Every page is page one baker

Every Page is Page One
Topic-based Writing for Technical Communication and the Web

Mark Baker
Analecta Communications Inc.
@mbakeranalecta #eppo @LavaCon

The book
 Every Page is Page
One: Topic-based
Writing for
Technical
Communication
and the Web
 XML Press
 Available in the
bookstore!

Content Strategy for Technical
Communication and the Web

2

Who said…
 “Learners … often skip over crucial
material if it does not address their
current task-oriented concern or skip
around among several manuals,
composing their own ersatz
instructional procedure on the fly.”


3

John Carroll
 The Nunrberg
Funnel
 1990
 Users hopping
around from one
source to another
did not start with
the Web


4

The sequencing problem
 Many sequencing problems reside not
in the material alone but in the
learner’s use of it. When people refer
to instruction opportunistically in
support of their own goal-directed
activities, it becomes difficult or
impossible to predict what sequencing
will be appropriate…
John Carroll, The Nurnberg Funnel, 1990

5

Eliminate sequence
 A radical approach to sequencing problems is to try
to eliminate sequence: materials designed to be
read in any order cannot be read in the wrong
order. … The orderly accumulation of prerequisite
skill and understanding that can be assumed when
material is embedded in a sequenced curriculum
cannot be assumed if learners use the material in
any order they wish. But, of course, this is just
what learners do anyway and is one of the key
reasons that materials that depend on carefully
sequenced prerequisites fail.
John Carroll, The Nurnberg Funnel, 1990

6

Radical Then; Mainstream Now
 The concept of creating unsequenced
material was “radical” in 1990
 Today, it is the default
 The Web is not sequenced
 Every Page is Page One


7

Why “Every Page is Page One?”
 On the Web, readers arrive at content
 Via a Google search
 Via a recommendation in a social
network
 Via a link from another page

 There is no continuity from where
they were before.
 Every link leads to a new page one

8

John Carroll anticipated this
 “Escaping these problems and
providing for material to be sensibly
read in any order, necessitates a
different approach to organizing
instruction. It requires a high degree
of modularity, a structure of small
self-contained units.”


9

But …
 Not every page
works well as
page one


10

Jump into the middle
 The page is in
the middle of
something
 Reader has to
back up to find
start of the
thread
 It may be a
“topic,” but it
assumes
sequence

11

On the Web but Not of the Web
 Putting a PDF or a tri-pane help
system on you Website does not
create Web-like content.
 Native Web content does not look like
this.
 Native Web content is not sequential
 Readers don’t stick to one site. They
hop around the whole Web

12

Writers in denial
 Many writers are in denial about the
power of Web search.






“too many false hits”
“too much stuff to wade through”
“takes too long to find things”
“content is unreliable”
“easier to find things in a book with a
well prepared index”

13

So why do users
prefer to search the Web?

Photo: Steven Straiton/Wikimedia Commons


14

Scope
 Searching the Web is not like
searching the index of one book
 It is like searching the index of every
book, letter, article, and conversation
in the world
 Index search only begins when you
have found the right book
 Finding the right book is expensive

15

The Long Tail
 Many low demand
items account for as
much total demand
as a few high
demand items.
 Amazon makes a lot
of money from the
long tail of items
regular stores can’t
stock

16

The Long Tail


17

Manual doesn’t cover long tail
 Manual has only high
demand items
 Users often need
specific items from
the low demand set
 They don’t know
which items are low
demand
 The Web has it all


18

Information Foraging

Photo: Amanda Lea, Wikimedia Commons


19

Information foraging
 “Information foraging predicts that the
easier it is to find good patches, the
quicker users will leave a patch. Thus,
the better search engines get at
highlighting quality sites, the less time
users will spend on any one site.”
Jakob Nielsen’s Alertbox: June 30, 2003
Information Foraging:
Why Google Makes People Leave Your Site Faster


20

Information snacking
 The growth of always-on broadband
connections also encourages this trend toward
shorter visits. With dial-up, connecting to the
Internet is somewhat difficult, and users
mainly do it in big time chunks. In contrast,
always-on connections encourage information
snacking , where users go online briefly,
looking for quick answers.
Jakob Nielsen’s Alertbox: June 30, 2003
Information Foraging:
Why Google Makes People Leave Your Site Faster

21

Experience vs. credentials

“Now the technology lets
you find experienced
people as easily as
credentialed ones.”
David Weinberger: To Big to Know

22

Collegiality
“Links are the visible manifestation of
the author giving up any claim to
completeness or even sufficiency; links
invite the reader to browse the network
in which the work is enmeshed, an
acknowledgement that thinking is
something that we do together.”


23

Include it all. Filter is afterward.
“We seem to be making a cultural
choice---with our new infrastructure's
thumb heavily on the scale---to prefer
to start with abundance rather than
curation. Include it all. Filter it
afterward. Even then, the filters do
not remove anything; they filter
forward, not out.”

24

Filter it afterward
 The Web is a filter
 We can filter it for ourselves
 Google

 And with our friends





LinkedIn
Facebook
Twitter
Etc.

25

Filter it socially


26

Authority is shifting

“If our social networks are our
new filters, then authority is
shifting from experts in
faraway offices to the network
of people we know, like, and
respect.”
Too Big to Know

27

Individual journey
 Readers make their individual journey
through a Web of information
 Our content is one resource they may
visit on that journey
 But wherever they enter our content,
it should act as page one


28

How I got to the conference


29

Shared vehicles; unique trips
 Many different vehicles
 Each functions independently
 I chose the sequence to create a
unique journey
 The airplane design does not depend
on my arriving by taxi
 The subway works the same if I take
the stairs, not the escalator

30

No guided tour
 Readers are self directed
 We have always known most readers
don’t take the guided tour
 They skip and scan and look stuff up

 Now they can self direct across the
entire Web
 To serve them, provide EPPO topics


31

The book model
 Books provide the guided tour as
primary means
 Linear book

 Support self-guided as secondary
means
 Scanable subheads
 Index


32

The EPPO model
 EPPO topics support self-guided as
primary means
 Every pages works as page one
 Works with search, social curation
 Works with external resources

 Can still provide a guided tour as a
secondary means
 Ordered topic collections
 Can include external resources

33

At the crossroads
 Try to reclaim the order and certainty
of the book world, or cooperate in the
linked ecology of the web with its
social approach to authority and its
fuzzy edges?


34

EXAMPLES

35

Recipe
 Black Forest
Ham and
Gruyère Frittata


36

Car review
 Subaru Forrester
2003-2008
review


37

Technical article
 Create REST
applications with
the Slim microframework


38

Ornithology
 Blue-footed
Booby


39

Encyclopedia article
 Ottawa


40

Stack Overflow
 Python shelve
OutOfMemory
error


41

CHARACTERISTICS OF
EPPO TOPICS

42

Self Contained
 No linear dependencies
 Never assumes you have read X
 May assume you know X

 May require different types of
information “blocks”


43

Establish Context
 Reader may arrive from anywhere
 Search and links may be imprecise
 Allow the reader to get their bearings
quickly

 Navigable context
 If they are a little off, help them get
where they should be


44

Specific Limited Purpose
 Must have a clear idea of the purpose
it fulfills for the reader
 Purpose must be specific
 Can’t be self contained or establish
context if purpose not specific

 Purpose must be limited
 One vehicle in a network the reader
navigates for themselves
 Do one thing; do it well

45

Conform to type
 Topics on a common subject tend to
have a similar pattern







Recipes
Encyclopedia articles on cities
Car reviews
Ornithology
Product comparisons
Technical articles 1 2 3 4

46

Stay on one level
 Books tend to change levels
 Topics support readers choosing their
own path
 Readers decide when they want big
picture or gritty detail
 Readers change levels by changing
topics

 Topics stay on one level

47

Assume reader is qualified
 Books designed as sole source for
diverse audience
 Write for the least qualified reader
 Often annoying for experienced reader

 Topics are one stop in reader’s selfdirected journey
 If reader is not qualified, they can
choose other topics to get qualified

48

Link Richly
 Books are designed for linear reading
 Links may be considered a distraction
 Allow reader to deviate from writer’s
planned course

 Topics are for self directed readers





Make context navigable
Enable reader to qualify themselves
Enable switching levels
Enable onward journey

49

Topics and Topic Sets
 Need many topics to cover a large
subject area
 Create topic sets, not books
 Support random entry
 Establish type to ensure completeness
and conformance to purpose
 Support reader choice within your set
 Make them work on the Web

50

The book
 Every Page is Page
One: Topic-based
Writing for
Technical
Communication
and the Web
 XML Press
 Available in the
bookstore!


51

Questions?
 Contact information









Mark Baker
Analecta Communications Inc.
mbaker@analecta.com
Twitter: @mbakeranalecta
Company: http://analecta.com
Phone: 1 613 422 9400
Blog: http://everypageispageone.com
Book: http://xmlpress.net/publications/eppo/

52

Every page is page one baker

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