social networks, computational technologies, or combinations of these two
methods of communication. In addition to a review of literature from
knowledge management and technical communication, we also discuss
perspectives on socially constructed knowledge and consider applied know-
ledge management at work in large corporations. In order to demonstrate
how human expertise and technology can be paired to improve efficiency
and communication in technical environments, we discuss successful appli-
cations of this methodology such as the Eureka project used by Xerox.
To help us build the types of knowledge transfer systems we write about
in Chapter 1, we need to understand both top-down and bottom-up models
of design. We describe these approaches conceptually and study the nuts
and bolts of XML and information encapsulation in Chapters 2 and 3.
Chapter 2 serves as a gentle introduction to XML and explains the differ-
ences between elements, attributes, namespaces, and parsed or nonparsed
character data. We also explain the differences between well-formed and
valid XML and provide several examples of XML documents in order to
illustrate the semantic capabilities of this language. Additionally, we show
how XML can impose a hierarchical structure on collections of data.
Chapter 3 then discusses more sophisticated implementations of XML
and applies some of the organizing heuristics from library science, knowledge
management, and technical communication to guide how we think about
the artificial formation of elements and attributes based on our real world
observations. Using historical examples, we describe in significant detail the
practice of naming and arranging objects in classification schemes. How a
group of professionals decides to name objects and then arrange them is a
reflection of the rhetorical conventions that channel the thinking of these
professionals and shapes their fields. We can also see how the granularization
process works and how we can combine our knowledge of rhetoric and
XML to solve real world problems using applied methodologies such as
single sourcing.
Chapter 4 extends the rhetorical analysis of XML to the visual domain
and considers specific formatting technologies such as Cascading Style Sheets
(CSS) and eXtensible Stylesheet Language (XSL) as transformative tools
for the document designer and information architect. We consider some
fundamental ideas about visual rhetoric as it relates to XML and provide
several tutorials that illustrate how to use style sheets and style sheet
transformations with XML documents. We discuss why knowledge of visual
style can be as important as the knowledge of the actual data.
Chapter 5 is focused on advanced technologies and the ways in which
specialized constructs such as namespaces can be used to counter problems
of recognition and collision. This chapter also includes a discussion of
emerging XML technologies such as the specialized languages for linking and
searching within XML documents. A majority of this chapter is dedicated
to the discussion of schema definitions, which enable communication pro-
fessionals to use a special syntax for verifying the integrity of their
documents. Chapter 5 also includes a discussion of DocBook and DITA, the
XML, Knowledge Management, and Rhetoric 3