This week’s readings explain the important steps on writing instructions to your audiences. Rather your audience is a novice or experienced you want both reader to feel comfortable while reading and following instructions. You do not want the novice to feel like an idiot from not know terms nor irritating to the experienced. You have to write in terms that are “user centered”.
As reading through chapters 19 and 20 in TCT, they explain the types of audiences who will be reading instructions and how to tailor the instructions to fit the specific needs of each audience. The reading suggests that we shouldn’t assume the audiences skill. This can be a big mistake in either direction. Instructions can insult the reader intelligence by using too many technical terms expecting them to know a specific step. e.i. where a vehicle’s drain plug is located; as pointed out in instructor’s blog #4.
instructor’s blog #4
From the instructor’s blog #4, “instructions are unappealing”. For me this is very true. Instructions are the last thing I look at. For a long time it was just saying “the fact that I am a man and I DO NOT need instructions.” After needing to read some instructions I feel that I deserve a PhD from all of the material I read; giving an over abundant amount of information. While on the other hand I have read some instructions that are like the Rubik’s cube example, not clear.
For an example of good instructions for an experienced person rather than I novice, was when my brother and I was putting an aftermarket air intake on my truck. When replacing my factory air intake a K&N air intake the instructions related to terminology like: throttle body, MAF sensor, with other terms as well. My brother, the novice, was helping me and I had to explain all of the steps I was doing for him to understand the instructions.
Overall, I think with the readings and the instructor’s blog, I will be able to write better instructions, that are easy to follow and not overwhelming.
using this material to produce better instructions
You state: "Overall, I think with the readings and the instructor’s blog, I will be able to write better instructions, that are easy to follow and not overwhelming." That's good, but provide specifics about how this material will help you produce better instructions. What specifically is going to change in your workflow? What will you want to make sure to do or to avoid. Your example of existing instructions is good, but let's also turn to specifics about what this suggests about producing our own instructions.
Who is the User?
I think you make an interesting point toward the beginning of your post when you note that there may be some difficulty in finding a balance between "novice" and "experienced" level instructional quality. As you mention, in one regard you don't want to speak in a too complicated language, but at the same time you don't want the user to feel dumbed down. I think the user-centered approach really involves focusing in on the approach that will satisfy the most people involved. It will always be impossible to satisfy everyone, so this will always be the best overall process that can be taken. I'm sure that I will keep this in mind when constructing my instructional document, and keep a lurking eye on the individuals for whom I'm writing.
Is this balanced?
This battle to find the perfect balance to satisfy the audience seems to be a reoccurring theme in our assignments. Just like cover letters, we need to ensure that we are wording our documents correctly so that they are more likely to meet the needs of our audience. The hard part of this is that it is not an exact science. No matter how experienced you are, there will always be some amount of guess work involved. All that we can do is apply our past experiences, our research of the potential audience and our knowledge gained from school to try and figure out how to balance our documents.
Smaller audience size
I like what you said about installing the air intake. I think that it helps to show where to to draw the line between experienced and novice. Well many people will use a toaster or set up a computer, fewer people are going to install an after market air intake. Due to this smaller group of users I think that it would be safe to assume that the readers are more knowledgeable than just the average Joe. This is exactly way you understood the terminology but your brother did not. Just another example of making sure that you understand your audience before writing your directions.
Andy