Getting XML from a Non-XML Workforce

Since the early days of SGML, it has been necessary for authors or editors to be intimate with angle brackets in order to produce compliant, valuable content. With the explosion in popularity of XML and the resulting growth in better and more user-friendly tools, it is now possible - if arguably not optimal - to have users create XML without ever seeing tags.

Simultaneously, publishers often face a perplexing contradiction: understanding and wanting the positive benefits of XML, but not wanting to disrupt a workflow process that was built, perfected over time, and has cultural roots in making pretty pages. The news is getting better for these publishers, as the growth of tools and slight cultural changes have led to increased optimism when it comes to creating XML. What was once unthinkable now seems possible, as long as publishers proceed carefully.

Cultural ramifications should not be underestimated here. Publishing houses have deep roots in the process of making pages, and some organizations are simply not equipped to handle the sea change that is XML markup. The simple truth that "our people just can't do this" has been a barrier to entry for many publishers, opting instead for post-production conversion of content into XML. When the financial and time-to-market disadvantages of this approach became apparent, some companies have opted to create a pocket of "Markup Specialists" within an organization to create intelligent data using a small piece of its content. This is an answer for some, but it still does not provide the tangible and intangible benefits of having all content in an XML workflow.

Instead of taking a small subsection of a workforce and immersing them in XML, it is now possible to educate and enroll the vast majority of a production team on the benefits of XML, and set them to work using this new breed of tools. Once this is accomplished, the entire organization can visualize and commit to the perceived "extra work" necessary to produce intelligent content, and the entire organization can reap the benefits. The ideal is a chain reaction that benefits the entire process by having everyone in the organization thinking about markup, and perhaps moving the job of semantic markup "upstream" (or before copyediting) in the production cycle.

Just as in the early days of HTML, when one had to know the angle bracket tags in order to author a web page, one has to be familiar with the angle bracket tags in order to produce XML. But just as user growth caused HTML tools to improve to the point of the user being able to author web pages without ever seeing tags, so too will XML tools improve. Whether it is to the point that the author or editor may never realize that XML is being created is a fair point of disagreement, the merits of which can be argued both ways.

Those who felt left behind before can now feel like part of the markup process, and hone new skills that can increase their worth to the organization. The very good news in all of this is that it is only going to get better. Tools will continue to improve, examples of intelligent use of XML will be more visible, and the culture of publishing will embrace this technology and make it one of its core competencies (see desktop publishing, 1980's).

This talk examines several top-level philosophies, success stories, and failures when introducing a structured environment into a previously unstructured workforce, as well as an assessment at the current best-of-breed tools to help accomplish this goal.