joe pairman | multiplying the power of taxonomy with granular, structured content
TRANSCRIPT
Multiplyingthe Power of Taxonomy
with Granular, Structured Content
<div property="author"><span
property="sameAs"href="https://twitter.com/joepairman">Joe Pairman
</span></div>
<author keyref=”JoePairman"/>
Taxonomies themselves are
often very granular…
…the objects that taxonomies label are often less granular (pages, sections, and documents)
Benefits of applying taxonomy to granular, structured content~ Easiermanagementofcontentvariability~ Improvedcontent
coverage&quality~ In-contextrelevantlinks
(improvedUX)~ Easypublishingof
search-enginefriendlyLinkedData
How I cut my teeth in structured content…
…in HTC’s User Education team
We needed multichannel output
”Show Me” app on phone
Support content on desktop
PDF user guide
We needed multichannel output
Enriched XTHML for mobile app
author interface
CCMS
topics
build maps
text and media
Publishing engine: based on DITA Open Toolkit
DITA XML• re-use/re-assembly• cascade changes
Enriched XTHML for corporate site & internal KB
Component content management — multichannel publishing
Many product variations to document, for different models…
…regional variants…
…and customizations.
Enriched XTHML for mobile app
author interface
CCMS
topics
build maps
text and media
Publishing engine: based on DITA Open Toolkit
DITA XML• re-use/re-assembly• cascade changes
Enriched XTHML for corporate site & internal KB
Component content management — managing variability
In-topic variation handled with a combination of techniques
Standard tech comm approaches encourage ad-hoc, local practicesXML tech content tends to separate:~ Profiling condition values~ Variable IDs & values~ Metadata terms stored in the XML~ CMS-level metadata
Markup often describes what should happen to the content, not what it signifies!
“There are no tools that pay attention to this sort of stuff today, and until there is a strong driver to do markup in this way,
it won’t become popular”
Since then, several things
have come together…
My work on XML consulting/integration/dev.— incl. taxonomy dev & application to structured content at the section level
Partners, providing dynamic web delivery for DITA XML
— incl. linking key terms to glossaries & related content
intuitive, reliable XML authoring tool— now, easy inline term tagging too,
powered by PoolParty concept extraction API
Partners: I started playing with their concept extraction tech & then moved
into the other features— clients are integrating structured
content tech & other systems
Next: Mekon’s demo
to illustrate the power of
structured content /
semantic tech combined
Content Marketing case study
Appealing recipes…
Link to related products
But the link is out of context, and not obvious
By using structured content + taxonomy, we could do better
Starting with a recipe taxonomy
Tech writers create tech docs
Marcom creates recipes
In FontoXML
Connecting key inline terms…
To the taxonomy concepts.
When we publish the
recipes & blender docs
to DITAweb…
Users can select a preparation
method or ingredient
…to see the
attachment that makes the method easier
To learn
more aboutthe attachment,
select the button
From here, you can buy the
product directly
The doc automatically links back to the recipe, and the recipe relates to “shave” and “blend”
Why this approach to links?
Whyaskauthorstoidentifyconceptsinsteadofenrichingautomaticallylater?~ Disambiguation~ Correctusage
Why this approach to links?
Whyaskauthorstoidentifyconceptsinsteadofenrichingautomaticallylater?~ Disambiguation~ Correctusage
Whynotsimplycreatedirecthyperlinkstothetargetpage?~ Fragile~ Application-specific
More use cases for connecting structured content + taxonomyArea Example/s
Easier management of content variability
Pharma or any other situation where a product has multiple concurrent names
Improved content quality Technical content referring to parts of a machine:• Are all parts covered?• Do the parts that users enquire about most
often have sufficient coverage?
In-context relevant links • Glossary info defined in taxonomy• Integration with PLM, where a click on a part
name brings up the relevant drawing/animation
Easy publishing of search-engine friendly Linked Data
Benefits to connecting granular, structured content + taxonomyArea Example/s
Easier management of content variability
Pharma or any other situation where a product has multiple concurrent names
Improved content coverage quality
Technical content referring to parts of a machine:• Are all parts covered?• Do the parts that users enquire about most
often have sufficient coverage & effort spent?
In-context relevant links • Glossary info defined in taxonomy• Integration with PLM, where a click on a part
name brings up the relevant drawing/animation
Easy publishing of search-engine friendly Linked Data
• SEO for answers about products• Aggregation to allow doctors the ability to see
drug info straight from manufacturers alongside national guidelines on those drugs
