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Subject:Re: How much do you have to know? From:Sue Stewart <suepstewrt -at- AOL -dot- COM> Date:Fri, 4 Mar 1994 04:38:48 EST
There have been some good points made in this thread. I feel the answer is:
It depends. If you are doing user doc, there is actually an advantage in not
knowing what you're talking about. You'll have the same silly questions (is
the mouse a foot pedal?) and confusions your audience will, plus direct
access to the SME and, one hopes, the skill to recognize the question and
locate the answer. You won't assume the audience knows things they don't,
one of the biggest shortcomings in computer manuals today.
If, however, you're writing for a very high-level audience on a subject that
is familiar to both your SME and your audience, then you have to know your
beans. *SOME* writers who are excellent in this field can also write user
doc, but I find they are few and far between. They "know too much."
