Christopher Hill has more than 20 years of experience in working in publishing and content management. He started his career as a high school teacher, but moved into the world of corporate training teaching a range of software and XML courses. He has written and conducted many training courses, was a founding employee of one of the first hosted content management systems, and lead the user experience redesign for an enterprise CMS. He now manages the Harmonizer product for Data Conversion Laboratory.

DITA Conversion: DIY vs Outsource? An Oxford Style Debate

Co-presented with: Marianne Calilhanna and Bryan Tipper

Once an organization has determined that DITA XML is the appropriate structure and best approach for managing content, the next decision is “how to get there?”. Often organizations spend more resources vetting tools and various workflows than determining how content is transformed into DITA. Different vendors tout different approaches, making it a challenge to determine what is most cost effective and produces the best results.

Join two of the industry’s leading conversion companies—Data Conversion Laboratory and Stilo—as they debate the merits of DIY conversion and outsourcing conversion. This Oxford style debate starts with an opening statement in which the audience will vote yay or nay in support of the positioning statement. Next, each company will present their position based on their industry experience. Audience participation is encouraged and will allow the debaters to respond and clarify their position. At the end of the respectful and well-mannered debate, audience members vote again, and results will be shared in real-time.

In this session attendees will learn:

• Understand the decision-making process involved in selecting a content management approach, specifically focusing on the transition to DITA XML.
• Evaluate the factors that influence the choice between DIY conversion and outsourcing conversion when transitioning to DITA XML, including cost-effectiveness and quality of results.
• Analyze the arguments presented by industry experts from Data Conversion Laboratory and Stilo regarding DIY conversion versus outsourcing conversion, and critically assess the merits of each approach in the context of organizational needs and goals