RE: Checking assumptions at the door (but NOT he vs she!)

["Jane Carnall" <jane -dot- carnall -at- digitalbridges -dot- com>]

Oooh, that brings back memories. I remember the first-ever online help
system I set up (it was my final-year project for my degree, and I called it
"Interactive Learning", and no, I had *no* idea what I was doing, but I had
a lot of fun...)

Anyway, the "Interactive Learning" project was aimed at first-year students
in my own course, and my supervisor pointed out that as first-year students
only had access to the VAX machines, I shouldn't even assume they'd used
Windows before. Worried, I backed up, and kept backing up, and then
discovered that Microsoft has (or had: it was bundled in with Windows 3.1) a
program for teaching first-timers how to use the mouse and other essential
Windows skills. Much relieved, I started out with a screen that linked to
this program if the user entered "N"/"n"/"No"/"NO" to the question "Are you
familiar with Windows 3.1?" (or something: now I can think of better ways to
phrase the question).

Sometimes asking the question "What can I assume?" leads you to resources
you never knew you had <g>.

Jane

-----Original Message-----
Tracy Boyington wrote:
>That's a slippery slope. A former co-worker once decided she couldn't
assume
>her readers knew X, then decided they also needed remediation on pre-X just
in >case, and finally decided she couldn't assume they even knew how to
read. But
>it's just not practical to keep backing up like that... you've got to cut
it >off at some point or lose your mind


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