Interactive Electronic Technical Manuals

Subject: Interactive Electronic Technical Manuals
From: "Lawrenson, Steve" <steve -dot- lawrenson -at- CANADA -dot- CDEV -dot- COM>
Date: Thu, 6 Jul 1995 12:45:00 EDT

This might be a hard one to answer but ...

Can anybody recommend a how to book or articles related to the production
of Interactive Electronic Technical Manuals (IETMs) as defined by MIL-M-
87268, MIL-D-87269, and MIL-Q-87270 (or any other non-mil approach/electronic
book generation)? The kind of information I m looking for includes:

IETM Analysis
************
- End User Profiles
- Source Data Selection
- Hardware/Software Selection (What are the Best Tools/Platforms?)
- SGML or Not? (Advantages vs. Cost)
- Profession Implications (Are Special Skills Required?)
- Delivery Media Selection

Planning and Design
****************
- Story Board Generation Criteria
- Hyperlink Considerations
- Mind Mapping
- Depth of Detail Considerations

Budgeting
********
- Cost Vs. Traditional Publishing Approach
- Risk/Cost Reduction
- Scheduling Implications
- Life-Cycle Cost Considerations

Implementation
************
- Coding Requirements
- Graphic/Video/Audio Criteria
- Porting Existing Legacy Data
- Configuration/Data Management

Testing/Review/Update/Re-test
************************
- End-User Feedback
- Usability Testing
- Life-Cycle Upkeep/Change and Revision Service

Plus any other design consideration I ve missed.

If not, anybody want to write one? I ll buy the first book written!
(What a concept, writing a paper book on how to write an electronic book!).

Seriously, there appears to be a big hole with respect to the amount of
information in this subject area, considering the number of Technical Writers
who work in the defence industry IMHO.

Steve Lawrenson
Supervisor - Technical Documentation
Computing Devices Canada

steve -dot- lawrenson -at- canada -dot- cdev -dot- com


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