Thursday, May 12th, 2011

Over 15+ years as a technical writer, and now as an online instructor, I have both learned and taught specific processes for effective technical writing, including:

+ understanding the document development cycle, including the all-important PROJECT PLAN
+ audience and task analysis
+ outlining
+ technical review and walkthroughs
+ usability testing
+ developing a TOC
+ indexing
+ maintenance
+ production

Calaxy and CalIQity are impressive. However, there is no reason that the Calaxy User's Guide should simply be a .pdf with screen snaps. It is the 'single-sourcing' in documentation that can guide a project, and our project is to make technology usable.

Another aspect of documentation is User's Guides. Every school computer lab should have its own User's Guide. It does not have to be a formal document - just a way for all users to know the processes of your lab, for example, how to get the key and how to turn on the overhead projector. I have developed a couple of User's Guides templates for school computer labs that I would be happy to share with you.

I'm not saying that we can catch up to industry immediately, but we should not forgo some of their sensible approaches to technology, such as PROJECT PLANS and single-sourcing of documentation.



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