On Saturday, I IMed Tom Johnson for some help with some behind-the-scenes changes I wanted to make to this site using the WordPress interface. It reminded me that providing instruction in an electronic conversation can be an animal of a different stripe. Much documentation and training is delivered in one direction—the writer provides content, and the user consumes it.

Perhaps this is one reason that technical communicators are looking for ways to create a conversation. It’s easier to address user problems when you can ask follow-up questions and get details. In a one-way delivery, you have to hope that what you provide will cover what’s needed. In a conversation, you can constantly get more information and react accordingly.

Still, in an instant message, chat, or forum conversation, it can be hard to be clear. I have this problem sometimes in the RoboHelp forums. I’m in such a hurry to answer the question, sometimes I’m not as clear as I need to be. I may have no idea how much prior knowledge the questioner has, so (similar to formal documentation) I have make a few assumptions about that prior knowledge. Additionally, in my haste, I’m not taking the time to make sure it’s professional-level instruction.

I think a significant cause of the difficulty is that in online chats and forums, we tend to talk the way we would in a face-to-face conversation, where there are other cues to help the communication. When words are the only carrier of meaning, it’s easier for misunderstandings to arise. A couple of times, Tom directed me to do something over IM, and I had to ask for clarification. I knew that he knew what he was saying, and if he were looking over my shoulder and pointing to something as he gave me those directions, I’m sure that it would have been clear.

In formal documentation, we can illustrate what we say with images. In IM or forums, it’s not easy to do that.

It seems a little ironic to me that when technical communicators produce all kinds of instructional material from help systems to video tutorials, we can have a harder time giving adequate instruction by IM or forum posts. I’m certainly one. But I’m sure that’s a result of providing help informally and in my spare time, which I think is the way many of us participate in forums, as opposed to being paid for it.

Related entries (auto-generated):

The Technical Communicator Getting Involved in User Forums

Conclusions from a Conversation with a User

First Principles of Technical Writing

Twitter as a Professional Development Tool

Some Observations from Documentation Usability Testing