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Experimental and Theoretical Psychology
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Manuals for video recorder
Manuals for video recorder:
Selection of text using the theory of finite automata
(Abstract)
Improvements in the design of manuals were up to now concerned primarily with
features of layout. The present article tries to point out how to make a
selection of content of the informa tion to be given to a user. Starting with the
theory of finite automata as a tool for describing how a device works, we then
construct transition matrices which can be transformed into pro cedural text. For
illustrating purposes we selected the task of timer programming of a video
re corder. A total of 40 novice subjects were confronted with either the original
manual or with the version for which we improved the content selection. After
reading the manual subjects had to fulfill certain programming tasks. It shows up
that there are advantages of the improved manual on measures of performance and
knowledge. These advantages hold only for the initial learning phase, but this
time period is a critical one for novices. So the proposed strategy of optimizing
manuals seems promising especially if one adds further treatments which are
mentioned in the final comment.
Source: Zeitschrift für Arbeitswissenschaft, 1993, 47, 44-49.
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