Sairam Venugopalan, Qualcomm
February 1, 2023

The queen’s language, the imperial vernacular, the royal dialect,…we’ve seen different connotations of this elite or eerie communication channel or medium of instruction called English. With its far-flung diversification and subtleties, the roots of the British English tree have proliferated into variegated scripts. Conspicuous among the branches of that base tree is international or American English. While all lingos encounter this bizarreness as they have spinoffs, the perplexities are more profound with the English dialect because of the universal and percolated usage or adoption it has. This compendium attempts to muse on a few stark differences that we see with the generalized or global English codifications, offering nuggets for thought, evoking a chuckle, or arousing a revelation. With this subject under the scanner having unbounded lengths and depths, only the surface can be scratched in the excavation or expedition to conduct an anatomy and introspection of the English trove. […]

Geetha Haridas, Qualcomm
January 15, 2023

User documentation plays a critical role in helping users to understand how to use software products. Although the belief that ‘nobody reads documents’ still exists, research studies by Schriver (1997) suggest that users, regardless of their age or gender, read documentation to understand and use products and technology. However, documentation can be successful only if it meets the requirements of users (Schriver 1997).

The demand for quality documentation has given rise to concepts such as information design that are concerned with creating usable information for users. However, information design is a vast field that has been defined in various ways. Information design sometimes involves enhancing the appearance and readability of documentation (Burnett 2001). In some other contexts, information design is a problem-solving activity that authors carry out to create usable documentation (Carliner 2001). Multiple and contradictory views about information design often make it difficult to apply this concept in a practical context. […]

Comtech Services
December 2022

Helen St. Denis, Stilo
December 1, 2022

Migrating unstructured content to structure

There are several ways to convert your unstructured content to a structure such as DITA XML. You can do it in-house, of course, if you have the resources available. It will usually involve writing, adjusting, and maintaining scripts to do the heavy lifting. The more formats the content is in, the more scripts you will need.

Alternatively, you can gather up all your content and send it to a vendor to convert it for you. It is often better to let a specialist do the work so you don’t have to. But it may mean a content freeze for some time while the conversion is undertaken. […]

Anu Singh, Fiserv
November 15, 2022

In the last two years, the way organizations have evolved with respect to digital transformation, in a similar fashion, the traditional approach towards content development has evolved, and the line between–the guided and unguided learning has blurred with a noticeable shift in the learning environment that many of us might be experiencing.

In a corporate learning environment, as educators and clients’ success enablers, it is our responsibility to support learners on their product adoption or learning journey through a holistic learning process and create a learning environment that is safe and provides learners with an opportunity to play with the learning content. As we evolve with Industry 4.0, it is critical to consider the experiences that come with technology and complement it with content that users need with the technology they are using. […]

Acrolinx.com
November 1, 2022

Ready – steady – go(vernance)!

How to govern your content processes for maximum efficiency and impact

These days, just about every team is under pressure to try and do more with less. Technical communication teams at large enterprises are no exception. Technical content closely connects to business goals, like reducing the number of calls to customer support through the quality and clarity of their manuals. Or lowering the risk of wrong product usage through clear and consistent tone and terminology. […]

Jean-Marc Robillard
October 15, 2022

About Us

Founded in 1998, IXIASOFT is a trusted global leader in the Component Content Management System (CCMS) industry, providing software and services to some of the biggest names in their respective industries, including Abbott, ARM, DocuSign, Komatsu, Mastercard, SAP®, and Toyota. We also provide 24/7 support from our Global offices across North America, Europe, and Japan. For nearly 25 years we have been pioneers in the tech comm industry, and our commitment to universal standards for everyone is the reason we continue to be involved with OASIS, ever since the first version of DITA.

Our guiding principles include respect, loyalty, attentiveness, and transparency in all our interactions with clients, partners, and colleagues. Our mission is to help customers succeed in their technical documentation goals. […]

Kaleidoscope.at/en/
October 1, 2022

(Multilingual) Content Quality Is No Coincidence!

The current trend of content marketing has had a huge impact on technical content creation. Not only has the ease with which end users can find your content become more important, but companies are increasingly discovering that technical content is just as important a pillar of the overall content strategy as pre-sales “smarketing” content. You therefore need to ensure that customers and prospects are satisfied with the quality of your content. In this article we describe a proven approach for strategic content quality with a special focus on multilingual challenges. […]

Alin Belu, Syncro Soft
Oxygen XML Editor

September 15, 2022

Hello everyone, Great news! The preliminary agenda for DITA-OT Day 2022 is now available and you can check it by accessing https://www.oxygenxml.com/events/2022/dita-ot_day.html#agenda-(preliminary)

Also, you can still make your proposals to become one of the DITA-OT Day 2022 speakers. The deadline for receiving your submissions has been moved to October 1st. […]

Dana Aubin, Comtech Services
September 1, 2022

CIDM members shared their experiences and questions about user-generated content at last month’s roundtable. Our definition of user-generated content included community portals, discussion forums, YouTube videos, social media posts, tweets, articles, blogs, podcasts, and other content created by the users of a product or service and shared online. During our discussion, this definition expanded to include both customer-generated and developer-generated content.

In our last trends survey in 2020, less than 3 percent of those surveyed responded that their companies allowed users to contribute content directly to the website or portal. Around 7 percent allowed users to add curated content. However, 66 percent of companies didn’t allow customers to contribute content. When we looked back at the surveys from 2017 through 2019, results have only changed a percent or two. […]