Julie Baldwin at Sybase Inc., founder of the Boulder-Denver DITA User Group in Summer of 2006, did a fantastic job of establishing a regional network of writers, developers and managers interested in DITA and XML; organizing guest-speaker presentations; and archiving these presentations. Taming Media picks up, at least in part, where Boulder-Denver DITA User Group leaves but with emphasis on areas that were beyond the scope of the former group:
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Discuss various ways in which media providers can expand information products beyond text-based documentation.
- A platform to demonstrate how web video can be incorporated within structured documentation e.g., XHTML, DITA, Docbook, etc) as part of the overall information product workflow.
FULL DISCLOSURE: I am a software architect, videographer, and owner of Wild Basin Media, Inc. At WBM, we offer a customizable product called OVID (online video-integrated documentation). While I would be more than happy to help you incorporate video into your authoring and CMS workflow, this blog is intended to provide information that will help you get a leg up on such a project on your own.
- DITA concepts should be accessible to those with a basic understanding of markup languages (e.g., XHTML). Too often, employees from small-to-medium sized companies are not offered an adequate introduction to DITA, so good resources like Yahoo!’s DITA-Users website seem almost impenetrable with no easy entry points. This site will contain simple tutorials from which to build a solid understand of DITA.
- The Rocky Mountain region is and will increasingly become a pivotal region for the alternative energy industry (e.g., wind, solar, biofuel). These new companies are looking for better, more efficient ways of managing media.
- Having an understanding of XML alone will only get one so far. After all, XML is just a container for information. The real power comes with an understanding of how to manipulate the information within the tags through adjunct technologies such as XSLT, XQuery and AJAX to name a few as well as a grasp of content management strategies.
All the best in the new year.