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My cow-orker has taken interest in this thread and asked me to post his
02...
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I couldn't agree more.
Even before making assumptions about subject matter, I think many companies
(and their tech writers) make incorrect assumptions about their audience's
general knowledge of computers.
We all laugh at stories like "I broke the cup holder on my computer" but I
believe the people who make such calls represent a significant portion of
the end user audience. Yet, companies produce documentation that begins
with the assumption that the audience has a working knowledge of Windows.
It's been my experience that this is often not the case, even for some
technical audiences.
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Andrew Plato [mailto:intrepid_es -at- yahoo -dot- com]
> Sent: Tuesday, December 14, 1999 9:43 PM
> To: TECHWR-L
> Subject: Tracking off
>
>
> Okay - since I bear some responsibility for starting this
> thread and since a
> person in private mail has called me "the least informed
> technical writer in
> history" - I guess I should be a wee clearer with my
> assertions. The JPL snap
> didn't clear the tower very well.
>
> Audience is subjective. Accuracy is (mostly) objective.
>
