It’s been almost a year since my last post here, and while this post helps remedy that situation, I have some plans for future updates. The lack of recent posts has led to the usual information jackals of the web to request posting stories on this website that have nothing to do with DITA and everything to do with getting better SEO for whatever their lousy product is. I have not been idle over the past year just that my career recently took a slightly different path into Content Systems Management and Artificial Intelligence thanks to my recent work at Teradata. Sadly, my contract there is coming to an end, so I am looking for a new role grounded in Information Architecture / Content Strategy / CCMS Consulting elsewhere. But more on that later, as I want to provide an update on some recent projects, and what I have planned for the next few months that appear here.
Webinar on Developing Content Reuse with AI for Boston DITA Users Group
Back in November, I gave a webinar presentation to the Boston DITA Users Group. It was an update to the popular presentation I did a year ago about converting content from an old Model T car manual into DITA using artificial intelligence. The update talks about my more recent work, going through the same process with a pair of old Studebaker car manuals from the 1950s, determining what the best process is for creating DITA-based shareable content. The webinar for this is freely available from: https://bostondita.org/november_2025.html. I am still working on this project piecemeal, and you can expect a story about it to appear on DITAwriter.com soon.
Presenting at the Spring CIDM Conference in Pittsburgh
Speaking about presentations, my proposal for the next CIDM conference, which is happening in Pittsburgh in mid-April, got accepted. This will be my first in-person talk at a major conference in several years. The title for the presentation is “Dazzling DITA: 20 Years of Technical Writing’s Best ‘OmniGadget'”, and here’s what is planned:
DITA was not the first form of structured technical content. It was also not the first to meet the burgeoning needs of an increasingly online world. But in the past 20 years, it has mostly met the needs of an ever-evolving technical writing community, adapting to meet a number of needs not originally planned for.
Deliver content across any type of platform? Easy. Need a way to easily measure ROI? Check. Require a cheaper and more efficient way to do localization? Done. Is it essential that your content be parsed accurately by your agentic AI? Got it. Presenter and industry consultant Keith Schengili-Roberts has been working with DITA since its release, and he has seen the ways that DITA has evolved to become an “OmniGadget”, morphing to fit requirements it was not originally designed for. Keith will talk about how the flexibility of this technical writing standard has led to its current success, and what may be in store for its future. If you are interested in learning more about how DITA can and has been used, this is the presentation for you.
Much to my surprise, what I thought was a modest presentation proposal landed me a coveted first presentation slot on the first day of the conference, immediately after the keynote. So I will be going up against industry heavyweights like MadCap’s Leigh White, and Virginia Tech’s Carlos Evia Puerto, both of whom are talking on compelling subjects I would be attending myself were it not for the fact that I am presenting at the same time as them. I hope that they are recording these sessions for later viewing!
I am very much looking forward to seeing a lot of my old friends and colleagues at this conference. I hope to see you there!
A Significant Update to the Companies Using DITA Listing
One of the things I have been working on steadily since my conference proposal was accepted has been to update the Companies Using DITA listing, last updated back in November 2024. I have found that the best means to find which companies are using DITA has been to look at the descriptions of the tasks that people post about themselves on LinkedIn. So, I picked up a commercial membership back in December and have been researching there ever since.
What I am hoping to do with this data at the conference is to talk about which industry segments DITA is being used in, where its use is growing and where it is not, and any other insights that the data provides.
Work on this is still very much in process, but at the time of writing, I have another 90+ firms I will be adding to the listing. A lot of work goes into this listing, including information that does not make it to the public page, such as the size of the companies, confirmation of DITA usage, and, where possible, which CCMS is being used, company revenues, etc. I am hoping to publish the update soon, as I need to digest the whole of the data for the presentation in April. Stay tuned!
Do You Need an Information Architect / Content Strategist / CCMS Consultant?
As I mentioned earlier, my contract with Teradata is coming to an end, and I am currently seeking a new role that can make the most of my many talents and long experience. For more information on my qualifications and work history, please visit my LinkedIn page. In addition to 20+ years of working with DITA, first as a Technical Writer, Information Architect, and then later as a Content Strategist, I have worked as a Consultant on Component Content Management Systems (CCMSs), analyzing the technical documentation needs of clients and recommending the CCMS that best fits their needs and budget. More than once, I have worked on migrating content to a new CCMS within a company moving to DITA. More recently, I have worked on Artificial Intelligence-based conversion of unstructured content to DITA and have hands-on experience with several AI technologies and knowledge on how to best optimize the results. I have also managed internationally based teams of technical writers/content strategists. If you have a role that you think I would be interested in, please let me know at keith@ditawriter.com.
Quite the “breath of fresh air” to have found this site. I’ve spent 12 years working with DITA, 4 years of which the company in question used AEM (Adobe Experience Manager), still somewhat in its infancy, but very impressive in many ways.
Recently delved into the the Technical Writer arena after deciding not to bother “retiring” and discovered that the entire arena is a hive of … well, you name it… If anyone around here has any information about the best agencies to use when DITA job-hunting, particularly, but not necessarily exclusively, in Canada, I would appreciate getting to know some names.
You might want to check out the listing of Companies Using DITA. My update to the list (still in progress) currently has 64 Canadian companies that are using DITA. And there are many more firms that have branch locations in this country.
Thank you “Ditawriter. Quite a daunting exercise, but I’m licking my lips!!!!
Sorry folks.. Actually the above figures should read “I’ve spent 9 years working with DITA, 2 years of which the company in question used AEM (Adobe Experience Manager), still somewhat in its infancy, but very impressive in many ways.”
I should add that I am an Engineer (in Canada, the designation is “P. Eng” (Professional Engineer), my having graduated from the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow, Scotland. From my experience this gives me the right to proclaim that I am one of the vast minority of Engineers who can actually write coherently. I will have my little joke…
Seriously folks, I have found personally that having an Engineering background in addition to DITA experience is extremely useful, but I have to add that most agencies (headhunters, etc.) have no clue as to it’s usefulness… As for companies who have adopted DITA for their publishing needs, frankly, I don’t know what to say, except that very few mention the software background on which their publishing is based. Quite a waste of time when it comes to job-searching.