a thousand furnished rooms

Assumptions
--A growing need to produce multichannel output
--A desire to do this economically
--A mix of platforms for print production, web production
Some views from 50,000 feet
--Print still counts and PDF is often the first electronic choice
--Platform support still drives choices of approach (Windows, HTML, Java Help)
--A given group faces its own mix of electronic delivery requirements
--E.g., software vendor who provides print, PDF, Help, including HTML and Java help

Many Delivery Options
--PDF for screen viewing and remote printing
--Help formats, including Windows Help (more legacy now), Java Help, HTML-based Help
--Flat HTML files, Templated HTML tied to some kind of delivery engine, XHTML
--XML/RSS for Syndication
--Wireless delivery through WAP, SVG variants (SVG Tiny and SVG Basic)

Other Delivery Requirements
--Delivery to and integration with customer support, CRM
--Integration with engineering systems (CAD/CAM), source code control, logistics support, ERP
--Specialized electronic delivery, such as IETM in the DOD

IETMs Specifically
--Interactive Electronic Technical Manual
--DOD Standard
--Well established concept, growing in actual use and complexity
--Classified from Class 0 to 5
--Ranging from Class 0 (imaged pages and little or no navigation)
--Class 2 is indexed, scrollable, hyperlinked
--Class 5 is an integrated database capable of dynamic content presentation and integration with other systems

IETMs and the Rest of Us
--It's a useful taxonomy
--They made good technology choices (first SGML now XML)
--In some ways, any company with complex products to document is trending toward IETM-like functionality
--DOD has a long commitment to XML and a realized and growing ROI (SGML before that)
--Navy Preventive Maintenance System

How Have Groups Automated
--Smaller groups tend to be authoring tool centric
--Word, Frame, and immediate add-ons
--Organic growth over time
--Larger groups tend to go with more centralized automation, including some with XML

Current Challenges
--Both small groups and large can end up with the silo problem
--Dedicated repositories of material
--Unique processes for creating different formats
--Dedicated workflow for each format
--This is a workable solution
--Each delivery channel can be accommodated
--But not very efficient or scalable

Where Automation Begins to Pay
--Repurposing content whole cloth into other formats
--Reuse of modular content for dynamic publishing
--Management of content modules for more controlled revisions, translation and localization

How to Grow Beyond Tools
--The answer is modular management of content in a standard, generic data structure (yes, XML)
--Adoption of a Minimum Reusable Unit (MRU) that supports all required outputs
--In maintenance manuals, this could be the task, for example
--In software manuals, this could be at a functional or command level

What about graphics
--Some repurposing
--Versions for print versus versions for Web
--Little or no reuse
--Where graphic components are assembled into larger or compound graphics
--Some use of CAD/CAM libraries in heavy industry, aerospace
--Great promise of SVG�

Scalable Vector Graphics
--W3C Recommendation
--XML vocabulary for 2D vector graphics and animation
--Modular in design, accessible via the DOM
--Perfect for reuse of graphic components

Complexity of SVG
--Still not in the browser
--Microsoft has been quiet about this
--Adobe, Corel have plug-ins
--Supported for viewing in latest Acrobat
--Some people are doing on-the-fly conversion of SVG to PDF, HTML, other formats
--There are tools for conversion to JPEG
--Adobe, Savage Software, others
--A near-term problem that should be solved
--Also not unreasonable to require the plug-in, in some applications
--Boeing is now using SVG in some applications