ADDICTED TO MEANING HOW GOOD TECHNICAL COMMUNICATION

IS LIKE BAD MAGIC TRICKS

Kai Weber

@techwriterkai

#tcworld12 - 23 October 2012

PROGRAM

Intro: Who am I and what do I know?

1. What is meaning…

… and why should technical communicators care?

2. How does meaning work in communication…

… and why does it still fail in tech comm?

Semiotics

3. How and why we create meaning…

… and how to create meaningful documentation?

Mental models

WHO AM I AND WHAT DO I KNOW?

WHAT IS MEANING?

Wisdom

Knowledge

Information

Data

Nothing lasts...

Used to be File menu

Open, Save, Print

Office 2007

WHAT IS MEANING?

Wisdom

Knowledge

Information

Data

Nothing lasts...

Used to be File menu

Open, Save, Print

Office 2007

ME

AN

ING

WHAT IS MEANING?

Can be in information, more valuable in knowledge

Allows us to “connect the dots”

Answers “why should I care?” and “what do I do?”

Turns information into relevant & applicable knowledge

WHY SHOULD TECHNICAL COMMUNICATORS CARE?

It’s what we do:

Turn information into relevant & applicable knowledge

Proof in tech comm principles & methods:

Know your audience!

… so documentation is relevant to reader

Task-oriented documentation

…so documentation is applicable in situation

HOW MEANING WORKS IN COMMUNICATION

Shannon & Weaver (1949) – process theory

Omits meaning!

HOW MEANING WORKS IN COMMUNICATION

Communication:

Production and exchange of meanings…

… by people interacting with messages…

… in cultural contexts.

Fiske (1990) – semiotics

HOW MEANING WORKS IN COMMUNICATION

Message: “Signs”

Conventions: “Codes”

Sender Receiver

Media: “Channels”

Culture: “Context”

Fiske (1990) – semiotics

HOW MEANING WORKS IN COMMUNICATION

Semiotics

diagnoses problems

Tech Comm

offers solutions

Message: “Signs” Represent “stuff”

arbitrarily

Definitions clarify with

images and glossaries

Conventions: “Codes” Include or exclude

social or ethnic groups

Language standards

ensure accessibility

Media: “Channels” Allow or restrict

feedback

Social media invite

collaboration

WHY DOES MEANING FAIL IN TECH COMM?

Aren’t message, conventions, and media clear?

von Foerster (1949ff.) – radical constructivism

There is no meaning

but the one created by the reader.

> TC: Sometimes “meaningless”

Each individual situation is

a new beginning, another page one.

> TC: FAQs rarely work

HOW WE CREATE MEANING

We combine our current situation…

… with past experience…

… by matching mental models.

Semi-consciously selected, incomplete images

What (we think) we understand of the world

Shape how we face the world

What (we think) our options are

How we try to solve problems

How confident we are in what we do

HOW WE CREATE MEANING

HOW WE CREATE MEANING

HOW WE CREATE MEANING

Ima

ge

cre

dit: jw

arl

ett

a

HOW WE CREATE MEANING

HOW WE CREATE MEANING

Mental models

Flexible and adaptable, within limits

Support meaningful knowledge

How we approach a task

How we react to a problem

How we look for help

Inert, uncontrollable

HOW WE CREATE MEANING

Mental models

Flexible and adaptable, within limits

Support meaningful knowledge

How we approach a task

How we react to a problem

How we look for help

Inert, uncontrollable

In tech comm:

Designer vs. user

Norman (1988)

WHY WE CREATE MEANING

We are addicted to meaning!

Conspiracy theories

Pop lyrics, “mondegreens”

Logos

Janoff (1977)

Image credit: Marcin Wichary

WHY WE CREATE MEANING

We are addicted to meaning!

Because we want to understand and do stuff:

What does this mean? How does this work?

Because we seek order:

How does this hang together? How to connect the dots?

WHAT IS MEANINGFUL USER ASSISTANCE?

1. Relevant to user, applicable to stituation

2. Or a way ahead, a workaround

3. Or an explanation

4. Or understanding and sympathy

HOW TO CREATE MEANINGFUL USER ASSISTANCE

1. Understand how we create meaning

2. Adjust to mental models of users

Observe user behaviour

Offer several paths: Tasks and roles/personas

Serve inertia

3. Apply minimalism

Assist users in connecting the dots

Focus on process and outcome, not product

Encourage skills and experimentation

FURTHER READING AND SOURCES

1. DIKW Pyramid

2. Shannon & Weaver’s process theory (1949)

3. Fiske on semiotics (1990) (chapters 3 & 4)

4. von Foerster on radical constructivism (interviews in German)

5. Mental models

in user interfaces

Norman: The Design of Everyday Things (1988)

6. Mondegreens in pop lyrics

7. Creating meaning in Phil Collins’s “In the Air Tonight”

8. Janoff, designing the Apple logo (1977)

9. Carroll on minimalism (1998), (esp. chapter 2)

THANK YOU! KEEP IN TOUCH!

kaiweber.wordpress.com

@techwriterkai