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Subject:Re: Soapbox Time From:"Eric J. Ray" <ejray -at- RAYCOMM -dot- COM> Date:Mon, 19 Oct 1998 13:24:26 -0600
At 04:04 PM 10/18/98 -0600, Robert Maxey wrote:
>So what has happened? Is it our fate to 'dummy down' the quality of our
>writing, to pander to the lowest common intelligence level?
Seeking desperately to steer this thread back to appropriate
ground for this list...
The real issue, though, isn't a lowest common intelligence
level--it's a lowest common basic knowledge level. There's
a world of difference between the two...
I wouldn't dream of calling it "pandering" to the lowest level.
It's simply a matter of knowing your audience and helping them
understand what they need to understand to work effectively.
I've been doing technical editing on severalOffice 2000 books
and have found that teaching Excel in two or three chapters
seems to strain the ability of many authors to make the
information accessible to less "educated" readers without
patronizing the more sophisticated ones. For example,
figuring out how to discuss doing calculations over a
range of cells without introducing terms like matrix
mathematics and expecting that term to ring a bell
with readers.
Much good technical communication effectively builds the
basic knowledge level as it introduces new material, and
does it without "pandering." Of course, this begs the
question of where to start building (do you start with
"spreadsheets do math" or with "the cell range X1 to
Y10 is an array").
Technically, this is just a effective application of the
old-new principle at a broad level, and it's a useful
technique to remember for any technical communication.
Eric
PS -- I'm currently looking for contract work. If you have
suggestions or contacts, please send them along. Thanks!
*********************************************************************
Eric J. Ray TECHWR-L Listowner
ejray -at- raycomm -dot- com http://www.raycomm.com/
Syndicated columnist: Rays on Computing
Technology Department Editor, _Technical Communication_
Co-author of _Unix Visual Quickstart Guide_, _Mastering HTML 4_,
_Dummies 101: HTML 4_, _HTML 4 for Dummies Quick Reference_, others.
