Tech writers still necessary, but performing poorly

[Chris Borokowski <athloi -at- yahoo -dot- com>]

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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