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Subject:Re: What *is* user-friendly... From:"Susan W. Gallagher" <sgallagher -at- EXPERSOFT -dot- COM> Date:Wed, 24 Jan 1996 15:28:02 -0800
Karen Mayer wrote:
> We're writing to provide information and/or instruct. Keeping this in
> mind might tend to eliminate the stories and cartoons, unless our
> audience is 5 years old. (Imagine standing in front of a classroom of
> business professionals and teaching that way!)
Don't have to imagine it, Karen. That's how I made my living for 8 or
9 years. It's called "edutainment" and it's a technique that's invaluable
when you're standing at the front of the corporate classroom. You see,
adults are not used to sitting in a classroom and paying attention for
eight hours at a stretch. They get bored, sleepy, preoccupied... But,
if you can keep them entertained/amused, you have their attention --
then you can teach them something.
The problem with putting stories, jokes, and cartoons into a book is
that the jokes get old too fast -- think of all those TV commercials
that were only funny the first five or six times you saw them.
-Sue Gallagher
sgallagher -at- expersoft -dot- com
