Swinburne University of Technology - Melbourne Australia
Future Students - Courses
Duration
Contact Hours
Campus
Prerequisite
Corequisite
1 Semester
3 Hours per Week
Hawthorn
Students who are not native speakers of English should have a knowledge of English equivalent to level 7 in the IELTS test across all bands. Students are advised that it is preferable for them to have completed HATC410, HATC411, HATC412 and HATC413 before attempting this unit.
Nil
Credit Points: 12.5 Credit Points
A core unit of study in the Graduate Diploma of Social Science (Technical Communication).
Aims This subject aims to help students understand why structured authoring helps organisations to meet their objectives. It also aims to teach them how to start, design, manage and work on a structured authoring project. This means that they will have the both technical skills to do this and the understanding of the underlying theory, so that they can create useful, usable DocBook and DITA materials. Objectives On completing this unit, students will be able to: • Define the purpose of structured authoring, and describe the origins of the principal documentation XML schemas, and their advantages and disadvantages • Describe the principal elements of DocBook and DITA schemas • Debate and analyse the arguments for single-sourcing • Create a plan and outline for a typical documentation suite to be produced using structured authoring techniques • Write procedures in DITA and DocBook formats • Transform DITA or DocBook content into PDF, XHTML and HTML Help formats through software tools.
Aims This subject aims to help students understand why structured authoring helps organisations to meet their objectives. It also aims to teach them how to start, design, manage and work on a structured authoring project. This means that they will have the both technical skills to do this and the understanding of the underlying theory, so that they can create useful, usable DocBook and DITA materials.
Objectives On completing this unit, students will be able to: • Define the purpose of structured authoring, and describe the origins of the principal documentation XML schemas, and their advantages and disadvantages • Describe the principal elements of DocBook and DITA schemas • Debate and analyse the arguments for single-sourcing • Create a plan and outline for a typical documentation suite to be produced using structured authoring techniques • Write procedures in DITA and DocBook formats • Transform DITA or DocBook content into PDF, XHTML and HTML Help formats through software tools.
Lectures, seminars, self-study exercises, computer laboratory work, group discussions
Class participation, assignments, examination
On completion of this unit students will be more: capable in their chosen professional areas; adaptable and able to manage change; and aware of local and international environments.
Content: The unit covers the following content areas: • Narrative, linear authoring and semantic structured authoring paradigms • Principles of XML • Elements of XML • Principles of XHTML • DocBook, DITA and MAML as XML Schemas • Authoring Tools • Structured Authoring Workflow • Implications of Structured Authoring for Technical Communication The traditional method of writing documents follows a narrative style, whereas structured authoring adopts a semantic style. Students examine these concepts, before moving to the principles of how to adopt the semantic style using Extensible Markup Language (XML) and the elements of XML technology (including DTD and XSD schemas, XSL-T, XSL-FO, and XML data formats). They explore the concepts of ‘well-formed’ and ‘valid’ documents, evaluate the main structured authoring schemas and explore different authoring tools. Finally, they learn about implementing structured authoring in the workplace, and the implications that this has for technical communication.
Content: The unit covers the following content areas: • Narrative, linear authoring and semantic structured authoring paradigms • Principles of XML • Elements of XML • Principles of XHTML • DocBook, DITA and MAML as XML Schemas • Authoring Tools • Structured Authoring Workflow • Implications of Structured Authoring for Technical Communication
The traditional method of writing documents follows a narrative style, whereas structured authoring adopts a semantic style. Students examine these concepts, before moving to the principles of how to adopt the semantic style using Extensible Markup Language (XML) and the elements of XML technology (including DTD and XSD schemas, XSL-T, XSL-FO, and XML data formats). They explore the concepts of ‘well-formed’ and ‘valid’ documents, evaluate the main structured authoring schemas and explore different authoring tools. Finally, they learn about implementing structured authoring in the workplace, and the implications that this has for technical communication.
Walsh, N., and Muellner, L., DocBook: The Definitive Guide, O'Reilly Publishing, 1999 XML Cover Pages DITA Site <http://xml.coverpages.org/dita.html>
