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Subject:Leveraging through reuse From:geoff-h -at- MTL -dot- FERIC -dot- CA Date:Mon, 21 Jul 1997 12:10:54 -0500
A few techwhirlers took issue with my comments that reusing
(modularizing) text _only_ produces a good first draft, and
has serious dangers. This deserves some clarification.
First, I didn't say that reusing the information is
impossible or unproductive... it is neither, and I quote:
"Reusing text ("modular information") is a great
productivity booster."
A careful rereading of what I posted will reveal what I
really said: you can do it, but you still have to review
what you've done to be sure it's appropriate for the new
medium ("you have to analyze the final text for each
delivery medium to determine how well it's really going to
work") and to catch simple human errors (e.g., the GM
manual). So reuse of info. produces a good first draft, as
I said, but you still have to check your work.
<rant> I must admit that it bugs me to be taken so badly
out of context, and in my experience, this sort of thing is
hardly an isolated incident on this list... one would hope
that people write more carefully than they read. If you're
going to rebut someone's argument, please do them the
courtesy of reading what they actually said and not
extending their arguments beyond that.</rant>
--Geoff Hart @8^{)} geoff-h -at- mtl -dot- feric -dot- ca
Disclaimer: Speaking for myself, not FERIC.
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