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Subject:RE: Tech writers as story-tellers From:jgarison -at- ide -dot- com To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Tue, 26 Dec 2000 10:01:27 -0500
In a way, documenting a product is somewhat akin to recording folk lore,
albeit lore of a product or service rather than life and times of a place or
people. I often approach things as almost an oral history - you go to the
"elders" to get their view of what happened and why and how and who was
involved in it, and then you distill out the relevant information for
relating to posterity.
When you expand to include the experience of support people, installers,
account representatives, instructors, it takes on very much of a
story-telling element. Phrases like "Our experience shows ..." and "We
strongly recommend ..." can support theory with practice.
Personally, I encourage this sort of approach to technical writing!
My 2¢,
John
John Garison
Documentation Manager
IDe
150 Baker Avenue Extension
Concord, MA 01742
Michael West wrote:
>
> I often think about this remark, and I think he's right. If
> a company hires me to write user-assistance material
> for their products, the basic story that I need to tell
> is the tale of how these products can make their users
> more productive, more effective, and more confident
> in achieving their business goals.
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