ICS 139WCritical Writing on Information

Technology

Lecture 3Emily Navarro

Duplication of course material for any commercial purpose without the explicit written permission of

the professor is prohibitedSome slides in this lecture adapted from http://www.writing.engr.psu.edu/handbook/visuals.html

Today’s Lecture

• Three Laws of Professional Communication

• Typography

• Illustration/Data visualization

Three Laws of Professional Communication

• Doumont, J-L. (2002). The three laws of professional communication. Professional Communication, IEEE Transactions on, 45(4), 291-296

Three Laws of Robotics (Asimov)

First law A robot may not injure a human being, or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm

Second law A robot must obey the orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the first law

Third law A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the first or second laws

Three Laws of Thermodynamics

First law Energy can transform, but cannot be created or destroyed.

Second law The entropy of a closed system always increases in time.

Third law By no finite series of processes is the absolute zero attainable

Three Laws of Professional Communication

1. Adapt to your audience

2. Maximize the signal/noise ratio

3. Use effective redundancy

*Three laws apply to both spoke and written communication

Premise: Optimize Under Constraints

• Get your audience to:• pay attention to,• understand,• (be able to) act upon

• a maximum of message(s), given constraints

Law 1: Adapt to Your Audience

Law 2: Maximize the Signal-to-Noise Ratio

“Noise” in Oral Communication

• Room noise• Audience• Environment

• Slides• Distracting visual aids

• Speaker• Distracting behavior

“Noise” in Written Communication

• Text• Mechanical errors

• Page layout• Structure issues• Typography issues

• Illustrations• Confusing issues• Inappropriate detail

Law 3: Use Effective Redundancy

Effective Redundancy for Oral Communication

• Preview and review on slides

• Same messages are spoken by speaker and illustrated by slides

Effective Redundancy for Written Communication

• Use of an abstract or executive summary

• Use of figures that illustrate textual messages

• Section headings

• Email subject headings

Zeroth Law of Communication

• Systems of laws often evolve a “zeroth law,” capturing an obvious or implicit premise

• Zeroth law of robotics: A robot may not injure humanity, or, through inaction, allow humanity to come to harm.

• Zeroth law of thermodynamics: Two systems in thermal equilibrium with a third are in thermal equilibrium with each other.

• Zeroth law of professional communication: Define your purpose.

Zeroth Law of Communication

• Systems of laws often evolve a “zeroth law,” capturing an obvious or implicit premise

• Zeroth law of robotics: A robot may not injure humanity, or, through inaction, allow humanity to come to harm.

• Zeroth law of thermodynamics: Two systems in thermal equilibrium with a third are in thermal equilibrium with each other.

• Zeroth law of professional communication: Define your purpose.

Have a message!

Typography

Why learn about typography?

• Small differences in readability make large differences in effectiveness

• Typographic research has yielded several well-established rules of typography

Typography: Basic Principle

• Good typography helps the reader distinguish among different• letters• words• lines• paragraphs• sections

Typefaces

• Use typefaces with• proportional spacing (rather than monospace)• varying stroke widths (?)• serifs (?)

Like this• This font is monospace, has uniform stroke

widths, and no serifs.

Thin stroke

Thick stroke

Serif

Sans serifs are making a comeback

http://mashable.com/2015/09/02/google-sans-serif-logos/#wW3TH8dLqSqr

Another Trend: Font Readability on Mobile Devices

Helvetica (old)

San Francisco (new)

Avoid large blocks of capital letters

WORDS SET IN ALL CAPS USE MORE SPACE THAN TEXT SET IN LOWERCASE.

Words set in all caps use more space than words set in lowercase.

TYPE IS TO READ

Type is to read

Morton-Thiokol Presentation to NASAJanuary 27, 1986

PRIMARY CONCERNS -

FIELD JOINT - HIGHEST CONCERN

• EROSION PENETRATION OF PRIMARY SEAL REQUIRES RELIABLE SECONDARY SEAL FOR PRESSURE INTEGRITY• IGNITION TRANSIENT - (0-600 MS)

• (0-170 MS) HIGH PROBABILITY OF RELIABLE SECONDARY SEAL• (170-330 MS) REDUCED PROBABILITY OF RELIABLE SECONDARY

SEAL• (330-600 MS) HIGH PROBABILITY OF NO SECONDARY SEAL

CAPABILITY

• STEADY STATE - (600 MS - 2 MINUTES)• IF EROSION PENETRATES PRIMARY O-RING SEAL - HIGH PROBABILITY OF

NO SECONDARY SEAL CAPABILITY• BENCH TESTING SHOWED O-RING NOT CAPABLE OF MAINTAINING

CONTACTWITH METAL PARTS GAP OPERATING TO MEOP

• BENCH TESTING SHOWED CAPABILITY TO MAINTAIN O-RING CONTACT DURING

INITIAL PHASE (0 - 170 MS) OF TRANSIENT

Morton-Thiokol Presentation to NASAJanuary 27, 1986

Primary Concerns -

Field Joint - Highest Concern

• Erosion penetration of primary seal requires reliable secondary seal for pressure integrity• Ignition transient - (0-600 MS)

• (0-170 MS) High probability of reliable secondary seal

• (170-330 MS) Reduced probability of reliable secondary seal

• (330-600 MS) High probability of no secondary seal capability

• Steady State - (600 MS - 2 MINUTES)• If erosion penetrates primary O-ring seal – high probability of no secondary seal capability • Bench testing showed O-ring not capable of maintaining contact with metal parts gap operating to meop• Bench testing showed capability to maintain O-ring contact during initial phase (0 – 170 MS) of transient

Choose a type size that is easy to read

48 point

36 point

24 point

18 point

14 point

12 point

10 point

8 point

posters

presentation slides

titles

text

footnotes

Use white space for association, emphasis, and hierarchy

space for margins

space forillustrations

space forheadings

Follow the format that is expected or required for the situation

Illustration/Data Visualization

Table 1. Reactor power levels in Chernobyl accident [Wolfson, 1991].

Date Time Power Level

4/25 1:00 am 3200 MW

4/25 2:00 pm 1600 MW

4/25 11:10 pm 1600 MW

4/26 1:00 am 30 MW

4/26 1:19 am 200 MW

4/26 1:23 am 2,000,000 MW Figure 1. Simplified diagram of nuclear reactor [Wolfson, 1991].

CoolantLoss Reactor

Vessel

Core

Pressurizer

SteamGenerator

Two types of illustrations exist: tables and figures

Table 2. Sequence of events in the Chernobyl accident [Wolfson, 1991].

April 25

April 25

April 25

April 26

April 26

April 26

Date Time Power Level Event

1:00 a.m.

2:00 p.m.

11:10 p.m.

1:00 a.m.

1:19 a.m.

1:23 a.m.

3200 MW

1600 MW

1600 MW

30 MW

200 MW

2,000,000 MW

Operators begin power descent

Power descent delayed for 9 hoursEmergency core-cooling system disconnected

Operators switch off automatic controlPower descent resumed

Power minimum reached

Operators pull rods beyond allowable limitsOperators start two additional coolant pumpsOperators violate coolant flow limits

Power surges by factor of 10,000 in 5 seconds

Tables can present words

as well as numbers

When presenting numerical data, you choose between tables and

graphs

Time(hour)

midnight2:004:006:008:00

10:00noon2:004:006:008:00

10:00

Normal(mg/dl*)

100.393.688.2

100.5138.6102.4

93.8132.3103.8

93.6127.8109.2

Diabetic(mg/dl)

175.8165.7159.4

72.1271.0224.6161.8242.7219.4152.6227.1221.3

Table 2. Blood glucose levels [Carlson, 1982].

* decaliters/milligramFigure 11. Blood glucose levels for normal individual and diabetic [Carlson, 1982].

Hour

12:00 6:00 am 12:00 6:00 pm 12:00

BloodGlucoseLevel(mg/dl)

300

250

200

150

100

50

0

BreakfastLunch Dinner

Normal

Diabetic

Temperature(K)

Distance From Burner (mm)

Figure 3. Computational and experimental temperatures for laminar diffusion flames [Sandia, 1987].

ExperimentSimulation

2000

1500

1000

500

0

0 2 4 6 8 10

Line graphs are common

in engineering and science

Figure 4. Response of T-cells in cosmonauts after short-term and long-term flights [Konstantinova, 1991].

Cells%

Flight Duration (Days)

10

20

30

7-10

112–175 211–366

Normal range

Bar graphs compare wholes

Figure 5. Schedule for the construction, evaluation, and production phases of the Solar One Power Plant.

Task 1979 1981 1983 1985 1987 1989

Construction

Test and Evaluation

Power Production

Gantt charts are a type of bar charts

Industrial wastes(28%)

Medical and research wastes(16%)

Power reactor wastes(64%)

Power ReactorIndustrial

MedicalGovernme

ntGovernment wastes

(2%)

Figure 5. Volume of low-level nuclear wastes from various sources [League, 1985].

Pie graphs compare parts of a whole

Figure 6. Estimated annual dose of radiation in the United States [GPU Nuclear, 1985].

Average dose: 160 mrem

NaturalSources

MedicalSources

85 mrem

70 mrem

{Fallout: < 3mremOccupational: < 1mremNuclear power: < 1mrem

Graphs come in many forms

When presenting images, you choose between photographs,

drawings, and diagrams

The main advantage of photographs is realism

Figure 2. Space Shuttle Challenger, from about 59 seconds to 60 seconds into launch (January 28, 1986). On the right rocket, flame first becomes visible and then impinges on tank.

59 seconds

59.5 seconds

60 seconds

One advantage of drawings is control of detail

SecondaryFlow

PrimaryFlow

SecondaryFlow

Turbine Vanes

Combustor Simulator

Dilution Jet

Film-Cooling Holes

The main advantage of a diagram is the ability to show flow of a variable

through a system

Figure 8. Flow of Information Through the Parts of a von Neumann Machine

Figure 5. Schematic of thermalstorage system.

RECEIVER

FLASHTANK

HPHTR

DEAR-ATOR

HOTWELL

TSSG

TURBINE

TSU

DSPH

TSH

FT

The thermal storage system stores heat in a huge, steel-walled tank. Steam from the solar receiver passes through heat exchangersto heat the thermal oil, which is pumped into the tank. The tank then provides energy to run a steam generator to produce electricity. A schematic of this system is shown in Figure 5.

Scientists and engineers often use illustrations that are too complex

for the text

The thermal storage system, shown in Figure 6, stores heat in a huge, steel-walled tank. Steam from the solar receiver heats a thermal oil, which is pumped into the tank. The tank then provides energy to run a steam generator to produce electricity.

Figure 6. Schematic of thermal storage system for the solar power plant.

steamgenerator

650°F 580°F

425°F435°F

solarreceiver

575°F

425°F

530°F

250°F

ThermalTank

HeatExchanger

HeatExchanger

The precision of the illustrations

should reflect the precision of the text

Figure 7. Title of figure. Some formats allow you extra sentences to explain unusual details.

..., as shown in Figure 7….

For clarity, you should introduce and

explain illustrations in the text

The testing hardware of the rocket shown in Figure 8 has five main components: camera, digitizer, computer, I/O interface, and mechanical interface. Commands are generated by the computer, then passed through the I/O interface to the mechanized interface where the keyboard of the ICU is operated. The display of the ICU is read with a television camera and then digitized. This information is then manipulated by the computer to direct the next command.

PRINTERCONTROLTERMINAL

COMPUTERDIGITIZER

CAMERA

ELECTRO-MECHANICALINTERFACE

ROCKET

Figure 8. Testing hardware.

Inconsistencies between text and

images disrupt fluidity

Our system for testing the launch controls of the rocket consists of four main parts: computer, electro-mechanical interface, camera, and digitizer. In this system (shown in Figure 9), the computer generates test commands to the rocket through the electro-mechanical interface. The test results are read with a television camera, and then digitized. The computer receives the information from the digitizer, and then directs the next test command.

Figure 9. System to test launch controls for rocket.

CameraDigitizer

Computer

Electro-MechanicalInterface

1 2

34

Rocket

Illustration is the meshing of words with images

Summary – Three Laws

1. Adapt to your audience

2. Maximize the signal/noise ratio

3. Use effective redundancy

Summary – Typography/Illustration

• Good typography helps readers distinguish between elements on a page/slide/diagram

• Illustration is the meshing of words with images• Graphs• Charts• Tables• Diagrams• Photographs