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Re: Can I Have Your Opinions and Ideas on Audience?
Subject:Re: Can I Have Your Opinions and Ideas on Audience? From:Rose Wilcox <RWILC -at- FAST -dot- DOT -dot- STATE -dot- AZ -dot- US> Date:Thu, 3 Nov 1994 09:52:00 PST
I have another question to think about relating to Audience.
Do you find management and technical people tend to
overestimate the skill levels of the audience? I was taught
that in technical writing you must address the needs of the
"lowest common denominator". I have found that
often this direction is resisted. I don't mean that manuals
or on-line help need always be written down, but that
materials introducing new people to the system are
usually necessary, no matter how technical folks and management
resist the idea.
Do you have similar experiences?
My current job includes on-line help which I find can
be a good tool for writing to an audience with a large
range in computer experience. You can write reference
sections with quick access to specific questions like
"What do I use this field for?" and you can include a
training/procedural section with detailed instructions for
performing business processes.
In our current project, we are also delivering a manual,
but it is a "Getting Started" manual that contains enough
instructions to do basic tasks and use Help. The bulk
of the instructional and reference materials will be online.
