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> I'm wondering if anyone can help me out. I am trying to determine
> whether anyone has studied the methods of documentation design
> that can help writers create a layering effect so that both
> novices and experienced users (of the product or procedure) can
> access information efficiently. Does anyone actively try to
> do this in their documents? Do you know of any studies or theoretical
> coverage of this issue?
One can always go back to the fundamentals of classical rhetoric.
Aristotle noted the importance of first principles (beginnings,
starting points) in organizing discourse.
It may be that first principles can facilitate a "layering effect"
of advantage to technical communicators. AFAIK, there is little
research to guide the specific application of these concepts.
The person-hours devoted to developing theories of organization
are surely incalculable, and notions of classical rhetoric have
been more or less available for many hundreds of years. In all
this there is still much unknown about the "usability" of
certain types of organization.
"Usability" is itself a first principle; one that, IMO can be very
useful in developing technical discourse. Whether these premises
are indeed obvious provides a fundamental challenge to technical
communicators.
Until later,
Ron
Ronald L. Stone : ston0030 -at- gold -dot- tc -dot- umn -dot- edu : (612) 644-9706
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