Re: "bump it up a notch"

["Klopfenstein, Ed (AFS)" <EdK -at- ACCU-FAB -dot- COM>]

Ben (and all non-Bens out there):

I threw out the initial request for information on hypermedia standards,
but I could also throw out my 2 cents out on what my company has been
doing towards hypermedia adoption.

We create process automation (robots) for high tech companies, and many
parts of our machines are similar.  That creates a real boon for writing
new manuals, since we have 9 gig worth of old documentation to create
the foundation for the new stuff (we've probably created several hundred
different systems over the years).

The problem is that the 9 gig is a 400 pound monkey on LSD and trying to
catalog that beast (along with adding it to the hypermedia pile) is
torture using the simple network system we have now.  Add to that fact
that we have three other companies in our group creating similar
machines and the need to manage documentation over a large intranet
starts to make sense.

Then add one other issue: our customers' employees work in clean rooms
and need some degree of hypermedia for paperless training and
troubleshooting.  If we can supply that service, it wouldn't take a Mars
Mission scientist to figure out that our products would stand that much
taller.

The problem we've faced in adopting hypermedia is creating a standard
(software, html coding, training related plug-ins ((shockwave, mpeg?)),
etc.) that would work on our system and transfer readily to our
customers'.  Without understanding which standard to reach for, we're
wasting money and training time to take the hypermedia jump.  And time
is money, right?

Hope to hear from others and find out what standards are being set.

For Ben, thanks for the input.


Ed Klopfenstein

Technical Writer
Accu-Fab Systems, Inc.
Corvallis, OR


>-----Original Message-----
>From:  Ben Bradley [SMTP:ben -at- DEMOSHIELD -dot- COM]
>Sent:  Thursday, July 24, 1997 11:39 AM
>To:    TECHWR-L -at- LISTSERV -dot- OKSTATE -dot- EDU
>Subject:       "bump it up a notch"
>
>I'm doing some research here...thanks in advance for your answers to the
>following:
>
>Has anyone integrated multimedia (dynamic content) into their online
>documentation or knowledge bases?
>
>Ultimately, who made the decision to add multimedia to documentation?
>
>Has anyone measured the impact of "bumping it up a notch?"  Even informally,
>I'm curious to know
>if the extra effort of learning an authoring application is worth the added
>impact that dynamic content
>brings to the communications process.
>
>Thanks again for your help.
>
>
>
>*****************************************************************************
>***
>Ben Bradley, Marketing Manager  ben -at- demoshield -dot- com
>
> TECHWR-L (Technical Communication) List Information: To send a message
>to 2500+ readers, e-mail to TECHWR-L -at- LISTSERV -dot- OKSTATE -dot- EDU -dot-  Send commands
>   to LISTSERV -at- LISTSERV -dot- OKSTATE -dot- EDU (e.g. HELP or SIGNOFF TECHWR-L).
>  Search the archives at http://www.documentation.com/  or search and
>browse the archives at http://listserv.okstate.edu/archives/techwr-l.html

 TECHWR-L (Technical Communication) List Information: To send a message
to 2500+ readers, e-mail to TECHWR-L -at- LISTSERV -dot- OKSTATE -dot- EDU -dot-  Send commands
   to LISTSERV -at- LISTSERV -dot- OKSTATE -dot- EDU (e.g. HELP or SIGNOFF TECHWR-L).
  Search the archives at http://www.documentation.com/  or search and
browse the archives at http://listserv.okstate.edu/archives/techwr-l.html