h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Hi Supermoo,

Sorry, but I have to say the instructions still aren't clear for this. I commented on it ages ago in Peer Review, then unsubscribed, so it's probably my own fault that I didn't get to say this earlier.

It's 5 and 6 that are the problems:

"5. From the end of the curve, draw a straight horizontal line to the right. This line should be just over 1½ lines in length, so that the line ends farther to the right than the curve began, or about 14mm."

What curve? Your instructions haven't mentioned anything about a curve, just a "line at a 45° angle, down and to the left, that is about 12mm long", which sounds like it is a straight line (as it is, in fact, in your example A3452311).

Then comes the really confusing bit:

"6. Beginning at the end of this line, make a curve that resembles a fishhook. This 'fishhook' should be at the end of the horizontal line you just drew while the end of the 'fishhook', or the 'eye', should be touching the right circle that you drew. This 'fishhook' should be about 27mm wide at its widest point and about 27mm tall: this is about 4½ lines tall by 4½ wide at its tallest."

I couldn't work this out at all until I looked at your example, then I realised that the curve was supposed to go downwards and I'd been drawing it upwards. All the fishhook stuff makes it more confusing than it needs to be. Surely a better way to explain this would have been to say:

"Beginning at the end of this line, draw a long outward-curving line downwards for about 4 1/2 lines, then draw across for about 3 1/2 lines and then upwards (curving outwards again) until the line reaches the bottom right 'corner' of the right-hand circle."

It's a shame you couldn't link to your example, because I find the instructions unusable without it. Although really, if you see the example, you don't need the entry...

Sorry to put a dampener on your Front Page, but this just still doesn't work for me at all.

Lbclaire

I agree. This is an almost impossible thing to write effectively. If this were an example in a technical writing class it would be very informative. How do you give instructions for a visual task with out using visual aids? Answer: Don't.

The biggest problem with such a thing aside from the lack of visual diagrams and examples is the language you need to use for such a task. The most important thing when writing a technical article is to know the comprehension level of the audience you are writing for.

For example, it is MUCH easier to write a definition for something like dihydromonoxide than it is to define a dog.

If you are defining something very specific like a chemical or some engineering principle you can assume your reader will have a fairly technical knowledge already and can use precise and technical terms. If you are trying to define something as ubiquitous and common as a dog you have to assume your reader doesn't know what one is already. If your reader doesn't know what a dog is they sure as heck aren't going to know what a "quadrapedal mammal of the canine species" is. In your example, someone trying to draw this type of drawing from written instructions without a visual aid would need VERY simple, direct and clear instructions. The more technical you may try to be the more confusing you may end up.

I also lost my way at step five because I didn't know what curve. Once that happens all the following instructions are useless.


This would be a very difficult entry to write anyway, but the instructions must be more clear than this.

Without step by step diagrams it becomes an excellent example of the difficulty of giving solely verbal cues to perform a visual task.

Eeek!...I forgot to change that so that it was a straight line(as the way I draw it has actual "evolved" from the curved beak to the straight line beak)...I even went back to double check I had everything changed that needed to be changed but I missed that...

As for the step six I've had trouble with tring to think of a precise way to describe the curve...nothing I thought of really gave a more precise discription than that...

and don't worry about pointing that out on the front page...it's my first one so no matter how it's recieved I'm still happy for the added attention...not to mention it's better found out now than later...

I was hoping that this entry would be chosen for the community artist picture as it was a art related subject...I suppose I could stick a copy of an actual drawing of the bird on a website and link to it there so that when they go back through the entries later on to bring them up to date they would be able to stick a picture on it...

...needless to say...my next guide entry I'm working on(which will also probably take a couple of years to complete ) will not be about drawing...although I had fun trying to make this entry work...

...anywho...I find that a good definition for dihydrogen monoxide is "a wet substance that is deadly if inhaled..."

A technical writing teacher gave us a home work assignment to write the dog definition... He didn't bother to tell us it was technically impossible.

Every dictionary you've ever seen fails to give a "proper" definition that would be helpful to someone who didn't already know what a dog is.


The best we could come up with, but which still failed to meet the requirements was...

A cat that barks.

that's right up there with the definition of water as a wet substance that is deadly if inhaled...

"my next guide entry I'm working on(which will also probably take a couple of years to complete..."

I wouldn't worry about that - I've been working on my first entry since October and am losing the will to live...

Lbclaire

...sometimes I have to wonder how anyone can get 100 entries into the edited guide even if they've been a member since April of 1999...

By being a hell of a lot more diligent than me, that's for certain!

Lbclaire

I should say that I sub-edited this one.

I didn't question any of the instructions given as I'm no artist and assumed that if it was straightforward to you and made grammatical sense to me, then it was okay.

There's no problem in fixing it though. Just a drop a line to Editorial Feedback (see A388334), and they'll be happy to help.

oh hey...thanks again...

If you look at the entry now, you'll see that a video clip has been added at the bottom, which might help.

TRiG.