Reuse
December 24, 2004
For a client project and for some current writing, I have been thinking a lot about reuse lately. When you do single-source publishing, especially with something like SGML or XML, you have a great opportunity to both repurpose the content into other formats (print, HTML, help, etc.) but to also reuse the content objects in multiple content products. Thus an aircarft maintenance task, say, checking tire pressure, that is common to many different aircraft models can be used in many different manuals.
Ann Rockley makes this point very well in a recent column for Transform Magazine:
To graduate to object-oriented content reuse, you must create modular content components, such as procedures, product overviews and sales descriptions, and then reuse these components in as many ways as possible. Brochures, manuals, training materials, troubleshooting guides and positioning papers are all prime candidates for content reuse, and they may all exist in print, Web and other forms.
The folks at Data Conversion Labs have done some research recently that suggests that as much as 50% of your content may be redundant and thus a perfect candidate for reuse. They have a new product and services offering, Harmonizer, that assesses how much of your content may be redundant and runs processes to eliminate extraneous content and "harmonize" remaining text to be more standardized.
The idea of reuse is easy; the application is difficult. I have seen it done extraordinarily well, though, with enormous payback. Data Conversion Labs is on the right track by coming up with a standard offering to help with the initial analysis. Another good starting point is Ann Rockley's book, Managing Enterprise Content. The chapter on reuse, "Fundamental Concepts of Reuse," can be downloaded for free here.
Posted by Bill Trippe at December 24, 2004 1:18 PM
