I'm currently working on book on applied measurement systems analysis, a friend who writes books on organistaion psycology, suggested that I should include a narrative thread within the book to make it more accessible. With this in mind, I have taken the approach of adding the narrative to the worked examples at the end of each Chapter.
This gives the following chapter structure:
- Introduce the topic.
- Present the analysis methods, formulas and key factors.
- Present the appliction of the discssed methods in the context of a fictional organistion and how the main character applies the method to resolve problems he faces.
What are people's prespectives on the the use of a running narrative theme and setting within thsi type of literature, what do you like to see, what do you dislike, and are there good or bad examples that you know of?
Fiction writing and scientific writing are two different worlds as explained by I. A. Richards. But they can be bridged. The narrative form would make the readers get to the technical data quite unconsciously. In other words, narrative form is more interesting to read than a plain old boring textbook-like scientific approach.
Hello, Colleague Nenad Sarcevic,
You have initiated what appears to me to be worthwhile commucations research and practice.
I taught composition at the college level for many years. One thing we learn is that many people cannot simply look at charts, graphs, or equations and make sense of them. So a colleague used an exercise he called "chart to story" method. He asked students to write the story that the chart was telling. In addition to a general narrative, I suggest that you expand any graphical displays of data into their own little stories.
Gloria Lee Mcmillan
Thank you for you comment, I like your apprach of chart to story. We often forget that the data in a chart is has a causal narrative underpinning. Data is alawys data about some thing and in industrial settings someting always involves some one. I will certainly revisit my discourse on incorpertae this philsophy. Are you aware of any papers on chart to story practice?
Hello, Colleague Nenad Sarcevic,
I wrote to Ira Shor. Maybe he has published on chart to story. I saw it as a convention panel presentation.
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