White papers are quite useful. They are well written and well reviewed papers that go into depth about a topic. For this reason, they can also be a lot of work.
Companies can use white papers to sell their products. The white papers allow them to educate others and spread the word about their products. There are a lot of cases when people would feel much better about buying a product if they had more in depth knowledge about it.
As a computer scientist, I have read many white papers. Examples include discussions of a computer languages, how software works, and new technologies that have been released. These help me when I need to understand something complex in depth. From my experience, these white papers were very well written and formatted.
Governments and companies write different kinds of white papers. For a company, the primary objective is to provide information that will eventually lead to profits. The government is not profit oriented. They want to provide information that will help society function. However, sometimes politicians are interested in selling an idea to the public, such as a new strategy for the war on terror.
Since they usually describe complex topics, I think white papers should be structured to look as simple as possible. In a way, they are similar to writing instructional documents except the goal is to expand the user’s understanding rather than telling them what to do.
I think it is important to note that white papers are not a new concept. However, with the spread of the internet, they have become much more popular. They can easily be distributed as web pages and PDF documents at almost no cost of distribution to their writers. This has made them much more important in our society today than several decades ago.
The New Answer
After reading your response, it sounds as though you are a genuine fan of white papers and have benefited from the documents in your work as a computer scientist. I feel much of the same applies to me as well, as a network and security analyst. White papers can really be life savers – well, time and effort savers at least. In technical environments, I don’t believe there is a better method of education than a strict white paper, assuming the authors were knowledgeable and able to word their thoughts effectively. Also, I have to agree with your closing argument. Although white papers are a relatively new concept to me, they are by no means new and their recent popularity is, as you say, courtesy of the Internet. Thank you Internet.
Audience and the Internet
I agree with your commentary on the differences between government and company white papers. A company is only in business to make profits, and educating consumers about their product is a great way to generate sales and marketing leads. White papers work well here, and if objective and unbiased, actually give credibility to the company and its product. Government white papers are usually focused on educating leaders to make better decisions, and not consumers. These could include the topics you mentioned such as a the war on terror, or even plans to solve the current financial credit meltdown. I personally can hardly remember a time before the internet, and can't say for certain whether its improved the popularity of white papers, but I wouldn't doubt it.
White Paper Structure
I agree that the structures of white papers should be made to look as simple as possible. Because they often discuss technical, difficult to understand topics, the formatting should be straight forward and clear. Many times it seems this is overlooked in the white paper writing process and I think a lot is lost when the structure is difficult to understand.
As you mentioned, white papers are so much more prevalent today than 10 years ago. As a result, many of the white papers that are out there aren't given the proper time and aren't written as well as they probably should be.
I am definitely interested in reading everyone's final white paper projects and see the different takes on how they should be written and designed.
Design
I'm also very interested in the design of the final drafts of everyone's white paper. I'm not for certain, but the name "white paper" makes me think of a generic plain technical document that is used to inform. Did white paper's actually used to be plain like this? Did the internet, and the use of white paper's in the consumer product industry (for marketing purposes), change this to the current style of well designed white papers? All of the professionally created white papers we've looked at aren't "white" at all, and instead use all of the elements of design we've talked about in this class: consistency, typography, use of white space, margins, headers, etc.
My favorite design element of the white paper's we've seen so far is the "pull out" text, usually one per page, that highlights an important phrase of text from the reading that summarizes the issue.
A Simple Structure
I agree with you when you state that white papers should have a simple, predictable structure. As you stated, these technical documents are often quite lengthy and complicated, and the ability to provide a consistent structure or format within the document is crucial. This is probably most significant among audiences, such as CEOs, that need to quickly find information and get to the point of the paper. I think one of the best ways of achieving this level of simplicity in the structure, as discussed in the readings, is to be specific and informative with headers and subheaders, and really guide the readers eye in such a manner.
Assesing the Purpose of a White Paper
Estafano, I like how you address the motive of government white papers. I especially enjoyed your statement, "However, sometimes politicians are interested in selling an idea to the public, such as a new strategy for the war on terror." I will second this and believe it’s very important that anyone assess where the information is coming from whenever reading any sort of document. Think about what that author might want to persuade you into believing and question their authority. White papers can be very useful, but also persuasive. Make sure if you are seeking factual information it is from a reputable source.