How DITA Got Her Groove Back: Going Mapless

Friday, October 2 — 11:30am-12:15pm

Don Day
Founding Chair
OASIS DITA Technical Committee

Context is everything, from the clothing you choose in the morning to the dinner menu you plan based on available ingredients and time. The word on the street is that DITA maps are the express context designed to drive builds for particular deliverables and conditionality for DITA topics. That is partly true, but it is not the whole story.

For one thing, maps are far more versatile than just as build directives. Moreover, DITA topic processing can get its cues from contexts other than maps. And therein hangs the premise of Going Mapless.

To get our own context for this presentation, we will start with a quick review of the original architectural definition of DITA and then trace the popular information architectures and tools that have grown up with the standard as we currently know it. Then I will introduce some scenarios where DITA could be useful if freed from the the prevailing map-driven processing paradigm, and we'll walk through some available methods and solutions for using DITA in these unconventional ways. Of course, if we follow our advice, the outline might be modified by dynamic inputs throughout the session. Come see what Going Mapless is all about.

About

Ranking among the top XML technology leaders today, Don Day not only contributes to the success of individual projects and products, his influence can also be found on nearly every XML initiative in production. His efforts have resulted in multiple patents, official recognition for his contribution to reengineering IBM's information assets, and designation as an OASIS Distinguished Contributor for convening and leading the OASIS Darwin Information Typing Architecture (DITA) Technical Committee. Don is well-known for advising and consulting on strategy, technology, and best practices for optimizing the value and usefulness of unstructured data.