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The recent discussion over the value of single sourcing misses some of the
benefits of normalizing your content that have little or nothing to do with
single sourcing or reuse per se.
It is often valuable to normalize your content. The ability to produce
different output from the same content (single sourcing) is one of the
benefits of doing so. But there are several others. Normalized content is
easier to verify. It is easier to ensure that no content is missing and that
all content is expressed consistently. It is easier to maintain content
because it is easier to find and identify content that is affected by
changes in the world. In some cases, these advantages can do as much or more
for your productivity as the reuse or single sourcing.
Several people have stated that when you single source you have to start by
anticipating all of the different output's you want to produce. I disagree.
The virtue of normalized content is that you don't have to anticipate all
the uses the content will be put to.
If your single sourcing strategy involves modeling your content based on a
set of specific outputs, it is likely that you won't properly normalize your
content. You are likely to find that your system gets more and more complex
over time. These are the kinds of single sourcing systems that start out
well and break down over time.
Single sourcing may be your primary motivation for normalizing you content,
but when it comes to actually implementing a system, you should focus on
content normalization, not just on the particular forms of single sourcing
or reuse that you currently anticipate. Content should be normalized without
regard to its perceived reuse or single sourcing potential. You will end up
with a cleaner system and will reap several benefits besides those of single
sourcing per se. You will also be able to do more reuse and single sourcing
down the road as your needs change.
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Mark Baker
Stilo Corporation
1900 City Park Drive, Suite 504 , Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, K1J 1A3
Phone: 613-745-4242, Fax: 613-745-5560
Email mbaker -at- ca -dot- stilo -dot- com
Web: http://www.stilo.com
This message, including any attachments, is for the sole use of the
intended recipient and may contain confidential and privileged
information. Any unauthorized review, use, disclosure, copying, or
distribution is strictly prohibited. If you are not the intended
recipient please contact the sender by reply email and destroy
all copies of the original message and any attachments.
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