Information Management News
Volume 5, Issue 8
August 2005
A monthly e-newsletter from The Center for Information-Development Management (CIDM)
JoAnn T. Hackos, PhD, CIDM Director
http://www.infomanagementcenter.com
We hope you enjoy our HTML format!
If you would like to receive the CIDM e-newsletter in plain-text format, visit
http://www.infomanagementcenter.com/enewsletter.shtml,
fill out the subscription form, and choose the plain-text format.
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News & Events |
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2nd annual Rare Bird award
We are now accepting submissions for the 2nd annual Rare Bird award.
Join the Showcase at the Best Practices conference
Find out how you can participate in this year’s Showcase during the Best Practices conference.
Looking for summer reading?
Find some great deals on books from previous conferences.
What is CIDM?
Find out more about CIDM.
Best Practices newsletter subscriptions available
Find out how to subscribe to the bi-monthly Best Practices newsletter.
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Upcoming Workshops |
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The CIDM sponsors the following workshops:
Developing a Content-Management Strategy
JoAnn Hackos, PhD,
August 11–12
San Diego, CA
Workshop Closed—
Course Full
DITA: Getting Started
JoAnn Hackos, PhD,
and Jen Linton
August 23–24
Boulder, CO
Managing Your Documentation Projects
JoAnn Hackos, PhD,
and Bill Hackos, PhD,
September 1–2
Sydney, Australia
DITA: Getting Started
JoAnn Hackos, PhD,
September 5
Sydney, Australia
Managing Your Documentation Projects
Bill Hackos, PhD,
September 20–21
Cary, NC
User and Task Analysis for Information Design
Bill Hackos, PhD,
October 18–19
Ottawa, Ontario
XML for Writers
Jen Linton
October 18–19
Denver, CO
Structured Writing for Single Sourcing
JoAnn Hackos, PhD,
January 25–26
Austin, TX
For more information on these and other workshops,
visit the JoAnn Hackos Workshop Series web site.
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Vendor Announcements |
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Arbortext and acrolinx Announce Partnership
Read more about this new technology partnership.
Vasont User’s Group Meeting
Learn more about the September 12–14 annual meeting.
Idiom Launches WorldServer LSP Advantage Program
Read more about Idiom’s new launch.
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| Technical Writing in China
The Center for Information-Development Management is conducting a benchmarking effort that focuses on US organizations developing technical documentation in China. If you have any experiences that you feel would help this effort, please take this short survey.
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Information Design—The Foundation of Customer Value
JoAnn Hackos, PhD
CIDM Director
www.infomanagementcenter.com
Most of the key characteristics in the IPMM focus on issues of process management: planning projects, estimating and tracking effectively, ensuring quality, and managing costs. However, two of the characteristics allow us to examine the effectiveness of an organization in serving the needs of customers: information design and quality management.
Read the article
More articles
Closing the Globalization Gap with DITA—Bill Rabkin
Designing Flexible XML Information Objects—Eric Severson
In a Perfect World—Palmer Pearson
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Table of Contents—August 2005 Best Practices Newsletter |
Article |
Author |
Cultivating Writers in Uruguay |
Shannon Salomaki, Sabre Inc. |
Refactoring Your Legacy Content |
JoAnn Hackos, CIDM |
Aristotle, Gestalt, and Usability
Testing |
Sokol Zace, Ergoline |
Working with Indian Technical Communicators—Collaborate for Success
| Susan Alexander, Write Concept; Thurun K. Unni, FaceTime; Ravishanakar R., Cisco Systems |
CMS Solutions: Knowing the Right Stuff |
Charlotte Robidoux and Pat Waychoff, Hewlett-Packard Company |
Book Review: Leading Change |
JoCarol Gau, BMC Software |
Putting Kotter’s Ideas to the Test: Leading Change Through an
Offshoring Effort |
JoCarol Gau, BMC Software |
You can purchase the Best Practices newsletter online even if you aren’t a CIDM member. A subscription is $99 per year. For subscribers outside the US, the cost is $109.
**Please note that the printed newsletter and the enewsletter do not contain the same content.**
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Closing the Globalization Gap with DITA
Bill Rabkin
Idiom Technologies, Inc.
Today, many global organizations publish information such as technical documentation, online help, and web content in many languages. Often, they experience a delay between the availability of content in its original language and the availability of that same content in other languages. We call this delay the Globalization Gap.
Read the article
Designing Flexible XML Information Objects
Eric Severson
Flatirons Solutions
“Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” It was true when Lord Acton said it in 1887, and we all know examples of how it applies today. But have you ever thought about this idea in the context of an XML publishing system?
Read the article
In a Perfect World
Palmer Pearson
Cadence Design Systems, Inc
If you could re-create your staff from scratch, who would you choose? How would you build your team? Picking the right person for each job is critical, of course, but the choices are not necessarily obvious.
Read the article
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Feedback
Have you found this issue useful? Got a great story idea? We’d like your input
and suggestions. Please contact lisa.finger@comtech-serv.com about any comments you may have.
Important Subscription Information
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The Center for Information-Development Management
The Center for Information-Development Management (CIDM) is an
organization of information-development, training, and support
managers across the United States and internationally. The CIDM
is directed by Dr. JoAnn Hackos, international leader in the management
of the design, development, and dissemination of information to
customers and employees. Under her leadership, the CIDM conducts
benchmark studies among member organizations and elsewhere, sponsors
research into information development and its management, and
gathers and disseminates results and resources through newsletters,
the web, seminars, two annual conferences, and research white papers.
The CIDM facilitates the sharing of information among the most
skilled managers in the information industry.
If you are interested in reading more in-depth articles, you
should consider subscribing to the Best Practices newsletter at
www.infomanagementcenter.com/masterindex.shtml.
©2005 by The Center for Information-Development Management. All rights reserved.
Tel. 303-232-7586
Fax. 303-232-0659
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