XML Marks the Spot

Eric Freese

Gilbane 2010

May 19, 2010

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Aptara – Background

Inception 1988

Locations 8 global locations

Headquartered in Falls Church, VA

Ownership Owned by American Capital, Bethesda, MD (a $13 billion private equity)

Aptara has been growing and profitable every year since inception

Employees 4,000

Recognized Brand Largest player in content transformation space. Partner to 8 of the top 10 publishers

4 million first pass pages produced in 2009, 54 million pages converted / digitized in 2009

Winner of Brandon Hall Awards in 2008 and 2009 for Media Technology.

Key Services

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XML

XContent

Creation

XContent Managem

ent

XEditorial

XPublishing

Why XML?

Vendor agnostic Format agnostic Application agnostic Ability to mark up structure AND content Allows your industry’s or your own terms and buzzwords

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Where is the Spot?

Depends on individual processes and goals No single correct spot for everyone Some organizations may define different sweet spots for

different products

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XML Authoring

Relieves authors from worrying about formatting Provides maximum flexibility as far upstream as

possible Facilitates easier reuse of components Ensure validity early in the process New tools allow XML authoring without seeing angle

brackets

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XML Content Management

Components rather than documents Documents are chunked and chunks managed as units

Facilitates version management and control Allows easier re-purposing of content

Case Study: Wiley & Sons Wiley Custom Select Allows educators to create custom materials Can use Wiley materials and add their own Can define their own order

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XML Editorial Workflow

Input can be anything Converted to XML for editorial/production

Reduces review and production time Our experience has shown upwards of 45% savings in cost and time

Case study: PXE An online authoring and content processing tool Designed to extend the benefits of structured composition to subject matter

experts without forcing them into an unfamiliar and restrictive environment Collaborative Authoring and revision system supporting a full end-to-end

workflow

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Multi-channel Publishing

Single XML source – Multiple output Print Web eBooks Apps

XML editorial master Stylesheets to convert to different markup or provide

presentation

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Semantic Markup

Identify content in addition to structure Enable enhanced capabilities

Index/glossary Interactivity

Case Studies: Test prep publisher Travel guide publisher

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Questions?

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