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This was a featured presentation at the Intelligent Content Conference in 2012.
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Copyright © Joe Gollner 2012
XML
without
Tears
Joe Gollner, M.Phil.
Gnostyx Research Inc.
jag@gnostyx.com
www.gnostyx.com
www.gollner.ca
@joegollner
Intelligent
Content
2012
Background
Regulatory Agency for the Energy Sector managing:
• Regulations
• Process Documentation
• Submissions
• Public Consultation Outcomes
• Judgments
Pressures:
• Growing volume & complexity of regulations & submissions
• Growing complexity of the consultation process
• To bring costs under control or even reduce them
• Maintain or even shorten the process cycle times
Case Study: Regulatory Structured Content
Three Key Ingredients
Top Tier Management Consulting Firm
• Conducted a comprehensive process review
• Collaborated with stakeholders to re-envision the future
Content Management Consulting Firm
• Facilitated a wide-ranging analysis & modeling activity
• Developed target content models with rich semantics
Content Management & Publishing Technology Vendors
• Engaged to tailor their tools to support
• The re-envisioned business process
• Fully customized authoring environments
• Sophisticated management & publishing services
Case Study: Regulatory Structured Content
Case Study: Outcome
How do you think
this turned out?
Case Study: Outcome
Disaster
Over-indulgence in meaningful [semantic] markup
Insanely complex authoring experience
Insanely complex authoring tool customizations
Insanely complex authoring support tools
• Auto-complete
• Validation
• Packaging
Insanely complex processing scenarios [publishing]
Target vision disconnected from reality in key ways
Naively transgressed obvious legal boundaries
• Attempted to automate formatting submission after receipt
Generated unsustainable maintenance costs
What Went Wrong?
Lessons Learned
<$ Element element-name >
Semantics come at a price and
must be associated with a concrete use
Standard Generalized Markup Language (SGML)
defined a Document Type Definition (DTD) as
[organizing] “rules defined by an application”
Markup Considered Harmful
Theodor (Ted) Holm Nelson
Is there any value in using meaningful [semantic] markup?
Infrastructures for Information, Inc. and
But You Said XML without Tears
Copyright © Joe Gollner 2012
XML
without
Tears
Take Two
Intelligent
Content
2012
+$
-$Formatting
Content Models Processing & Results
XHTML Web Pages
Formatting
Markup
Expedites
online delivery
Shouldn’t
have cost
much but did
Minimum
investment
Didn’t get in
the way…
Basic Markup: HTML
Different story
Cost of
processing
semantic
markup is real
Benefits
mainly seen in
more filtered
formatting
The outcome
is debateable
Inline Semantic Markup
+$
-$Formatting
Content Models Processing & Results
+$
-$Semantics
XML / DITA Multiple Products
-$Formatting
Semantic Models Content Models Processing & Results
+$
-$Semantics
+$
Balanced Markup: Just Enough Semantics
Semantic models provide semantic markup with the rigor needed to become really useful
Advanced Markup: Progression from Balanced
+$
-$Formatting
Semantic Models Content Models Processing & Results
+$
-$Semantics
More comprehensive semantic models co-evolve with inline semantic markup
Can we have Intelligent Content sans XML?
Two Answers
Even when you are trying to
not use XML, you are
probably using XML
• MS Office / SharePoint
Any application larger than
an eggcup will need to
interoperate with other
applications
• Exchanging information
• Permitting extensibility to
support interoperability
Intelligent Content in a Normal Office
Frankenstein goes mobile
So Explain to Me Again Why We Need XML?
Real Content Resists Definitive Categorization
Real Content Demands Special
attention
The Web & XML united
Browser-based collaborative authoring
Strong object metadata
supporting discovery & selection
Container elements providing
semantic guidance
Content input as XHTML
using common widgets
Minimal inline semantic markup
Attractive benefits profile
Easily extensible over time
The Human Face of Intelligent Content
Asking Questions & Raising Objections
or just making connections…
Joe Gollner
Gnostyx Research Inc.
www.gnostyx.com
jag@gnostyx.com
The Content Philosopher Blog
www.gollner.ca
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