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NEWSLETTER | February 2026 STRUCTURING DATA AND CONTENT SINCE 1981
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The DITA Recipe for Success |
Technical documentation is often mistaken for a bland meal: functional and utilitarian but lacking zest and flavor. However, under the direction of a dynamic chef and with the right ingredients, technical documentation provides a rich source of knowledge that feeds all aspects of an organization. In the same way any good cook crafts ingredients into a memorable and delectable meal, working with structured content (e.g., DITA) and a high-quality Component Content Management System (CCMS) blends ordinary documentation and processes it into a Michelin Star experience that is exceptional and transformative. Enjoy a recent webinar with DCL's David Turner and MadCap Software's senior solution architect Nolwenn Kerzreho as they breakdown all the necessary ingredients for a successful DITA implementation. |
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The Answers Era is Here and the PDF is Not Ready for It |
It’s time to rethink how we disseminate knowledge. In the age of AI,
the traditional role of the PDF as the core unit of scholarly knowledge is
being challenged. The PDF has long served human readers, but its lack of structure
obscures meaning for AI systems. Knowledge Objects encapsulate not just the
core content (figures, data, claims) but also explicit context and verifiable
provenance, making them queryable, addressable, and
usable at scale. In After the PDF: A new unit of knowledge for the
AI era, Steven D. Smith argues that the industry must
shift from documents to more granular, machine-friendly “Knowledge Objects” if
publishers want to deliver answers rather than just files. For anyone involved in publishing, content strategy, or
AI-enabled discovery, this piece reframes how we should think about the very
building blocks of research knowledge. It's time to make a strategic commitment to treat structured, relational knowledge as the product and not a side effect of producing articles.
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Aerospace Technical Documentation: Why Legacy Content is Mission Critical |
Structured
data standards such as S1000D and the ATA iSpec 2200 are foundational for the
management and sustainment of aerospace technical content. While MROs,
airlines, and OEMs have highly and widely adopted S1000D,
it is also mission
critical to ensure legacy documentation conforms to the
international standard. Many organizations still rely on large volumes of legacy content that were never created for structured environments. Converting this content is often the most complex step in modernization and the last mile for digital transformation.
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DCL Bytes: RAG + Structured Content = Reliable AI |
DCL Bytes is part of the DCL Learning Series and features short, informative clips on technology, structured content, and more. In this video short, DCL's Mark Gross, Tammy Bilitzky, and Rich Dominelli discuss the importance of structured content when combined with RAG for reliable LLM responses. View this short and hear Rich explain how a simple revision to a large language model prompt can produce far more accurate results. |
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DCL partners with many global organizations that complement our services and offer a complete workflow solution to our customers. Following are some recent highlights from DCL's Partnership Laboratory. |
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2026 Will Be the Year Structured Content in Pharma Becomes Essential For years, pharma has managed product information through sprawling documents: Word files passed between teams, manually updated, reviewed line by line, and reassembled every time a change occurs. That system worked when timelines were slower, product portfolios smaller, and global variation manageable. But today’s reality is different. Launches span dozens of markets. Safety updates must be implemented almost instantly. CMC changes ripple across hundreds of documents. Regulators are digitizing faster than industry often anticipates. And AI—now central to pharma’s future—depends on structured, machine-readable content.
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Paving the Way for Artificial Intelligence in Technical Publications
In aviation, time isn’t just money. It’s safety, schedule, compliance, and reputation. Whether it’s a technician on the tarmac or a documentation team managing thousands of complex pages, the quicker and more confidently they can access the right information, the more smoothly everything runs. Flatirons Solutions addresses that challenge with its next-generation platforms Flatirons Pinpoint 8.8, Flatirons Insight, and Flatirons Knowledge Center. These solutions are specifically designed for aviation professionals who handle XML-based technical publications and company manuals in standards like S1000D and ATA iSpec 2200. Now powered by assistive AI and intelligent automation, Flatirons doesn't just deliver documentation; we deliver decisions that are faster, smarter, and ready for takeoff.
[READ MORE] |
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The Importance of Standards in Our Lives
Standards make the world go around. From the day‑to‑day comforts in your home to the digital experiences you rely on, standards are the unsung heroes behind it all. They quietly ensure that when you flip a switch, your lights come on; when you open a book (or an e‑book), the content displays as it should; and when publishing systems talk to one another, they do so without chaos. Back in 2010, formats, devices, and platforms multiplied overnight (much like AI today!). The stability that standards provide isn’t just useful, it’s essential. Standards are the foundation for interoperability, innovation, and clarity in a world where information flows. Without them, we’d face confusion instead of compatibility, silos instead of synergy. Understanding the role of standards helps us appreciate not just what we use, but why it works. DCL continues to tout the importance of industry standards today, just like we did 16 years ago. [READ MORE] |
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