PATTERN RECOGNITION

FOR TECHNICAL COMMUNICATORS

Kai Weber (@techwriterkai)

& Chris Atherton (@finiteattention)

22 September 2011

TCUK 11

WHO ARE WE AND WHAT DO WE KNOW?

Kai Weber

@techwriterkai

Technical writer since 1988

Senior Technical Writer at

SimCorp, CPH, since 2008

Coach, trainer, mentor

M.A. in American Studies

Chris Atherton

@finiteattention

User experience consultant

Mendeley, Skype, academia

Incurable cross-disciplinarian

Ph.D. in Cognitive

Neuroscience

OUR MISSION

Helping you understand what you do …

… so you can do what you do, better.

WHAT IS PATTERN RECOGNITION?

http://livinglifewithchemobrain.blogspot.com/2011/03/apparitions-on-toast.html

WHAT IS PATTERN RECOGNITION?

Don’t believe that your brain is optimised to

create patterns from apparent chaos? Watch this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yVkdfJ9PkRQ

WHAT IS PATTERN RECOGNITION?

Examples rules

TOO ABSTRACT! HOW ABOUT AN EXAMPLE?

Aardvark, J.R. (1980). Ants, and how to eat them.

Journal of Orycteropodidae Studies, 80, 11-17.

Barker, R. (1982). Rum babas, and what to do if you’ve got them.

Reading: Goodnight From Him.

Haley, W. (1955). Rock Around The Clock. New York: Decca.

Izzard, E. (1998). Cake or Death? Gateaunomics, 10, 195-196.

Lemur, R.-T. (2010). Strepsirrhinoplasty. Antananarivo: Raft

Press.

Leonard, E. (1996). Out of Sight. New York: Harper.

Shorty, G. (in press). Okay, so they got me. Los Angeles: Cadillac.

What is this? What are the structures and rules here?

RECOGNISED PATTERNS AND RULES

Aardvark, J.R. (1980). Ants, and how to eat them.

Journal of Orycteropodidae Studies, 80, 11-17.

Barker, R. (1982). Rum babas, and what to do if you’ve got them.

Reading: Goodnight From Him. …

1. Last name, initial(s).

2. (Year of publication).

3. If journal article: 1. Title of article.

2. Title of journal, volume number, page numbers.

4. If book: 1. Title.

2. City: Publisher.

SO HOW DO WE ACQUIRE THESE RULES?

By rote

or

By acquiring data (a.k.a. experience)

IMPLICIT VS. EXPLICIT KNOWLEDGE

Gladwell, M. (2005). Blink. London: Penguin.

http://www.gladwell.com/blink/index.html

WHY SHOULD TECH COMMUNICATORS CARE?

We do it anyway…

1. When we gather information

Reading specs and designs

Interviewing subject-matter experts

2. When we create and order information

Write topics

Structure topics into deliverables

WHY SHOULD TECH COMMUNICATORS CARE?

We do it anyway, so we might as well do it smartly!

If we make sense of our subjects more efficiently…

If we structure better what we need to convey…

… we can provide better documentation!

THE PATTERN RECOGNITION EXPERIENCE

M T W T F S S M T W T F S S M T W T

BUT HOW DO WE REACH THAT “AHA!” MOMENT?

* * * * ! *

PERCEIVING PATTERNS

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PERCEIVING PATTERNS

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PERCEIVING PATTERNS

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HOW DOES PATTERN RECOGNITION WORK?

Bottom-up processing

Experiencing

Acquiring

Matching

Segmenting

… building up a representation.

But that requires lots of “data”, so…

WHAT IS THIS? HOW DO YOU KNOW?

HOW DOES PATTERN RECOGNITION WORK?

Top-down processing

Knowing

Generalising

Contextualising

Applying

… searching for confirmation.

HOW DOES PATTERN RECOGNITION WORK?

Top-down

Uses prior knowledge

Concepts elements

Emphasises context

Quick; sometimes wrong

Bottom-up

No prior knowledge

Elements concepts

Emphasises relations

Slow; usually correct

WHAT IS THIS?

WHAT IS THIS? IT’S ART...

Martin Boyce:

Untitled, 2002.

WHAT IS THIS? IT’S PART OF THE SAME CHAIR!

Martin Boyce: Arne Jacobsen:

Untitled, 2002. Chair 3107, c.1952.

It is the back side of the chair where the back rest

turns into the seat, with two holes cut in and turned by 90°.

HOW DOES PATTERN RECOGNITION WORK?

Top-down

Uses prior knowledge

Concepts elements

Emphasises context

Quick; sometimes wrong

Bottom-up

No prior knowledge

Elements concepts

Emphasises relations

Slow; usually correct

PATTERN RECOGNITION IN TECH COMM

To make sense of unknown subject matter

To overcome tech writer’s block and start writing

To chunk topics and find reuse opportunities

To help your readers

PATTERN RECOGNITION IN TECH COMM

To make sense of unknown subject matter

If you have scattered, unreliable information…

Gather all puzzle pieces and work bottom up.

Tease out similarities until you have segments.

PATTERN RECOGNITION IN TECH COMM

To make sense of unknown subject matter

If you have structured legacy documentation…

Go through topic structure and analyse top down.

Test reliability and completeness top-down.

PATTERN RECOGNITION IN TECH COMM

To overcome writer’s block and start writing

If you lack full, consistent information…

Start bottom-up with similar “seeds” as templates.

Describe first what hangs together well.

Making caffe latte

1. Grind coffee.

2. Steam milk and ¾ fill a latte glass.

3. Make the espresso and pour it in.

4. Top the drink with steamed milk.

5. Clean the steamer.

About Italian coffee

1. Espresso

2. Cappuccino

3. Caffe latte

Making hot chocolate

1. Pour chocolate into glass or cup

2. Steam the milk and pour in.

PATTERN RECOGNITION IN TECH COMM

To chunk topics and find reuse opportunities

If you have a bunch of similar information or topics

Identify how you can segment topics for reuse.

Especially for similar procedures and reference info.

About Italian coffee

1. Espresso

2. Cappuccino

3. Caffe latte

Making hot chocolate

1. Pour chocolate into glass or cup

2. Steam the milk and pour in.

Making caffe latte

1. Grind coffee.

2. Steam milk and ¾ fill a latte glass.

3. Make the espresso and pour it in.

4. Top the drink with steamed milk.

5. Clean the steamer.

PATTERN RECOGNITION IN TECH COMM

To help your readers

… orient themselves in your documentation.

Tables of contents, no patterns left, with patterns right.

1. Setting up the Trade Manager

1.1 Set up a portfolio

1.2 Set up bank accounts

1.3 Set up counterparties

2. Registering transactions

2.1 Enter common transaction data

2.2 Enter a stock transaction

2.3 Enter a bond transaction

2.4 Enter a derivative transaction

1. General Settings window

1.1 Assets in a portfolio

1.2 Different bank accounts

1.3 About counterparties

2. The Transaction window

2.1 Transaction window

2.2 Stock trading

2.3 Trading bonds

2.4 Futures and other derivatives

PATTERN RECOGNITION IN TECH COMM

To help your readers

… grasp individual topics quickly

Structure similar items similarly for easy recognition.

Use the same order of elements, e.g., in procedures:

Introduction

Prerequisites

Procedure

Results

Exception handling

Apply parallelism in lists

Enter a stock transaction

Open the Stock Dealer window.

1. Enter common transaction data.

2. Enter the stock exchange.

3. Optionally, enter the stock series.

PATTERN RECOGNITION IN TECH COMM

To help your readers

… get the most out of navigation aids

Table of contents is a top-down aid

Offer a coherent, consistent structure

Assume and honour trust in the system

Search and index are bottom-up aids

Support not only exact matches, but also similar terms

Make search results indicative by heading alone

PATTERN RECOGNITION IN TECH COMM

To help your readers

… in ways only you know how!

<audience brainstorm>

FINAL WORDS OF ADVICE AND WARNING

Keep your customers – and your job – safe!

Apophenia: Humans are addicted to meaning.

Some patterns refuse to be recognized

Pattern recognition occurs in contexts

Creating tech comm is often a top-down process…

... but using it is often bottom-up!

THANK YOU! KEEP IN TOUCH!

Kai Weber

@techwriterkai

kaiweber.wordpress.com/

Chris Atherton

@finiteattention

about.me/cjatherton