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-----Original Message-----
From: cupton -at- syclone -dot- net
Sent: Friday, April 04, 2008 9:21 AM
Subject: RE: Please describe value of Information Mapping
> I took the training over twenty years ago, and consider it the most
> important training I have received in my long tech writing career.
(snip)
> Some good writers may come to the same place on their own, but it
would
> have taken a long time for me to do so. Defining and organizing your
> content is the whole key.
I took the training 8 years ago, and by that time, the information
"chunking" principles were also being applied in the college
technical/business writing and journalism classes that I'd already taken
before entering the workforce.
I do recall that in the session I was in, I was the only writer-type
person. The rest of the class were people who were facing a big writing
task who were not trained or practiced in any kind of business or
technical writing. I know they all found it much more groundbreaking
than I did. If I took away anything specific from the class at the
time, I can't recall what it is now.
I know at that time, their "tools" were just some templates. Good for
those starting from scratch, but your own highly structured template in
the tool of your choice and understanding HOW it works (not just "put
everything in tables!") shouldn't be that much different. I do not
think even know it's something where you press the Info Mapping button
and have a perfectly info-mapped document. What I took away from it was
that it was much more about the understanding and organization of the
information, and less about the tools used to present it.
- V
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