
How to Write Information So You Can Use It Again
http://saulcarliner.home.att.net/id/reuse.htm
Carliner, Saul
Saul Carliner Studio
2003
Abstract:
You have written a user’s manual for Microsoft Word for Windows. Now you have been asked to write a user’s manual for Microsoft Word for the Macintosh. The two word processors are essentially the same; the primary differences emerge from the differences between Windows and Macintosh systems. You feel that you should be able to prepare the second manual in next to no time, because you can essentially use the information you wrote for the Word for Windows manual again, with some technical changes.
This is an example of re-using information and it is a common task among technical communicators. As the demand for information grows faster than the availability of people to develop that information, technical communicators are showing increasing interest in reusing information.