O’Reilly Tools of Change for Publishing ConferenceFebruary 13, 2008

Rebecca GoldthwaiteDirector, Strategic Partner Management – Cengage Learning

<xml> Digitizing Your Backlist Tutorial </xml>

1300 titles [textbooks, lab manuals, workbooks, etc.] 187,000 pages Mixed content sources [Quark, PDF, OEB, Word, etc.] 1 internal project manager 10 internal technical point persons 3 offshore vendors Publisher-supplied onsite training Internal & external QA Tracking database w/web interface

Backlist Project Background

1 Why Digitize Your Backlist?2 Content Analysis & Business Decisions

3 The Backlist Project Team4 Backlist Project Management

5 What’s Next?

Digitizing Your BacklistTutorial

1Why Digitize Your Backlist?

<?xml?>

Media-neutralAgile

Format-agnosticResponsive

FlexibleProactive

1. Media-neutral content2. Quick updates3. New business models4. Custom publishing5. Localized products6. Accelerated to-market schedules7. Meet accessibility requirements / needs

1 Why digitize your backlist?

Many products from one content base Content readiness critical to keep up with

evolving technology Standardized structure/tags is critical Reuse of assessment materials

Media-neutral content

Web vs. print publishing– Accuracy-sensitive disciplines– Time-sensitive subject areas– Technology-specific subject areas

Collaborative publishing– Collaboration vs. control

Revision cycles

Quick updates

Long Tail publishing strategies eBooks Subscriptions Electronic product [web, mobile, iPod] Apple Learning Interchange

http://edcommunity.apple.com/ali/

New business models

Death of the Frankenbook Custom curricula Ancillary products from core books Licensing & certification test banks / study aids State- or accreditation-specific products

Customized publishing

Unit conversions, localized spellings Easily create alternate editions Lower cost/increased revenue in the

international textbook market

Localized products

Offer entire product family simultaneously Share digital content between product types

with confidence Use standard designs & automated

composition to speed production cycle

Accelerated to-market schedules

Braille Large print DAISY talking books Audio files [text-to-speech transformations] Interactive eBooks

Meet accessibility requirements/needs

National Instructional Materials Accessibility Standard [NIMAS]: http://nimas.cast.org

Digital Accessible Information SYstem [DAISY]: http://www.daisy.org

Web Accessibility Initiative: http://www.w3.org/WAI Adobe: http://www.adobe.com/accessibility Section 508: http://www.section508.gov &

http://www.webaim.org/standards/508/checklist

Accessibility links

2Content Analysis

1. Organize & inventory your content2. Get to know your content3. Establish content standards4. Decide how to handle complex content

2 Content analysis

Catalog content– Source materials

o Printed books/journals, PDFs, application files, miscellaneous– Location of files/hardcopy– Permissions data– Subject area– Complexity

Consider content integrity– Archive/print quality– Content accuracy [poor copyedit, etc.]

Organize & inventory your content

Ensure content is available and usable before your project begins

Don’t wait until the production phase Volume forecasts, scheduling and budgeting

are difficult if you do not have a clear understanding of what you have

You’ll discover missing images or other issues mid-conversion – minimize with time spent on your content inventory

Lesson LearnedChasing your content is a waste of valuable time

1. Presentation vs. semantic markup– Understand the difference– Separate content from presentation

2. Content analysis

Get to know your content

Presentation markup dictates the visual representation– Bold, italic, underline, etc.– CSS for web sites

Semantic markup describes the content– Tells you what to expect between the tags– List, chapter, title, name, etc.

Presentation vs. semantic markup

Rebecca Goldthwaite | Director Strategic Partner Management, ProductionGlobal Production & Manufacturing Services | Cengage Learning IncA 5 Maxwell Drive, Clifton Park, NY 12065 | T 518-348-2396 | C 518-698-6366

<bold>Rebecca Goldthwaite</bold><plain> | </plain><italic>Director Strategic Partner Management, Production</italic><br><plain>Global Production & Manufacturing Services | Cengage Learning Inc</plain><br><bold>A</bold><plain> 5 Maxwell Drive, Clifton Park, NY 12065 | </plain><bold>T</bold><plain> 518-348-2396 | </plain><bold>C</bold><plain> 518-698-6366</plain>

Presentation markup

Rebecca Goldthwaite | Director Strategic Partner Management, ProductionGlobal Production & Manufacturing Services | Cengage Learning IncA 5 Maxwell Drive, Clifton Park, NY 12065 | T 518-348-2396 | C 518-698-6366

<name> <first>Rebecca</first> <last>Goldthwaite</last></name><title>Director Strategic Partner Management, Production</title><division>Global Production & Manufacturing Services</division><company>Cengage Learning Inc<company>

Semantic markup

When content = presentation

What is the smallest, salient chunk? Widespread sampling of content

– Don’t overlook the really old stuff– Every book/journal/article/etc. is different

Editorial is a key participant–they are closest to the content

Build sample element lists

Get to know your content

Determine if there are any standards Develop title- or discipline-specific element

lists & rules if appropriate Know how you will map to DTD/schema at a

high level if using XML Who will be the keeper of standards?

Establish content standards

Math, chemistry Poetry, readings Annotations, arrows, callouts Mixed-content or accounting tables Code examples Multipart figures Cross references Position references

Decide how to handle complex content

e = mc2

Math content

BrubbyMommy, why is that man staring at Brubby?I’m not sure how old I waswhen I realized you were differentfrom the other brothers.That man on the street saw you as somethingI could not,would not – still do not.

Poetry

Annotations, arrows, callouts

Multiple images need to be combined and saved as one – but don’t forget to save the native files separately as well

Complex tables

Code examples

Multipart figures

Multipart figure with one caption for all three pieces and the two math operators, which most likely have not been set as part of the image file[s].

Unreferencedfigures

Which piece of text does this unreferenced image need to anchor to in the XML?

This chunk…from the previous page

Unreferenced figures cont.

Cross references

What happens if you want to combine this with content from a title that uses the term modules?

What happens to the reference of ‘previous’ if the sections are rearranged?

What if the name of the referenced section changes?

What if the referenced section is deleted completely or not used when the Serving XML chunk is repurposed?

Position references

What happens if this title were reformatted so that the image no longer ‘followed’ the callout?

3Business Decisions

1. Set project goals2. Plan for content reuse3. Choose a conversion format

XML vs. PDF vs. structured database vs. hybrid approach

3 Business considerations

What are your goals? Be sure you know what they are Clearly articulate internally & externally

Manage expectations Each group will have its own agenda!

Set project goals

Market needs Community wants/desires New product ideas

– Known & potential reuse– Explore new platforms– Research industry trends & competitive products

Meeting federal/state requirements

Plan for content reuse

Choose a conversion format

1.Consider the end product/platform/use2.Consider future needs/use3.Consider budgetary restrictions4.Consider schedule/deadlines

In-depth content analysis is necessary regardless of final format chosen!

Advantages– Completely searchable– Flexible – can be rendered

many times in many different ways while leaving content intact

– Stores content in a meaningful way

– Allows seamless content repurposing

Disadvantages– Not human-eye friendly,

will need to be rendered– So many decisions [DTD,

schema]– Requires more technical

support & infrastructure– Generally a longer

production cycle

XML

Advantages– Human-eye friendly– Added interactivity can be

useful to end users– Generally faster, cheaper

Disadvantages– Limited searchability –

fully searchable PDFs can be almost as much work as XML conversion

– Content repurposing is evident to end user

– Content is not stored in a meaningful way

– Inflexible– Adding metadata & links

PDF

4The Backlist Project Team

1. Functional areas & staffing2. Considerations3. Project management4. Vendor[s]

4 The backlist project team

1. Identify functional areas to include & determine team size

2. Discuss project goals to build consensus & gain support

3. Establish expectations & roles

Functional areas & staffing

TrainingGroup

ProductionTechnology

Rights &Permissions

VendorManagement

ContentServices

Production

Editorial

ProjectManagement

Is staff dedicated to this project only? Will volume of work be reasonable? Are expectations clear? Did you build consensus for this initiative? Are appropriate technical resources available?

Considerations

22+ team members Consensus was not a

focus Production-centric

initiative Marketing & Custom

groups were not involved

Our backlist team

TrainingGroup

0

ProductionTechnology

3Rights &

Permissionsvarious

reps

VendorManagement

1

ContentServices

6+

Production

11TPPs

Editorialreps from

all lists

ProjectManagement

1

Custom

Marketing

Recognize that engagement will vary Hold weekly meetings to stay focused & on schedule Hold team accountable, but with reasonable expectations Make time commitments clear from the beginning Obtain buy-in from both team members and their managers An escalation plan is important for issues related to task

execution, but make it your last resort Back-up plans enable you to react quickly to lost resources Emphasize teamwork by being a team player yourself!

Lesson LearnedTeam engagement can make or break your project

Internal vs. external Individual vs. team Experience considerations Budget considerations

Project management

Execution Communication Project & process knowledge Planning & troubleshooting

Critical PM competencies

Onshore vs. offshore Experience Training requirements How many?

– Schedule– Consistency/quality– Managing & tracking

Test/pilot potential vendors

Vendor[s]

True or False? Offshore teams are not fluent in English.

True or False? Offshore teams are only experienced in hard disciplines, such as mathematics and physics.

True or False? Offshore teams have working hours that make project implementation difficult and relationships complicated to build and maintain.

Offshore vendor True or False

Lesson LearnedWorking with an offshore vendors is worth the effort

There are cultural & communication differences The customer is always right, even when not Instructions will be followed implicitly – what

happens if you’re wrong? Difficulties with the N word – No Building trust is critical

5Backlist Project Management

1. Identify training requirements2. Determine process and workflow3. Develop a quality assurance plan4. Build a schedule5. Finalize your budget & pricing6. Implement tracking & reporting mechanisms7. Plan for the unexpected

5 Backlist project management

Identify training needs– Project manager– Project team– Vendor[s]

Create & execute training plan– Documentation– Pilot & training packages– Plan for just-in-time training– Onsite vs. remote– Query/response plan

Training

Identify internal processes & workflows Identify vendor processes & workflows Analyze for potential problem areas

Process & workflow

Allow vendors to find efficiencies Insist on automation Set clear expectations for deliverables Complete a pilot before starting to establish

true scope & test the process Collaborate with vendor[s] Your vendor does this for a living – you just

think about it for a living – become partners

Lesson LearnedDon’t create a process that is too rigid or too fluid

QA tool decisions Internal vs. external QA Distributing files Tracking QA issues Automate, automate,

automate!!!

Quality assurance

1. Pilots/testing2. Start-up3. Ramp-up4. Production5. Completion

Schedule phases

Be realistic Meet both internal & vendor expectations and

abilities Consider content complexity Anticipate ramp-up Account for bottlenecks & technology/tool

hurdles

Schedules should:

1. Determine titles/products/pages earmarked for conversion

2. Review pricing proposals3. Identify $$ allocated4. Choose a pricing model that works5. Implement invoicing & budget-tracking

procedures

Budgets & pricing models

Identify the phases of production activity Identify any interdependencies Identify accountability for each phase [vendor

vs. internal, for example] Be sure to separate discrete activities Sequence phases based upon activities &

appropriate interdependencies Base pipeline reporting on these phases

Mapping production activity

Establish tracking/reporting process & tools Base data entry milestones on these activities Communicate data

entry responsibilities Establish timing for

data entry basedupon when it willbe pulled for trendtracking & reporting

Tracking production activity

Sample production activity map

Permissions gathering

Source files to vendor

Sample conversion

Sample Q

A /approval

Full conversion

Full QA/approval

Delivery readiness

Sample pipeline phasing

Awaiting perm

issions

Awaiting source files

With vendor for conversion: sam

ple

Sample package w

ith QA

With vendor for conversion: full

Full package with Q

A

With vendor for delivery

Final package delivered

Activity – pipeline correlation

Awaiting perm

issions

Awaiting source files

With vendor for conversion: sam

ple

Sample package w

ith QA

With vendor for conversion: full

Full package with Q

A

With vendor for delivery

Final package delivered

Source files to vendor

Sample Q

A/approval

Full QA/approval

Permissions gathering

Sample conversion

Full conversion

Delivery readiness

Generate a pipeline report to identify bottlenecks

Use status meetings with both vendors and internal staff to resolve

Pipeline reports for trend analysis

Content availability Source file integrity Permissions gathering delays Content complexity Internal staff workload QA process & tools Technology & tool hurdles

Identifying & resolving obstacles

?Planning for the unexpected

6What’s Next?

1. Interoperability2. Findability3. Storage4. Authoring

6 What’s next?

Playing nicely with others– Interacting with third party content/systems– Online & print mashups

Subscription-based models w/third parties

Open-source learning management systems– Moodle– Sakai– Be sure to convert your

assessment content!

Interoperability

Importance of metadata & ontologies Curriculum based upon learning objectives /

state educational standards Semantic web applications/interoperability

Findability

Content management systems Linking digitized content to other assets &

systems Storing rights & permissions with your content Access / editing considerations

Storage

XML/PDFs

R&PImages

Metadata

OtherSystems

Modularity vs. linearity Securing comprehensive rights Authoring tools & templates for content

consistency Electronic editing, proofing, revisions

Authoring

Plan to FailOptimistic conversations about new initiatives often sound like this: “If we have this and this and this and this it will all work!” Yes, but what happens when some of those necessary pieces are not in place, or something breaks? The process breaks down. Plan on failure happening—often. There will be fewer surprises and the ones that you do encounter will be more manageable and less stressful. I truly believe that if you are successful on your first attempt at anything, you didn’t take enough risk and could have been far more successful in the long run by failing a few times and learning a lot along the way.