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>While I agree in theory with all that Beverly and John are
saying, the fact is that "subject matter expert" or "subject
expert" or "expert" or whatever is NOT something most of us
generally use in our documentation. It is our way of
identifying a person who provides us with input of whatever
sort. I have never seen or heard this term used outside of
informal communication between tech. writers.
True that it is not generally used in technical documentation;
however, it is most definitely used in business documents
(reports/white papers) in my neck of the woods. It is a commonly
used term in government, especially at high levels.
>Nobody ever comes to me and says "who's your subject matter
expert for XYZ project?" They say "who's your SME?"
(pronounced "smee").
Interesting. Here, it's usually pronounced S-M-E. (That could be
changing--I haven't actually heard anybody say it for a while.)
>In any case, I feel that relative wordiness of what SME is an
abbreviation for isn't really the point. SME is now a word on
its own.
Bah! It just sounds like you're throwing in the towel. ;-)
=*= Beverly Parks =*= bparks -at- huachuca-emh1 -dot- army -dot- mil =*=
=*= "These opinions are mine, not my employer's." =*=
=*= =*= =*=
