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Subject:Re: Single Sourcing From:Mark Baker <mbaker -at- OMNIMARK -dot- COM> Date:Wed, 9 Jun 1999 12:02:51 -0400
Brierley, Sean wrote
>However, I am still unconvinced that single-sourcing is achievable. Perhaps
>it is my definition of single-sourcing that is at fault.
>
>The idea of single-sourcing, to me, is write once and (without edit or
>reformat) distribute in many formats, including in print (via a service
>bureau) and as online help.
Your definition is at fault, though I think you share in a common
misconception.
Single sourcing implies that there is one source and several outputs from
that source that differ from one another to a greater or lesser extent. To
create such different outputs there must necessarily be a process that
converts material from the source format to the final format. The source,
therefore, is distinct from each of the outputs.
The essential characteristic of a source is that it must contain all the
information and structure necessary to run the processes that produce the
desired outputs. The source is always an abstraction of the information to
one extent or another.
Products that let you output differently to two different media at the push
of a button are doing this abstraction internally and encapsulating the
output processes for you. They offer limited options. If they do what you
need, great. It not, you need to take charge of the abstraction and the
process yourself.
>In my utopian techwriter-ruled world, books written for print would be a
>separate project from online help documents. Why? Because I perceive the
>information, chunking, presentation, et al., needed for printed manuals to
>be inherently different from the needs of online help.
You are absolutely correct. Different expression of the same information for
different purposes and different media do need to be chunked and presented
differently. But this does not prevent you from single sourcing. You are,
after all, dealing with the same content. You are simply synthesizing it
differently. If you set up your source so that the content is held in an
abstract form and set up processes to synthesize that content for different
audiences and different media you get single sourcing as well as media and
audience appropriate synthesis and presentation.
---
Mark Baker
Senior Technical Communicator
OmniMark Technologies Corporation
1400 Blair Place
Gloucester, Ontario
Canada, K1J 9B8
Phone: 613-745-4242
Fax: 613-745-5560
Email mbaker -at- omnimark -dot- com
Web: http://www.omnimark.com
---
Mark Baker
Manager, Technical Communication
OmniMark Technologies Corporation
1400 Blair Place
Gloucester, Ontario
Canada, K1J 9B8
Phone: 613-745-4242
Fax: 613-745-5560
Email mbaker -at- omnimark -dot- com
Web: http://www.omnimark.com
