Single Sourcing
Numerous articles and books are available to help you learn about content reuse and single-sourcing. The following articles, listed alphabetically by title, provide a good starting point. (For full publication information, see the annotated bibliography.)
Beyond Theory: Making Single-Sourcing Actually Work. Liz Fraley presents a case study of how her department moved from FrameMaker and WebWorks to Arbortext and Interwoven to publish a large library of manuals. When she researched the project, she found that most of the literature thoroughly covered theory, planning, and recommendations for implementing modular writing, but little on actually practice. Fraley describes the successes and problems the group had as they moved different parts of the library to the new system.
Content Management Bible. Author: Bob Boiko. This massive book covers all phases of content management, from planning to writing, from databases to workflow and staffing. Boiko includes numerous tips on single sourcing, including an insightful chapter on audience analysis. Purchasers of the book can access an online version at the Metatorial Web site, with indexes for illustrations and code samples, as well as white papers, presentations, and interviews. The Metatorial web site provides open access to additional white papers and other information on content management.
"Design of Complex Information." Information design is not, perhaps, the most obvious place to look for information about single sourcing. However, Michael J. Albers defines eight steps in information design that apply to both subjects. For example, defining what makes information relevant to the goal is important when breaking a large document into the chunks recommended by most single-sourcing authorities (Rockley, Hackos). Similarly, defining the presentation requirements and building a model of the users’ goals and information needs are also important when analyzing the existing documentation and determining what content can be reused.
Indexing Single-Source Documents. Kurt Ament points out some of the issues that can occur with single-sourcing a print document and online help. For example, a print document might contain a deep index, consisting of up to five levels. However, many help tools can only support two levels of indexing. Ament also offers suggestions on the wording for the index entries.
Introduction to Single Source, Part 1. Philip Butland explains what single source is, and importantly, when single sourcing is and is not appropriate. Butland describes the benefits not only in writer time, but also in the consistency gained by not updating a help system in parallel with a book. Localization savings can also be considerable, because translators have to translate fewer words. Introduction to Single Source, Part 2 provides recommendations for optimizing the creation of online help from the FrameMaker files used to create a PDF or print book. By using conditional text, book-specific references such as "see Configuring on page 33" appear in the online help as "see Configuring", with all or part of the reference serving as the link. Butland concludes with a brief discussion of how databases can be used in single sourcing.
EServer TC Library. The EServer TC Library describes itself as a cooperative library for technical communicators. The home page lists the major topic categories, such as content management, design, editing, and rhetoric. The topic pages list articles in a table of links, with a graphic of the source Web site in the navigation bar and a short description of each of the articles.
Information Modeling for Single Sourcing. Pamela Kostur and Ann Rockley describe a five-phase process that facilitates the move to single sourcing, beginning with an audit of existing information and its audience, and moving through developing a model and training the staff. The authors envision three levels of single sourcing, with Level 1 a straightforward conversion of identical content into different formats such as PDF and HTML. The authors devote several pages to information modeling.
Managing Implementation of Structured Authoring. Scriptorium. defines structured authoring in the sense of using a structured template, that is, a template that enforces compliance. Writers who move from a strictly enforced template generally have little trouble moving to a structured template, such as structured FrameMaker. With structure, writers cannot "tweak" a template to get a better page layout. Implementing structure requires planning to analyze the documents, create the necessary definition files, train the writers, and convert legacy documents.
Single Sourcing: Building Modular Documentation. A basic tenet of this seminal book by Kurt Ament is that content reuse and usability are closely tied concepts. The structured writing essential for content reuse creates tighter, more focused documentation that is more usable in multiple formats. Ament has developed a seven-step process to modular documentation, beginning with identifying content, and moving through labeling, organizing, and eventually through cross-referencing. The book includes specific, practical recommendations for writing.
Single Sourcing White Paper. Joann Hackos and Ann Rockley start by explaining that converting the same files for PDF and help files is not the same as single sourcing, saying:
Single sourcing, however, should not be limited to using identical information in each output. The power of single sourcing lies in effectively reusing information--whether it is a paragraph, procedure, or even sentence--over and over again, while changing the "glue" that holds the information together for whichever medium, audience, or output.
By breaking the documents into components and identifying common information, writers can reuse the content, rearranging it as needed. The consistency of the documentation set improves, and the close evaluation of the content may lead to reorganization that improves usability. Rockley and Hackos describe a development process that starts with analyzing the content, and finishes with usability testing and training the writers. This white paper is the nucleus from which both authors have developed books and numerous articles.
What Is Information Design?. Janice C. Redish identifies two uses of the term information design. As an overall process for developing a usable document, information design focuses on defining what users want and need. In a narrower sense, information design addresses how content is laid out on the page or screen. Although the classic intent of single sourcing is to separate content from format, Redish points out that single sourcing requires information design in both senses of the term.
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Most recent update: 06/20/04
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