Re: Knowledge of the subject

Subject: Re: Knowledge of the subject
From: "Richard G. Combs" <richard -dot- combs -at- voyanttech -dot- com>
To: "TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com>
Date: Thu, 27 Feb 2003 09:45:29 -0700


etienneg wrote:

> Another way of expressing it is the similitude between the transfer of
knowledge and the transfer of
> energy: there are allways losses. <snip>
> You minimize the losses by the quality of your writing. That include
organization of the material,
> wording, style, and so on.

> You compensate for the losses by knowing more than the user need to know.
I think that you must
> allow for the fact that you will allways underestimate the amount of loss
and, therefore, need to
> know a lot more.

I like this analogy. Very effective and evocative.

But more knowledge helps even if there are no losses. You have to know a
*lot* more than the users need to know in order to know *what* the users
need to know, *when* they need to know it, *how* they need to know it
(context, detail, etc.), and *why* they need to know it.

Of course, if you have a curious nature, analytical mind, good inductive
reasoning ability, and read widely (so that you possess broad knowledge,
which helps you see relationships, implications, and analogies), then you
don't have to know a lot about the subject matter on your first day. You
just have to know a lot before your second draft is finished. ;-)

Poincarré said, "Science is built up of facts, as a house is built of
stones; but an accumulation of facts is no more science than a heap of
stones is a house." If you lack sufficient subject matter knowledge, your
manuals tend to be heaps of stones.

> Personally, I have never regretted learning something and very often
regretted not learning
> something, so I never miss an available opportunity.

Hear, hear!

Richard


------
Richard G. Combs
Senior Technical Writer
Voyant Technologies, Inc.
richardDOTcombs AT voyanttechDOTcom
303-223-5111
------
rgcombs AT freeDASHmarketDOTnet
303-777-0436
------








^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^


LAST CHANCE for this steal of a deal! Purchase RoboHelp X3 by February 28
and receive $100 mail-in rebate and FREE WebHelp Merge Module ($339 value)!
RoboHelp, the Industry Standard in Help Authoring, has won over 55 industry
awards. For more information please visit: http://www.ehelp.com/techwr-l2.


"RoboHelp X3 is simply remarkable." - George Bell, Techno-Vision Systems


---
You are currently subscribed to techwr-l as:
archive -at- raycomm -dot- com
To unsubscribe send a blank email to leave-techwr-l-obscured -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com
Send administrative questions to ejray -at- raycomm -dot- com -dot- Visit
http://www.raycomm.com/techwhirl/ for more resources and info.



Previous by Author: Re: Why JPGs for screen captures? test results
Next by Author: Re: Knowledge of the subject
Previous by Thread: Knowledge of the subject
Next by Thread: Re: Knowledge of the subject


What this post helpful? Share it with friends and colleagues:


Sponsored Ads