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Re: Structuring Documentation

Subject: Re: Structuring Documentation
From: Dick Margulis <margulisd -at- comcast -dot- net>
To: sharon -at- anthrobytes -dot- com
Date: Tue, 13 Dec 2005 10:39:54 -0500

Sharon Burton wrote:


There is not a process that tells us how to construct this sentence with
these words and not those words. That is the place where talent, the ability
to write, comes in. Not everyone has it.


Sharon,

I think this may be crux of Tony's misunderstanding. He seems to be asking for an algorithmic way to do the actual writing--to automate the this task for the tech writer, in other words, thus rendering differences in human ability irrelevant and reducing the tech writer to a fungible warm body with or without language ability or making the job obsolete altogether.

To that I would say to Tony, Go for it. Do the analysis needed to create such a system; hire the linguists and AI specialists (that would be artificial intelligence in this context, not artificial insemination, but, then again, who knows) needed to flesh out the details; hire the developers to write the code (although, given that developers cost more than tech writers, maybe you ought to focus the project on automating the developer out of a job before you worry about automating the tech writer out of a job); then test your product and market it. Put all us buggy whip makers out of business; there will always be job for talented, creative people, whether in tech writing or some other field; so we're not worried.

Come back and tell us about it when you're done. We won't hold our breath.

Dick

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RE: Structuring Documentation: From: Sharon Burton

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