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Subject:Re: Please describe value of Information Mapping From:"Bob Doyle" <bobdoyle -at- skybuilders -dot- com> To:"Tim Mantyla" <TimMantyla -at- nustep -dot- com> Date:Fri, 4 Apr 2008 16:08:45 -0400
Hi Tim,
Let me try to give you some specific answers.
Information Mapping has been used for decades and was developed as a method
long before they built software to help implement solutions.
So yes, you can learn Information Mapping - best by taking some of their
training curses.
I don't know how much the courses or the Formatting Solutions software
costs.
I have been following Information Mapping, because their theories of
chunking and structured documents lie behind the new DITA structured writing
and publishing standard.
Information Mapping introduced the idea of Information Types, among them
Concepts, Procedures, Processes, Principles, Structure, and Facts.
The basic information chunk in DITA is called a Topic. DITA specializes the
basic Topic into three Information Types - Concept, Task, and Reference.
A DITA Task is something like an Information Mapping Procedure (for people)
or process ( for systems).
DITA stands for Darwin *Information Typing* Architecture.
The Darwin aspect is that a DITA Task "inherits" all the properties of the
Topic information type. And you can further specialize the Task for your own
needs while still being DITA compliant, so your documents get published to
the web (HTML), print (PDF), and Help systems using DITA publishing
solutions, including the free DITA Open Toolkit.
Recently Information Mapping developed a new Word-based editor for DITA
called Content Mapper. It is one of two editors that modify Word to create
DITA-compliant documents in XML without the writer having any knowledge of
XML. It costs about $300.
I expect you need to contact Information Mapping to learn more about their
method. If you are interested in DITA, you can learn more at http://dita.xml.org, which manages the DITA standard, or one of my sites, http://www.ditausers.org, which has over 500 tech writer members in 33
countries getting started with DITA.
Cheers,
Bob
On Thu, Apr 3, 2008 at 2:21 PM, Tim Mantyla <TimMantyla -at- nustep -dot- com> wrote:
> I often read, on this list and others, about someone "information mapping"
> a project. I would like to hear from you how well this method and software
> work, with any details you find important.
>
> I've looked at the company website and read the examples at
>http://www.informationmapping.com/index.cfm/TheMethod/Demos
> They're impressive.
>
> Can it be learned and done without the software?
> If so, how and where?
> What applications is it suited for?
> Can you use images with it?
> How expensive is it, and does it justify or pay back its cost?
> What's the learning curve for using it?
> Any prerequisites to understanding and grasping it?
> Any other pertinent comments?
>
> Thanks,
>
> Tim Mantyla
> Communications Representative
> NuStep, Inc. - www.nustep.com
> 5111 Venture Drive, Suite 1
> Ann Arbor, MI 48108
> Ph: 800-322-2209, Ext. 173
> Fax: 734-769-8180
> Email: tmantyla -at- nustep -dot- com
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