discussion paper. Usability is really about asking testers to use your draft the same way target readers will. To learn where you need to make revisions, you should construct a test in which the test readers use your draft to perform the same tasks your target readers will want to perform with the finished communication (Anderson, Technical Communication: A Reader-Centered Approach, p. 432).
For today’s discussion, explain how you would “test” the usability in each of the following communications:
a. A display in a national park that is intended to explain to the public how the park’s extensive limestone caves were formed.
b. Instructions that tell homeowners how to design and construct a patio. Assume that you must test the instructions without having your test readers actually build a patio. (Anderson, p. 443).