Guest Author Judith Hallwachs
Thinking back over the last couple of years, digital transformation is on everyone’s lips, and it doesn’t stop at the world of technical communication. The statement that nowadays everything is smart affects technical communication on three levels: On the one hand, there are smart products and smart services which, on the other hand, come along with smart users as well as smart production.
As smart users want the right information at the right place, at the right time, and on the most suitable device, we have to ask ourselves how to make this delivery of intelligent information possible. And the answer to that is iiRDS. The user-centricity and the dynamics of iiRDS can be explained with the example of a service technician who, if a machine malfunctions in a production plant, is able to get instructions on how to act adequately – context-sensitive, right on the spot, and on the preferred mobile device. Compared to the approach used hitherto, i.e., skipping through numerous pages of a handbook and searching for the information needed at the moment, this marks a great first change. But there are more advantages in the pipeline.
Read here: iiRDS explained with an example we use daily
iiRDS Is the Standard for Smart Content Delivery Scenarios
Today’s situation is that many different OEMs need to deliver information to many different customers. Every time, the OEM needs to fulfill the customers’ requirements of how they want the information to be delivered individually. Sooner or later, this procedure means a mess. But if a standard is put in between the suppliers and the recipient, this mess is not necessary. A standard in between generates a win-win situation for both OEMs and customers, and this is what iiRDS constitutes: Manufacturers can easily supply many customers with the information for use they require, and customers can also easily integrate information for use from many different manufacturers.
iiRDS provides a standardized metadata model with a greatly defined ontology as well as a standardized container format. Together, these components enable dynamic information for both request and delivery processes between users and the information system.
What iiRDS Is Not
iiRDS can be a lot of things. But there are also things that iiRDS is not. For example, iiRDS is not a tool for content creation. iiRDS solely takes the role of understanding a request and delivering information accordingly via a content delivery portal. Also, iiRDS is not to be seen as a display format. There has to be at least one step more in between to display iiRDS content nicely. And last but not least, iiRDS is not a format for storing content. iiRDS focuses on exchanging information, but not storing it.
Heading for New Shores: Consortium Founded
With everything that iiRDS offers technically, there is more. You can even get involved in developing the technical specification. By becoming a Member of the iiRDS Consortium, you can bring in your expertise, discuss with other experts in the field and thereby actively shape the standard. Become a part of the community dedicated to the advancement of technical communication and come on board in the exciting field of Industry 4.0!
For more information, visit: iirds.tekom.de
About the Author:
Having finished her studies in German and English Language just recently, Judith Hallwachs started as iiRDS project assistance at tekom. By that, she now switched to working with semantic software after studying semantics of language closely during her studies. She is responsible for the project management and communication of the iiRDS project.
