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Technical Writing: When Readers Are Users

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T.R. Girill T.R. 2620 Points

. R. Girill
Society for Technical Communication/Lawrence Livermore Nat. Lab. (retired)
[email protected]

Technical Writing: When Readers are Users

In the April, 2024, issue of MIT's Technology Review, Taylor Majewski
argues that 'It's time to retire the term 'user'' (https://
mit.technologyreview.com/24/04/19/1090872/ai-users-people-terms).
Majewski thinks it is less demeaning if, for example, we call those
involved with games 'players,' those receiving healthcare 'patients,'
and those flying on planes 'passengers.' For students drafting
technical text, however, recognizing when their readers really
are text users--people who seek or need to take ACTION based on
what they read--imposes special duties in text design to help
those reader actions succeed.

Text For Action

People read 'technical' text for many reasons...sometimes to
entertain (science fiction) or even to inspire (nature reports).
But most technical text provides a direct or indirect basis for
action; its readers are indeed users. Overt instructions show
this most directly, of course: medical or safety procedures (how
to effectively handle this wound or safely dispose of this
chemical). Likewise, software or hardware user guides aim to
support applying products to achieve reader computational goals.

Descriptions of past scientific work done or procedures invoked
(as in a typical research report or journal article) often indirectly
show readers how to mimic or refine past actions so that they can
replicate or improve the reported outcomes. Notebooks are a
scientist's historical record, but also the basis for extending
past work into the future with astute comparisons or refined
technique. Even such seemingly passive informational text as
ingredient lists are shaped to scaffold future actions by the
reader (ingredients are listed not randomly or even alphabetically
but in decreasing order by weight because that is most relevant
to USING the list for health management or cooking a meal).

Writer Duties to Users

People--including students--who write to help their readers
(including themselves later) act as text users have special
duties to support such usage. Computer industry leaders in the
1970's--such as IBM and DEC--actually had engineering task forces
devoted to discovering just what these extra duties comprised.
What did a technical writer need to provide to their reader-
users to promote maximum benefit in successful future actions?

Three 'ease of use' dimensions emerged from those engineering
studies--each a necessary (but not sufficient) condition for
designing USER-adequate technical text:

1. Easy to understand--astute vocabulary choice and within-text
scaffolding can convey complex concepts or relationships
without frustrating or confusing readers (all the more important
for non-native English readers).

2. Easy to find--novels have few finding aids but technical
documents should be rich in headings, overt lists, and cross
references so that readers eager to act can quickly locate the
text passages most relevant to their current planned activity.

3. Task Sufficient--how much should a writer repeat, explain,
or compare? The answer depends on intended reader ACTIONS--
enough to enable practical, successful performance when
readers-as-users try to carry out processes or procedures from
the text.

So viewing one's readers as users (especially for a young,
developing writer) is not so much a demeaning insult as a
practical, focused reminder of the extra duties that one has
to enable successful reader action by means of one's careful
text design. The result can be very satisfying for reader
and writer alike.

[For a big-picture overview of effective technical text, see
http://writeprofessionally.org/techlit/handbooktoc
For techniques to improve text usability for readers, see
http://writeprofessionally.org/techlit/usability]

 

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