FINDING out that your software manual has been written by a monosyllabic nerd and then badly translated into English is not much fun, especially if you are desperately trying to meet an urgent deadline.
But there is hope on the horizon. The answer to unintelligible manuals is to use even more software. At least, that鈥檚 the solution of engineers at the Intelligent Interaction Technology arm of Australia鈥檚 national research organisation, CSIRO, in North Ryde, New South Wales. They hope to revolutionise the standard of instruction manuals by monitoring how people actually use the software and the solutions they come up with to solve problems.
Most of us dislike manuals and do our level best not to consult paper or even online versions. 鈥淏ut if something goes wrong people need good, clear instructions. This is where we hope to help,鈥� says C茅cile Paris, who leads the CSIRO team.
Advertisement
Software manuals produced today rely solely on information, such as flow diagrams and drop-down menu specifications, from the computer programmers who write the software. The CSIRO team is trying to improve things by recording the mouse clicks of people that use the computer software for long periods.
Any problem-solving tricks and short cuts they come up with that others might find useful are added to CSIRO鈥檚 software. 鈥淏y capturing every action and response, we can ensure we do not leave out any essential steps or assume knowledge,鈥� says Paris.
The information can then be stored on your hard disc for quick access, or printed in an easy-to-use manual. To ensure that the instructions are clear and simple to understand, a piece of software called a natural language generator takes the information gathered in the recordings and writes it out in English. In the future, it could also be written in other languages, and the team is already beginning work on a French-based version.
Paris also plans to look at the manuals for other devices, such as cellphones and digital TVs. In fact, she was inspired to build the system when she first arrived in Australia and tried to tune a newly purchased TV set, only to find the manual useless.
Janet Taylor, president of the Australian Society for Technical Communication, accepts that her members might have to adapt to using software such as CSIRO鈥檚. 鈥淓verything is being automated, and documentation is no exception. We鈥檝e got to integrate. That鈥檚 as positive as I can be, when I know it鈥檚 going to threaten my job.鈥�