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I'll add my few pence here too. I haven't participated in one of these
conference sessions, but have done manual evaluations formally or informally
at other times. For example, next week I'll be sitting in on a class that
uses a Quickstart guide I just finished as the basis for the classroom
materials. We'll see if I'm as good as I think I am--the fact that the SME
really loved the guide kind of worries me. <g>
Think of it as peer review (occasionally as an expert review) and you'll get
the idea. Not all peer reviews are worth the time, and even good reviewers
have bad days. But every once in a while you find a gem. Here's what you're
hoping to have happen: The reviewer says something that gets you so pissed
you find yourself thinking, "just who the heck is this guy anyway?" Then you
get over your immediate reaction, and stop to think about it. You remind
yourself that you're not writing for yourself, and that if someone else
misunderstood your writing or didn't like it or couldn't use your design,
then you need to rethink the design. You ask yourself why they
misunderstood--what's going on in that pointy little head--and suddenly you
see how and gain some new insights into the people who use your docs.
Alternatively, of course, you might end up saying "no, I really do know what
I'm doing better than you do", and can demonstrate this to the reviewer. The
reviewer has a sudden insight and realizes they should have been paying more
attention, or they agree to disagree with you (more than one way to catch
pigeons), and you leave the meeting having convinced yourself that you
really are hitting the target... or at least one of the targets.
--Geoff Hart, geoff-h -at- mtl -dot- feric -dot- ca
Forest Engineering Research Institute of Canada
580 boul. St-Jean
Pointe-Claire, Que., H9R 3J9 Canada
"Wisdom is one of the few things that look bigger the further away it
is."--Terry Pratchett
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A new book on Single Sourcing has been released by William Andrew
Publishing: _Single Sourcing: Building Modular Documentation_
is now available at: http://www.williamandrew.com/titles/1491.html.
Help Authoring Seminar 2003, coming soon to a city near you! Attend this
educational and affordable one-day seminar covering existing and emerging
trends in Help authoring technology. See http://www.ehelp.com/techwr-l2.
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