James Paradis's Take on Operator's Manuals

James Paradis uses his article to focus on the structure and the importance of operator's manuals. He uses emotional appeals in doing so by showing how people can be injured or even killed when operator's manuals are not executed perfectly. He explains how these manuals are necessary for daily life so he feels the need to analyze them in great detail through the lens of two specific court cases.

Operator's manuals use four specific tactics in order to relate external objects to human behavior. First a written analogue of the tools and procedures are presented. Then the manual introduces a fictional operator who is to represent the human conducting the behavior. The manual then describes the environment that the object is meant to be used in, and it closes with a description of the action itself.

These manuals that form a conceptual framework regarding human purpose being inflicted on a mechanical object are increasingly necessary as our technological world continues to expand. They help reduce the need to experts in a particular activity by providing everything a lay person could need in order to perform an expert's task. As the distance between experts and common sense grows, so does the need for operator's manuals.

Paradis then goes into the importance of operator's manual by using two cases in which the poorly constructed manuals of a studgun resulted in injury and death in the operators. Both cases concern some questionable accidents from the operators that may have contributed to the respected tragedies, but there were also faults in each operator's manual. The causality of the accidents were the focus of each of these cases, meaning the lawyers questioned if the accidents were caused by the operators or the manuals.

The men using the studguns were not licensed to do so, and they did not adhere to the recommended materials, however the manuals did not warn that incorrect usage could end in injury or death.

The studgun is an example of a new form of technology facing our world. This is an example of how new technologies require a more specific procedural frameworks in order for them to be used by lay people. With older or familiar technologies, people can rely on social images and examples provided by television in order to figure out how to successfully use a particular item. However, when the technology is new, lay people have no images to rely on, therefore explicit operator's manuals are necessary in society.

These manuals have a sense of permanence because they are written in explicit language and the text allows it to be preserved indefinitely. It keeps actions fixed so they can be replicated by others at any given time.

By showcasing how flaws in an operator's manual can wreck havoc on the operator and the company, Paradis is able to convey the message that language and full information have the potential to save lives