Perceptions of content authoring methodologies in technical communication: The perceived benefits of single sourcing

Abstract

Increasingly, technical communicators have adopted single-source authoring as an efficient approach to content authoring. However, the integration of single-source authoring has been widely debated, and technical communicators cannot agree on the need for DITA and other content authoring tools for producing high quality and user-focused documentation. I single out DITA because it is the latest and most widely used and discussed method of single-source authoring. As a framework and corresponding technology within technical communication, many technical communicators accept DITA-based authoring as the best approach to content authoring; however, the technical communication field needs to investigate this supposition. My research examines this approach to content authoring by looking at some of the components of DITA authoring such as the following: organizational efficiency; content reuse; creating consistent content; and separating content from formatting. The primary goal of this paper is to determine the perceptions of use from the current literature and from practitioners that participate in discussions on this topic in online communities. This paper reports the data from a pilot study of online technical communication communities that discuss authoring methodologies. The preliminary data suggests that technical communicators corroborate what the literature of the field says regarding the most discussed components of DITA authoring, but also intimates that the perceptions may not match the professed value for creating effective documentation. This research can help inform the results of future user experience studies on the documents produced from alternative authoring methodologies. Additionally, this combined research can also apprise academia for how programs develop curricula to address the theoretical “craft or commodity” question, how to teach content authoring in courses, and which tools academic programs should teach.