ABSTRACT
Technical communicators must be quick learners and rapidly adapt to changes in the markets in which we work. As those markets continue to change to accommodate global expansion, more technical communicators are using Content Management Systems (CMS) and writing using single sourcing to quickly reproduce and streamline documentation. This chapter will describe the relationship between using content management systems and single sourcing in technical communication, and reassure technical writers that the content management system is not a threat to their careers, but an enhancement, when writers and editors create content that is suitable to reuse in print and online formats. Single sourcing, which is writing content to reuse for different media, is quickly becoming the standard method of writing documentation. According to the Society for Technical Communication (STC), single sourcing is defined as "using a single document source to generate multiple outputs from a document or database (STC, 2003). The topic is so influential for technical writers that the editors of Technical Communication dedicated an entire issue to the topic. The wave of single sourcing is sweeping over organizations throughout the world as more companies are becoming global. The debate continues as to whether or not single sourcing will benefit an organization and its writers.
