Content area
Abstract
The needs of the information society have thrust into prominence those who produce the technical information needed to work with computers. As a consequence of society's need for technical information, those who develop and produce that information are called upon to translate the technical capabilities of complex computer systems into a form that enables readers to perform needed tasks.
Since the information they produce is an integral part of the product, it follows that these "information developers" must work as an integral part of the product-development team, not as post-facto wordsmiths who clean up the writing done by product developers. To function in this capacity, they need an information-development process that is consistent with the product-development process. They must adapt their writing skills and strategies to the product-development environment in which they work, while at the same time meeting the needs of their audiences, a group that continues to grow in number and diversity as the use of computers evolves.
Developing information in this environment is not simply following a set of rules for communicating correctly, but is a process for converting detailed technical information into information that enables users of high-technology products to do the tasks that they want or need to do; it is not merely describing the structure of those products and the functions that are available. Rather, it is a rich, detailed process that involves gathering requirements; setting objectives; producing specifications to meet those objectives; producing drafts according to those specifications; editing, reviewing, and testing those drafts; producing final versions of the information and distributing them to customers; updating and redistributing that information in response to product changes and reader response; and measuring and assessing the quality of the information that has been produced and the process used to produce it.
While the process is well defined in many of its aspects, it also possesses many implications for further research and development efforts by academic researchers and industrial practitioners alike.
