RE: White Papers

Subject: RE: White Papers
From: HALL Bill <bill -dot- hall -at- tenix -dot- com>
To: "TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com>
Date: Mon, 8 Apr 2002 16:48:05 +1000 (EST)


Bruce Byfield makes the point, "Maybe it's because a white paper is
basically an academic essay? This is
the assumption on which I write white papers, and, so far, it seems to
satisfy clients.... [F]or both white papers and academic essays, the tone is
one of calm, objectivity. For both, the point is developed with carefully
structured proofs. a consideration of contrary views, and an argument that
is rational; admittedly, in some cases, a white paper may be designed to
sell a product, but it's a very soft sell, in which logical persuasion is
the goal."

To this I would add that most white papers are probably written for the same
kind of motivation behind most research papers in an academic environment -
the author's own interests drive the writing. In my own writing I have
referenced many such works on commercial sites. Some (the least useful and
least interesting ones) are fairly obvious marketing documents. However, the
majority seem to be written by principals or others with a vested interest
in actually explaining how the technologies work or why they are important
in the scheme of things.

At this point in my own career, virtually everything I write falls into this
class, rather than specifically focussed technical writing about specific
products or network configurations as described by Andrew Plato.

I've been there and done that. After I wrote the entire user documentation
sets for a large suite of general business applications (import, export,
warehousing, general ledger, clinical practice management, etc.) in the mid
'80's, I went on to write the management overview for a complete Hogan
banking system and then graduated to managing and designing documentation
systems, and now I am writing about the philosophy of content management.
White papers are much more interesting and intellectually rewarding to
create.

In other words, my guess is that most of us ask to write white papers
because we are interested in the topics rather than being specifically hired
or told to write them. I would also guess that you can get some kudos by
putting up your hand and saying please can I do it - especially if the end
result is good marketing for your product line. This would also explain why
there is so little information on the how-to side of white paper writing.

Regards,

Bill Hall
Documentation Systems Analyst
Strategy and Development Group
Tenix Defence
Nelson House, Nelson Place
Williamstown, Vic. 3016
Australia
Tel: +61 3 9244 4820
+61 3 9244 4000 (Switch)
URL: http://www.tenix.com
Mailto:bill -dot- hall -at- tenix -dot- com


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