Re: Source for statistics on the technical writing field

[voxwoman <voxwoman -at- gmail -dot- com>]

And that's how "Clippy" was invented. ("I see you are typing an email. Can I
help you with that?")

Obviously, there is a lot of work to do to accomplish this sort of help.
-Wendy

On Mon, Aug 3, 2009 at 5:22 PM, Keith Hood <klhra -at- yahoo -dot- com> wrote:

>
> I have to agree with Gene on this one. It has been my experience that
> doctors and lawyers are particularly resistant to learning how to use
> computers. They want their office staff to be computer-literate but they
> generally feel they have to save their available memory and brain power for
> thinking about the things they consider *really* important. In part it's a
> status thing and in part it's a belief-in-workload thing. As my father put
> it, at his age he doesn't have the time or the inclination to go back to
> school for the convenience of a !$# -at- !Q@# machine. What those people need
> is not a good manual that they won't read because they resent the idea that
> they have to study something not related to their work; they need
> applications that have simpler UIs, or with built-in guide features.
>
> I think there would be a market for a completely different type of help
> system, one that does not require the user to open a help system in a
> different window. A lot of times, when people want directions on how to do
> something, they do not want to navigate away from where they were working.
> I've noticed a lot of times, people who are not comfortable with computers
> don't like using the help because they are hesitant about switching to a
> help window; they're worried they won't be able to get back to the right
> places where they were trying to work earlier. I can envision help code that
> doesn't open a CHM file or a Web page, but simply sticks pointers on the
> screen with arrows labeled "First click here" and then "In this field, enter
> your age" and then "Now click here." I think that would be more helpful to
> people who are reluctant to learn computer usage because it's closer to
> having someone lean over and point and say "click here," which is what they
>  really want when they try to get help.
>
>
> --- On Mon, 8/3/09, Gene Kim-Eng <techwr -at- genek -dot- com> wrote:
>
> > From: Gene Kim-Eng <techwr -at- genek -dot- com>
> > Subject: Re: Source for statistics on the technical writing field
> > To: techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
> > Date: Monday, August 3, 2009, 5:05 PM
> > And most all of these people are the
> > way they are by choice, at least in
> > the US, Canada and Western Europe.  The people who are
> > resistant to
> > changing to software and don't even know how to use a mouse
> > in the
> > situations you describe have not been denied access to
> > computers; they
> > have for the most part avoided them by choice, and will
> > continue to do
> > so unless they are provided with tools that are instantly
> > intuitive or
> > hold their hands from beginning to end (touchscreens
> > instead of mice,
> > talking interfaces, etc.).  "Good end-user
> > documentation" for most of
> > those that succeed will be embedded in the tools.
> >
> > Gene Kim-Eng
> >
> >
>
>
>
> ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>
> Free Software Documentation Project Web Cast: Covers developing Table of
> Contents, Context IDs, and Index, as well as Doc-To-Help
> 2009 tips, tricks, and best practices.
> http://www.doctohelp.com/SuperPages/Webcasts/
>
> Help & Manual 5: The complete help authoring tool for individual
> authors and teams. Professional power, intuitive interface. Write
> once, publish to 8 formats. Multi-user authoring and version control!
> http://www.helpandmanual.com/
>
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^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Free Software Documentation Project Web Cast: Covers developing Table of
Contents, Context IDs, and Index, as well as Doc-To-Help  
2009 tips, tricks, and best practices.
http://www.doctohelp.com/SuperPages/Webcasts/

Help & Manual 5: The complete help authoring tool for individual
authors and teams. Professional power, intuitive interface. Write
once, publish to 8 formats. Multi-user authoring and version control! http://www.helpandmanual.com/

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