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March 2007	www.infomap.com	Vol. 15, No. 1

DITA, Topic-Based Authoring, and Information Mapping®: What Authors Need to Know

By Cynthia Whitty, Public Relations Specialist

(continued)

The Information Mapping Approach
Kenny explains that the Information Mapping’s approach to topic-based authoring was developed by Horn, based on research he conducted at Harvard and Columbia Universities. Horn studied learning theory, human factors engineering, cognitive science, and related disciplines to learn how readers deal with large amounts of information and how authors and trainers can analyze, organize, and present information most effectively to optimize learning, comprehension, and retention.

As a result of what he learned, Horn developed a standard approach for communicating information. This approach, now used by hundreds of thousands of individuals in thousands of organizations worldwide is known as the Information Mapping method. Since it was developed, millions of pages of documentation, training materials, and business communications have been developed using The Method and many independent studies, articles, and doctoral theses have been done to evaluate and validate its effectiveness.

Kenny describes The Method as having five fundamental components: Analysis, Information Types, Research-Based Principles, New Units of Information, and Presentation Modes.

Analysis
Analysis is one of the most important Information Mapping concepts. The Method starts with a disciplined approach to analyzing the audience, the purpose, the information, and the technology. The purpose of the analysis is to

• understand the scope and requirements for the writing task to be completed
• determine what content is required, and
• identify how the content can most effectually meet user needs.

Kenny emphasizes that when writing reusable content, the analysis is particularly important because the content must be able to stand alone and be combined in different ways to meet the needs of different audiences.

Information Types
The theory of Information Types was first proposed by Horn as a way to classify information based on the purpose for the user. Through his research, Horn determined that approximately 80% of business communications can be categorized into one of the following six information types based on the information’s purpose for the user.

The Method includes a disciplined approach for classifying information by its type and presenting each type of information in the optimal way to improve reader comprehension.

Research-Based Principles
The researched-based principles are another key component of The Method. Traditional narrative writing does not provide standards that help authors create modular reusable units of information that make information easy to access and use. Often, authors create “a wall of words” that buries key concepts in dense or unrelated text. The Method identifies the following seven research-based principles that help authors consistently create effective, modular content.

The Method provides specific rules and guidelines to help authors effectively apply each of these principles to make their content more usable, reusable, and effective.

New Units of Information
To create modular, reusable content and avoid the wall of words, authors need a new way to organize information in modular units that include only one information type at a time and comply with research-based principles. The Method provides two new units of information that meet this need: the Information Block and the Information Map.

An Information Block is a manageable chunk of related information that has a label and contains only one main idea.

An Information Map contains a title and a collection of related Information Blocks on a single topic.

Used together, these two new units of information provide a standard for creating modular, reusable content that

• focuses on a single idea or topic
• makes it simple to apply the Research-Based Principles and Information Types, and
• provides an easy way to structure and reuse content.

Presentation Modes
The Method includes specific guidelines for how each information type can be presented to optimize its effectiveness for the user. For example, numbered “Step/Action” tables have been shown to be an effective way to present procedures. As a result, The Method is often associated with a specific “look and feel” that includes titles at the top of each page, labels in the left margin, lines between Information Blocks, heavy use of bulleted lists, and frequent use of tables. This look and feel was developed because it is an efficient and effective way to implement the principles and components of The Method and optimize usability.

However, The Method is format and media independent. The structure of the content can be easily tagged in XML or other mark up languages and rendered using different style sheets to meet the design needs and preferences of the author. Content created using The Method can be effectively displayed on a Web page, a help file, or on paper.

Advantages and Limitations of Information Mapping
Information Mapping is a comprehensive methodology that writers can learn to consistently create modular, reusable, user-focused content. Proven and time tested, The Method has been demonstrated to improve usability and performance across many types of communications ranging from e-mails and memos, to policies, procedures, business communications, user guides, and training manuals. Although documents written using the Method can be easily translated to structured XML using available tools and standards, The Method does not define comprehensive open source XML architecture and tagging language for technical documentation.

Information Mapping and DITA Comparison
Kenny observes that both DITA and Information Mapping provide valuable concepts, tools, and architectures to help authors create modular, reusable content. Both approaches share the concepts of topic-based authoring and information typing. Both define standard document structures that can be expressed through XML tags and architectures. Both emphasize the importance of focusing on user tasks and making supporting information available where and when it is needed.

However, Kenny explains, DITA is primarily a tagging language, whereas Information Mapping is primarily a methodology for authoring. DITA tells authors how they must tag their content. Information Mapping tells authors how to analyze, organize, and present information to create modular content.

DITA and Information Mapping can work well separately or together. When they work together, they combine the power of DITA’s standardized XML architecture and tagging and Information Mapping’s user-focused structured content development methodology.

Implications for Authors
Kenny sums up the DITA/Information Mapping discussion by saying that switching to topic-based authoring can be a daunting task for authors. Writing modular information units that can stand alone and be reused for different audiences, purposes, and media requires a new set of skills, disciplines, and perspectives that does not come naturally to many people.

Even experienced authors can struggle when they are asked to start writing in topics for the first time. In a reuse-enabled environment, authors may no longer be writing whole documents. Topics are defined upfront by information designers, and assigned to authors to complete one at a time.

Authors will no longer be in control of where or how their content is used. They will need to be a team player, learn new tools, and take responsibility for tagging their content. They will also need to forget about the format because it will no longer be necessary for them to worry about how their content will appear on a page or screen. Formats will be defined by style sheets based on the tags and structures they apply. In an environment of modular, reusable content, standards aren’t optional and tagging is power.

Whether organizations adopt DITA, Information Mapping, both, or another standard for structuring technical documentation, authors will need to adjust to a new way of thinking about and performing their jobs.

Authors who are already using The Method will have little trouble thinking of Information Maps as DITA Topics and applying the theory of Information Types to identify DITA Tasks, Concepts, and Reference Topics. Authors who are aren’t sure how to get started writing DITA topics will find that learning The Method is a great place to start. Used together, these two approaches promise significant time and cost-saving benefits as authors learn to create content once, and reuse it over and over again.

Resources
• Information Mapping’s New 2-Day Workshop: Developing Effective DITA Content
• DITA World
• DITA Architectural Specification (PDF)
• DITA Language Specificationn(PDF)
• Introduction to DITA: A Basic User Guide to the Darwin Information Typing Architecture by Jennifer Linton and Kylene Bruski
• OASIS

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