Re: Searching...

[Dick Margulis <ampersandvirgule -at- WORLDNET -dot- ATT -dot- NET>]

Pmariad,

I'm new to this group myself, but I think you're in the right place. You
might want to browse the archives a bit for suggestions on style manuals
and, good books on layout, typography, and graphic presentation of
information; or you could take a faster and more radical approach
altogether:

1.      You could use this group as a way to make contact with individuals in
your geographic region (perhaps by joining your local chapter of STC,
perhaps just by trolling here for people who would be interested in
working with you).

2.      You could use this group to help you find out about courses offered
in your area and how to evaluate their usefulness for you.

3.      You could free up some budget dollars to bring in a contractor or
consultant to work with you, both to work directly on the design and
editing of your documentation and to teach _you_ to fish, so to speak.
This group would be a good place to explore this idea, as well.

Your openness about wanting to improve your documentation is a great
first step. I hope you follow up.

Best regards,

Dick





pmariad wrote:
>

>
> Can anyone direct me to a newsgroup or another resource that will enliven a
> bureaucratic policy unit and help us serve our customers (front-line staff)
> better? I'm looking for fresh ideas on:
> 1. Manual layout (currently we use a traditional outline format
> [I.,A.,1.a.]
> 2. How to incorporate graphics into the work
> 3. Writing styles (e.g., voice)
>
> If there's no such newsgroup for us bureaucratic folk (I've looked high and
> low already), I will happily stay here. It's obvious I can learn a lot even
> though we don't deal much in appliances or websites.
>