1 JDF in the Broader Workflow Context Thad McIlroy Arcadia House San Francisco & Toronto Presentation to JDF@XPLOR.

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JDF in the Broader Workflow Context

Thad McIlroyArcadia House

San Francisco & Toronto

Presentation to JDF@XPLOR

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My Background

32 years on the dusty road of publishing 5 years directing Seybold Seminars 7 years studying the impact of the

Internet on graphic communications 3 years studying XML, CMS, workflow

and production automation

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The “Workflow” Challenge

Authoring and design take place remotely from prepress and printing

Data flows downstream with insufficient data to inform the process

“Our clients want us to do the heavy lifting.”

Islands of automation are not unified into a single process

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Islands of Automation

Limited manufacturing (workflow) efficiencies

Doesn’t support cross-media publishing

authoring &authoring &editingediting

illustration &illustration &photographyphotography

rightsrights

production &production &preflightpreflight

distributiondistribution

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The Problem

Authoring, editing, design, photography and illustration are not properly (fully) addressed

These functions are as important to a successful workflow as any production or output steps

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The Solution

Find effective methods to encompass the entire workflow within service offerings

Find ways to profitably assist customers in improving their workflows

Push vendors to support the ENTIRE workflow (including JDF)

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The Workflow Ghetto

“Workflow” is a term used all too frequently in the graphic arts, used casually, loosely and inaccurately

Everybody’s got a “workflow” product What exactly is the commonality of these

products? Nearly all address only the problem of

moving PDF files to plate (and press)

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How Do Vendors See Workflow?

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How Do Vendors See Workflow?

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Better Names for Workflow than Workflow

Workflow is a noun, it describes a state,not an activity

Process improvement Publishing automation

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Why Full Automation Now?

The Web challenges print with an automated cost-effective publishing method

The graphic arts have been creeping slowly from a craft to an automated industry (with much resistance)

The printing press is now in the loop XML provides offers an automation

opportunity for document originators too

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XML is the Answer

A New-Breed of Data Standard, a Single Standard Able to Represent:

1.All manner of content2.The structure of content3.The “meaning” of content (through smart

tag names and metadata)4.Production/workflow requirements5.Rights data6.Repurposing requirements (cross-media)

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Metadata Enters the Process

Data that describes other data

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The Bean Analogy

FROM: A Manager’s Introduction to Adobe eXtensible Metadata Platform

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Bean Metadata

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More Bean Metadata

Cholesterol

T otal Carbohydrates

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“Workflow” Issues

The 80/20 canon has become too-well enshrined in our corporate culture

If 99% of the steps of a workflow are optimized, and 1% not, the overall efficiency of the workflow is more likely to resemble the 1% than it is the 99%

At the same time, there will always be steps in a creative process that defy automation

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How Do We Link the Islands?

XML standards throughout for composition for semantic tagging for job tickets and production control

We NEED a continuous 2-way data flow based on XML encodings

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New Workflow Dynamic

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What Are Some of the Tasksto Be Addressed as Part of a

Robust Digital Workflow?

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Authoring

Microsoft Word controls the text authoring market – tools to improve productivity are available

Adobe controls the creative market, and embraces workflow improvement(Adobe has joined the WfMC – The Workflow Management Coalition)

Quark addresses workflow with job ticket (JDF) support in QuarkXPress 7.0

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Digital Workflow ManagementJDF and its brethren

Typéfi sample approach

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Structured Taggingby Authors?

Typéfi sample approach

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XML TaggingSemantic tagging requires human judgment

<!--the resource links in the ProcessGroup define the input resources that must be available for the ProcessGroup to be submitted and the output resources that are produced by the ProcessGroup -->

<ResourceLinkPool><!-- print input media --><MediaLink Usage="Input" rRef="L2"/><ResourceLinkPool><GatheringParamsLink Usage="Input" rRef="L4"/><!-- gathered output components --><ComponentLink Usage="Output" rRef="L7"/></ResourceLinkPool><ID="J2" Status="Waiting" Type="DigitalPrinting"><ResourceLinkPool><GatheringParamsLink Usage="Input" rRef="L4"/>

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Templated DesignsHow much of XML-tagged content can be

composed automatically?

Typéfi sample approach

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Digital Asset ManagementXML’s role in metadata and taxonomies

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The Human FactorNew Internal Roles, Skills & Positions

The production skill set changes substantially

Much of the existing knowledge base changes or obsoletes

The move from design & composition & production management to content & product architecting and engineering

There is an enormous training challenge aheadAnd a need for certification

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For more information:

Thad McIlroyArcadia House

[email protected]