July 2, 1984


 
To:      Cecilia d'Oliveira, Steve Lerman
From:    Linda Merims
Subject: Employee Plan for 1984-85


Mission

1) See that Athena systems, facilities, and administrative
   procedures are documented to the extent that they need to be.
2) Represent the user's perspective to the group.

Athena needs three kinds of writing:
  
  - publicity writing  (so our goals, plans, and accomplishments are known) 
  - user documentation  (so people can use our system)
  - internal documentation  (so what we create is exportable) 

Of these, only the second is receiving consistent attention.
 

1. Short Term

  Wrap-up June release preparations:
   
   - Release announcement reviewed, printed, distributed 
   - Update packets printed and available
   - Blox manuals available 
   - New version of Essential Athena, others updated
   - Dialup access documentation

  Finish Essential Unix

  Start Athena News online newsletter

  Outstanding Unresolved Issues

   - IPS to handle more free documentation printing and distribution
   - Account Administrator manual contract -- (becoming a moot point?)
   - Undocumented Athena software (backup, account creation and
      maintenance, real-time kernel)

 

2. For the Coming Year

Events:

  Continue to attend to documentation needs for new applications
  packages (Macsyma, RS1, Newer Franz Lisp, Spreadsheet??,
  new Emacs, new Scribe, database? others?) 
    - largely Will Doherty
    - no installation schedule

  Fall '84, What does it mean?

  Athena goes all-campus.  When?  What does it mean?

  The "Summer 85 System"  What is it?  What does it change?

Issues:

  The IBM Unix:  What?  How?  Compatibility issues.

  Get systems internal documentation under control

  Replacement for Will Doherty (leaves 1/1/85 -- early trainee?)

  Restart Documentation Working Group (WWBench, Epistle, mission)

  Projects
    Documentation Utility for Projects
    Guidelines for Project Documentation
    How to Catalog Course Software

  Media
    Convert VS100 Document Browser to Unix (necessary back end to
     any documentation system) 
    Brigham Young Reader's Workbench?
    Video disk.
    Integrated online documentation library:  finding what you want,
     perusing it, cross references, printing it.