atw: Following the ASTC(NSW) members and friends meeting ....

Tony Self, who presented to the ASTC members meeting last Wednesday night,
has just returned from the US equivalent to our AODC. What he foreshadowed
in the world of Help made us all nervous, excited but very nervous, about
the implications of what's in the pipeline for us in the not too distant
future.

As one of our members said after the meeting "Up until now, we've had new
Help tools emerge that meant simply learning a new technology. Our
documentation production and testing procedures felt the most impact, but
the Help solutions that will hit us in a year or so will really affect the
way we're developing our software as well as writing our words.

It won't be a matter of switching tools overnight. We'll have to re-design
all our information. Now's the time to start thinking and planning so that
the move can be made when the new Help engine arrives.

I'm glad I'm not in this space any more but if I were, I'd be off to the
AODC at Manly like a shot. The irony is that technical writers and their
management will be horribly oblivious of what's in store and will consider
this year's AODC as just another Online Documentation & Content Conference."

I have to agree with the concern expressed. I've started to worry about the
impact that the new concept of user assistance will have on my under-control
single sourcing documentation model. It won't fit at all. I'm glad I
attended last night's meeting and now I will really make a concerted effort
to get to the AODC conference.

For a link to the AODC conference site, go to www.astcnsw.org.au 

Janet Taylor


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