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This is regarding the suggestion I had made for wordless manuals. Geoff
had suggested I give an example on those analogies I had given. I have
answered late, though because of the weekend. Nonetheless, here it is.
Let me describe a sequence in a typical Indian classical dance. The
situation is a lady (usually Radha, the lover of Lord Krishna) is
preparing a gajra (an arrangement of flowers worn in the hair of a lady).
The following dance steps will be used -
(1) Radha enters the stage, picking up flowers from a garden (2) She picks
one flower and places it in a basket (3) Picks more flowers (4) Sits in
the centerstage, as if sitting in a garden (5) Pulls a thread through a
needle (6) Passes the flowers through the needles and makes a gajra.
These could be thought of as an instructions given on how to make a
flowere arrangment. Paint this sequence to get a wordless manual. Let me
extend this idea - Manual on how to ties a shoelace - using the same lady
named Radha -
(1) Radha will sit on a chair, where the shoes are placed. (2) She will
bend to reach the shoes and wear them (3) Make the threads of the shoes
equal (4) Tie a knot
These will be the four pictures for the manual. Will Radha tell how to
operate an Over Head Projector (OHP) ? These will be the step -
(1) Radha will press the switch that reads - ON (2) A flash of light would
appear illuminating the screen (3) She will adjust the knob to focus
(4) She will palce a transperancy to check the result.
I think this could be the rough working for the analogy that was proposed.
Suggestion/ comments are welcome.
Sunil Gokhale, Technical Communicator
Tata Consultancy Services
sunilg -at- pune -dot- tcs -dot- co -dot- in
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