June 2003 Columns

Content Management Using AuthorIT | A Report from the WinWriters Conference | Using Screen Capture for Single Sourcing | STC @ 50: Single-Sourcing Topics at the Annual Conference

 

Special thanks to Wendy Painter who I asked on short notice to write this report on the single-sourcing benefits of the STC annual conference. And, thanks to Wendy's employer for sponsoring her attendance at this year's conference!—Sean

 

 

STC @ 50: Single-Sourcing Topics at the Annual Conference

 

By Wendy Painter

I had the good fortune this year to attend the STC Annual Conference. I had a great time and was delighted to see so much single-sourcing information available. Here’s a quick rundown of how single-sourcing was represented at this year’s conference.

 

How much attention did single-sourcing receive at this year’s conference?

Plenty! A quick inventory of the technical sessions yields numerous case studies, theoretical overviews, demonstrations, and applied technique workshops in the following areas:

  • More than 15 sessions devoted to single-sourcing as a general concept
  • More than 10 sessions devoted to XML
  • At least 8 sessions devoted to tool-specific aspects of single-sourcing (such as Microsoft Word, FrameMaker, AuthorIT, etc.)
  • At least 5 sessions devoted to localization, translation, or globalization
  • At least 3 sessions specifically devoted to content management

There were overview and theory sessions for the single-sourcing novice, as well as practical techniques and applications sessions for those ready to dive into a specific solution. Many other sessions did not specify single-sourcing as their topic but covered related areas such as web usability, automation, or information modeling.

The single-sourcing sessions I saw were well-attended, with participants who were interested and inquisitive. The presenters were well-prepared to field the flood of questions they inevitably received, providing handouts and supplemental materials that made their sessions all the more useful. Unlike other courses and seminars I’ve attended in the past, I have already been able to implement some of the single-sourcing concepts I learned at this year’s conference .

 

About the vendors

This year’s vendor exhibition included over 40 vendors from all over the world. Of specific interest to single-sourcing were more than 15 vendors offering localization, translation, or globalization services and at least 8 tool-specific vendors.

  

How was the Single-Sourcing SIG networking luncheon?

I attended the Single-Sourcing SIG networking luncheon on Tuesday. Our table had representatives from several regions of the U.S. and Canada. From our informal discussion, I observed:

  • Most everyone at our table is making some attempt at single-sourcing, even if only to set up policies and procedures to facilitate rudimentary reuse.
  • Those at our table who are exploring single-sourcing are mostly doing so from a tool-oriented perspective. Our table included one person investigating Author-It and another who was familiar with the FrameMaker + WebWorks Publisher model. Others had used RoboHelp for years and were looking to expand their single-sourcing implementations.
  • Most people at our table expressed some amount of frustration at the proliferation of single-sourcing tools out there, plus some confusion about how to choose the best ones for their situations. However, most seemed generally excited about the potential improvements promised by single-sourcing models, such as streamlined workflow, increased accuracy, and minimized duplication of work.
  

What’s next?

Single-sourcing is getting lots of attention these days, and this year’s Annual Conference was no exception. It’s a good time to be searching for single-sourcing information, because experts in the field have had time to publish books or papers that will help you as you investigate a single-sourcing solution for yourself. The downside with such a popular subject is that there is so much information out there that it’s easy to feel overwhelmed as you try to wade through it all. But that’s the case with just about anything of interest – by the time the information has been out there long enough to be usefully cataloged and searched, it’s old news.

Single-sourcing is a dynamic field that should keep expanding and maturing in the years to come. I’m looking forward to seeing what information will be available at next year’s conference, and how much further developed the discipline of single-sourcing will be by then.

 

Note

For an interesting read on the future of technical communication (with several comments about the role single-sourcing will play in it), see Exploring Our Future: Technical Communication in the Year 2013 (Marie Highby and Beau Cain), available in this year’s conference Proceedings.


  
   

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