atw: Re: Writing IS Programming!!
- From: "Reginald Hardman" <cleardoc@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: "austechwriter list" <austechwriter@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 10 Mar 2004 11:51:30 +0100
On Wed, 10 Mar 2004 10:13:40 +1100, joe_zolin@xxxxxxxxxxx said:
>=20
> Excellent responses!
>=20
> However, do we cater for emotions in Tech Writing? I am of the beleif
> that
> it is the dryest most unemotional form of writing possible, with (in an
> ideal environment) VERY strict grammer and style rules, akin to the
> structures and strictures of formal programming...
>=20
>=20
> Joe Zolin
> Technical Communicator/Tech Comms MYOB
> E-mail: JOE.ZOLIN@xxxxxxxxxxx
> Phone (work): (03) 9222 9992 Ext. 7429
>=20
Coming in 10 hours late to this interesting discussion, due to geography,
my opinion is that tech writing should be as emotionally neutral as
possible, because we do not usually know the emotional state of the
reader...
Except in this case...
I'm writing a manual which covers disaster recovery (DR) for medium to
large mission-critical computer systems, and it's a pretty safe bet that
the sysops following these instructions will be in some state of elevated
stress. It is necessary to draw the user's attention to this possible
condition well before the chapter on DR, because there are some things
that must be done to prepare for the recovery process which are not
obvious, unless the user has survived a similar event in the past (which
would be unusual).
And in the case of a Windows user...
...who will generally be in a state of agitation due to the need to
either:
1) reboot, and lose data, or
2) spend several hours trying to find the meaning of an obscure error
message, then reboot and lose data.
A reasonable assumption might be that anybody reading a manual will most
likely be:
- in a relaxed state of inattention, idly browsing the docs to fill in
time, or
- in some state of panic because something is not working as expected.
How do you imagine your reader is feeling? Does it matter?
Reg
--
R=E9ginald Hardman
R=E9dacteur Technique
Paris, France=20=20=20
Reginald Hardman
Technical writer
Paris, France
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