LEVERAGING
COGNITIVE SCIENCE
TO IMPROVE TOPICBASED AUTHORING
LavaCon 2016
Las Vegas, Nevada
EFFECTIVE TOPIC-BASED AUTHORING
WITH DITA
▪ Information Typing is
truly at the heart of
DITA, yet it is one of
the most poorly
understood concepts
behind creating
effective DITA topics
▪ How DITA can naturally be extended
to accommodate enterprise
content?
▪ How can content be broken down
and organized for better
comprehension?
▪ How can we focus attention on
greater precision with our content
standards?
ROB HANNA
▪ President of Precision Content Authoring
Solutions Inc. and a director of AIIM First
Canadian Chapter
▪ Expert in structured authoring and content
management practices and technology
▪ Instructor at the University of Toronto School of
Continuing Studies – Metadata and Controlled
Vocabularies
DO WE HAVE A PROBLEM THAT NEEDS
SOLVING?
▪ 5,900,000,000 Google searches
per day (who did we ask these
questions of before Google?)
▪ 540,000 words in the English
language – 5 times more than in
Shakespeare’s time
▪ 90% of the world’s data has
been generated in the last 2
years
In the year …
Human knowledge
doubled every…
1900
100 years
1945
25 years
2014
13 months
2020
12 hours
Did you know? Shift Happens 2014 Remix
– YouTube.com
PUT INTO CONTEXT
There is more information in a single issue
of the New York Times than a 17th century
citizen would ever see in their lifetime.
CAN COGNITIVE
COMPUTING SAVE THE DAY?
Perhaps …
CAN WATSON HELP ME USE MY
CONSUMER DEVICES?
WISDOM
OF
CROWDS
No problem!
WHAT ABOUT MASS SPECTROMETERS?
… NOT SO MUCH
Much smaller crowd!
WE NEED STANDARDS
▪ We need INTELLIGENT CONTENT that is
▪ PORTABLE ACROSS SYSTEMS
▪ USEFUL ACROSS APPLICATIONS, and
▪ FINDABLE, USABLE, and REUSABLE
FOUNDATIONS IN XML
A technology platform for Intelligent Content
XML IS
EVERYWHERE
XML defines meaningful data
structures for documents and
data. It is a human-readable file
format used to power
• manufacturing assembly lines
• medical devices
• military applications, and
• many other things.
SEMANTIC MARKUP
▪ Using semantic markup, we can
▪
▪
▪
▪
disambiguate content
search based on meaning
connect to other content, and
reuse or substitute new text.
FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT
DITA …
MEETING 2 SETS OF FUNDAMENTAL NEEDS
Well-structured content helps
The Human Brain
Find
Understand
Use, and
Retain
Technology
Integrate
Search
Process, and
Reuse
ORGANIZING
INFORMATION
LET’S PERFORM
AN EXPERIMENT…
YOUR INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE
EXPERIMENT
1. Put down your pen.
2. Concentrate on the list of 21 words for 20 seconds.
3. When the words disappear, pick up your pen and write down as many
words as you can remember.
4. After one minute, count the number of words you wrote down.
EXPERIMENT #1: MEMORIZATION
How many words can you
memorize in 20 seconds?
OTTOMAN brake lounge stapler
seatbelt hutch alternator wardrobe
calculators scissors ENGINE pedal
dashboard pen tables marker tape
stools starter ruler credenza
COGNITIVE PRINCIPLE: CONSISTENCY
1. Filter out all of the noise
ottoman
brake
calculator
seatbelt
scissors
hutch
dashboard
tape
lounge
stool
engine
alternator
pen
starter
table
ruler
stapler
pedal
wardrobe
marker
credenza
COGNITIVE PRINCIPLE: CHUNKING
2. Break into smaller groupings
ottoman brake table
calculator
dashboard
lounge
seatbelt
scissors
pen
marker
stool
stapler
engine
pedal
wardrobe
hutch
starter
tape ruler credenza
alternator
COGNITIVE PRINCIPLE: RELEVANCE
3. Organize words by similarities
ottoman lounge hutch
tape
scissors
wardrobe table
pen
ruler
stool
credenza
stapler
calculator
marker
alternator pedal dashboard
brake engine seatbelt starter
COGNITIVE PRINCIPLE: LABELLING
4. Classify and label groups
Furniture
ottoman lounge hutch
wardrobe table
stool
Office supplies
tape
scissors
pen
ruler
credenza
Car parts
alternator pedal dashboard
brake engine seatbelt starter
stapler
calculator
marker
THE RESULT
How well did you do?
Furniture
Office supplies
Car parts
automan
stapler
brake
lounge
calculator
seatbelt
hutch
scissors
dashboard
wardrobe
pen
engine
table
marker
alternator
stool
tape
starter
credenza
ruler
pedal
THE FOUR COGNITIVE PRINCIPLES
1. Consistency
3. Relevance
2. Chunking
4. Labeling
EXPERIMENT #2: LET’S TRY THIS AGAIN
Now how many words can you
memorize in 20 seconds?
Vegetables
Computer parts
Instruments
peas
hard drive
violin
endive
sound card
harp
carrots
monitor
piano
spinach
mouse
trumpet
celery
processor
cello
broccoli
flash drive
flute
tomato
keyboard
guitar
FEED THE BRAIN
WHAT IT NEEDS
WHEN IT NEEDS IT
LANGUAGE ARTS
How do you want your information to be perceived?
LEFT AND
RIGHT
HEMISPHERES
OF THE BRAIN
Appealing to creativity or
emotion versus logic
Language Arts for
Personal Response
(LAFPR)
Language Arts
for Information
(LAFI)
LANGUAGE ARTS
Language Arts for Personal
Response (LAFPR)
▪ To emotionally engage the
reader
Language Arts for Information
(LAFI)
▪ Techniques:
▪ Techniques:
▪ narrative style
▪ varied vocabulary & sentence
structure
▪ withholding information
▪ To convey information that
readers need to use
▪ consistent modular structure
▪ concise, direct vocabulary
▪ use of graphics
▪ Writer driven
▪ Reader driven
▪ Meant to be READ
▪ Meant to be USED
IKEA INSTRUCTIONS: LAFI
IKEA INSTRUCTIONS: LAFPR
▪ If novelist Michael Ondaatje wrote Ikea instructions ….
“The eel-shaped talisman squirms inside the raspy recycled box.
A series of quarter turns – clock hands marking time – bonds
back to base. An alphabet of connections in English and French.
A into groove B. C slots into D. Chipboard credenza
communicating Swedish hegemony.”
▪ Author/parodist: Geoff Thomas
Globe & Mail, August 27, 2009
COMPARE
Resume
Cover Letter
▪ Information intended to
be scanned
▪ Information intended to be read
by the hiring manager
▪ Not addressed to anyone
▪ Addressed to the hiring manager
▪ Parsed into HR database
▪ Placed in a file
▪ Distinct appearance
▪ Looks like any other letter
INFORMATION TYPES
What are they good for
DITA INFORMATION TYPES
What are my
engine
specifications?
How do I
change the
spark plugs?
What is a traction
control system?
Concept
Task
Reference
TOPICS MODELLED BY FUNCTION
▪ Topic types are determined by the desired user response for
the information
▪ Types are based on how users read, comprehend, and recall
information
▪ REFERENCE topics are used when the reader needs to KNOW
something
▪ TASK topics are used when the reader needs to DO something, and
▪ CONCEPT topics are used when the reader needs to UNDERSTAND
something.
MAPPING
HUMAN
MEMORY
FUNCTION
• Procedural
• Working
• Semantic
Budson and Price,
2005, New England
Journal of Medicine
TASK TOPICS AND PROCEDURAL
MEMORY
▪ Procedural memory is the most
accessible and robust type of
memory we have
▪ By separating task information
from other types of information,
we can make it easier and more
efficient to comprehend and
retain task information
REFERENCE TOPICS AND WORKING
MEMORY
▪ Working memory is our shortterm, rapid-access memory we
use to hold facts as needed to
complete a task or further
understanding
▪ Reference topics are intended to
organize and present
information as and when the
reader needs it
CONCEPT TOPICS AND SEMANTIC
MEMORY
▪ Semantic memory is declarative
memory used to store
conceptual information that is
not based on experience but
from understanding
▪ Concept topics represent the
highest cognitive loading for the
brain as the reader is being
asked to compare and evaluate
information based on what the
reader already knows
A NEW CONTENT STANDARD
FOR THE ENTERPRISE
Introducing Precision Content®
It’s fun and anyone can do it!
CONTENT STANDARDS FOR THE
ENTERPRISE
▪ OASIS - DITA Enterprise Business Documents Subcommittee
▪ Established in 2007 by Ann Rockley and Michael Boses
▪ To develop and recommend guidance for organizations that intend to adopt DITA
for enterprise business documents.
▪ Wrapped up in 2012
▪ The subcommittee examined several models for business documents
▪ One of the models examined was the Information Mapping® model
developed by Robert Horn in the 1960s
▪ The subcommittee did not forward any formal proposals for adoption
FINDING BALANCE
DITA/XML is…
Information Mapping® is…
▪ An agnostic structured
framework for technical
communication
▪ An agnostic structured authoring
methodology for the enterprise
▪ An open standard gaining rapid
adoption
▪ A tested standard with global
reach and decades of research
▪ Extensible across industries
▪ Teachable to any audience or
practitioner
▪ Lacking a consistent, robust
authoring methodology
▪ Lacking modern technology
delivery framework
ENTER PRECISION CONTENT®
▪ The Precision Content methodology leverages the
strengths of structured, topic-based authoring using
XML technology for
▪ Broad-based content collaboration
▪ Robust content lifecycle management
▪ Content classification for rapid retrieval, and
▪ Multi-channel publishing.
Human Factors
Engineering
Programmed
Learning
Instructional
Systems
Design
Documentation
Writing Research
Message
Design
Cognitive
Psychology
A NEW WAY OF
THINKING ABOUT
CONTENT
Precision Content® is like software for the brain
Task Topic
TOPICS AND BLOCKS
▪ Precision Content
focuses writing at the
block-level within topics
▪ The Primary Block
supports the title of the
topic
▪ Every block has an
information type
Task title
Primary Block
Purpose
Blocks
Task body
REFERENCE
Context
PRINCIPLE
Prerequisites
TASK
Steps
PRINCIPLE
Post-requisites
REFERENCE
Result
STRUCTURED BUILDING BLOCKS OF
INFORMATION
ADAPTED DITA TOPIC TYPES AND
STRUCTURES
▪ Concept, task, and reference are
simplified but essentially the same
▪ All topics are authored using blocks and
titles
▪ New sub-blocks introduced
▪ Each block is assigned an information
type
NEW PRECISION CONTENT TOPIC TYPES
Process
Principle
▪ Specialized from Task
▪ Specialized from Topic
▪ Introduces
▪ Introduces
▪ Stages
▪ Principle Statement
▪ Actors, and
▪ Applicability
▪ Actions
▪ Outcome, and
▪ Resolution
PRECISION CONTENT TYPES LISTED BY
FUNCTION
▪ Reference
▪ DESCRIBES things the reader needs
to KNOW
▪ Task
▪ INSTRUCTS the reader HOW TO DO
things
▪ Concept
▪ EXPLAINS things the reader needs
to UNDERSTAND
▪ Process
▪ DEMONSTRATES to the reader how
things WORK, and
▪ Principle
▪ ADVISES the reader about what
they need TO DO or NOT DO and
WHEN.
INFORMATION
TYPES
Reference
“We will be flying at
an altitude of
35,000 feet.”
Principle
“Always put on your
oxygen mask before
assisting other
passengers.”
Flight safety briefing
Task
“To open the
emergency exit,
look out the
window, pull the
lever, and push out
the exit door.”
Process
“In the event of loss
of cabin pressure,
an oxygen mask will
drop from the
overhead
compartment.”
Concept
“On the left side of the
plane you can see a
typical example of a
cumulonimbus cloud.”
INFORMATION TYPE
EXAMPLES
If the goal of the information is to …
Then use the
information type …
• list the nutritional facts for Cherry Cola
Reference
• explain what a soft drink is
Concept
• warn you not to drop a Mentos in your Cola bottle
Principle
• illustrate how Cola is bottled
Process
• instruct you on how to safely open your can of Cola
Task
• advise you on the best practices for recycling cans
Principle
• tell the customer this week’s sale price for Cola
Reference
• show you how you can turn your Cola can into a nifty craft project Task
INFORMATION TYPES INFORM WRITING
STYLE
▪ How topics and blocks are titled
▪ Block and topic construction
▪ Proper voice and tense
▪ Specific authoring models
▪ Rules for primary blocks/short descriptions
WRITING RULES BASED ON TYPE
Information Type
Reference
Process
Concept
Task
Principle
Writing Style
3rd person
3rd person
3rd person
2nd person
2nd person
Writing Tense
Present/past/future tense
Present tense
Present tense
Present tense
Present/future tense
WRITING EFFECTIVE TITLES FOR BLOCKS
AND TOPICS
▪ Reference topic and block titles
▪ What is it about and what about
what its about?
▪ “Bent or damaged needles”
▪ Concept topic and block titles
▪ The term being defined in plural
form when possible
▪ “SSRI inhibitors”
▪ Task topic and block titles
▪ Command, 2nd person active-voice
▪ “Dress the wound”
▪ Process topic and block titles
▪ Activity described in gerund form
▪ “Admitting elderly patients”
▪ Principle topic and block titles
▪ Should convey the weight of the
principle such as caution or guide
▪ “Danger due to needle stick”
DOES IT ACTUALLY
WORK?
EXCERPT FROM A MEDICAL
JOURNAL...
▪ pN3 description only closely
mirrors descriptions for pN3a
+pN3b + pN3c
▪ Use of footnotes confusing
▪ “Clinically detected” and “Not
clinically detected” are not
exact opposites, and
▪ Inconsistent enumeration of
lymph nodes
SAME CONTENT AFTER APPLYING PRECISION
CONTENT TECHNIQUES
▪ 44.2% reduction in word count
▪ 20% reduction in passive voice
▪ 18.4% increase in Flesch Reading
Ease score
▪ 30% increase in white space
▪ Elimination of footnotes, and
▪ Addition of labels and visual
elements
LEARN MORE
▪ We’re giving away 2
seats to the next
public training class
in Sunnyvale,
California
Walsh, Paul <[email protected]>; Olson, Sonja J
▪ Visit us at Booth #6
and drop your card
to WIN
<[email protected]>; Giesing, Paul
<[email protected]>; O'Leary, Jerry
<[email protected]>; Julian, JasonX
<[email protected]>; Noz Urbina (uc)
<[email protected]>; Rob Hanna
<[email protected]>
THANK YOU
Precision Content Authoring Solutions Inc.
7111 Syntex Dr 3rd Floor Mississauga, Ontario L5N 8C3 Canada
Phone: +1 (289) 290-4337
Fax: +1 (289) 290-4301
Email: [email protected]
www.precisioncontent.com