With insights from nearly 50 presenters, over 200 attendees and the very best in industry networking, DITA Europe was a roaring success this year. The audience got a chance to hear and learn about IXIA CCMS from MadCap customers, partners and directly from the team at the MadCap Software booth. Organized over 2 days, attendees also have an option to attend an add-on event, the DITA-OT Day, organized for the day before the conference starts. Amidst the chill of Finland's climate, the warmth within the conference venue was palpable, with cozy meeting rooms, a continuous flow of beverages, and a delightful array of local cuisine setting the stage for engaging discussions and knowledge sharing.
What is DITA-OT Day?
DITA-OT Day is a full day conference dedicated to the DITA Open Toolkit project, which is the reference publication solution for DITA implementations and the core of almost all DITA-based publishing solutions. The DITA Open Toolkit is an open-source project hosted and accessible for free online.
Organized by Syncro Soft and appended to the main DITA Europe conference. Current sponsors include MadCap IXIA CCMS partners: Comtech Services, Antenna House, and Miramo.
This year, the lineup of speakers was truly impressive and included presentations from new speakers and top experts of the DITA Open Toolkit. Amongst the top developers, Jarno Elvirta, Roger Sheen and Robert Anderson were present along with Eric Sirois, top IXIA CCMS tool-smith at MadCap Software, and our partners PieterJan Vandenweghe from Flow, and Marion Knebel from Parson AG.
If you’re interested, the video recordings of the session will be made available from this program page soon.
IXIA CCMS Ecosystem Was Well Represented
From sponsorship to holding speaking sessions and test kitchens, MadCap partners were present in force. Partners including Acrolinx, Antenna House, Comtech, CIDM, DeltaXML, Fluid Topics, Miramo, NINEFEB, Syncro Soft - oXygen, Semantic Web Company - Pool Party and WhP stepped up and contributed their insights in speaking sessions.
This conference offered attendees a unique window into the entire content lifecycle, from authoring assistance to the deployment of content delivery portals, directly from the vendors. DITA Europe provides the best opportunities to expand the professional networks with information development experts from around the world.
New Voices Speaking Out
The speaking roster included a lot of first-time speakers, a deliberate decision from the organizers. “We wanted to hear new voices” says event organizer Brianna Stevens (Comtech Services). People may think that a topic is old or that they are more knowledgeable people in the domain, but it’s always good to hear about new experiences and points of views.
This was the case for Piritta Jalkanen, Hanna-Kaisa Heinonen, and Markus Jalkanen from the Metso team, a MadCap customer, who had a collective presentation about their team’s journey to DITA and IXIA CCMS while going through three re-brandings and a merger, no less.
Seize the opportunity to explore the agenda online, and if it sparks your interest, consider adding your voice to the ensemble at next year’s event!
From Finland University to DITA Enterprise Japan, DITA Europe Takes Networking to the Next Level
The audience included a wide range of representatives from European countries but also a fair share of north Americans and a few Asian representatives. There was interest in business, but there was also interest in learning and sharing best practices. Eric Sirois (MadCap Software) and I had the chance to discover the DITA Enterprise Japan group and present IXIA CCMS features in a short recording shared online by Yoshio Fujimastu, also a representative of our partner TXTOMedia in Japan.
We also had the chance to network with the Finnish research group from the University of Jyväskylä about the future of Minimalism.
Noteworthy Sessions and Insights
MadCap IXIA CCMS in the Spotlight
A highlight was our customer Metso's presentation on their selection and deployment of DITA with IXIA CCMS. The session underscored the strategic impact of adopting a robust CCMS in enhancing content management and delivery.
Revolutionizing Editorial Processes
MadCap Software partner Acrolinx showcased the transformative potential of integrating AI into DITA editorial processes. This session painted a future where editorial efficiency is significantly boosted, risks are minimized, and costs are reduced through the synergy of AI and text quality systems within the DITA framework.
Navigating DITA Localization
MadCapper Dipo Ajose-Coker shared insights on the "5 Do's and Don'ts of DITA Localization," offering attendees a comprehensive guide to optimizing DITA content for global markets. The session laid out a roadmap for achieving seamless localization, highlighting best practices and common pitfalls.
Unlocking the Power of DITA Reuse
Fellow MadCapper, Nolwenn Kerzreho, delivered an enlightening talk on maximizing content reuse in DITA. Delving into the nuances of keys, keyrefs, and conkeyrefs, the presentation offered actionable strategies for enhancing content management and evolution, all through the lens of real-world applications and experiences.
DITA and the Evolutionary Perspective
Day one concluded with a thought-provoking panel discussion led by Fluid Topics, exploring the evolutionary aspects of DITA. The discussion revealed two compelling insights: DITA's intrinsic capacity to evolve and adapt to changing content needs and its potential to foster content sharing beyond conventional boundaries, ensuring survival and relevance in the digital ecosystem.
DITA and iRDS: Enhancing Content Retrieval and Interoperability
With Harald Stadlbauer (NINEFEB) and Helmut Nagy (Semantic Web Company)
The presentation was based on a use case of an international Bolter Miner manufacturer, which allowed the points made to ring even truer.
Connecting DITA to iiRDS explored the synergy between DITA and iiRDS, highlighting DITA's strength in modularizing technical writing and the iiRDS focus on data retrieval through standardized metadata.
The integration of iiRDS with DITA enriches technical content management by enhancing retrieval capabilities and connecting to product metadata more effectively, thus facilitating IoT applications and semantic context establishment in digital twin scenarios. The collaboration between these two standards offers a comprehensive solution for managing and delivering content with precision and efficiency.
Leveraging Static Site Generators (SSG) for DITA Content
With Roger Fienhold Sheen (infotexture)
Roger, a favored speaker within the DITA Conference community, shared innovative approaches to maximizing DITA content through static site generators. His session provided insights into overcoming the challenges of publishing DITA content using open-source tools without custom portals. By showcasing tools like the GitBook Plugin and DITA Open Toolkit, Roger demonstrated how to achieve efficient documentation websites, emphasizing the accessibility and practicality of these solutions for teams of all sizes.
Tech Docs Without a CCMS
Frank Wegmann
Rethinking Technical Documentation: This presentation delved into Software AG's unique path of managing technical documentation outside the conventional CCMS framework. The session covered the motivations behind their approach, the CCMS features they replicated in-house, and the lessons learned from this journey. Attendees gained insights into balancing custom solutions with CCMS functionalities, highlighting the importance of content management, collaboration, and continuous integration within technical documentation processes.
We were also able to see some of the key elements that a CCMS delivers, that Software AG had to make a compromise on, including link, terminology and taxonomy management. The lesson being: don't try to mimic a CCMS, always evaluate a CCMS against the hard requirements you have, and if you will in all cases need in-house expertise to manage whatever the path you choose to follow.
The Role of InfoOps in Enterprise Information Management
The Power of Information Operations in an Enterprise: A panel discussion featuring experts from diverse backgrounds, including Laura Katajisto, Hanna Heinonen, Katy Greatrex, and Indi Liepa, focused on the transformative role of Information Operations (InfoOps) in bridging silos within organizations. The panelists shared real-world experiences to illustrate how InfoOps can facilitate better collaboration across departments, enhance content personalization, and integrate novel technologies with DITA and structured information. This session underscored the significance of InfoOps in achieving coherent, efficient, and innovative information management strategies.
From Technical Writing to Thought Leadership with Flare
Flare Users NasDaq: Norah Helena Strand and Karen Ware
Nasdaq's technical writing team shared their journey towards establishing a Center of Excellence in technical communication. The session highlighted the digital transformation of their work, emphasizing the transition from traditional documentation roles to leading innovation through frameworks, information excellence, and cross-functional collaboration. The Nasdaq team's experience provided a roadmap for others aiming to elevate their technical documentation practices, showcasing the power of strategic vision, team engagement, and customer-centric solutions in driving organizational change.
3 Days of Learning and Connections
DITA Europe Conference was not just about sharing knowledge and best practices; it was a celebration of the community's collective wisdom and the evolving landscape of technical communication. As we navigated through sessions ranging from strategic implementations to the intricacies of content management and localization, the conference was a testament to the vibrant future of DITA and its pivotal role in shaping the future of information management.
A Roaring Success
After a gap year, CIDM returned to the Nordics with DITA Europe in Helsinki. Attendance this year surpassed all ComTech Services’ expectations. IXIA CCMS users were well represented on the speakers’ side with three main talks: Varian – A Siemens Healthineers Company, on localization and the challenges caused by reuse, Metso with their journey to a full DITA CCMS deployment, and Infineon, on reusing metadata and content from other tools and into the CCMS.
As Robert Bredlau, VP of Sales on the MadCap IXIA CCMS team, says “This event was a huge success. The number of attendees also highlighted the significance of structured content and DITA. It's safe to say that structured content is more relevant than ever before.”
