Software system documentation has been an integral part of the development process since the first efforts to design and implement large and robust systems. However, the focus of this documentation typically has been limited to the production of discrete artifacts, despite the richness of data and genres that surround it. Efforts to develop a robust documentation exemplarDella -have not been completely successful, mainly because the provided documentation was largely ignored by many students for simpler but less effective alternate designs. This paper will present, in addition to the lessons learned from the Della project, some insights into the direction software system documentation now should be taking in support of large and long-lived systems.

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Suzanne Lane directs the Writing, Rhetoric, and Professional Communication program (WRAP) at MIT, is a Senior Lecturer in MIT's Comparative Media Studies/Writing department, and teaches communication in many engineering departments She also directs the associated lab, ArchiMedia, which studies how new media are shaping professional communication practices, and designs new digital tools for teaching communication. Prof. Andreas Karatsolis, Massachusetts Institute of TechnologyAndreas Karatsolis is the Associate Director of Writing,Rhetoric and Professional Communication as Massachusetts Institute of Technology. His disciplinary training includes a Ph.D. in Rhetoric and Communication with an emphasis on technical/professional communication in science-related fields, which is at the core of his teaching and research efforts. In his position at MIT and as a member of the Administrative Committee of the IEEE Professional Communication Society, he is primarily interested in designing curricula and tools which can help engineers and scientists develop life-long competencies in communication. In the past seven years he has also been the Lead of co-Principal Investigator in projects related to the design, implementation and assessment of learning technologies, especially in the domains of language learning, health communication and public discourse.