|  Developing Content
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| Rather than citing chapter and verse
for mandatory regulations, we explain rationales
for actions. For an informal approach, we avoided bureaucratic
words, academic jargon, and technical phrases; used the
first and second person where possible; and provided sidebars
and comics which highlight and
counterpoint key points. |
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The guidebook content stemmed from Reclamation's
need for a practical approach to decisionmaking. Many of the
planning regulations were sunsetted--leaving planners, resource
managers, team leaders, and others without anything to point
to and say "this is why we do things this way." Without a clearly
documented, rational approach to solving complex problems, decisionmakers
and participants could not understand what teams were analyzing,
how teams approached problems, and what the end product would
be. This led to confusion, misunderstandings, and delays in
the process. Our team was assembled
to create useable, clear discretionary guidance on government
planning and decisionmaking.
Our methodology evolved while we created the linear guidebook.
At first, the writing process got bogged down in lengthy discussions
of specific wording when we needed to focus on ideas. So we
held a series of conceptual discussions, and the writer produced
a preliminary reactive draft. Then we held meetings to interactively
suggest changes. The resulting draft was then given to core
team members for suggestions. This worked well, but we needed
an even wider range of input.
We interviewed over 100 contributors
in sessions ranging from an hour to four hours. To prepare for
the interviews, we developed detailed but flexible outlines
for each section and step. We used the interview notes, tapes,
written materials provided by contributors, course materials,
and independent research to develop reactive drafts (a process
often jokingly referred to as "knocking off the rough edges").
The core team and peer review process polished the material
with constructive comments, which were incorporated into a demonstration
draft. The demonstration draft was sent to contributors for
comment. We then incorporated these comments into a distribution
draft, often going back to commentors for clarification and
input.
For example, in one early go around, people said that the
most common problem was politics. So we called everyone back
and asked, "How do you deal with politics?" Their answers provided
the material for our section on politics.
People commented on the distribution draft and we went through
the whole process again. Finally, in September 1996, we published
the hard copy guidebook.
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| Web
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| The hard copy guidebook has been used
extensively and found worthwhile. It has also received
awards, including an International Award of Excellence
from the Society of Technical Communication. This made
it possible to continue with the web version. |
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| Storyspace, Claris Home Page, WordPerfect
7.0 are registered products. Reclamation does not endorse
any of these products. We are merely mentioning them to
let others know how we created this site. |
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Using this guidebook, we developed
training for various audiences and purposes. These sessions
provided more insights. It became evident that a linear explanation
of how government works was too convoluted and unwieldy. Further,
readers had difficulty locating the material they needed, and
the book continually repeated concepts.
Decision processes are not easy,
linear concepts. Steps are simultaneous
and iterative. Concepts such as communication,
credibility, andpriority
are repeated themes throughout each step. We needed to present
the decision process concepts in a useful way so readers could
understand the interactions. We also needed a cheaper distribution,
as groups (both within the US and overseas) were beginning to
be interested. After looking at several options (e.g., cd-rom,
an ftp site, a PDF document), we decided to create a hypertext
using HTML.
Hypertext links and levels could show the structure that
a linear text could not. HTML was a simpler language that could
be manipulated to create this structure. The web was expanding,
so that Reclamation employees and others would have easy access.
We set up this web guide to:
- Develop a flexible document we can continue to use and
update
- Use hypertext to show connections and themes
- Provide a space where users can explore the decision
process
- Reach the broadest possible audience (both within Reclamation
and world-wide).
To do this, we:
- Stayed away from the cutting edge so that the site would
be accessible to the widest variety of technology
- Rewrote the text to fit into a hypertextual structure
- Connected main points to show relationships between ideas
- Created tours, site maps, and other navigational devices
(e.g., a comics page, terms, concept pages) so readers can
find what they need
We used Storyspace to create a hypertextual space that mirrors
the complex connections of governmental decision processes (over
150 spaces with over 2,000 links). The file structure in Storyspace
made it possible to see relationships between important concepts
and steps in the process. We used the export feature with hierarchical
links to maintain as much of the three-dimensional levels as
we could. Then we used various html editors (e.g., Claris Home
Page, WordPerfect 7.0) to clean up the "look and feel."
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Reading Aids
Tours