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Finally, someone's defined the difference between "not living" (can be
updated by a new part number or revision number) and "dead" (can be
used, but not updated). In light of Geoff Hart's earlier post, should
"not living" documents be filed under "Shaun"?
-- Dan Goldstein
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Jones, Donna
> Sent: Monday, May 15, 2006 11:12 PM
> To: TECHWR-L
> Subject: RE: Living documents?
>
> Here's my take on the terminology based on how my job works. Your
> situation may be different.
>
> To create my manuals, I use "living" source files that are shared
> between (linked into) multiple manuals. These source files live in a
> central location on our server, and they change whenever new
> information becomes available, whenever corrections are necessary,
> or whenever I think of a better way to say or illustrate something.
> Changes made to the living source files may take months to show up
> in my released manuals, depending on how important the changes are
> or on where a particular manual falls in the queue for being
> updated.
>
> The manuals that I release are not living, no matter how often they
> are revised or how recently they were released. A released manual
> is a static snapshot of how the living source files looked at the
> time that the manual was released. A released version of one of my
> manuals can be "current," but it is not living because it may not
> change after I release it. Any updates require a new part number
> or a new revision number.
>
> If a manual is made obsolete without a new one replacing it, that's
> when the manual is officially "dead" or "obsolete." Some people may
> still choose to or need to use it, but we no longer update it.
>
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