Scott Adams, the creator and artist for the Dilbert script, deals with the daily working life of an engineer. Nearly every strip deals with a real-world situation than engineers encounter in the workplace (although the situations generally are exaggerated for humorous effect).
This particular strip deals with the problems of communication. Instructions and user guides are intended to help the lay person assemble or use a particular item, and often these documents are flawed because the author does not adequately answer the basic question, “What does the audience members know? What do they need to know.” Engineers frequently are so familiar with their products that they lose perspective and have a hard time communicating with the user.
Take a few minutes and think about this cartoon. Aside from the humor, what message does this cartoon convey? What does the cartoon say about the engineer’s responsibility to the audience? Why is it important to accurately assess the audience’s knowledge and then to adjust our presentation or document appropriately? How does this message pertain to our assignment this week, a short instructions/process document project? Finally, does Dilbert in this cartoon just have a dumb audience, or is he making an excuse for a bad presentation?
Your answer should be at least 200 words long.
After you’ve made your post, come back to this forum, read several of your classmates’ posts, and respond to at least 3 of them before the due date for this Discussion assignment. Your response should be more than just “I agree” or “You are so right.” Think about each post and provide some good feedback. There is no specific word count requirement for this post, but again, be constructive in your comments.
