Today I’ll be talking about my recent experience of using DITA. My history with DITA is limited; I have much more experience using plain ol’ xml than DITA! However I did complete a few short (and very basic) projects using DITA. Some authoring tools I’ve used in the past are Frame Maker and RoboHelp. I’ve started using a CCMS tool and this post focuses on me attempting to create a custom HTML5 plugin.
Category: Technical Communication
Topics on Technical Communication.
Planning an Interview
As part of a research project at University, I am required to conduct an interview with someone working in technical communication or e-learning. I am required to prepare interview questions; with the interview lasting between 40 minutes to 1 hour. The interview must be conducted face to face. As part of a research project at University, I am required to conduct an interview with someone working in technical communication or e-learning.
XML Assignment
As part of a University assignment, I was required to create a short XML document for technical communicators who need to learn about an aspect of ethics or intellectual property. The document should be 500 words and with metadata and appropriate XML elements, styled in CSS or XSLT.
Note: I submitted this blog post to my University forums as part of my project reflection.
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Intellectual Property – Copyright
One of my lectures at university covered the topic of copyright and it made me think of two things:
1. How we copyright content at my workplace
2. A story I read about Anne Frank’s diary whilst I was in Amsterdam
Reflective Writing – A Lost Art?
I have spent a few hours this week reading over different blogs relating to technical communication, instructional design and elearning. I noticed that a lot of blogs are written in a very journalistic style; they are sleek and professional. Not a bad thing, but this got me thinking about my blog and reflective writing in general – is it a lost art form?
So many blogs and youtube videos seem to tell you information or demonstrate something, but lack any thought or personal opinion from the author/creator. I suppose in some cases (especially on youtube) authors have to be very careful of what they say as often they are required to be vendor neutral or are being paid to review something (this is a whole topic in itself) however when did having a (educated, polite and well thought out) opinion about a product or tool become a bad thing?
Ethics in Technical Communication
In November 2017 I decided to join the ISTC, or Institute for Scientific and Technical Communication. As with many professional organisations, a requirement for joining is that you follow the Code of Professional Practice; a link to the PDF can be found here.