Knowledge IntegrationThe Future of Technical Communication

Tristan Bishop, Sr. Prin. Business Analyst, Symantec Software

May 2010

Symantec• Operates in more than 40 countries• FY 2009 revenue = $6.2 billion (Enterprise=$4.4b, Consumer=$1.8b)

• Over 17,500 Team Members• Revenue by Geography:

– Americas. . . . . . . . . . . . 55%

– EMEA. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30%

– APJ. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15%

• Backs up half of the world’s data

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Agenda

Changing Landscape1

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Required Skills3

Knowledge Integration

The Changing Landscape

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The Changing Landscape

1. Mobile Communications

2. Content: Static to Dynamic

3. Topic-Based Publishing

4. Global Knowledge Requirements

5. Web-Based Support

6. User-Generated Content

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Established content practices are undergoing profound and fundamental changes

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Clarlone, Kadie and Laplante: Gilbane Group, “Multilingual Communications as a Business Imperitive”

Mobile Communications

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Source: “Dr Hamadoun I. Touré, International Telecommunications' Union, Annual Report 2008”

News: Static to Dynamic

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“Every big-city newspaper in the U.S. is either in bankruptcy or will be in bankruptcy in the foreseeable future ... The newspaper industry in the U.S. is over." - Michael Wolff, Vanity Fair, Mar 18, 2010

Navigation: Static to Dynamic

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GPS will grow to

>$70 Billion by 2013

Handsets will have 78%

GPS market share by

2013

RNCOS E-Services Pvt. Ltd, “World GPS Market

Forecast” 2/10

Directories: Static to Dynamic

• Hard-Copy Yellow Pages will lose 39% revenue over next five years

• Directory industry already trained 80% of sales staff to sell interactive products

• Reportlinker, "Say Goodbye to Yellow Pages", July 2008

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Product Content: Static to Dynamic

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“We have to become good at delivering

highly targeted,

‘just in time’ information:

the right bit, at the right time,

to help our reader answer a specific question and get on with a task”

Larry Kunz, SDI – Winner STC President’s Award, 2010

Topic-Based Publishing• Internet caused

fundamental change

• Past = Books; Today = Topics

• Traditional delivery methods are

• OBSOLETE

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We cannot continue blindly producing manuals. Much of what we do as technical writers needs to change to meet the growing reality of communication world-wide.

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Paula R. Stern, WritePoint Documentation Services

Global Knowledge Requirements

• Primary markets saturate• Shareholders still expect

revenue growth • Company enters new

locales • Requires proactive global

knowledge strategy • English = Base language• Automated QA of English

source = maximizes MT

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Web-Based Tech Support• New labor force entrants grew up with web access• They expect web-based support• Phone-based interactions rapidly decreasing• Our profession is KEY to web-based, self-service support• Tech Writers must repurpose manuals as topics for web

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With apologies to Scott Adams

User-Generated Content• Early web = company writes, customer reads• Today’s web = both write (blogs, forums, wiki)

• Tomorrow’s web? = both write and BOTH read (round-trip)

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Technical communicators must now compete with information being generated by the user community.

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Sarah O’Keefe, Scriptorium Publishing Services

Knowledge Integration

We are entering a new era of product content practices. Customers are embraced as part of the content lifecycle.

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Clarlone, Kadie and Laplante: Gilbane Group, “Multilingual Communications as a Business Imperitive”

The Knowledge Integrator

A Knowledge Integrator will partner with other teams across the organization

to gather content that can proactively solve customer issues,

reducing the need for incoming support calls.

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Knowledge Integration

1. Gathering Content

2. Ensuring Accuracy

3. Ensuring Compliance

4. Delivering Repurposed Content

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Technical writers have an opportunity to morph into the social conduit by which companies interact with users

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Louis Marascio, LugIron Software Blog

Gathering Content

Seek key topics we didn’t think to write

1. Review customer comments on published topics

2. Study web search results

3. Monitor Tech Support forums

4. Set up automated Keyword Alerts

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25% of Google search results for the world’s top 20 brands link to user-generated content.

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Aarons, Edwards, & Lanier - "Search Engine Strategies magazine", June 2009

• InfoDev must connect with Dev, QA and Support• Build close relationships• Arrange for rapid cross-checks by SMEs

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Ensuring Accuracy

Ensuring Brand Compliance• Know your corporate branding requirements • Build close relationship with Marketing/Branding • Ensure that repurposed content is compliant

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Delivering Repurposed Content

• Distribute to target customers– Post to online KB

for browsing

– Initiate L10n for key topics

– Push into local installations (Live Update)

– Optimize for mobile viewing

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Required Skills

Why pursue new skills?• Cost Cutting continues (RIFs, Outsourcing)• We need to show measurable business value• Become ready to step into Knowledge Integrator role

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Required Skills

1. Topic-Based Writing

2. XML Publishing

3. Social Media Experience

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Topic-Based Writing Skills• Study best practices for topic-based authoring • Learn industry-standard content models• Study DITA core types (“concept”, “task” and “reference”)

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XML Publishing Skills

• Develop XML publishing skills

• Understand the node hierarchy

• Data - not pages• WYSWIG DTP =

EOL

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XML has won. All major office suites now save their documents in zipped XML by default.

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Elliotte Rusty Harold, Polytechnic University, “XML Predictions: IBM.com” 2/5/08

Social Media Experience• Explore leading Social

Media networks• Create basic user profile

at prominent sites• See new data exchange

methods in action

• Metatags = driving the future of our industry

– Twitter “trending topics”

– Facebook “Open Graph”

– LinkedIn “recommendations”

– Stumbleupon “favorites”

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Conclusion

In Summary• Communication has

changed forever (global and instant)

• Our jobs will never be the same

• We can drive value into our companies by becoming Knowledge Integrators

• We’d be wise to proactively seek any skills we yet need

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SYMANTEC PROPRIETARY/CONFIDENTIAL – INTERNAL USE ONLYCopyright © 2008 Symantec Corporation. All rights reserved.

Thank You!

SYMANTEC PROPRIETARY/CONFIDENTIAL – INTERNAL USE ONLYCopyright © 2008 Symantec Corporation. All rights reserved.

Thank You!

SYMANTEC PROPRIETARY/CONFIDENTIAL – INTERNAL USE ONLYCopyright © 2008 Symantec Corporation. All rights reserved.

Thank You!

Tristan David Bishoptristan_bishop@symantec.com(321) 696-3618Twitter: @KnowledgeBishop