Structured Framemaker, FDK and XML Blog

Passing along a tip from a friend. Sounds pretty innovative. 

From: Peter Lee [mailto:peter@coventi.com]
Sent: Tuesday, November 13, 2007 12:44 AM
To: jgilmor@fulcrumcomm.com
Subject: Collaboration Tool for Tech Writers

My startup, founded by Stanford Computer
Science students, has built a next-generation collaborative writing tool and
we’re looking for feedback from the technical writing community.

Coventi Pages (www.coventi.com) is a web-based word processor that makes it
easy for technical writers to work effectively with clients and subject
matter experts (SMEs).

To see a demo, please follow this link:
http://www.coventi.com/videos/IntroToPages.aspx

Coventi offers:

1) Tight control of document content

With wikis and Google Docs, collaborating with others means allowing them to
edit your text. With Coventi, you can get feedback from client and SME
reviewers and retain authorship.

2) Precise discussion features

In Coventi, reviewers can highlight a section of the writer’s text and
create a comment or suggest an edit. Anyone invited to the document can
reply, and the conversation can be closed once the issue is resolved. The
list of open conversations automatically becomes a task list for the next
revision.

3) Efficient Document Review and Approval

A writer can request approval of the document from clients and SMEs, and
documents can be approved with one click. Writers can also set a review
deadline, and let Coventi send reminder emails as the deadline approaches.

Camille Jensen, a freelance technical writer, just used Coventi to author a
100+ page safety manual for oil and natural gas rig operators across Canada.
Rather than emailing a geographically dispersed group of technicians to
confirm specifics regarding “sheaves” and “master valves,” she instead
invited them to documents on Coventi. As she puts it, “My guys took to
Coventi on the first day. They really liked having the ability to apply
their expertise by highlighting and discussing specific sections… They
contribute their expertise while I focus on the writing.”

If you’d like to give the software a try, go to www.coventi.com and click
“Sign up for a free trial.”

If you feel Coventi has something to offer, please let your chapter know
about us. We believe we’ve built a top-flight tool for technical writers,
and are working hard to get the word out.

Sincerely,
Peter Lee