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Journals by EmailThis morning I browsed the STC Summit bookstore, which contained a lot of choices. I faced a familiar dilemma: With so many books that look like they could help me, how do I decide which ones really could? Books are expensive, and I approach buying a book like I would a household appliance—carefully. When I buy a book, I’m making a commitment, and a cursory browse through the pages isn’t enough to convince me that I’m making a choice that’s good for me. The only way to really know is to actually buy it and use it for a while.
While looking at and considering some of these books, I wondered how many of them, especially the ones about effective technical communication in general, could tell me something I don’t already know. I don’t say that to sound like a know-it-all, but when you’ve been in the field a few years, you have learned some things. I learned some things in my college tech writing program too. What would make a tech comm book interesting and help me on an ongoing basis?
This led me to thinking about what it would be like to write entertaining documentation. But that’s against the rules, isn’t it? When people get into the documentation, it’s because they want to quickly accomplish something. They’re not looking to be entertained. They’re not looking for a laugh.
But why couldn’t they encounter entertainment or even expect it? Would that make documentation more inviting?
Technical communicators aren’t generally thought of as entertainers. Documentation is generally dry, and people draw the conclusion that we’re not very creative. Technical information is supposed to be concise and clear, which doesn’t leave room for jokes or lightheartedness. But the creative side of me thinks it would introduce an element of fun in tech comm to write in a way that’s friendlier and even funny.
It would take a lot of practice, and I’m sure some communicators would struggle with it. I’m not suggesting that all technical communication become entertaining. Think of how difficult it would be to maintain that kind of writing as team members come and go. And localization would blow holes in it anyway because what’s funny or casual in one culture and language is not in another.
It’s probably not feasible. I work for an organization where, while many people I work with have a sense of humor, it would probably be inappropriate to work that sense of humor into software documentation. Especially when people using the software are doing serious work.
So much for that idea. I suppose I’ve talked myself out of it. But if I worked for someone like Google, I’d probably give it a try because with some of their UI text, they put out the impression of being laid back and friendly.
Funny: I had written this but not posted it, and I attended a panel discussion where Bernard Aschwanden of the STC Toronto Chapter mentioned Google’s documentation and how it doesn’t take itself seriously. It’s probably scary when Aschwanden and I are on the same wavelength.
Related entries (auto-generated):
The Importance of Communication Skills over Technical Skills
Technical Communication Can Require Heavy Duty Hardware
Technical Communication: The QA of Product Design
3 Comments to 'Could Technical Communication Be Entertaining?'
May 6, 2009
Hi,
I’ve found that technical information should be entertaining, especially documentation intended for end-users. I usually reserve the entertainment for the examples, though. As entertainment, I usually try to come up with situations that would never occur for real, but most users do think about. For example, for a recruitment solution, recruiters had to provide a reason when rejecting a candidate. In the example on the use of rejection reasons, I used the bad smell of the candidate’s breath as a reason.
In the feedback I get, these examples are usually greatly appreciated and help the users to remember the documentation better.
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May 6, 2009
To me, yes. To the people with whom I work, no. Sigh.
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May 13, 2009
The series of English text books I used in grade school was full of cartoons to illustrate some of the quirkiness of the language and its rules. One was an immigrant explaining to the police why he killed his English teacher: “He say mouse, I say mouses. He say, no, mouse, mice. I say house, hice. He say, no, house, houses. He say goose, I say gooses. He say, no, goose, geese. He say moose, I say meese. He say, no, moose, moose! So I strangled him with my plural handses!” This was followed with two pages of fill-in sentences containing blanks for the appropriate plurals. I still remember that and several other cartoons from those textbooks.
I think that if we can incorporate humor in the examples and the illustrations, we can convey difficult concepts or warnings in an unforgettable manner and make the docs both more useful and better appreciated. A perhaps difficult challenge to add to what we already juggle, but definitely worth if we can pull it off!
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