The “Meh” Strategy
Amidst all this discussion of content strategy, one common approach has been neglected. There’s little discussion of the no-strategy content strategy, even though this approach is probably the market leader.
Amidst all this discussion of content strategy, one common approach has been neglected. There’s little discussion of the no-strategy content strategy, even though this approach is probably the market leader.
Simple answers are appealing and are easy to remember. [Refrain from gratuitous political joke here, mostly.] But the real world is full of complex issues that are not easily reduced to soundbites. This also applies to technical communication and XML adoption.
In this webcast recording, Sarah O’Keefe discusses how the cost of developing content affects what is actually created. She leads with a discussion of Gutenberg and how we went from gorgeous, unaffordable, artistic books that took years to produce to more plebeian but affordable books. Then she considers today’s situation, with particular attention to the possibilities of video, information apps, and a look at what has NOT changed.
You know you’ve had a bad travel week when you cannot wait to compose the complaint letter to the airline. But sandwiched between flight problems, I had a great time in Wiesbaden at tekom/tcworld 2011.
The slides from my tekom/tcworld session on the economics of information are below.
A wise man once told me that the goal of marketing is to frame the question so that what you are selling is the best possible answer. In the world of tech comm publishing, the default question has been: “What tool should I use?”
My 2011 predictions post included a brief mention of curation analytics. This week, we have news from MindTouch that supports my thought that accountability in technical communication will increase.
Technical communication is in the midst of a huge transition from a craft/artisan model to an engineering model. Our consultants are the vanguard of this transition, and as a result, we are experiencing significant challenges in finding new employees.
The initial wave of DITA implementations is still building, but we are already seeing the early adopters move on to what I am calling DITA, The Sequel.