The technical process that I have chosen to write instructions for is how to prepare and list an item to sell on Ebay. In the instructions, I will include each step that the user will need to take in order to sell an item successfully on the auction site. It is my hope that novice computer and internet users will be able to follow the instructions easily and completely. I also hope that some veteran Ebayers will get some tips and possibly a structure to use for listing that might be a little more efficient and effective than what they are currently using.
While Ebay has become a staple for selling un-used items for some extra cash to many users, there is still a plethora of users who seem to think that the task of listing and selling something online is a daunting task that they would never be capable of doing themselves. I hope to show that selling online is an easy and somewhat fun way to make some extra money.
The reason I feel that I am qualified to write these instructions is that I buy and sell on ebay almost weekly and have been doing so for over 5 years. I have had both bad and good experiences that I learned from and can hopefully help to prevent others from experiencing or help to re-create.
As stated above, the first audience will be users who have little or no internet experience and may have never even visited the Ebay site. The instructions themselves will be very explicitly laid out with easy to understand terminology and helpful pictures.
The other audience that will benefit from these instructions is the user that is familiar with Ebay’s layout and may have even sold or bought something on the site in the past. The instructions will be helpful to the veteran user because they may discover something they were not aware of before or a way to sell more effectively, and in turn, make more money from their sales. While I will consider these instructions technical, they will not be in a language that will be difficult to understand or ambiguous in any way.
I am planning to have my instructions follow a sort of chronological checklist system/recipe system where the user simply has a paper copy of the instructions next to them when they boot up their computer. They then follow the instructions step-by-step until they are finished. I am not sure if I will use a number system or simply separate each task by a break in the text. Either way, there will be easy to follow commands and pictures of icons and screenshots to help clarify meanings.
Instructor Feedback: Lpetrovi
You appear to be on the right track here. You define your topic, establish its legitimacy, and mention your credibility on the subject. I would like to call your attention to two issues. The first is that you don't really differentiate the needs, expectations, and values of your audience groups. As a result, it isn't clear from your proposal how the two sets of instructions will differ. For example, you state: "The instructions will be helpful to the veteran user because they may discover something they were not aware of before or a way to sell more effectively, and in turn, make more money from their sales." However, you don't clarify what veteran users might find, or how this would be different from the experience of the novice user. It is vitally important that you treat your two audiences as distinct entities. You don't want your two instructions sets to differ only in degree (i.e., the expert set is just a cut-down version of the novice set); you want them to differ in kind (i.e., the expert set is qualitatively different from the novice set). Treat your audience groups as individual units with individuated needs. Then show how these differences manifest in the instruction sets themselves.
The other issue is that there isn't much concrete information in this proposal about the actual format of the instructions themselves. You do mention that they will contain "helpful pictures," but this isn't very descriptive. Also, I would like to know what medium you are planning to use. Will your instructions be printed manuals? Are you planning to use online instructions? What would make sense for this topic? I would like to see you address these issues going forward.