Journal of Technical Writing and Communication Apr 1987

Writing Training Information: A Comparison of Books, Online Tutors, and Videotapes

Annette Norris Bradford

Abstract

The writing of computer training materials for both home and business markets is a vast and growing industry. Because these new users are making more stringent demands on the kinds of training materials that they receive, technical writers no longer have the luxury of writing only for the system programmer and dealing only with the printed page. The growing need for quality training on computers is offering technical writers in the computer industry the chance to expand their fields of expertise. Three training media are compared—books, online tutorials, and videotape—along these criteria: basic organization, interaction patterns, tools, special development needs, special environmental needs, goals, type of information taught, and suitability as a training medium. Finally suggestions are made about how practicing technical writers can learn about these new media.

Journal
Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
Published
1987-04-01
DOI
10.2190/kk8r-c861-cqga-5cyy
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Open Access
Closed
Topics
digital rhetoric
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References (11) · 1 in this index

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    Observations About Human Information Processing and On-line Presentation of Information
Show all 11 →
  1. Sheldon S. M. (1984)
    The Influence of the Information Film
  2. Gleason J. P., Humor in Technical Publications, Proceedings of the IEEE Transactions on Professional Communic…
  3. Bradford D., The Persona in Personal Computer Documentation, Proceedings of the IEEE Professional Communicati…
  4. Carroll J., The Adventure of Getting to Know a Computer, IEEE Computer, pp. 49–58, November 1982.
     ↗
  5. Al-Awar et al. (1981)
    Tutorials for the first-time computer user
    IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication
  6. Philipson W. D. (1980)
    International Journal of Instruction Media
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