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DocTrain: XML in the Wilderness
Wednesday, May 07, 2008 — posted by Sarah
Joe GollnerVice President
Stilo International
Likes to present "gory details on big projects gone wrong." I like him already.
The wilderness archetype is present in many different cultures. Going into the wilderness forces a person to change.
Next slide...the Patron Saint of Content Management! St. Jerome is officially the patron saint of libraries, librarians, archivists, and encyclopaedists.
And now, we're going to talk about what St. Jerome and XML have in common.
Oh, my goodness, his license plate reads: XML
Even better, his wife got it for him. I don't know either of them, but I predict a long and happy marriage.
And we're off to a cruise through the history of content processing. Some very cool information, but impossible to translate into a blog without his slides. (Check the DocTrain web site for slide decks; his are not posted at the moment.)
Now a discussion of SGML, what it achieved, and why it was hard for developers.
Here's an interesting bit about XML:
"The driving focus for XML has been facilitating a revolution in the way technology applications are designed, developed,and deployed."And critically, we're now talking about technology and XML, not content and XML.
And this has enabled the so-called Web 2.0. Joe is focusing on the fact that you can build very quickly and stay in "perpetual beta" in the "participatory web." People don't often talk about how XML-based technologies are what is making Web 2.0 possible.
What does XML mean for authors? Two contradictory challenges:
- Too much markup, which gets in the way of creating content, forces a reliance on unfamiliar tools, and adds a level of technical complexity to what is a creative task.
- Not enough markup...some content demands precision. Authors need clear guidance and useful feedback in order to satisfy this demand. As more content is delivered to applications, this is more common.
- Restrictions on syntax (XML took away some of the options that were in SGML to make it easier for computers to process.)
- Models mirror communication patterns less naturally than before
- New language (XML Schema) for declaring rules
- Schema modeling tools not helpful for content modeling
- XML is verbose
- Complexities reintroduced and application challenges remain
- Happy!
- Single sourcing
- Multiformat automatic publishing
He somewhat likes DITA, especially because it's an "assemblage of SGML Dirty Tricks." DITA gives us the ability to handle variability and change. DITA's approach is simple markup by default, but specialization allows for more specific markup.
XML has been in the (data) wilderness, but now it is finally returning home to where it should be (content). And DITA represents a serious effort in that direction.
St. Jerome went into the Syrian desert, learned Hebrew, and was able to create a new Latin translation of the bible (Vulgate). Likewise, XML has learned some things from life in the data world.
If you're looking for more coverage, Anne Gentle is sitting next to me with her laptop.
I also found Richard Hamilton, Antoine Giraud, and Scott Nesbitt. And someone writing Boarding the DocTrain.
Kudos to the DocTrain team for picking a lovely city and hotel. And for providing wireless coverage in the ballrooms!
Labels: doctrainwest08, xml
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