technical communication Technical communication is used to convey scientific, engineering, or other technical information. Individuals in a variety of contexts and with varied professional credentials engage in technical communication. Some individuals are designated as ...

, topic-based authoring is a

modular Broadly speaking, modularity is the degree to which a system's components may be separated and recombined, often with the benefit of flexibility and variety in use. The concept of modularity is used primarily to reduce complexity by breaking a sy ...

approach to

content creation Content creation is the contribution of information to any Content (media), media and most especially to digital content, digital media for an end-user/audience in specific contexts. Content is "something that is to be expressed through some Medi ...

where content is structured around

topic Topic, topics, TOPIC, topical, or topicality may refer to: Topic / Topics * Topić, a Slavic surname * ''Topics'' (Aristotle), a work by Aristotle * Topic (chocolate bar), a brand of confectionery bar * Topic (DJ), German musician * Topic (g ...

s that can be mixed and reused in different contexts. It is defined in contrast with ''book-oriented'' or ''narrative'' content, written in the linear structure of written books. Topic-based authoring is popular in the technical publications and documentation arenas, as it is especially suitable for technical documentation. Tools supporting this approach typically store content in

XHTML Extensible HyperText Markup Language (XHTML) is part of the family of XML markup languages. It mirrors or extends versions of the widely used HyperText Markup Language (HTML), the language in which Web pages are formulated. While HTML, prior ...

or other

XML Extensible Markup Language (XML) is a markup language and file format for storing, transmitting, and reconstructing arbitrary data. It defines a set of rules for encoding documents in a format that is both human-readable and machine-readable. T ...

formats and support content

reuse Reuse is the action or practice of using an item, whether for its original purpose (conventional reuse) or to fulfill a different function ( creative reuse or repurposing). It should be distinguished from recycling, which is the breaking down of u ...

management Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities o ...

, and the dynamic assembly of personalized information. A topic is a discrete piece of content that: * focuses on one subject * has an identifiable purpose * does not require external context to understand Topics can be written to be independent of one another and reused wherever needed. The

Darwin Information Typing Architecture The Darwin Information Typing Architecture (DITA) specification defines a set of document types for authoring and organizing topic-oriented information, as well as a set of mechanisms for combining, extending, and constraining document types. It i ...

is a standard designed to help authors create topic-based structured content. The standard is managed by the

Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards The Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards (OASIS; ) is a nonprofit consortium that works on the development, convergence, and adoption of open standards for cybersecurity, blockchain, Internet of things (IoT), ...

DITA Technical Committee.

References

External links

DITA Users
a member organization helping people get started with topic-based

structured writing Structured writing is a form of technical writing that uses and creates structured documents. The term was coined by Robert E. Horn and became a central part of his information mapping method of analyzing, organizing, and displaying knowledge in ...

OASIS DITA Focus Area
the official OASIS DITA community Technical communication {{comm-stub

See also

References

External links