Tech Writers vs. Users (Was: Wheel mouse/track ball/keyboard/left brain-right brain/zone)

Subject: Tech Writers vs. Users (Was: Wheel mouse/track ball/keyboard/left brain-right brain/zone)
From: Jim Shaeffer <jims -at- spsi -dot- com>
To: "TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com>
Date: Mon, 3 Jun 2002 17:10:54 -0400


Hypothesis:
Tech writers, more than the general population, tend to
derive intrinsic satisfaction from learning about new
technologies and mastering the best way to use what
they learn.
The general population is more likely to proceed by
'satisficing', that is, learning enough to get by and
not going further.
Users, therefore, need more extrinsic motivation to do
some things that come naturally to tech writers.
Tech writers, therefore, make the mistaken assumption that
users naturally want to learn the good stuff found in
the documentation.

Above hypothesis developed after following the Wheel mouse,
etc. thread, reading the article on the Paradox of the Active
User (http://people.cs.vt.edu/~rosson/papers/paradox.pdf)
and maybe some other stuff.

Jim Shaeffer (jims -at- spsi -dot- com)


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