Re: Impressions of Information Mapping

[Karen Gwynn/Datatel <Karen_Gwynn -at- DATATEL -dot- COM>]

Bob Boeri asked:

<snip>
Question: anybody on this list have any experience with Information Mapping
methodology, and --if so-- did you like it? If you did not find it useful, did
you find an alternative methodology you liked better?

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When I first started here, I took the Developing High-Performance Documentation
class from IM. The only other member of the documentation staff at the company
who had taken an IM course was my boss. Since then no one else has taken any of
the classes. However, I did find the class very useful. After taking the class
I was tasked with developing our first procedural documentation (up to that
point we only provided online help and reference documentation for our end-us
ers).  I used a lot of what I learned from IM to help with that project. The
concepts of chunking information was new to me (I am not "formally" trained as
a tech writer), so this was very helpful.  The way that IM teaches the creation
of small information pieces that you then organize into a larger whole has also
helped me to organize my work better.

I do not live by IM---I don't like it **that** much---but I did find it useful
and have recommended that others take the course.

Karen Gwynn
kwg -at- datatel -dot- com