Even before CAD, computer technology - especially word-processing software and printing and communication hardware - helped automate the production, editing, and distribution of specifications. Today's technology potentially can go beyond merely automating spec writing to informating the process. You may ask, "What is informating? Is that a real word?" Informating is a neologism by social scientist Shoshana.Zuboff, professor at the Harvard Business School and author of the 1988 classic titled In the Age of the Smart Machine: The Future of Work and Power. According to Wikipedia, "informating is the process that translates descriptions and measurements of activities, events, and objects into information." Thus, spec writing involves descriptions and measurements of activities, events, and objects - the materials, means, and methods of construction - and computer-aided or computer-enhanced spec writing informates the process and translates specifications into information that is usable and actionable by both humans and machines.
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