Just in Time Documentation

Increasingly, timeframes for producing documentation and training for computer software are diminishing--often due to new software development methodologies driving rapid development and change. Open source software development is one of these methodologies that democratizes the development process, in that anyone can make a change to open source code. Erik Berglund, in his paper "Open-Source Documentation: In Search of User-Driven, Just-in-Time Writing" suggests that a similar democratic process can and should be applied to documentation development. The result, he believes, will be faster development with a focus on the questions that users want the answers to NOW! Read the article at http://xml.coverpages.org/DITA-Berglund2001.pdf.

My one reservation about the article is Erik's emphasis on using single-source solutions with authoring languages such as XML and HTML. Single source solutions apply in corporations that have committed considerable resources to single source, but many have not and will not. A key requirement of the open source model is building a critical mass of users that are willing to contribute content. Requiring knowledge of authoring languages seriously reduces that base.

I believe using wiki and similar technologies that require no programming experience will truly democratize documentation and help establish the critical mass needed. --David Orr