RE: Perceptually true, Technically wrong

["Samuel Choy" <schoy -at- us -dot- ibm -dot- com>]

John Posada writes:
If something is technically accurate and I cannot explain it in an
understandable way, that is my shortcoming and I need to understand it
better so that I can explain it properly.

Perhaps I'm splitting hairs with this next example, but it's an example of
what I mean.  A few years ago I worked with a technical writer who got in
an argument with her engineer over what to call a part in a hardware
manual. She wanted to call this part a "fan,"  but he insisted that it be
called an "Air Moving Device," and use the acronym AMD. The technically
correct nomenclature was AMD, but most likely only an engineer (who works
at IBM) would know what an AMD is.

So the dilemma is this, is it worse for the computer engineer in the
audience to see "fan" and think "why would those idiots call an air moving
device a fan," or for the technician with an associates degree to see "air
moving device," have to look at the picture to see what an "air moving
device" is, and think "why would those idiots call a fan an air moving
device?"

Samuel Choy
IBM Rochester
http://www.ibm.com/eserver/iseries/infocenter



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