Re: Is print dying?

[Lorin Ledger <LLedger -at- NEWHORIZON -dot- CA>]

What happens in customer focus groups is we ask people what they want.
That doesn't tell you anything meaningful at all. What we need to find
out in these sessions, or in some other way, is what people do. Then we
can create some meaningful assumptions.

Lorin

_____________________________
Lorin C. Ledger
Technical Writer, New Horizon Technologies
lledger -at- newhorizon -dot- ca
Voice: (250) 712-9515 Ext. 507
Fax: (250) 712-9516
_____________________________



-----Original Message-----
From: Ben Kovitz [mailto:apteryx -at- CHISP -dot- NET]
Sent: Saturday, February 06, 1999 11:05 AM
Subject: Is print dying?


Todd Sieling wrote:

>There's 2 cents for you, but it makes me ask myself - is this what
readers
>want? Is print really dying or is it being euthanized in its weakened
state?

Hard to say, but here's something I've observed often among programmers.
They *say* that they hate print media for reference manuals and the
like,
since on-line manuals are searchable in a way that books aren't.  But
I've
never seen a programmer whose office wasn't filled with reference books,
nor a programmer's desk that didn't have several of them open at once.
And
the books keep selling.

What people think they want and what they really want are often
different.
(This is one reason why surveys and "focus groups" are such bogus
sources
of information for marketers.)

--
Ben Kovitz <apteryx -at- chisp -dot- net>
Author,  _Practical Software Requirements: A Manual of Content & Style_
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1884777597
http://www.manning.com/Kovitz

 From ??? -at- ??? Sun Jan 00 00:00:00 0000=