Hi --
I want to share this proposal with the OASIS DITA TC mailing list and active TC members. I ask that this proposal be added to some TC meeting agenda in the near future for discussion.
SUMMARY: The OASIS DITA TC should commit to investing some of its time in 2026 to concurrent content development. This includes, specifically, working on both the current DITA 2.0 language spec and a DITA 2.0 user guide. Details about user guide contents, its development process, its review process, and its editorial standards would need to be determined by OASIS and those TC members working on it. This proposal effectively moves development of a user guide from being a publication notionally targeted for development after the 2.0 spec to a publication developed concurrently with the 2.0 spec.
RELEVANT OBSERVATIONS:
- The TC has invested predominantly in language spec development for 20+ years. The initial DITA 1.3 language spec was published more than 10 years ago.
- The current TC has both members with extensive XML engineering skills and extensive experience teaching, documenting, and managing DITA in the market. There is no shortage of available writing bandwidth to support user guide development.
- The TC currently has many meetings and agenda space that could be devoted to user guide content development if there were no pressing 2.0 spec work items. DITA 2.0 spec work currently engages a fraction of our TC members and meetings.
- The bar for developing a TC-sponsored user guide should be significantly lower. I imagine that Kris and Robert understand how the depth of dependencies in the 2.0 spec requires heroic commitments and herculean time investments. Unlike an official language spec, a DITA 2.0 user guide would not need to address every DITA 2.0 feature, to consider edge cases, or restrict its scope to one audience. Like industry publications, it can be developed and published incrementally.
- Some user guide draft content has already been written by TC members and is embedded in current 2.0 spec topics.
- Generating enthusiasm for DITA 2.0 and increasing participation from the DITA community would help everyone.
PERSONAL NOTE: I am not an XML language engineer or spec aficionado -- never claimed to be. The DITA TC is really a tremendous group -- both the people able to contribute to 2.0 spec work and the folks like me waiting around for something to do. My recent work with the Boston DITA Users Group and ACM SIGDOC has convinced me that there is a need for a free, authoritative user guide. If we have the talent and bandwidth to develop one, let's consider doing so in 2026.
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Stanley Doherty
Consulting Technical Content Developer
Stanley Doherty (Personal)
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