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Subject:Re: The future of tech comm: podcasting? -- YES! From:Bruce Byfield <bbyfield -at- axion -dot- net> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com> Date:Fri, 12 Aug 2005 12:47:56 -0700
On Fri, 2005-08-12 at 15:27 -0400, arroxaneullman -at- aol -dot- com wrote:
> Interesting point. However, this is under the assumptions that the vast
> majority of poeple are visual and that reading is the best way to
> convey information to them. Other variations on communication theories
> emphasize multiple methods including audio and tactile.
No, the distinction between digital and analog isn't about how people
learn. It's about the limitations of each medium.
Consider the differences between a book and a movie based on the book,
and you'll see what I mean. Interior monologues, for example, are fine
in a book. However, in a movie, the only way to convey them is by
soliloquy or a voiceover, two relatively clumsy techniques that stop the
action dead. Instead, a script writer or a director either tries to
convey the contents of the monologue through action, or chops it
altogether.
Similarly, a rolling panorama can be very effective in a movie, but is
much harder to convey in a book without boring readers with passages
that don't advance the plot.
Perhaps the medium that people prefer says something about their
learning style, but these limitations exist regardless of the audience.
You can't give the big picture in print as easily as you can in film,
and you can't give detail in film as easily as you can in print -- it's
as simple as that.
For documentation, it may seem at first glance that watching a screen as
someone opens a menu and enters information in a dialogue box would be
clearer. However, reading about the same action, perhaps with a screen
shot, may be far quicker. Quite possibly, expecting users to watch the
actions on screen for any length of time would only bore them.
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