Yesterday Amazon sent me an email telling me that they'd noticed that 'customers who have purchased or rated books by Clive Shepherd have also purchased Essential Articulate Studio '09 by Patti Shank. This was rather a strange message because surely the least likely person to purchase books by Clive Shepherd is me. It was also odd because Patti's book is not out yet, at least not in the UK, which must have made it hard for all those readers who have supposedly already purchased it.
Nevertheless, what attracted me to the email was not the message but the book. My first instinct when any half-decent book is released which relates in some way to my field of interest is to buy it - and, if I hadn't noticed the price tag of £33.50 (around $50), I definitely would have done.
So why am I so thrilled at the prospect of getting hold of yet more books when there is so much information already out there online for free? Well, it does depend, of course, on the type of book. When it comes to software guides like Patti's, then here are my reasons:
- Historically, the help built-in to software has been poorly structured and inadequately detailed. This situation has improved, but my inclinations for alternatives have persisted.
- In-built help only supports you in satisfying an existing line of enquiry. It doesn't help you in gaining the big picture, or in discovering opportunities that you were unaware of.
- Because, unlike online help, books take up no screen space, they don't obscure the window you are working on.
What I will admit is that the arguments for how-to software books are diminishing:
- Because online help is now typically much more professionally put together, with clearer explanations, better cross-linking and more detail.
- Because more software now comes with videos and other aids to understanding the overall architecture, underlying concepts and the range of available features.
- Because screens are becoming much larger, making it easier to park the help window to the side of the application that you are working on.
- Because services such as Books 24x7 mean you don't need to own each book.
- Because books are expensive and environmentally unfriendly.
- And because software is changing so rapidly that the investment you make in buying a book is harder to justify.
Now when it comes to books that convey ideas, then that's a different story, which I will return to in due course.
In the meantime, I've just noticed that the US Amazon discounted price for the book is $26.27, half the UK price. What's going on there?
Clive,
ReplyDeleteBook should be out in 6-8 weeks, I think. It's weird that it's so much more expensive on Amazon in Great Britain than Amazon in the US. The publisher (http://www.wordware.com) might sell it cheaper from his site... not sure. The book will have over 750 pages (actually may be closer to 900) so that may contribute to the cost (but not to the cost difference).
This book has the usual task-based how-tos but also has a lot of instructional design advice and guidance (like how to write good multiple choice questions, which is part of the Quizmaker section, and how to determine what content elements are needed, as part of the Intro section). We felt strongly, when writing the book, that it made sense to tell people how to build good information and instruction with these tools, not just how to use the tools. In fact, that’s the reason I agreed to the project. The ability to combine the how-tos with ID guidance was too hard to pass up. (And I give Wordware kudos for signing on to this approach.)
Patti
You'll be pleased to know Patti that I ordered the book - from the US of course!
ReplyDeleteClive,
ReplyDeleteIt was very interesting to read this blog posting, especially as I'd recently asked a question about elearning for IT skills on the eLN question board (thank you for your reply, by the way).
On the subject of online help taking up screen space, while you're trying to get to grips with software, I would whole-heartedly recommend having two monitors connected to a PC. You can then work with two windows maximised at the same time. This obviously makes following online software tutorials much easier. It also simplifies many other tasks, such as copying and pasting from one document (or source material) to another.
Hope this is useful.
Sue - you make a very good point about two monitors. If there was one productivity tip for knowledge workers it would be to work with two screens. Not sure if the benefits continue with three or four given that financial traders are the only people I can think of who went that far...and look where that got us. :-)
ReplyDeleteI thought IT how-to books were already dead! I guess that is because of the people I know. They have never it seems opened a book to learn software, or used a manual for any electronic device.
ReplyDeleteI work with 2 different groups of education technology folks. It seems when looking for a software to meet their needs, they find reviews online, then download a trial version, if the software user interface needs a book to use it, they move on to another software.
Looking at the day-to-day life of software developers I can say that now a book for them is not a usefull source - lack of examples, lack of good and bad practice.
ReplyDeleteI can fully agree that book same as built-in help is very limited. But what is more important that is getting outdated very quickly and you can spend money in somthing that would be valuable for couple of months and then you have look for a new one if published or you go online.