UpDate - Vol. 15, No. 11, Page 1
November 9, 1995
English prof.'s upcoming book on how-to manuals

     Along with the Industrial Revolution came the first how-to
manuals on operating machinery, according to John Brockmann, associate
professor of English.
     Prior to industrialization, most instructions were communicated
from generation to generation by word of mouth. But, with the mass
production of such tools as the sewing machine and the reaper/mower in
the 1850s, technical communication was born. Now, with the advent of
the computer age, manuals and programming instructions have achieved
new dimensions and complexity.
     Brockmann has recently completed a book, From Millwrights to
Shipwrights to the Twenty-first Century, a historical view of
technical communication in the United States from the mid-19th century
to the computer age. The book is slated for publication this spring.
     In general, the early manuals were written clearly and
accompanied by definitive illustrations, which demonstrated how to
operate the machines. In other words, they were "user-friendly," a
term coined by Wheeler and Wilson sewing machine manufacturers in the
mid-19th century, Brockmann said.
     Not all instructions were in written text. For example, when
American shipwrights built clipper ships-the fastest, sail-powered
vessels of the 19th century-they created half-hull models to transform
the mathematical problems of describing hull design into a carving
problem that was more easily solved by illiterate shipyard workers.
     Instruction was sometimes linked with salesmanship, Brockmann
pointed out. A case in point was National Cash Register's "silver
dollar demonstration." A salesman would visit a potential customer
with a demonstration model and hand the customer silver dollars to
ring up. The customer would then repeat this several times during the
salesman's pitch with the result that the customer became comfortable
with the machine, and the sale was usually made. The sales manager who
pushed this promotion was Thomas Watson Sr., who later founded IBM.
     Brockmann devotes a section of the book to native Delawarean
Oliver Evans (1755-1819), a millwright who designed mills on the
Brandywine and who also was a pioneer in designing high-pressure steam
engines. According to Brockmann, Evans' fully-automated flour mill
initiated the assembly line in 1787.
     Brockmann, who has responsibility for teaching business and
technical writing at the University, is on the cutting edge of
computer-user documentation and has written manuals about software and
programming. An international consultant, he has worked with
corporations and universities, conducting seminars throughout the
United States, as well as in Australia, Canada, Israel and Singapore.
     Most recently, in October, he addressed technical writers and on-
line help creators at an international SIGDOC (Special Interest Group
on Documentation) of the Association for Computing Machinery
conference in Savannah. He discussed the history of humanizing
machinery, including Microsoft Bob, a PC interface with a dozen
talking animals who guide users through the computer interface. As
people become more comfortable and knowledgeable about computers, the
use of such characters will probably disappear, Brockmann said.
     A graduate of Georgetown University, Brockmann holds a master's
degree in English from the University of Chicago and a doctorate with
an emphasis in technical writing from the University of Michigan. He
has written several articles and books, including New Essays in
Technical and Scientific Communication, The Writer's Pocket Almanac
and Writing Better Computer Documentation.
     Brockmann, who recently was elected a fellow of the Society for
Technical Communication, was awarded the Joseph T. Rigo Award in 1986
for contributions to the teaching and promotion of the field of
software technical writing.
     Currently, Brockmann's career is taking on new aspects.
     A part-time hospital chaplain, Brockmann also is seeking
ordination as a bi-vocational Episcopal priest to work in smaller
rural parishes in Delaware while continuing to teach at the
University.
                                                   -Sue Swyers Moncure