Re: Recognition at last!

[Peter Gold <pgold -at- NETCOM -dot- COM>]

[snipped lots of good stuff about bad, thin, online-replaces-paper docs]

Am I missing something, or is it possible the driving issue is not only
save-the-trees, but also make-that-information-into-database-chunks? I'm
thinking that the various online help authoring and delivery tools and
database-style information presentation (true database publishing, data
warehousing, custom retrieval tools by user profile and context
sensitivity, and SGML or CALS strictly-typed storage/retrival) are
playing a strong role, too. The tools are here as well as the economics.

It's pretty attractive, but it's also pretty new, so the first few waves
of product are likely to be as problematic as early horseless carriages.

Perhaps more specific to this group is the issue that musicians, for
example have experienced, namely that one synthesizer in good hands can
put 30 live musicians out of work. Similarly, one good writer with
mastery of writing, tools, and resources to support the effort can sooner
or later put many more out of work, even at the "end of the day" him/herself.

There are some people whose positions teach them to see information
development as just another assembly line that needs technologies to
speed up production and reduce costs. Isn't this what's really happening?

........................................................................
Peter Gold                                              pgold -at- netcom -dot- com