The non-technical person as technical writer/editor and documentation for the computer illiterate

摘要

University computer center personnel know there is no dearth of documentation designed for the expert. Control Data, UNIVAC, DEC---;even IBM--- paper and fiche all possible areas. IBM's latest Marketing Publications KWIC Index alone contains 60 pages (double columns, reduced print) of titles...an ample supply of words, even for rabid manualpeople. No, the documentation problem which faces User Services groups in academic installations is how best to provide information to the non-expert: the new, naive user; the pseudo-sophisticate who comes on strong with highly-specialized terms like "keypunch" and "listing", the Director of User Services---in other words, the various types of true computer illiterate

This paper respectfully suggests that it is possible to employ a person with no technical training as a technical writer/editor within a university computer center environment, and that such an individual can prove amazingly effective in helping User Services to attack this sometimes menial, always demanding task.