The paragraph: the weak link in technical communication?

The paragraph has been a writer's design convention for centuries. It can be applied to any kind of writing. It is flexible. It is easy to learn. It is what everyone is taught from about third grade onwards as the sole design for writing information. However, three different fields of endeavor are impacting the use of the paragraph as the only convention for conveying information in the corporate and technical world. They are: cognitive science research, online media and structured documentation.