Building the mosaic: writing tips for content management

Open-source data exchange protocols and hosted applications have pushed user assistance closer than ever to a server-based model that depends on marked-up, database-managed content. Custom software on demand requires custom help to match, binding professional communicators within strict document structures and further blurring the distinction between reader and author. In the electronic writing space, the document is a vanishing concept, replaced by encapsulated textual objects that wait in databases until users assemble them. But writers can still find creative outlet in the crafting of textual "data." Adaptive help systems allow writers to engage more than ever in a collaborative effort with their readers to meet our ultimate goal: effective communication. We can still take pride in lean, vigorous prose that inspires its audience, and we can channel our narrative instincts into crafting content models that anticipate needs and allow users to customize and create. We can view our content "chunks" as individual tiles and give our readers the tools to build the mosaic. This paper discusses how we can write well within a content management system and how we can take a new approach to the reader-author relationship that more closely models the nature of automated publishing.