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>From what little I've read about the subject so far,
>I think these are just concepts that we as technical
>writers already apply to our writing and they
>"ain't that big a deal"! Opinions?
I think the information mapping falls into that class of things I would call
"codified common sense". This is not a criticism. Codified common sense is
often useful, especially when you need to get through a very large amount of
work, with workers of widely differing backgrounds and gifts, and produce
reasonably good results. In a fledgling practitioner or group, the
application of codified common sense tends to both accelerate growth and
limit it. Often this is acceptable. Documentation does not always need to be
brilliant and original. Sometimes it just needs to not suck.
On the other hand, we must never forget that codified common sense is not,
and does not necessarilly lead to the development of, real common sense.
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Mark Baker
Manager, Technical Communication
OmniMark Technologies Corporation
1400 Blair Place
Gloucester, Ontario
Canada, K1J 9B8
Phone: 613-745-4242
Fax: 613-745-5560
Email mbaker -at- omnimark -dot- com
Web: http://www.omnimark.com
