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Well, now I'd say we're getting off track. I was talking about a pretty
general information structure--your basic academic essay. Frankly, I
don't see how your example is applicable to tech writing (it was a long
day, and I'm sure someone will be more than happy to point it out to
me!). I'm not talking about filling in blanks. I'm talking about
defining types of information. Even if you tell someone where to put it
(and I do mean that in the nicest way), you can only do so much to tell
them how. That's where the writer comes in. If a highly structured
online help system is supposed to include a "concept" section, I can
only define for someone else that it's supposed to go there. The
structure I put in place doesn't help them explain the concept clearly
or correctly in a way that makes sense to the user. Now I suppose one
could argue that having the right information in the right place is half
the battle. But (to borrow from another thread) well-structured dreck is
still dreck.
You're correct, Sean, that part of the job of creating structures
(templates, forms, or whatever) is to make it easy to understand what
information is required. But we can only take that so far. Someone has
to actually create the content. I'd argue that writers are a pretty good
fit for that.
Hopefully this makes sense, the screen is getting a bit fuzzy. Off to
bed me!
Lisa
-----Original Message-----
On Behalf Of Sean O'Donoghue-Hayes (EAA)
Interesting that you are talking about filling in the blanks in
templates - and the difficulties that can occur.
When I "personally" see such difficulties my first question is not how
will I rewrite this information or get the information.
My first question is if I can change the template so that the people who
are using it can "readily" understand what is required, when they can
leave a section out (and with quality standards identifying why the
section is "Not
Applicable") and can complete it accurately.
Maybe it is "doing" ourselves out of jobs, but beyond writing
information we are also the "custodians" and creators of templates that
should lessen the load on our own shoulders and increase efficiency in
our workplaces.
regards and thanks,
Sean O'Donoghue-Hayes
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