atw: Re: Should we always give users what they ask for?
- From: Stuart Burnfield <slb@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: Austechwriter <austechwriter@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 9 Mar 2009 12:44:56 +0900 (WST)
> 6. Thus we should not, perhaps, accept that reader preferences
> carry the day: yes or no? That was the question I asked, and not
> too many correspondents have actually answered it directly.
Well, not really. You've phrased the question in a few different
ways, but your original question was (italics mine):
> Should user preferences be the _sole_ determiner of the
> media we choose for delivering technical documentation?
The subject line was and is:
"Should we _always_ give users what they ask for?"
> But some commentators are saying that we should _listem to_
> (our readers' preferences), and thus the point of my posting.
> ... _how persuaded should we (be) by their preferences_ to adopt
> their preferred delivery medium?
> The heart of the issue is this: should the degree of comprehension
> that a particular medium offers be a _determinant_ in our decision
> about what media to offer our readers? If the answer is yes,
> then it would seem to follow that reader prefrences are secondary
> considerations.
My feeling is that comprehension is a factor (of course),
reader preferences are a factor (of course), the environment,
nature of the text/task
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