the
Web.
• HTML5 has no way to ensure repeatable, consistent use of
those structural elements upon which reliable adaptive reuse
(production level, especially) can be built.
• What this means in terms of reuse issues down the road:

19. HTML5: Form without Structure

20. What DITA can do for HTML5:
• DITA's best feature for the Web is its
architecture
• Structure in particular promotes
content adaptiveness
• DITA has a long track record of
experience and practice to
inform on new solutions

21. Developing Adaptive Uses for
Structured Content
• Format: XML DITA
• Rendering framework: expeDITA concept framework
• Data models for output processing:
• DITA map for White Paper, web site, microsite, ezine
• .ini array defines site navigation for Single Page appearance (and
subsequent infographic capture)

22. Demo views:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
The map that defines any structured view
http://localhost/q/index/map/FiveRevTech
White paper: turn on Aggregate view
eZine: switch to galley mode
Onepage: switch to ToC view, then to pageone theme
Web site

23. Lessons learned
• “Site-driven process” vs “body-driven process” came up as
necessary distinctions
• Main effort was in:
• Content migration and “intelligence implantation”
• Integration of inner styles with content, across themes
• Main value was in making Scott’s content now something of
exponential value (current audience multiplied; intriguing
future potential)
• I have a repeatable process that is not hardwired to the
content; this leverages the value of the content.
• The process is teachable and open; let’s do more with it!

24. Questions?
•

25. Contact
Don R. Day
Co-Founder, ContelligenceGroup.com
Chair Emeritus, OASIS DITA Technical Committee
LinkedIn: donrday
Twitter: @donrday
About.me: Don R. Day
Skype: don.r.day
"Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge?
Where is the knowledge we have lost in information?"
--T.S. Eliot
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Copyright © 2013 Contelligence Group, LLC
11 February 2013