Information Mapping
Information Mapping® (www.infomap.com) is a proprietary methodology for the analysis, organisation and presentation of information. It is based on the needs of the users and their purpose in using the documentation. It is used by many large organisations.
A document that has been created using Information Mapping often has a distinctive appearance if the default template is used. However, it's not necessary to use the template provided from Information Mapping Inc. to create an information mapped document.
There are three components of Information Mapping: analysis, organisation, presentation.
Analysis. According to Information Mapping, there are six basic types of information. Examples of information types are:
- Procedure. This tells a person how to perform a task.
- Process. This explains what happens in a system.
- Concept. This defines what something is.
A major tenet of the methodology is that these types of information should not be mixed together. For example, you would not include a concept within a procedure. You would explain the concept before the reader performs the procedure.
Organisation. This deals how the information is presented. For example:
- Information is grouped into 'manageable' chunks.
- Units of information are organised hierarchically into larger groups. Each group has a clear label.
- Unnecessary information is not included.
- Words are used consistently.
Presentation. This deals with the form in which information is presented. For example:
- Lists (bulleted or numbered)
- Tables
- Graphics
Information Mapping formalises what any good technical writer does. It's a useful tool, but it's not the only tool or solution. For example:
- A popular rival in the commercial sector is DocuTools™ structured writing from PTA (www.p-t-a.com).
- A relatively new method of constructing documentation is Darwin Information Typing Architecture (DITA) (www.oasis-open.org/committees/dita/faq.php). This is an XML-based architecture for authoring and delivering information. It uses the concepts of 'typed topics', which is similar to 'information types' in the Information Mapping methodology.
TechScribe can produce Information Mapped documents using the standard template that is provided by Information Mapping Inc.
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