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In <9409061743 -dot- AA11664 -at- expert -dot- cc -dot- purdue -dot- edu>, laila
<shamji -at- expert -dot- cc -dot- purdue -dot- edu> writes:
>I am taking a course entitled "Writing for the Computer Industry," and
>my instructor has a book called "The Power of Maps" by Denis Wood, as
>one of our required reading materials. However, I do not seem to
>understand the importance of 'mapping'in relation to technical
>writing.
Given that the nature of Laila's course, the book may be about the form of
structured writing referred to as information mapping (discussed some time
ago on this list).
My understanding is that the information mapping method was developed by
Robert Horn, who wrote, "How to Write Information Mapping".
The company, Information Mapping, of Waltham, MA, offers seminars in
information mapping, which they describe in their literature as an
"approach that enables authors to break information into its most basic
elements, and then structure those elements to allow readers to easily find
and use the information they need."
Nancy S. Burns
National Solar Observatory
Tucson, Arizona
e-mail: nburns -at- noao -dot- edu
"Writing a poem is taking over the 200-inch telescope carefully focused on
the galaxies born at the beginning of the universe and turning it to look
at a child eating mystery meat and string beans 300 miles away." from
"Incantation to Overcome Writer's Block, Maybe" by Lisa Yount.