[Sigia-l] Writing vs. Documentation

[Michelle Corbin]

Hello fellow IAs.  I have been a very happy lurker on this list for the 
past year. 

As a technical communicator, I feel compelled to offer up some commentary 
to this thread.  :)

> > I'm sure there are *some* apps where *complex* documentation is 
needed, but
> > for the vast majority of apps there's often an inverse relationship 
between
> > the "complexity" of the documentation and the inherent usability of 
the app
> > itself. 

> > Of course, there are other ways of providing "documentation" without
> > having to "write" (prose).

In my 17+ year career, I have been a technical writer, technical editor, 
and most recently added information architect to my titles and job 
responsibilities. 
I think I "fell" into this IA role, because of my passion for *simplicity* 
in
information design. I consider "information" to be any communication with 
the user --
traditional documents and help systems, but ultimately the labels and 
organization
of the interfaces (GUI, command-line, or others). 

As an expert in understanding how to best communicate a message to a user, 

I honed my information architecture skills while working as a technical 
editor --
some might call it "developmental editing" or "comprehensive editing," 
whereby
I ensure that the right information is presented in the right places at 
the right
time (not just that the commas are in the right place, nor the sentence is 
grammatically
correct). I work to help technical writers structure, navigate to, and 
present 
complex information in simple designs -- as an editor, but ultimately up 
front as their
information architect.

Early in my career, I worked on a project that had a 17-book library to 
document it.
(The usability of this project was of course pitiful, and the library 
emphasized it.)
Now, we build Web-based information centers that present thousands of 
chunked topics, 
but we also build information into our interfaces whenever and however 
possible.
(The usability of our projects today are improving, due to this movement.)

Back at the beginning, and even more so today, I use IA skills to 
understand my users,
understand their needs, learn their tasks (not the system ones), and then 
craft the
information in the simplest, most direct manner, within the various 
delivery mechanisms
that are available to me.  GOOD technical communicators have been using IA 
skills
throughout their careers, even if it wasn't called that to start with. 
There is 
much overlap between technical communication and information architecture, 
it's just
a matter of application and environment in which we work.  It's why I lurk 
and enjoy
this listserv so much!  :)

> This is one of the reasons I like having good technical authors 
> around early in the process. They love saving themselves work and can 
> help the persuasion process for doing the UI right (ditto for first 
> level tech support)

YES!  YES!  YES!  If technical writers are invited to the table to assist 
in the
design of interfaces, we can indeed influence and improve upon those 
interfaces 
and save the documentation effort later on.  We can also help design 
information
delivery vehicles in those interfaces, building appropriate labels, 
instructions,
and information in those interfaces in the first place. 

At the Society for Technical Communication (STC) Conference a number of 
years ago,
I attended a session whereby they said that the role of technical writers 
was changing,
such that our jobs would be going away.  We would one day be interface 
designers, 
helping design products that required NO documentation whatsoever. 
Although I doubt
we will ever get THAT far along the path, I think we have made great 
strides in that 
direction in many of the products that we support.  Some products do not 
require
documentation, and technical communicators must work to find ways to 
communicate with
their users -- because, after all, who really reads the documentation 
anyway, right?  :)

(As an aside, I also work with the technical support team, to help improve 
THAT 
communication with the users as well -- offering IA and technical editing 
support --
to ensure that how they communicate with the users is most effecient and 
effective.
Information architecture must account for the full circle of communication 
with the users,
from design, to implementation, to support!)

Thanks for reading my first posting into this list.  :)

TTFN,
Michelle

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Michelle Corbin
Senior Technical Editor & Information Architect
IBM Information Management, IBM Software Group
corbinm at us.ibm.com, 919-543-1012 (t/l 441-1012)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~