Humor as a communication technique -Reply

[Lisa Comeau <COMEAUL -at- CSA -dot- CA>]

Andrew Plato wrote: (with some MAJOR editing for space)
>>>-- humor is a powerful persuasive device.

I agree.  Having been an instructor, stand-up comic, karaoke host, and entertainer for a number of years, I can tell you that humor gets the point across better than any other "medium".

>>>...a well written, humorous and slightly irreverent document...can communicate more ideas then something that is written seriously.

Also agreed, and just let me add that in an instructional capacity (which, in a way, we're all in) humor teaches more than dry facts. Think back to school...which teacher/professor taught you more, the one with the monotone voice and more brain than personality, or the one who made class fun? (My fave was my grade 11 Physics teacher who discussed the principles of accelleration and decelleration by using the example of swinging a cat  over your head by it's tail and then letting it go...)

>>>Do we want readers ... to think and ponder our ideas and concepts?

Of course we do! That's why we write, isn't it? I think this links to the "discussion" we all had about non-tech techwriters when people screamed about how a good writer should have a background based in concepts and a good understanding of the fundamentals rather than "just a degree". The same goes for our readers, but WE have to give it to them.  I, for one, agree that humor can be an extremely useful tool.

>>>I think that the more dramatic and humorous works ...break down the notions that communication of complex ideas and details is a purely logical, methodical, and empirical activity.  ...couldn't we throw in a funny analogy or a funny satire? I think readers want something more than directions.

Didn't we talk about this in an earlier thread? Dry is dry, but wry is good. ;-) I would rather write a document that teaches than one that explains. They aren't the same thing, as far as I am concerned. And, of course, as always, we must know our audience. Humor is not as appropriate in a manual discussing how to perform an emergency tracheotomy with a steaknife, or hostage negotiations in a nuclear zone.

 >>>... wouldn't it be fun to pick up a user manual that actually made you giggle once or twice.

Absolutely. I think I may have it a little easier, because the bulk of my job is training, so I get to gauge my reader when I have them in a classroom setting where I can judge their faces and slip some humor into the teaching side that eventually goes into  the manual.
(BUT I have saved my own butt in the corporate world by NOT putting humor into a manual that would have been used by the stuffiest people on the planet)
I think that if we plan to use humor in moderation without being offensive (good luck in these days where someone can find a penis disguised as a palm tree on a can of Zoodles -- or was that just a Canadian scandal?) then humor added to instructional manuals and publications could well be the best we can do.

(:(|)
(an attempt at a duck for you, Andrew...)

(My $2.00 worth...)
Eagles may soar, but weasels don't get sucked into jet engines...

Lisa Comeau
IS Super-User/Trainer
Certification and Testing Division
Canadian Standards Association
Rexdale, ON
comeaul -at- csa -dot- ca