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[XML-DEV Mailing List Archive Home] [By Thread] [By Date] [Recent Entries] [Reply To This Message] RE: Re: Are the publishing users happy? Why not?
 >Here's the point: people need to be educated as well as coerced through >software, and even then, there *will* be exceptions. Education is certainly a key component. I work for a publisher that uses a markup-based publishing system (reference publishing). I joined the company in 1993 as a technical writer/editor about a month after they began implementing the new publishing system. Adjusting to a structured authoring/editing environment required a huge shift in mindset for all of us, and there was certainly resistance to the change. But what was once a print-only publishing house now has a variety of electronic products and data licensing initiatives enabled by SGML/XML that would not have been possible before. I'm now the XML/SGML analyst, DTD developer, and OmniMark programmer at the company (proof that *anyone* can be taught :-) ). Part of my function has been that of markup evangelist; both in concepts and training. It led to the presentation I did at XML 2001 and AUGI 2002 on Technical Writing and XML. There is indeed interest from the tech writers and editors in understanding the whole structured authoring world. After the presentation at AUGI 2002 (ArborText User Group), a number of attendees asked why there were not more sessions aimed at authors/editors; most sessions are technical. There was enough interest that I am currently working on another presentation, kind of a brief writer's guide to XML. I would be greatly interesting in receiving input/comments/opinions from other experiences with introducing writers/editors to a structured markup environment. All of my experience (9+ years) is with the same company, working in a number of closely related problem spaces; other perspectives would be useful to me. If anyone is interested (entirely up to you), my original XML 2001 presentation is available on the precedings CD or online at: http://www.idealliance.org/xmlfiles/issue37/techwriting.asp. It provides perspective related to XML in reference publishing and discussion related to the issues in this thread. Any feedback would be welcome. ____________________________________ Douglas Rudder drudder@d... "At least in theory, XML is supposed to provide a middle ground between human and machine-readable." -- Simon St. Laurent "Schema designers, authors, and those developing the software that processes the data all have to work together to find the appropriate tradeoffs." -- Mike Champion 
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