Re: Tech writers still necessary, but performing poorly

["Melissa Nelson" <melmis36 -at- hotmail -dot- com>]

I admit to being one of those frustrated consumers at times. While I am 
usually the girl who reminds everyone to read their user manuals with the 
comment "Some poor tech writer spent time writing this, now read it!" I have 
to admit that I have not learned all the trick things my expensive digital 
camera does...this is because I can NOT stand the manual that came with it! 
It is in four languages and it is laid out Page 1 English, French, Spanish 
and German, then page 2 English, French, Spanish and German. I hate having 
to flip through three more page one's to get to page two in English. I get 
too frustrated and try things out by myself...and then cuss out the camera 
gods when I am at the Oshkosh air show and I get card error and can't see 
the 300 pictures on my memory card.

GRRR...but at least I have learned another valuable lesson in writing a 
manual that readers can actually stand to read. :)

Melissa






>From: Jan Cohen <najnehoc -at- yahoo -dot- com>
>To: techwr-l <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com>
>CC: chaos -at- lists -dot- chrisblanc -dot- com
>Subject: Re: Tech writers still necessary, but performing poorly
>Date: Mon, 30 Jul 2007 11:56:20 -0700 (PDT)
>
>Consumers' frustrations with some of the hi-tech products they purchase 
>could also have something to do with a desire for instantaneous 
>gratification.  It's my experience that not all consumers have the patience 
>to deal with the concept of RTFM.  And just because a product's 
>accompanying documentation is written to the sixth grade level and 
>exceptionally well conceived, doesn't mean all consumers will turn to that 
>documentation in search of help.  Some, if not many consumers, need to have 
>their hands held when learning how to use the products they purchase, 
>especially if the product they purchase is a fairly complex toy like an 
>e.g., Apple I-Phone.  Even fairly technologically adept consumers might 
>need more than 20 minutes to master all its functions.
>
>OTOH, of course, poorly written documentation wouldn't help much either 8^)
>
>jan cohen
>
>Chris Borokowski <athloi -at- yahoo -dot- com> wrote: Americans love gadgets and 
>gizmos. We own an average of 25 consumer
>electronics, and we'll spend another $1,200 this year acquiring more.
>
>Yet average Americans are pretty perplexed by their gadgets. "People
>love to buy them, but then they can't get them to work," said eMarketer
>analyst Lisa Phillips, author of the just-released study "Consumer
>Electronics Online: Converged or Confused?"
>
>http://adage.com/digital/article.php?article_id=119580
>
>My experience is completely in line with this article's observation.
>People buy stuff because their neighbors do, which is some kind of
>caveman-level competitive impulse, and then haul it home and can't get
>it to work. Much of the time it's because the manual is wrong, or more
>commonly, the gadget doesn't quite work as advertised or is defective.
>As a result, they get frustrated, and instead of admit to others that a
>problem exists, they put the technological object on a shelf and ignore
>it until enough time has gone by that they feel justified in throwing
>it out.
>
>
>http://technical-writing.dionysius.com/
>technical writing | consulting | development
>
>
>
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