Re: [dita-lightweight-dita] My intro for the list

[Mark Giffin <mark@markgiffin.com>]

I've been working with DITA since about 2006, and before that I was 
doing XML-based documentation systems. I plan and implement all kinds of 
documentation systems and tools on many platforms and CCMSes. I started 
as a cartoonist and tech writer in the early days of the PC era (and 
that era is close to over now, isn't it?).

I'm working with Eliot Kimber on the DITA for Small Teams project where 
we are going to use the eXist XML database and GitHub to put together 
something like a free DITA CMS. Right now I'm working on Git commit 
hooks and playing with eXist.

I'm really interested in lightweight authoring of structured content. I 
have one client where I had trained a bright non-tech writer to use 
Oxygen to edit DITA files, and bring in content from engineers who were 
using Word. Bright as she is, this person struggled with it and it 
resulted in the client asking me to downgrade the DITA system to MadCap 
Flare, which I did. I believe Lightweight DITA could probably have saved 
this DITA system. I can think of several other uses for Lightweight DITA 
in projects I am working on.

Mark Giffin
Mark Giffin Consulting, Inc.
http://markgiffin.com/