Editing Modular Documentation

While much has been written about creating topic-based documentation, there is very little instruction for technical editors in the same discipline. In the article “Editing Modular Documentation: Some Best Practices,” Michelle Corbin and Yoel Strimling describe the role of the technical editor in modular documentation. After summarizing a selection of foundational literature on the topic of modular writing, the authors describe some best practices for technical editors. The article continues with a description of the roles that technical editors must hold when dealing with writers who are creating modular documentation. This article provides direction for technical editors who are dealing with modular documentation.

About the Authors

Michelle Corbin is officially a senior software engineer at IBM, although she claims senior technical editor and information architect as her title. With over 25 years of experience as a technical communicator, she has an unwavering passion for technical editing, a penchant for information architecture, and a continued interest in online information design and development. She designed and taught an online certificate course, Technical Editing Fundamentals, for the Society for Technical Communication. She wrote the chapter, “The Technical Editor in the Modern Organization,” in New Perspectives on Technical Editing, edited by Avon J. Murphy. She has a BA in English and an MS in technical communication, both from North Carolina State University. Michelle is the past co-manager and past managing newsletter editor of the Technical Editing SIG and past president and newsletter editor of the Carolina Chapter.

Yoel Strimling has been an editor for 20 years, and currently works as the Senior Technical Editor/Documentation Quality SME for CEVA Inc. in Herzelia Pituach, Israel. Over the course of his career, he has successfully improved the content, writing style, and look and feel of his employers’ most important and most used customer-facing documentation by researching and applying the principles of documentation quality and survey design.

Yoel is a member of tekom Israel, a Senior Member of STC, and the editor of Corrigo, the official publication of the STC Technical Editing SIG. He can be contacted at yoel.strimling@ceva-dsp.com.