Re: Popular Culture Deals with the Online/Print Documentation Que stion

[Scott Havens <SHavens -at- ELCOTEL -dot- COM>]

Richard,

That cartoon's not so far from the truth.  A few years ago, Xerox Corp.
(my employer at the time) was using microfiche to distribute its copier
service documentation.  (The techs in the field actually had hand-held
viewers they used to perform adjustment procedures, identify spare
parts, etc.)  When I first began working on one of those documentation
projects, I was given a viewer to use.  Okay, it WAS a used model, so I
have to HOPE that it had a hard copy manual ONCE, but by the time I got
it-- you guessed it-- the only available documentation was on fiche!  I
never managed to track down any other "manual" for the thing, except for
that little piece of film I got with it, so I'll probably never know the
whole story.  It was quite a "Catch 22" situation, though:  if you
didn't know how to use a fiche viewer, you couldn't read the manual; if
you got so you could read the manual, you didn't need it.  That viewer
(and its "documentation") are now among the "what not to do" examples in
a presentation I occasionally give to tech writing students.

Have a nice day!
SRH

>     Those of you who have followed the recurring discussions on the
> list of
> when print documentation is or isn't necessary may be amused to see
> the
> "Bizarro" cartoon from March 10, now accessible at
>
> http://www.uexpress.com/ups/comics/bz/pages/bz990310.html
>
>     I'm curious whether it was inspired by something that actually
> happened
> to the artist or a product of his imagination.
>
> Richard
>
>


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