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Conference Highlights May 2007

10th Annual Australian Online Documentation & Content (AODC) Conference

There was something for everyone at this year's AODC in Melbourne. Presentations ranged from the very practical, such as how to use XSLT (complete with code examples) to more strategic themes, such as when, why and how to select and employ a CMS. Design showcases and 'lessons learned' from documentation project leaders were also included.

Collaboration and reuse of content were recurring themes throughout: information accessibility, ease of use, ease of reuse, and tools and standards that make those things possible were the order of the day. The scene for these themes was set during the keynote speech, where it was noted that open-source code is gaining traction within organizations. Wikis were discussed, along with native XML, various XML tools and DITA.

Conversations with many writers during the break, many who hadn't employed single sourcing were planning to take the relevant information back to their workplace, and those already deep in content reuse felt that it is very much the way of the future, if not the now.

Product vendors such as Madcap, Adobe and AuthorIT demonstrated their software and product experts were available for questions during the breaks. Overall the conference was very informative, interesting and at times highly entertaining (the Medieval Help Desk video brought many to tears!).

For more information about this conference, please contact Melissa Brett for details on melissa@techwriter.com.au or call 02 9955 5768

 

DEFDOC Conference, Melbourne

This year the defence documentation conference was replaced by the S1000D User Forum, which focused on the development and application of the S1000D standard. Taking place over 3 days, the conference was attended by 160 participants from the US, Europe and Asia as well as Australasia.

S1000D is an international, SGML/XML specification for the procurement and production of technical publications. It was especially designed for equipment maintenance and operations information. Information is generated in a neutral modular format. These modules contain standardized identification and status information which promotes easy access and reuse. For more information visit www.s1000d.org

At the conference, it was particularly interesting to see how S1000D has moved beyond the defence sector. There were a large number of case studies involving the adoption of the standard in commercial engineering and aviation environments. Unlike the mandated defence environment, commercial companies are only likely to adopt the standard if there is a sound business case for doing so. Based on the take-up rate in organisations such as Boeing commercial planes, a number of companies clearly believe it can deliver significant cost savings and efficiencies.

For more information on this topic, contact Matthew on 02 9955 5768 or matthew@techwriter.com.au

 

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