In addition to manuals and online help, our documentation group writes white papers, which we deliver them to the Web group in both Microsoft Word and HTML format. Some of the papers contain information that is very similar to that in the user manuals, but is sometimes "spun" to add a marketing flavor. Once again, different tools, different deliverable, same content.

Naturally, when I needed to do research for a course in my Master's program, I chose content reuse and single sourcing, hoping to find a Great Truth to make the process easier. One result was an annotated bibliography which covered content reuse, single sourcing, and content management systems.

The next semester, I needed to create a Web site on the topic of my choice. The professor, herself a believer in single sourcing, was happy for me to reuse and repurpose my existing material. Thus, like the phoenix, my Web site grew from the metaphorical ashes of the annotated bibliography. All I had to do was divide the entries into appropriate categories and add introductory text.