Notes for J.D. Applen and Rudy McDaniel The Rhetorical Nature of XML: Constructing Knowledge in Networked Environments
Key concepts: Asynchronous JavaScript and XML, attribute, ba, boundary objects, Cascading Style Sheets, critical reverse engineering, Darwin Information Typing Architecture, Document Object Model, element, ems, episteme, expansive communication, explicit knowledge, externalization, information ecology, information map, keystone species, metis, principle of convergence, prototype, schema, single sourcing, social construction, symbolic-analyst, tacit knowledge, theorist-practitioner model, use case diagram, XML Document Design Architecture, XML Schema Definition.
Related theorists: Michael Albers, Berners-Lee, Birkerts, Bogost, Bowker, John Seely Brown, Buchanan, Saul Carliner, Locke Carter, Derrida, Duguid, Ellul, Foucault, W.C. Howell, McGann, Michael Hughes, Johnson-Eilola, Kuhn, Nardi, O'Day, Polanyi, Robert Reich, Ann Rockley, Selber, Star, Joe D. Williams.
Preface
Acknowledgements
Introduction:
XML, Knowledge Management, and Rhetoric
Purpose
(1)
The semantic power of XML, coupled with an understanding of knowledge
management and the rhetorical situation, is something that can be
harnessed in order to create more humanistic and compelling
frameworks for information and knowledge exchange.
Chapter
Overviews
(4)
So, while it is important to recognize and understand the intricacies
of knowledge representation through XML, the distributional and
transactional aspects of XML are also important to consider. By
distributional, we mean the function performed by software that
allows XML data to be distributed from one computer to another, or
from a content author to her audience(s) in a computer-mediated
fashion. We use the term transactional to refer to the process by
which XML content is packaged, processed, and transmitted using
collections of logical rules and conditional processing.
Website
1 Knowledge Management and Society: Evaluating the Convergence of
Knowledge and Technology
Chapter Overview
Understanding
Technology and Information
(7)
Expansive communication is
a recursive process that takes the “user, designer, technology and
context” into consideration. Not to see communication technology in
this recursive perspective suggests “technological determinism”
where technology can only be used to send and receive one kind of
message regardless of the needs of the people involved in the process
(Johnson-Eilola and Selber 121).
(7) If technical communicators do
not understand this and continue to document practices as mere
translators, the ability of the user to employ the technology in an
expansionist sense will be undermined (Johnson-Eilola 247).
XML for symbolic-analysts doing critical reverse engineering.
(8) Echoing Robert Reich,
Johnson-Eilola asks
that technical writers work to promote themselves as
“symbolic-analysts” where
their skills include the manipulation of information, which requires
a greater understanding of it in the abstract. . . . We feel that one
way of describing the work of symbolic-analysis is: 1) identifying
what constitutes relevant and meaningful information, 2) breaking
this information down into specific elements, 3) providing names for
these elements, and 4) contextualizing these elements of information
to best meet the rhetorical needs of their audiences. While XML
technology by itself does not perform this work, it does serve as a
robust tool that would allow for the storage and transmission of this
kind of work performed by symbolic-analysts, and we will be
demonstrating this in the chapters that follow.
(8) Michael Hughes
describes how technical writers can
have a greater role in an organization by engaging in “critical
reverse engineering.” . . .
By “critical reverse engineering” a product, the technical
communicator could raise some questions and even challenge some of
the software designer's assumptions. These questions might also
better allow the designer to more clearly explain the design of the
software so it can be better documented for the end user.
(8-9) If
technical communicators are engaged in this kind of process, they
become part of the overall design team that works towards a final
product. . . . This socially constructed knowledge can ultimately
lead to a better product for the consumer, the end user.
(9) Wick
(2000) challenges technical communicators to claim their role in the
knowledge management game by emphasizing their considerable
theoretical understanding of rhetoric and ability to communicate
within, between, and across different sectors of an organization.
Social Construction and Paradigms
(10)
For Kuhn, each
scientific paradigm shared by a scientific community is based on four
socially constructed elements: . . . “symbolic generalizations” .
. . “shared commitments” . . . “shared values” . . . “shared
examplars.”
(11) However, Kuhn draws our attention to these
elements above as they often go unchallenged, thus producing an
invisible set of practices that channel they way scientists
think.
(11) Normal science gets in the way when we cling to it and
fail to realize that from time to time we are going to have to
reexamine our assumptions and modify our theoretical
approaches.
(11-12) Similarly, the writers cited in the first
section of this chapter ask technical writers to examine the
unchallenged assumptions they adhere to as they use communication
tools and methods of documentation that explain communication
technologies and products to others. For example, Self and Self have
suggested that IBM's DOS system leads us to believe that hierarchical
ways of organizing knowledge are better than more intuitive methods.
. . . If technical writers assume the role of symbolic-analytic
workers, they can better understand how what they are told to believe
is true is in fact a social construction.
Social construction examples of DOS hierarchy and Microsoft business practices influencing technical tools, beliefs about them, and relationship to tacit knowledge.
(12) Analogously, communication professionals should know how the business practices of Microsoft executives have allowed their Windows operating system and applications to gain a near monopoly as the tools used in government, education, and industry, and why they are now the primary tools used by technical communicators. They should also understand how tacit knowledge can be either captured or excluded by these tools.
Tacit Knowledge
(13)
Michael Polanyi believes
that much of the valuable knowledge we possess is tacit knowledge,
which is a kind of knowledge that we cannot really convey to others
in totality and perhaps it is a kind of knowledge we take for
granted.
(13) Tacit knowledge comes about from the process of
indwelling, where we engage ourselves in a problem and cull from
large body of information and sensory stimuli what we feel we need to
know about it.
(13) Metis is
that type of knowledge that is constantly shifting and ambiguous, a
knoweldge that comes from a source that is not readily
identifiable.
(14) As an instance of metis in action, Baumard
cites the Intelligence
Newsletter, which has
published “difficult-to-obtain insights” about the world of
espionage. Without the resources of the CIA, this small French
publication bases its research on a careful examination of major
newspapers and press releases from government officials throughout
the world.
Knowledge Management
(15)
The concept of ba [of
Von Krogh, Ichijo, and Nonaka] unifies mental, virtual, and physical
spaces and differs from “ordinary” interactions in that it allows
for the potential generating “individual and or collective
knowledge creation.”
(15) One of the key features of an enabling
context is that a non-competitive atmosphere is created.
Knowledge Creation
(16)
They [Nonaka and Takeuchi] discuss four different kinds of knowledge
transfer: tacit knowledge to tacit knowledge through socialization,
tacit knowledge to explicit knowledge through externalization,
explicit knowledge to explicit knowledge through combination, and
explicit knowledge to tacit knowledge through internalization.
Tacit Knowledge to Tacit Knowledge by Socialization
(16)
Experience is how we acquire tacit knowledge, and socialization is
the process by which we pass on ideas or shared mental constructs and
technical know-how.
Tacit Knowledge to Explicit Knowledge by Externalization
(17)
Externalization is where we take the tacit knowledge that we possess
and convert it into explicit forms that are expressed in forms such
as metaphors, concepts, and models. Perhaps the most common method of
externalization is writing.
(18) Both deductive and inductive
reasoning methods can inform this process of externalization.
(19)
Much of tacit knowledge can be turned into explicit knowledge through
the use of figurative language such as analogies and metaphors, and
Nonaka and Takeuchi see the progression from metaphor to analogy to a
model as the most effective way to achieve this.
Explicit Knowledge to Explicit Knowledge by Combination
(20)
Taking explicit knowledge—knowledge that is already known and
written down or recorded in some other way—and reconfiguring it for
different purposes into other forms of explicit knowledge so it can
be more readily used, is what Nonaka and Takeuchi refer to as
combination.
Explicit Knowledge to Tacit Knowledge by Internalization
(21)
To enable an organization to have the most robust knowledge
management culture, all tacit knowledge gained and that which resides
in people needs to be passed on to others through internalization.
Technical Communication and Knowledge
Learning progresses from tacit ignorance, explicit ignorance, explicit knowledge, reaching tacit knowledge; technical communicator must harvest information from SMEs to explain for beginners.
(22) There are four major states in
the learning process according to [W.C.] Howell:
“Unconscious incompetence” . . . “Consicous incompetence”. .
. “Conscious competence” . . . “Unconscious competence.”
(22)
At one end of the spectrum, tacit ignorance, we have some end users
or customers who buy products who do not even know where to start
learning about something or what really needs to be known, and
technical writers are often challenged to derive information from
experts who are at the other end of the spectrum, tacit knowledge,
who really know how to do something, but really do not understand
that they know this. These subject matter experts just take it for
granted that what they know is simple and that everyone else knows
it, and it is the job of technical communicators to harvest this
information and explain it for beginners.
(23) In this last
example, Hughes suggests that if technical communicators produce a
style template for documenting knowledge, this template can be
adopted by other members in the organization who are not technical
communicators.
Deploying Knowledge Management: Intranets and Extranets
(23)
An intranet can be likened to an Internet that is deployed within an
organization.
(23) An extranet is an intranet that has its
protective firewall set up so some people who are not organization
members have access to some or all of the content on the
corporation's interanet.
Corporate-Wide KM Systems
Information Ecology
(26)
In their book Information
Ecology, Nardi
and O'Day expand
this concept into complex systems of information in a way to frame
the relationship between people with different skills, technology,
values, and the individual human relationships that people have with
the IT they use every day. What is key here is that all of these
elements have an effect on the uses of technology and that they
cannot be studied independently to understand how an ecosystem of
information functions.
(26) The use of the word tool for a
technology is important as it challenges designers of the tools to
imagine how the end users might use them when they design them.
(27)
Nardi and O'Day point out some of the concerns of Jacques Ellul,
who is troubled by the institution of technology.
Subjectivity
diminished in network environment according to Birkerts.
(27)
Birkerts has posited
the idea that individual subjectivity, being aware of ourselves and
our thinking relative to others, is diminished in this kind of
network environment.
Teachers of new technology are keystone species in information ecology; many connections to other entities.
(28) The metaphor of information
ecology asks that we see that everyone in a system is of value, but
there are certain keystone species that are needed to make the system
work. One example of a keystone species,
according to Nardi and O'Day, would be the teachers who train
employees how to use a newly implemented technology.
(28) Buchanan
further refines the notion of
keystone species by noting that they are usually connected to many of
the other entities in an ecosystem.
(29) When contrasted to the
often used term “community,” Nardi and O'Day assert that the
ecological metaphor allows them to better illustrate how a technology
is employed in an organization.
(30) The going back and forth from
client to search technologies, and then back to the client,
exemplifies how the information ecology of these organizations
works.
(31) Chun Wei Choo describes in greater detail the process
through which information professionals can work with subject matter
experts to assist in adding to the knowledge of an organization.
Information and its Integration into Social Systems
(33)
Echoing Nardi and O'Day, Brown and
Duguid are interested
not so much in the growth of technology, but rather ask that we pay
more attention to how technology is deployed in its social context
before we design it, thus making it more useful.
(35) Brown and
Duguid see the shift from an information economy to a knowledge
economy as one that is a shift towards people or knowers, something
from which the process model of business, in seeking greater
efficiency, was moving away from.
(35) Several Xerox engineers
worked to implement a database system, the Eureka project, which
sought to expand the best practices developed by the technicians in
their local communities.
(36) If the tip was deemed of value, the
validator worked with the technician to make sure that all the
relevant information was captured and explained properly (Bobrow and
Whalen 51). In the following chapters, we will reveal how
communication professionals can construct document type definitions
(DTDs) and schema, both essential XML technologies, so that data
entered into a content management system (CMS) better meets specific
and valid standards.
(37) Following this success, Eureka II was
implemented, which was a worldwide deployment of this system via the
Internet.
Discussion Questions
References
2 Introduction to XML
A Primer on the eXtensible Markup Language
Chapter Overview
The Value of XML
(41)
Essentially, when one is using HTML, one is acting like a typesetter
and layout artist of traditional printing mediums like newspapers,
books, posters, and pamphlets.
(41) The other great thing about
HTML is the way it allows us to make links from one document to
another document with such ease.
Detailed
introduction to XML resembling tutorial marks push for humanities
scholarship towards technical competence, beginning with
differentiation between HTML and XML.
(42)
Unlike HTML, XML allows us to design our own markup tags. . . . XML
is about designating content, and HTML is about how that content is
to be arranged and how it looks
XML Declarations
(43) You
should start an XML document with an XML declaration.
Elements
(43) Elements
are the basic coding units for XML documents. An element consists of
tags that describe the actual information itself.
Organizing Elements
Root Elements and Hierarchies of Elements
(44)
XML is written in a tree form where there is a hierarchy of elements
with some elements nested within other elements.
Writing Comments
Text Editors
XML Parsers
Other Software for Displaying XML
Writing and Viewing an XML Document
Using Attributes in Elements
(48)
We can even give our elements greater specificity by adding
attributes within an element.
(49) One advantage of doing this is
that we can reduce the complexity of our element tree.
(50) As a
general rule, attributes are best for self-referencing metadata, or
metadata about particular elements.
Empty Elements
(50) Empty
elements are used when you want to include information that does not
have any text between the element tags but still needs to be included
in the XML code to make it valid.
Special Symbols
DTDs
(52) When the
organization of your XML elements conforms to the structure of the
DTD you or someone else defined, it is considered “valid.” . . .
To be well formed, an XML coded document needs to conform to the
basic syntactic rules of element design that we have already
described.
(52) Valid XML code contains all the designated
elements in the order required by the DTD. It forbids tagged elements
that are not declared in the DTD, and a DTD describes the
hierarchical structure that XML elements must adhere to so it can be
read by an XML parser.
(53) DTDs declare
which elements must be in a
document and the order in which these tags need to be embedded inside
one another.
Rules for Designing DTDs
(55)
In the lines of the DTD above that do not have (#PCDATA) included,
textual information cannot be included; these lines only describe how
elements should be organized.
Combining Document Type Declarations, Document Type Definitions, and XML Coded Information
External DTDs
External DTDs on a Website Server
External DTD formation a type of procedural rhetoric, as is use of fixed XML attributes.
(61) The advantage of this external file approach is that you can have easy access to the DTD, and anyone who might also be working with you can access this DTD by just referring to a website where it was stored. We have already pointed out that making a DTD available to a group of people allows for an organization to have a model for a well-designed document.
Including Simple Attributes and Attributes with Unique Values
Another procedural rhetoric.
(64) Additional uses of fixed attributes might include XML code written for a company intranet that would state the name of the company and/or the division within the company.
Defining Attributes with Unique Values using ID Attributes
(66)
Relational database systems handle to potential problems of data
duplication by using what they define as a “primary key” for each
individual row or record in a database. In XML, we can use a similar
approach. To do this, we would add “ID” to reference a particular
value that we do not want to repeat in the database, one that is
unique.
IDREF Attributes
(68)
IDREF attributes allow us to see metadata of some of the
relationships that might not show up in the tree structure when we
view the document through XML software.
Namespaces
(72) To
declare a namespace, we need to start with the xmlns attribute which
is easy to remember as the “ns” stands for “namespace.” Then
we give it a value with a Uniform Resource Indicator (URI). The
convention is to use the Uniform Resource Locator (URL) of the
organization for this as it is convenient and we can be sure that
there is only one of them.
Entities
Internal General Entities
(75)
The value of this technique (using entities) is that it allows us to
more easily represent information that needs to show up on every
document.
External General Entities
(76)
The power of XML in part derives from the fact that XML documents can
be coded in such a way where we can select from many different files
that might be in one or more databases to produce a larger document
composed of these files. This is one of the real values of XML; we
can build from external general entities.
DTDs for Documents with General Entities
Document Type Declaration
Using an External DTD and External Entities on a Website
(86)
The advantage of this practice is that it allows members of a large
organization to share and extract or point to DTDs and entities with
greater ease.
(88) If we had a long list of entities or DTDs that
were stored in our hard drives or on an external server, we could
pick and choose just what modules we would need to produce a specific
document for our needs. This shows how entities can be employed by
technical communicators who are drawing from previously written
documents, a practice known as single sourcing.
Parsed and Unparsed Entities
Activities
Works Consulted
3 Semantics and Classification Systems
Single Sourcing and
Methods for Knowledge Managers
Chapter Overview
(95)
In this chapter, we will explain how communication professionals can
apply theories of semantics to better describe how we can name and
arrange XML elements relative to one another.
The Semantic Web
(96) But
we could have an even more robust Semantic Web if we included
specific metadata that better allowed for more precise and far
reaching searches into the databases of organizations that were
willing to make their information accessible.
(96) Berners-Lee
sees XML as the universal coding
language that allows us to search for XML-tagged information based on
the semantics used to tag the information, tags such as
<barometric_pressure>.
Importance of rhetorical choices about naming and arranging.
(97) It is not just about the technologies; it is about how humans make rhetorical choices about naming and arranging the things they named between each other.
Classification Systems
(98)
They [cognitive scientists] have created their own term—schema—to
apply to this type of template-based model of knowledge storage.
Prototype theory follows this same idea. . . . The decisions we make
when we design classification systems are often based on
prototypes.
(99) Language neatly parses or arranges the universe
in a way that gives us the feeling of control over it. Foucault
thus sees language as a repressive
institution that keeps us from understanding all the things that it
cannot adequately convey given its present net of words and the
syntactical structures that arrange these words into identifiable
constructs of meaning.
(99) All structures of thought—myth,
religion, science, philosophy—rely on the ability of language to
name and order things. These structures of thought are based on what
Foucault calls an “episteme,”
the prevailing foundation of language or discourse that propels the
“thinking” of an age and extends this foundation into other
systems of order.
(100) In conventional terms, an ideal
classification is a “spatial, temporal, or spatio-temporal
segmentation of the world” that arranges information according to
the following criteria (Bowker and Star 10,11): 1. The rules of
classification are consistent. . . . 2. There is no overlap between
separate categories. . . . 3. A system of classification is designed
to cover everything.
The ICD
(102-103)
Classification schemes that have this effect are invisible systems
that do not draw attention to their subjective nature because their
description of reality is more likely to become uncritically accepted
as “true,” but it might exclude ideas that are also of
value.
(104) In contrast to the examples above where one group of
stakeholders insist on one way of classifying or naming something for
their epidemiological or political needs, the creation of boundary
objects, objects classified
under different categorical headings, enables different communities
of stakeholders to use the same piece of data for their own specific
purposes (Star “Structure” 50).
(104) Designation or naming
practices also contribute to the spin inherent in invisible
systems.
(105-106) Bowker and
Star refer to these
sorting and classifying phenomena as the principle of
convergence, the “double
process by which information artifacts and social worlds are fitted
to each other and come together,” or converge (82). . . . This
concept of convergence can be likened to Thomas Kuhn's theories about
how the language of science comes into being and shapes the discourse
scientists use to explain their ideas and understand nature.
(106)
1. . . To be effective we need to allow for some “ambiguity” in
our designations.
(106) 2. It is important to be aware of
“residual” categories, categories that are often referred to in
classification schemes as “other.”
(106) 3. We need to
remember who initially contributed to the system and what might have
been some of the initial uncertainties, political tensions, and
tradeoffs that went in to them.
(107) The physical repositories of
information and data entry artifacts of infrastructures—the
hardware, software, GUIs, ledgers, and forms—channel the values and
philosophies of organizations.
(107) For an infrastructure to
work, it must foster a sense of a democratic community of producers
and consumers of information. For this to happen, the minimum
technical threshold for its use must be acquired and within the
abilities of the audiences who will be asked to use them (Star and
Ruhleder 125).
(107) A classification strategy tells a story that
identifies its architect(s). Likewise the genres of organization
communication indicate the organizing practices of the individuals
who use them.
Single Sourcing
(108)
Single sourcing is the practice of using one document for different
outputs.
Paradigm shift from document-centered to object-oriented conception of information, demonstrated by four levels of single sourcing.
(109) This paradigm shift means
that we are getting away from thinking about single sourcing as
cutting and pasting from legacy documents that have already been in
use before. Instead, we are moving from a document-centered to and
object-oriented way of thinking about information (Williams 321).
Now, information can be coded in XML and thus packaged in modular
elements that reside in databases, like those we discussed in Chapter
2. These elements can be drawn and arranged as needed with the use of
DTDs.
(110) According to [Ann] Rockley,
there are four levels of single sourcing that help illustrate this
paradigm shift. Level one single sourcing, “Identical Content,
Multimedia,” describes the practice of using content from one
medium, say a printed manual, and then taking the same content and
putting it in another medium such as a PDF file or an online Web
page.
(110) Level two single sourcing, “Static Customized
Content,” is the practice of taking single sourced content and then
modifying it for different platforms or audiences.
(111) “Dynamic
Customized Content” describes level three single sourcing. In this
scheme, each user has the content customized for her own needs.
(111)
Level four single sourcing is built on an electronic performance
support system (EPSS) that builds on level three technologies by
providing users with support material such as usage questions and
training manuals that are tailored to their needs “before they know
they need it” (191).
Primary and Secondary Modules
Ament definition lists, glossaries, procedures, processes, topics.
(112) The first step in producing a single-sourced array of content is to identify the specific modules, both primary and secondary, that will constitute the larger document.
Information Product and Element Models
(114)
Rockley uses the phrase “information product model” to describe
the basic features of an organization's document.
(114) “Semantic
information,” according to Rockley, is information that describes
the “specific meaning” of information such as “website address”
or “product description.”
Rockley semantic and generic information.
(115) For Rockley, “generic information” refers to descriptions of information that do not tell us anything about the content of the information like “semantic information” does. Rather, generic information tells us about the information's basic form.
Organizing Knowledge as Knowledge Managers
(118-119)
The knowledge that a healthy organization possesses can be divided
into four categories (Zack 25-7): Declarative . . . Procedural . . .
Causal . . . Relational.
(119) In an attempt to bring together
employees in large organizations with specific skill sets, Microsoft
has employed a “knowledge map” (Davenport and Prusak 75-7).
(121)
Malhotra (“Deciphering”) also asks professionals to recognize the
value of tacit knowledge, human creativity, and imagination.
(121)
We believe that if technical writers and other communication
professionals take on the role of knowledge managers, they need to be
mindful of the way explicit and tacit knowledge is identified and
named within and between different divisions of organizations.
Knowledge Management and Information Science
(122)
XML can then be used to directly support knowledge management
practices, since we can think of knowledge as data with
content.
(122) Information scientists and archivists have
understood for some time that the best way to organize data and
concepts in information storage and retrieval systems (ISARs) is by
indexing and abstracting them.
(124) Moreover, breaking
information down into its elementary parts and then asking themselves
if they are in fact “objects” also challenges professionals to
more critically frame their use of object-oriented languages such as
XML (Price 71).
XDA three layer analysis.
(125) One method for using XML
efficiently is to create an architecture that represents how an
organization does business. To do this, knowledge managers need to
see an XML Document Design Architecture (XDA)
as something that is set up in three layers (Simon 130): a conceptual
layer, a logical layer, and a physical layer.
(125) To develop a
conceptual layer,
knowledge managers need to acquire all of the documents that are
currently in use throughout their organization.
(126) To
understand the logical
layer, knowledge
managers need to determine the data that their documents commonly
contain, and define how these pieces of information can be set in
document data element types.
(126) The physical
layer would consist of
DTDs that the knowledge managers develop. These DTDs would designate
which elements are to be used for each application and how they
relate to one another.
Chapter Summary
Discussion Questions
References
4 The Visual Rhetoric of XML
Using
CSS and XSL to Format and Display XML Projects
Chapter
Overview
(131) CSS is a
style sheet language that is compatible with both HTML and XML, while
XSL is a family of style sheet and transformation languages used
specifically and exclusively the XML data. These languages are
important to understand because they allow one to separate metadata
describing the data itself (or its content)
and the shape that data should take (or its form)
into two different logical files or locations.
(132) The semantic
XML tags describe what
and the CSS and XSL technologies
describe how.
Rhetoric, Imagery, and XML
(133)
At the very minimum, style is an element of electronic rhetoric that
we cannot forget about as it influences everything from how corporate
ethos is presented to how trust is established and maintained with
online consumers.
(134) Knowledge managers must be aware that
visual content is another powerful layer that can be used (or
misused) to communicate with audiences and facilitate information
exchange within an organization.
(134) What is particularly
fascinating about the Scott and Vargas study is that even abstract
images were found to communicate specific features and elicit certain
emotional responses from participants.
(135) Another interesting
rhetorical dimension of visual design is found when considering the
cultural differences of one's audience.
Addressing Visual Complexity
Visual basis of authority learned from web usage; note change from early days of Web 1-0 comparing to attention to visual appearance of print materials (Drucker and McVarish).
(136) Our prior experiences with well-designed and visually appealing websites have trained us to be more willing to engage with and see authority in new online resources with attractive visual styles. For this reason, it is important that we consider some of the supportive visual technologies of XML.
CSS
(136)
CSS are powerful textual documents used for specifying the layout and
formatting of Internet documents. In contrast to XML, which describes
only the data, CSS is used to describe how that data should appear
when rendered in a Web browser.
Using CSS
with HTML
(138-139)
This class definition contains two CSS triplets that are each made up
of a selector, property, and value. In fact, CSS documents are
composed entirely of these triplets, which are collectively referred
to as the “rules” of the document. Each rule specifies how a
given unit of information, such as the color of the font, should be
formatted upon encountering a selector of that type within the
hypertext document.
Hexadecimal
Color Codes and CSS Properties
What
is the ontic status of RGB color: universal, anthropocentric,
culturally specific? Will RGB and 32-bit color be arcane one day,
like primitive art?
(142) The RGB color model used by HTML allows a designer to specify precise combinations of reds, greens, and blues in order to generate millions of different colors (assuming the person viewing your site has a 32-bit video card).
Font
Sizing
(143)
Ems are
textual units that use the size of the surrounding text as a
reference point to adjust the property applied to a selector.
Classes and
Cascading
(147)
This combinatory feature is what makes CSS so powerful. It is the
cascading
part
of CSS.
(147) The important thing to remember is this: any
original properties that are not redefined further downstream will
remain in place when the bottom of the waterfall is reached. Only
subsequent CSS properties applied later in the CSS definition will
alter the appearance and layout of elements already imbued with
formatting instructions. In this way, document-wide consistency can
be maintained at the beginning of the document and further
customization is made possible as sub-selectors, classes, and special
elements pick up their customized and individualized instructions
further down the waterfall, or further down the CSS hierarchy.
Block-Level Elements
Using DIV
and SPAN for Web 2.0 Applications
(149)
DIV and SPAN elements are useful for designing “Web 2.0” XML
applications that continuously refresh the browser in the background,
without explicit instructions from the user.
(150) The framework
which allows this process to happen is referred to as AJAX, or
Asynchronous
JavaScript and XML.
CSS
Positioning
(150)
In order to use positioning in CSS, one must pair the position
property with offset values for left, right, top, or bottom margins.
Using CSS
with XML
(153)
If this video game enthusiast were to encode her video game
collection using XML, she could develop a series of elements such as
GAME, TITLE, DEVELOPER, and GENRE to better classify and organize her
collection by building facets important to her own informational
needs. She could then develop XML tags for these elements along with
an external style sheet named “gamestyle.css” that she could
gradually edit in order to influence how the information looked when
it was retrieved from her XML database and displayed on her computer
screen.
Gradual editing evolving data display by modifying style sheets after initial classification and organization by definition of XML tags; relate to McGann making intellectual discoveries through iterations of structure of archive.
(161) Several rhetorical questions can be generated from this side-by-side comparison [of visual presentations].
XSL
(162)
Although using CSS with XML will work just fine, it is also useful to
learn to use XSL as that technology was developed from the ground up
by the W3C specifically to provide an accompanying style sheet
language for XML.
(162) Unfortunately, the same process in XML is
slightly more cumbersome, if only for the number of acronyms and
abbreviations one must be familiar with in order to implement XML
style sheets: XPath, XPointer, XSL, XSLT, and eXtensible Style Sheet
Language Formatting Objects (XSL-FO) are just a few of the most
important ones we discuss here.
(162) XPATH is a language that is
used to access and describe certain parts of an XML document.
(162)
XSL-FO is to XML what CSS is to HTML. XSL-FO . . . is now simply
known as XSL.
(163) XSLT is perhaps the most powerful subset of
XSL because it deals with transformations.
(164)
We transform XML documents by creating an XSL document that searches
our XML content for patterns and then applies a template to replace
XML tags with HTML tags.
Chapter Summary
Discussion Questions
Activities
References
Additional Online Resources
5
Advanced Concepts in XML
Namespaces, Schemas, XLink, XPath,
XPointer, DITA, and DocBook
Chapter Overview
(174)
DITA [Darwin
Information Typing Architecture]
and DocBook are used for authoring, organizing, and delivering
structured technical information. They operate using DTDs or schema
for validation and are useful in single sourcing applications and for
building CMS.
Chunking information into discrete units using DITA and DocBook represent alternative form of writing that requires developing appropriate rhetorical skills; needs to be distinguished from Bogost unit operations.
(174-175) DITA and DocBook also require authors to chunk information into discrete units; this practice helps to develop the types of rhetorical skills necessary for this alternative form of writing and the technical skills necessary for working in structured writing environments.
Namespaces
(175)
Recognition and collision problems both contribute to a sense of
rhetorical ambiguity in that they obfuscate meaning and complicate
the process of working with combined documents.
Interesting contrast to Derridean play of ambiguities and collision problems that are avoided using namespaces, questions of dissemination for traveling XML documents, and involvement of working groups evolving specific RFC standards for imposing structural constrains on the language.
(176)
Without a means of linking a traveling XML document to its original
starting point, the original context of meaning from which that
document emerged is impossible to recognize.
(177)
In the case of an ambiguous reference, the XML namespace definition
defines the context in which a particular element or attribute
exists.
(177-178) The value of this xmlns attribute will be a URI,
which is defined by The Internet Society Network Working Group in the
RFC 3986 standards document as a sequence of characters that
identifies an online or physical resource.
(178) While these
details are important to document experts working on Internet
technologies or network protocols, most professionals will do well
simply to remember that URI is a more general form of URL, or that a
URL is a more specific instance of a URI that includes a mechanism
for network location.
(178) The W3C Recommendation of August 16,
2006 specifies that XML namespaces are composed of the xmlns
attribute, a namespace prefix, and a URI value.
Ideally, machine readable documentation.
(179) Ideally, a URI would lead to a page with documentation describing the allowable actions a parser can take and the rules it must follow when executing a transformation on an XML database.
Schemas
(179)
The XML Schema Language, also known as the XML Schema
Definition (XSD), provides a
means for describing the structure and required contents for an XML
document.
XSD
uses the same XML syntax to describe data, a sort of reflexivity.
(180) Unlike DTDs, however, schemas are unique in that they are written in the same XML syntax used by the data they describe.
Simple and Complex Types
(180)
XML schemas differentiate between complex types, which are elements
that contain other elements, and simple types, which are elements
that do not contain other elements.
Sequencing
Complex and simple typing and enforcing sequencing imposes structural constraints on XML-based texts (DOMs), supporting or engendering OCHO hypothesis; also apparent that basic XML syntax is based on English, for example minOccurs.
(182) Following this same example, we next use the <xs:sequence> tag to specify the sequential sub-elements (or children) associated with that parent element. These are listed in the order in which they must appear in the XML document.
Enforcing Data Types
Validation using Schema
Cardinality
(185)
Cardinality, or the number of times in which an element may occur, is
enforced using the minOccurs and maxOccurs attributes.
Named Types
(186)
Another powerful feature of XML schemas is found in their ability to
inherit from primitive data types (such as strings) and then extend
these data types into new forms by adding restrictions or additional
parameters.
Schema transformation via XSL represents another inroad for machine cognition into textual tasks performed by humans.
(189) Another useful side benefit of using a native XML format is that XSL transformations can now be applied to schema, making it easy to transform one schema into another or even to display the schema using HTML elements such as tables or lists.
XPath
(188)
XPath refers to the elements and attributes within an XML file as
nodes. . . . In the XPath data model (XDM), there are seven different
inds of nodes that can be used to classify data. These seven types
are called document, element, attribute, comment, namespace, text,
and processing nodes.
(188) In addition to noes, XPath uses
components known as axis specifiers to specify the direction in which
an XML document should be traversed.
(189) This representation of
XML elements in a hierarchical form is also known as the Document
Object Model, or DOM.
Linking in XML
(191)
The XML Linking Language,
or XLink, is a set of standards that defines rules for linking XML
elements. . . . This ability to link to unforeseen document media
types as well as to an enormous amount of existing textual documents
is what makes hypertext so powerful.
Linking in HTML
Relative and Absolute Linking
Linking Images and Multimedia
XLink
(194)
In addition to the simple links supported by HTML, XLink supports
extended links for tying multiple resources together.
(195)
Unfortunately, due to some political problems between XML developers
and XML enthusiasts and problems with backwards compatibility, XLink
has not made as much progress as other associated XML technologies
like XSD and XPath.
Xpointer
(195)
The XML Pointer Language, or XPointer, is a notation system for XML
that is even more specific than XLink. It allows one to access nodes
that may be buried deep within XML databases, using an addressing
system with precise syntax.
(197) XPointer is the equivalent of a
named anchor, but for XML documents.
XLink and XPointer still nascent technology due to cultural, political, and legal issues, including a Sun patent; compare to Engelbart hyperscope.
(200) A 2001 article by Leigh Dodds suggests that a Sun Microsystems patent is partly to blame for the slow implementation of XPointer (online). This legal issue is an excellent example of the complex rhetorical space constantly being negotiated between open source web technologies and large technical corporations.
DocBook and DITA
Overview
(201)
Perhaps most importantly, both technologies have contributed to the
progress of structured writing as a viable communication strategy in
software documentation and technical writing.
(202) One of the
primary benefits of using DocBook or DITA is that you can take
advantage of standardized tags at a more general level while still
having some amount of flexibility and customization available at a
more specific level. Often this is accomplished through inheritance
relationships.
DITA
(203)
The DITA is an XML-based architecture named in part after the famous
natural scientist Charles Darwin. Darwin used many classification
techniques over his long career as a scientist and author of
biological and geological texts. DITA, developed by IBM in early 2001
and originally introduced as a series of technical articles, is used
for writing and managing information using a predefined set of
information structures that are broken down into topic types named
tasks, concepts, and references. . . . Specialization is DITA's
answer to the process of inheritance as it allows one to inherit base
elements and then specify new elements according to particular
informational needs.
(203) An important feature of DITA is the
standardization of XML element names.
(203) Elements within DITA
topics are further specialized into three different types: concepts,
tasks, and references. In each of these data structures, the root
element (formerly named topic) is renamed to concept, task, or
reference.
DITA Maps
(208)
Once a collection of DITA topics has been authored, it is arranged
using a DITA map. DITA maps contain nested lists of topicrefs, which
are links to DITA topics.
DocBook
(208)
DocBook is a validation tool (available in both DTD and schema
format) maintained by the Organization for the Advancement of
Structured Information Standards (OASIS), a not for profit consortium
that is involved with advancing several sets of standards related to
XML and XML languages.
(209) DocBook uses elements and
organizational strategies derived from printed text, so it is a
popular tool for authoring books or documentation projects with
complex content (such as software language manuals or computer
hardware reference books).
(209) The full specification of DocBook
can be overwhelming for beginners. . . . This version, known as the
Simplified DocBook Document Type, contains a smaller number of
elements and was originally designed to have the same number of tags
and the same expressive power as HTML (OASIS online).
(210) Like
DITA, DocBook has numerous XSLT style sheets already created for it,
so translating DocBook documents into other formats such as XHTML or
PDF is common practice.
Chapter Summary
Machine transformations by XSLT connection familiar human textual practices with automation and computer programming, representing a point at which software takes command of language in a very literal sense by replacing pattern matching and transformation operations done by humans in the textual production process, a parallel to the original takeover of basic arithmetic operations by the first nonhuman computers. Example is schema transformation via XSL.
(211) By using such tools as namespaces, schema, XLink, XPath, and XPointer, we are giving computers the same tools for recognition, seeking, searching, and verification that we ourselves use to evaluate the credibility and accessibility of our information sources.
Strategy and justification of programming customer parsers as tutor texts.
(211) To explore the concepts behind XML processing, we will build some basic XML applications using a custom parser written in an open source Internet scripting language. Though this process is more cumbersome than using a prepackaged XML parser, a standard Web browser, or existing validating architectures, such as DocBook or DITA, it ultimately gives the designer even more control and flexibility when using XML for a specific purpose.
Discussion Questions
Activities
References
Additional Online Resources
6
Focused Implementations
Using PHP to Design Custom Parsers for XML
Projects
Chapter Overview
(215)
This chapter discusses XML parsers and then introduces three examples
of XML parsers that can be used to process and act upon particular
XML elements and attributes as they are scanned from a file. The
first and simplest example uses existing XML files—structured as
Really Simple Syndication (RSS) newsfeeds—as source content for a
basic news display page that is used to update website visitors about
news or events in a streaming fashion.
(215) When we discuss our
second parser example, we outline a process for creating a a CMS for
keeping track of digital assets.
(215) The final parser example
involves building a single sourcing system for a software
documentation project. . . . this is an example of what Ann Rockley
calls a level three, or “Dynamic Customized Content” single
sourcing system.
(215-216) In order to create a useful XML parser,
we must understand the general problem space as well as the
rhetorical implications of our informational decisions. In addition,
to truly
understand
the informational context of a metadata system, we must work on both
sides of the equation: as information designers, producers, or
information architects; and as hypothetical consumers or end users of
the system.
Cookbook approach embracing dual scope of producer and consumer involves substantial working code; different type of digital literacy beyond reading code is writing code for machines, for example XML parsers. Admits challenge of reading code, offers commented version in appendices. Thus examples are designed to require only modification of a few variables to extend to other types of projects.
(216) Like the aesthetic dimension we
discussed in Chapter 4, the programmatic demands of building custom
parsers often require a different type of thinking than we are used
to. For instance, since machines are now an audience we must serve,
we need to figure out how to write
the
XML data rather than just how to read it.
(216-217)
While we believe that studying these coded examples will provide much
insight into the computational side of the interactive cycle between
human users and XML databases, we also want to point out that the
coded examples in this chapter will be challenging for readers
without a background in computer programming. . . . Rather than
reducing the complexity of these examples, we chose to include them,
and also to provide significant commentary in areas which might be
difficult for some readers to understand. The unabridged code
listings in Appendices C and D are also heavily commented (marked up
with additional explanatory text) throughout. . . . Our intent is for
this chapter to serve as a cookbook of sorts for the
theorist-practitioner or symbolic-analyst who wishes to take
advantage of XML techniques in order to advance and improve knowledge
management techniques in his or her own organization.
XML Parsers
(217)
We choose to discuss examples of custom-defined parsers in order to
demonstrate the flexibility and customization possible when one
builds their own non-validating or validating XML parser.
(217-218)
The parser is vitally important for an information designer to
understand because this alone determines what the end users, readers,
or audiences actually see
based
on their interface decisions. . . . As Michael Albers
notes
in his introduction to the edited collection Content
and Complexity,
the best interface is the one that disappears, leaving the
information clearly defined without distractions from the interface
(6).
Comparing parser to ancient Greek rhetor, which means that sensitivity must be built into the design.
(218-219) By specifying how, when, and under what circumstances data can be extracted from elements and attributes, the parser is analogous to the ancient Greek rhetor. . . . Parsers specify the expressive and rhetorical potential of XML documents. More robust and flexible parsers have more rhetorical potential.
Rhetorical
Approach
(219)
We include these three different strategies in order to demonstrate
the unique pairings that emerge when different applied technologies
are paired with different rhetorical perspectives.
Traditional contractive versus process intensive communication on both sender and receiver roles; meaningful examples of Derrida comparison of good and bad writing as theme of Phaedrus.
(219-220) Though it is overly reductive and simplifies the complex social nature of information, the traditional communicative paradigm is a useful construct for understanding the role of the parser in a rhetorical act. The model described here uses a “contractive” view of technology wherein an information “receiver” is seen in a relatively passive role and information itself is chunked into discrete and unambiguous units. When communicating using XML, an information “sender” is responsible for thinking carefully and logically about how to structure data in a fashion that facilitates the extraction of useful information from a data source. The message itself then resides as potential within the XML document that this sender creates.
Technological Approach
(220)
Because of its affordability, availability, relative ease of use,
support for XML, and popularity, we chose to use the server-side
Internet embedded scripting language known as PHP for the three
project exercises in this chapter.
Getting Started
(222)
The installation program we will be using to set up our development
computer is called XAMPP, which is an integrated installation package
developed by a group of individuals calling themselves the Apache
Friends Network.
PHP
(227)
PHP is an Internet-embedded scripting language. PHP evolved from a
language known as PHP-FI, which was written by Rasmuf Lerdorf in 1995
(Php.net online). PHP-FI originally stood for Personal Home Page
Tools/Forms Interpreter.
(227-228) As of PHP version 5, the
SimpleXML application programming interface (API) was introduced.
SimpleXML makes formerly tedious XML tasks much easier to accomplish,
and, as a result, we will use this API for the first XML parser we
build.
Strategy for incorporating substantial amount of working code in a humanities oriented text is judicious choice of PHP and extensible sample code.
(228) We have designed the examples to be modular and portable; they should only require the modification of a few variables and XML data sources in order to be implemented and extended for additional types of projects. For this reason, we do not spend a great deal of time discussing the programming syntax of PHP.
Variables
Syntax
(229)
With up to four (or more) languages residing in a single document,
there needs to be some mechanism for differentiating between them so
that the Apache software can properly process the document files.
This is why delimiters are so important.
(229) One must be very
careful with semicolons as missing semicolons are the source of much
frustration for beginning programmers.
CamelCase
(230)
Programmers do this because spaces are not allowed in PHP variable
names, but multiword variable names are more descriptive and easier
to understand.
Data Typing
(230)
Since PHP uses what is called dynamic typing, the types of data that
are assigned to specific variables are determined by the symbolic
composition of the data themselves.
Arrays and Loops
(230)
In PHP, you can mix data of different types and store them all in the
same array.
Functions, Arguments, and
Variable Scope
(233)
Variable scope, or the areas of a script in which variables can be
“seen” and accessed, is an important concept to understand when
thinking about functions and variables.
Functions and Default Arguments
Calling Functions with Default Arguments
PHP and XML
SimpleXML and Object-Oriented
XML
(238)
SimpleXML is a popular extension to PHP which provides a toolkit for
mapping XML documents into objects that can be directly manipulated
by the PHP scripting language. . . . Objects are particularly handy
for us as document designers because, as we mentioned in Chapter 3,
it has been predicted that we will be moving from document-centered
to object-oriented ways of thinking about information and information
design (Williams 321).
(241) Regardless of the level of technical
difficulty, each project requires a similar amount of rhetorical
consideration in both the preproduction (planning) phase as well as
in the postproduction (revision and fine tuning) stage.
Project 1: RSS Parser
Ad hoc rhetorical approach for first project using a questionaire form and personas to answer them for imaginary information context.
(241-242) While it can be useful to begin this rhetorical inquiry
from a particular perspective, perhaps by considering the classical
rhetorical canons or using a rhetorician's theoretical model as a
starting point, it can also be advantageous to simply take a step
back and consider the informational context based on one's prior
knowledge.
(242) A general list of rhetorical considerations is
outlined in the Ad Hoc Rhetorical Analysis of XML (RAX) form included
in Appendix B.
(242) For this project, we are going to create
personas to help us visualize an imaginary information context.
Personas are fictitious characters that we can create in order to
help us visualize the demographic characteristics and informational
needs of a typical user. In this exercise, we will create personas
for both the designer and for his audience.
(243) Based on Joe's
responses, we can extract the following four design parameters from
this rhetorical analysis exercise.
(244) In terms of technical
implementations, the first thing we will do for this project is build
an XML file that can be used for testing.
(245) Though this is a
perfectly acceptable XML file, it does not yet meet the schema
requirements of a valid RSS document. RSS is a particular type of XML
file that uses a collection of specialized tags to present
information in a standardized format.
(246) Next, we need to build
the parser in PHP.
(251) The first component that is necessary to
add XML writing capability is an HTML form, which will be composed of
text input fields and a mechanism for sending data from those fields
to a processing page.
(252) After the HTML form is designed, we
need to build a script that will take data from the form's text input
fields and store these values as variables.
(253-254) If one uses
the POST method, these variables are not appended to the URL and are
instead passed to the script behind the scenes. GET is handy when the
inner page of a website needs to be bookmarked for later use, or when
the variables being passed to an XML parser should be transparent. .
. . POST is useful when the page should not be able to be bookmarked,
or when large amounts of data need to be passed from a form to a
script or parser.
(256) Unfortunately, there is no easy way to
preserve formatting using the SimpleXML API.
Project
2: CMS
(258-259)
Andreas Mauthe and Peter Thomas describe a CMS as one that bundles
both the essence of the data, or the raw data itself, and the
metadata that describes that content (4-5). . . . Oftentimes, CMSs
will combine human knowledge with technological support
systems.
(259) The particular type of CMS we will build for this
project is a digital asset management system.
(259-260) This
system can be implemented in a distributed corporate setting. Rather
than storing files separately on employee computers, individuals
working on various projects can use such a system to store all assets
in a centralized location with meaningful metadata to facilitate
location and retrieval. The metadata can also be used to allow
various groups within the organization to recognize the different
types of information produced by each group and to better understand
ways in which information can be exchanged between units.
Rhetorical Analysis
Rhetorical analysis in second project using Carliner physical, cognitive, affective information design framework.
(261)
For the purposes of building a CMS, we can apply a model that has
been specifically developed for information design. Saul Carliner's
physical, cognitive, and affective framework is well-known for
breaking information design problems down into three
dimensions.
(261) Carliner's framework is useful here because it
can be used in a generative fashion to produce rhetorical questions
related to the ways in which users physically interact with, think
about, and feel about information. These questions can then be used
as guides to help a designer make informed decisions about how the
XML parser will function.
Physical Design Dimension
(261)
Since the physical dimension is concerned with characteristics such
as page layout and design, this dimension is mostly focused on the
ways in which the user will move through the asset management system.
Cognitive Design Dimension
(262)
Here, paying careful attention to best practices from usability
research will help us to create a more intuitive and less cognitively
demanding CMS.
(263) First, designers must analyze needs. . . .
Our use
case diagram
therefore
provides a detailed and unambiguous sketch of which tasks are likely
to be performed by which users.
(263-264) These goals can be
business or content related and should include an evaluation
component to ensure that these goals are being met through the
information system.
(264) After goals have been set, we must
choose the form of our communication project. . . . Although genre is
something traditionally associated with literary canons or stylistic
conventions, we can also have genres associated with locations and
products.
(265) The next step in the cognitive design process is
to prepare the design of our communication project. . . . For the
CMS, we will devise an information
map that
shows the relationship between different files and the audiences that
will need to use these files.
(265) To prepare our information
map, we should consider our audiences.
(265) Finally, we must set
project and produce guidelines. Carliner notes that product
guidelines include editorial guidelines, production specifications,
and technical specifications, while project guidelines include
questions of schedule, budget, and staff (51).
Affective Design Dimension
(266)
Affective design elements deal with issues such as motivation,
attention, and satisfaction. In other words, even if the information
is available and accessible, will users fell like using it?
(266)
In order to address these affective issues, we should design our
interface to provide clear instructions. . . . Additionally, when our
parser eventually sorts through our XML file and creates a navigable
list of assets, it should clearly demonstrate the value added by
having such a content repository.
(267) For real world
applications of this system, graphic designers need to be involved
early in the design process.
Preproduction Design Tasks
(267)
Since we are building a working CMS to store typical production
assets, we need to move from an abstract and conceptual idea of our
CMS to a more applied blueprint by using the information from our
rhetorical analysis. We will use this information to construct a
rudimentary Web form that allows us to gather data from our
production archivists.
(267) As in the prior example, we can
fashion a rough algorithm to help us with the sequencing and design
of our XML writer and parser.
(268) Now that we have precisely
defined the steps needed for the storage and retrieval of assets, we
can concentrate on additional preproduction tasks by specifying how
various pages will be constructed and making production decisions
concerning our file and directory structures. Here we will combine
guidelines for the physical dimension with the cognitive dimension by
crafting a table which specifies parameters for the project. . . .
These files are listed in roughly the same order in which they will
be presented by first the XML writer and then the XML parser.
(268)
Based on this table, we see that we will have a total of eleven
files, three of which are dynamically generated. We can now add logic
to these files by writing our scripts in PHP.
Building the Interface
(272)
The idea is to construct a running buffer file that can then be
accessed incrementally when it is time to create the final XML
document.
(277) After it is created, this XML file can then be
directly transformed using an XSL transformation (Figure 6.21) or
parsed using our more robust CMS parser (Figure 6.22).
(277) In
fact, it is useful to know that much of the hard work involved with
building a customized parser can be minimized by using an XSL
transformation as we do here. . . . The primary advantage of using
our own custom parser in this instance is that we can take advantage
of PHP's built-in functions to perform additional error checking and
validation on our data.
Project
3: Single Sourcing System
(280)
[Joe D.] Williams
writes
that single sourcing is “using a single document source to generate
multiple types of document outputs; workflows for creating multiple
outputs from a document or database” (321).
(281) Like Rockley,
Locke Carter
agrees
that single sourcing can provide benefits in terms of cutting costs,
boosting revenue, creating more efficient means of production and
distribution, and adding flexibility to the document design process.
Single sourcing may disrupt traditional craftsman process of earlier media practices as noted in third project whose bottom-up rhetorical approach seems like system-centric rather than task-oriented design..
(281) On the other hand, Carter also warns that document designers
must be cautious of single sourcing technology because this process
disrupts the traditional craftsman process of designing documents
individually, for a specific context and audience, from start to
finish.
(281) XML makes it simple to precisely define which
modules of data can be reused across documents and how that data
should appear in each individual document. Our primary goal in single
sourcing is to write our source content once, then provide access to
different configurations of this content using customized
views.
(284) In a bottom-up approach, we start with the data
rather than the predicted informational needs of our audience. This
type of rhetorical analysis is more concerned with finding the
appropriate level of granularity with which to surround a unit of
text and finding the means of combining and repurposing these textual
units in a manner that is compatible with our informational needs.
(293) Note how the informational needs of a beginning user are different from those of an advanced user and how the system attempts to anticipate and meet the needs of both users according to our bottom-up rhetorical analysis.
Chapter
Summary
(293-294)
By building these custom parsers, we were able to put to use both the
ideas about knowledge management and rhetoric we have been discussing
in the first half of the book as well as some of the technical skills
we discussed in the second half. . . . Though we considered both
top-down rhetorical strategies (Projects 1 and 2) and a bottom-up
rhetorical strategy (Project 3), in reality, most designers will find
that the best approach will incorporate both of these strategies into
the design process.
(294) The theorist-practitioner
model
was stressed throughout our three examples because it is so important
to the professional communicator working with XML technologies. On
the theoretical side, one must recognize that the humanistic elements
of information management and design are often overlooked for the
sake of technical efficiency or simplicity. . . . Humans are
emotional, fallible, and oftentimes unpredictable, and our software
programs need to be designed to take these factors into account.
Theorist-practitioner model combines technical and humanities competencies, with emphasis on leveraging custom code to explore and meet overall requirements derived from rhetorical analysis.
(294)
On the practitioner side, we need to recognize that by relying on
pre-existing parsers, our creative potential and expressive
capacities are limited by the designs of other companies or other
individuals. Only
by immersing ourselves in the low-level programming of XML parsers
can we truly design an interactive system for dealing with XML code
in exactly the way we want.
(294-295)
they also must pay attention to the larger rhetorical context of the
information transfer process. . . . The document designer or
information architect with skills in audience analysis and other
forms of rhetorical acumen will inevitably find themselves in greater
demand as new Internet technologies increasingly push us closer to
Berners-Lee's vision of a distributed, yet integrated, Semantic Web.
Discussion Questions
Activities
Sample Group Project: Hi-Tek Inc.
References
Additional Online Resources
7 XML and Your Career
XML and Knowledge Management at Work in
Interdisciplinary Contexts
Chapter Overview
Chapter Reviews
XML and Your Career
Technical communicator, technical editor, digital media practitioner, library scientist and interdisciplinary professional or researcher are professions in which XML likely to be important.
Interview
Overview
(304)
We interviewed a college professor, two technical communicators, a
software engineer, and one individual who is both a professor and a
software developer for a large video game development company.
(304)
The ten interview questions asked respondents to reply with
information about ways in which they have personally used XML to
solve problems for particular types of tasks.
Participant Biographies
Interview Questions
Interview Discussion
Chapter Summary
Discussion Questions
Activities
References
Appendix A
ACHRE—Executive Summary
Appendix B
RAX Form
Appendix C
Source Code for CMS
Source code does not contain any copyright or license declaration, even in the final copyright credits section.
Appendix D
Source Code for Single Sourcing Demonstration
Copyright Credits
Applen, J D, and Rudy McDaniel. The Rhetorical Nature of Xml: Constructing Knowledge in Networked Environments. New York: Routledge, 2009. Print.