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

[Jim Shaeffer <jims -at- spsi -dot- com>]

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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