During the September 6th DITA TC call, we began discussing packaging for DITA 2.0. One idea with a lot of support is to move the Learning and Training portion of the specification out of the core specification and into its own work product. Several folks on the call felt that this would also be appropriate for the Technical Content portion of the specification. There was some concern expressed that this separation might create the impression that the TC was diminishing the importance of those packages. But, I think that is not the case.
There some advantages to taking this approach with the Technical Communication package:
- Decoupling the work of the Technical Communication subcommittee from the core DITA delivery schedule. After core DITA 2.0 is released, we would no longer have to wait for point releases to add enhancements to the Technical Communications package.
- Greater autonomy from the TC at large regarding technical communications content models
- Improved responsiveness to requests from the user community
From a DITA core point of view, moving the Technical Communication package into its own work product would make it consistent with how Lightweight DITA and Learning and Training will be handled.
Given the direction which the TC is heading, there will be significant work for the Tech Comm subcommittee to perform in the near future as DITA 2.0 planning progresses. The TC will want an opinion from the Tech Comm subcommittee about moving the Technical Communication package into its own work product. Should the TC decide to do this, the Tech Comm subcommittee would need to prepare a separate specification and separate grammar files for the Technical Communication package. While the outcome of these efforts will be of interest to the DITA Adoption TC, these efforts will be orthogonal to the Adoption TC's mission. Now may be a good time to end the joint sessions with the Adoption TC and the Tech Comm subcommittee.
I would like to have this topic on the agenda for the next meeting.
Best Regards,
-- Bob Thomas
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