Name
Abstract | ||
|---|---|---|
Procedural instructions that consist of only a sequence of steps will probably be executable, but nevertheless “meaningless” to users of technical devices. The paper discusses three features that can make procedural instructions more meaningful: adding functional coordinating information, adding information about the use of the technical device in real life, and adding operational information about how the device works. The research literature supports the effectiveness of the first feature, but offers little evidence that real life elements enhance understanding of instructions. As for operational information, the research suggests that users are willing to read it, and that it contributes to better understanding and performance in the long term, but only if it is closely related to the procedure. As a conclusion, we propose a theoretical framework that assumes three levels of mental representation of instructions: syntactical, semantic, and situational |
Year | DOI | Venue |
|---|---|---|
2000 | 10.1109/IPCC.2000.887303 | Professional Communication Conference, 2000. Proceedings of 2000 Joint IEEE International and 18th Annual Conference Computer Documentation |
Keywords | Field | DocType |
human factors,professional communication,user manuals,functional coordinating information,mental representation,operational information,procedural instructions,real life elements,step-by-step procedures,technical device,technical device users,theoretical framework | Teamwork,Computer science,Usability,Professional communication,Human–computer interaction,If and only if,Situational ethics,Documentation,Multimedia,Executable,Mental representation | Conference |
ISBN | Citations | PageRank |
0-7803-6431-7 | 6 | 0.59 |
References | Authors | |
3 | 3 | |
Name | Order | Citations | PageRank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Michaël Steehouder | 1 | 62 | 3.47 |
| Joyce Karreman | 2 | 21 | 8.41 |
| Nicole Ummelen | 3 | 8 | 1.38 |