Re: [dita-learningspec] Fw: [dita] DITA Help Technologies Guide

[Scott Hudson <scott.hudson@flatironssolutions.com>]

Hi Troy,

I think you are spot-on about the default training environment. We 
certainly want to provide SCORM-compliant output, but that doesn't mean 
we should require an LMS to use our specialization! There are many ways 
of delivering training, and I really like your suggestion about Slidy.

It would be relatively easy to get good looking content generated in 
Slidy format. I'd shoot for HTML Help and Eclipse as other great formats 
for folks to use, and would function as a "poor man's" delivery system. 

I think these are great suggestions, and as you say, we need to figure 
out how to get it done with some help!

Best regards,

--Scott

Scott Hudson
Senior XML Architect

e: scott.hudson@FlatironsSolutions.com
O: 303.542.2146
C: 303.332.1883
F: 303.544.0522

http://www.FlatironsSolutions.com
Vision. Experience. Engineering Excellence.



Troy Klukewich wrote:
> <quote>
> Check out this guide developed by the DITA Help sub-committee. It 
> provides a possible model for something similar we could produce about 
> l&t.
> </quote>
>
> I really liked the Help guide as a model. I liked how it provides a 
> kind of "state of the nation" address at the beginning, about DITA and 
> Help in general, which sets expectations, then drills down into 
> specific Help environments. Then the guide rounds out with the custom 
> angle. I think this is the right approach for Help based on DITA.
>
> There is a "can do" quality about the guide. You know if you have any 
> doubts about getting a DITA-based Help system up and running, you are 
> going to get the thing working using the guide. It covers the bases.
>
> Some of the guide content, especially about DITA in general, could 
> probably be single sourced for Help and L&T.
>
> The guide got me thinking.
>
> <thinkingOutLoud>
> In our case, we arguably don't have a recognized default training 
> enivornment like a help system (for instance, MS Help or Eclipse 
> Help). And HTML could mean (or look like) anything. Maybe we would 
> need to define what constitues a default or standard generated 
> training environment.
>
> Is there a danger following the Help guide too closely for default 
> environments? For instance, how many people really deliver training 
> through MS Help? Or Eclipse Help? (Actually, Eclipse Help as a 
> training environment makes a lot of sense to me.) If we cover off 
> default Help presentations as tailored for training, perhaps hard core 
> training people would see too close a relathionship between Learning 
> and Help, as if DITA training was little more than a repurposed Help 
> system. (Actually, I kind of thought the same thing myself when I 
> generated the demo CHM for learning.)
>
> Or perhaps our default training presentation must be custom by design. 
> This, unfortunately, has a drawback. You can't easily dump out a slick 
> presentation that people would instantly recognize as a standard 
> training environment. I ran into this problem with the Oracle 
> University folks. To get the Learning demo looking half-way decent, 
> required a lot of work, just as a proof of concept. Whereas with a 
> help sytem, poof! You have an instantly recongizalbe enviroment.
>
> Perceptually, there is a big difference between needing a lot of work 
> to make something look decent (like a default Help system) and needing 
> a little work to make something look exactly how you want it (like a 
> custom presentation, which would always be the case for training).
>
> So if we don't have a default training environment that looks slick 
> and "normal" to a trainer, I almost think we have to come up with one 
> in the guide, otherwise people will think the output is too 
> rudimentary and be turned off (or away).
>
> The fact is, the vast majority of trainers use PowerPoint slides and 
> Word as a default ILT environment. HTML is common for CBT. If we are 
> not going to provide PowerPoint as a default output (and we don't), we 
> should have a viable open source alternative, like HTML Slidy.
> </thinkingOutLoud>
>
> Thoughts? Am I making sense?
>
> Off the top of my head, here are some suggested training outputs to 
> cover in an L&T guide:
>
> How to create HTML Slidy pages for slides
> How to generate PowerPoint slides (people will ask)
> How to generate Word instructor and student guides
> How to generate other kinds of outputs for instructor and student guides
> How to create an HTML Web that could potentially be non-ILT (in other 
> words, CBT). Note: I personally think presenting normal, non-Slidy web 
> pages for ILT training, well, sucks.
> Then maybe show how to generate Help systems like MS HTML Help and 
> Eclipse, if these are even viable training environments
>
> What else?
>
> In my own training background, I've done web-based for CBT and ILT, 
> and PowerPoints for ILT with Word for instructor and student guides. 
> It seems like most training groups still do the same.
>
> By the way, I think there would be a lot of interest in DITA for CBT 
> using a mounted web delivery.
>
> We'd probably need to break the guide out by Instructor-led and 
> computer-based scenarios as they require different sets of 
> deliverables, which the L&T specialization can provide.
>
> I suggest we work though some strategic discussion first about 
> training environments and standard deliverables, determine the ideal 
> TOC in an L&T guide, blanch at the amount of work, and then figure out 
> how to get it done with some help. :-)
> Troy Klukewich
> Information Architect
> Oracle
>
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> From john_hunt@us.ibm.com
> Sent Fri 2/27/2009 6:29 AM
> To dita-learningspec@lists.oasis-open.org
> Subject [dita-learningspec] Fw: [dita] DITA Help Technologies Guide
>
>
> Dear DITA learning & training SC -
>
> Check out this guide developed by the DITA Help sub-committee. It 
> provides a possible model for something similar we could produce about 
> l&t.
>
> Thoughts? Anyone interested in helping put a "DITA Learning and 
> Training Content Technologies Guide" or perhaps a "DITA Learning and 
> Training Content Usage Guide" ?
>
> John
>
> ___________________________________
> John Hunt
> Chair, OASIS DITA Learning and Training Content Specialization 
> Sub-Committee
> Structured Content Architect / Lotus Information Development Center
> IBM Software Group/Lotus Software
> john_hunt@us.ibm.com
> ----- Forwarded by John Hunt/Cambridge/IBM on 02/27/2009 09:24 AM -----
> From: 	stan@modularwriting.com
> To: 	dita@lists.oasis-open.org
> Cc: 	dita-help@lists.oasis-open.org, sdoherty@verivue.com, "Tony Self" 
> <tself@hyperwrite.com>
> Date: 	02/23/2009 01:59 PM
> Subject: 	[dita] FOR YOUR REVIEW AND APPROVAL: DITA Help Technologies 
> Guide
>
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>
>
> Hi all --
>
> The DITA Help Subcommittee submits for your review and approval
> Release 1.0 of our DITA Help Technologies Guide. We appreciate that
> members of the TC are swamped with DITA 1.2 specification work, but
> we hope that we could get your approval of this document
> in two weeks time (Tuesday, March 10). We plan to update this Guide
> every 3 - 4 months to keep it current.
>
> I have attached a PDF2 version of the document with Acrobat Reader 
> commenting
> enabled. MS HTML Help and TOCJSBIS versions are available at:
>
> http://www.oasis-open.org/apps/org/workgroup/dita-help/documents.php
>
> Check out the nifty OASIS-branded HTML that Tony Self (Help 
> Subcommittee chair)
> has integrated with his WinANT tool.
>
> If someone with write privileges to the Adoption TC email list could 
> forward this email and attachment, we would appreciate it.
>
> Thanx,
> Stan Doherty
> DITA Help Subcommittee, Secretary
>
> [attachment "DITAHelpTechnologiesGuide_0223_commenting.pdf" deleted by 
> John Hunt/Cambridge/IBM] 
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------
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