TechWhirl (TECHWR-L) is a resource for technical writing and technical communications professionals of all experience levels and in all industries to share their experiences and acquire information.
For two decades, technical communicators have turned to TechWhirl to ask and answer questions about the always-changing world of technical communications, such as tools, skills, career paths, methodologies, and emerging industries. The TechWhirl Archives and magazine, created for, by and about technical writers, offer a wealth of knowledge to everyone with an interest in any aspect of technical communications.
Subject:Designing for Human error (was re: unsubscring) From:Gary Beason <bubba -at- EXPERT -dot- CC -dot- PURDUE -dot- EDU> Date:Tue, 27 Apr 1993 15:39:22 EST
Eric's reply is a good example, I think, of how we work. As he noted,
he thought he was in a different mailer.
I think some of the folks who try to unsub through the list itself may
have similar reasons.
In Don Norman's _the Psychology of Everyday Things_, while it
encourages to build/design (even write) for human tendencies, he still
seems to have the attitude we have to accoundt for human *error*--as
if there's a mode of *correct* human behavior. Ideal--maybe. But is
that human?
People will not always follow the ideal track of action, but is that
an *error*?
Reminds me of Grudin's article in the recent _Comm of the ACM_ in which
he points out that computer terminology (e.g., end-user, user, novice)
is engineer centered and wrongly, uh, discredits the knowledge that a
person *does* have.
Perhaps this is a difference of attitude only.
--Gary Beason
---Purdue University
----bubba -at- mace -dot- cc -dot- purdue -dot- edu
