Re: [dita] Audience of the arch spec - ekimber - org.oasis-open.lists.dita

9 messages in org.oasis-open.lists.ditaRe: [dita] Audience of the arch spec

From	Sent On	Attachments
Joann Hackos	Oct 1, 2009 7:58 am
Michael Priestley	Oct 1, 2009 8:11 am
Ann Rockley	Oct 1, 2009 8:12 am
Ann Rockley	Oct 1, 2009 8:18 am
ekimber	Oct 1, 2009 8:23 am
Michael Priestley	Oct 1, 2009 8:23 am
Bruce Nevin (bnevin)	Oct 1, 2009 8:59 am
Kristen James Eberlein	Oct 1, 2009 9:21 am
Troy Klukewich	Oct 1, 2009 9:28 am

Subject:	Re: [dita] Audience of the arch spec
From:	ekimber (ekim...@reallysi.com)
Date:	Oct 1, 2009 8:23:38 am
List:	org.oasis-open.lists.dita

On 10/1/09 10:18 AM, "Ann Rockley" <rock...@rockley.com> wrote:

I like JoAnn's suggestion of a readable overview to the functionality followed by the technical details. Unless someone writes a comparable document in "user speak" DITA remains inaccessible. This could be a job of the greater community and certainly offers book opportunities, but a short overview would certainly aid in dissemination of information.

I agree that such a document or documents need to be written but the Arch Spec cannot and should not be that document. That is the job of the Community and the Adoption TC.

The DITA specification is a *standard*, a quasi-legal document. It needs to be as precise as possible and as brief as possible, avoiding redundancy. That means that general-audience introductions that restate what more technical descriptions say *are bad* because they introduce the possibility of inconsistency.

In addition, we, the TC, do not have the bandwidth to both write the introductory material and make sure it is accurate while also finishing the technical material and making sure it is accurate as well.

There is definitely significant opportunity for all of us to write DITA books that make DITA accessible to particular audiences as soon as we get 1.2 put to bed.

Cheers,

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