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Subject:Help! Need a word or phrase From:Steven Oppenheimer <Steven -at- OppenheimerCommunications -dot- com> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Wed, 14 Apr 2004 23:40:58 -0400
So here I am, modestly claiming to be the greatest technical writer on
planet earth, and I'm stuck for a word or phrase to describe my own
services. So, I humbly (and painfully) ask for help. Basically, I'm
tweaking my web site.
I have one bullet item which lists all the kinds of documents I create --
the usual stuff, users guides, reference manauls, online help, plus
brochures. The heading for that bullet item is simply: "Documentation and
Marketing Collateral"
The *next* bullet item is intended to describe the types of systems I
document. That includes any kind of GUI for virtually any kind of software
application. But also, since I have some background in both programming
and electronics, I'm including things like internal APIs (application
programming interfaces), communications protocols, register level functions
in microchips -- things that not everyone else documents. So -- getting to
the point -- I need an umbrella term for this bullet item. So far all I've
come up with is: "Target Applications". I could say something like: "The
Kinds Of Systems I Document", which is really just what I am trying to say,
but that sounds so clunky.
Is there another way, a more pithy way, to convey "The Kinds Of Systems I
Document"? I don't think that "Target Applications" gets the point
across. Maybe "Systems Documented" or "Technologies Documented", is either
of those okay? Still sounds clunky to me. Besides which, I've also
documented business procedures to support an ISO-9000 certification
process, and I really don't think that business procedures are a
"technology", except in the broadest sense of the term. So I still need a
good umbrella phrase for "stuff I document."
Any suggestions would be appreciated.
Steven Oppenheimer
Oppenheimer Communications
Technical and Business Writing: From Complexity To Clarity
Steven -at- OpComm -dot- com www.OpComm.com (301) 468-9233
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