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RE: What, Me Think? Tying this into tech writing...
Subject:RE: What, Me Think? Tying this into tech writing... From:jsmith -at- informatica -dot- com To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Wed, 6 Dec 2000 13:25:19 -0800
Jo Byrd wrote:
> Most of us carry a vast storehouse of knowledge abound in our
> heads. Extracting it
> and putting it to use, making the connection between "this"
> and "that' is what
> makes us knowledgeable. Knowing a little about something
> gives us a clue as to
> where and how to look for further information.
That's *exactly* what I believe. If you wanted to talk about this in terms
of psychology (or some other -ology), those general concepts in your head
are called schema. And no, I don't mean schema with respect to databases.
=)
But how I think this ties into tech writing is that I like assisting others
make those connections (whether I'm writing at work or talking with
friends). Some people are better at making those connections than others.
As tech writers, we can't assume that all people can make the necessary
connections with only a little bit of information. That's when we need to
decide how much help we give our readers to make connections.
How much "extra" information do we provide? How much background information
do we write? How many cross references to other sections in the book do we
write? How many examples do we give?
Few pieces of information exist in a vacuum (if any), so we shouldn't treat
information as if it were.
Oh, and I'd like to say ditto to the sweeping generalization comments,
especially regarding youngins. =) I'm in my late twenties and a good
critical thinker. But I also know that not everyone my age (or my parents'
age for that matter!) are good critical thinkers. I'm also a former teacher
(teacher turned tech writer? Who knew!) and I also know what strains there
are for both teachers and students. I also know that there are both good
critical thinkers and not-so-good critical thinkers out there in our
school-aged peers. The key is to try to make as many of them (and us) into
critical thinkers...
Jennie Smith
(who sometimes delurks)
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