Challenges
Make these sentences positive. Use active or imperative verb forms to clarify what you are saying.
(a)
You cannot re-establish your connection without signing off.
Answer =>
Answers
(a)
Sign off, then re-establish your connection.
(b)
You must not skip a required field in the registration form, or else your submission will not go through and will not be accepted.
Answer =>
(b)
To make sure that your submission goes through correctly, please fill in each required field in the registration form.
(c)
That door is not alarmed, so your security installation team needs to correct that omission promptly, without disrupting traffic.
Answer =>
Please set the alarm on the door while allowing the traffic to go through.
(d)
Our representatives do not stay in the office for long, and they do not use one system for long, so location does not prevent anyone from creating or requesting information. Universal networking does not mean each person learns more, because that person may not be able to swim through the torrents of information pouring in, while adding his or her buckets to the flow. In addition, no one will be able to tell which item is top priority, if they have too little time to read each article, so who knows which article to read first? This situation is the reverse of knowledge management, because we lack components that help create, organize, filter, and route information through the organization.
Answer =>
Our representatives are on the road most of the time, using many different systems, so they can create or request information from almost anywhere. We have what we call universal networking. Torrents of information pour in to the individual, who may struggle to swim through it all, while adding more data to the flow. Reps often ask which article to read first. They wonder which item is top priority. We would like to create, organize, filter, and route information throughout the organization. We dream of knowledge management.
(e)
(Online Transaction Processing (OLTP) is not the same as Online Analytical Processing (OLAP), even though the terms are not very different, and they both use databases. OLTP handles thousands of transactions at once, going to the database to retrieve records, insert new ones, update old ones, and delete a few. But OLAP just analyzes that data. OLTP, then, is not a decision support system; and OLAP is not an operational support system. OLAP is not concerned with efficiencies of time, money, and resources, and OLTP is not concerned with improved value in decisions, service, sales, processing, and revenue flow. Without OLTP OLAP could not exist. But OLTP can exist without any OLAP.
Answer =>
(e)
Using a giant database, you can handle thousands of transactions through Online Transaction Processing (OLTP), and you can analyze that data, using Online Analytical Processing (OLAP).
OLTP handles thousands of transactions at once:
- Going to the database to retrieve records
- Inserting new records
- Updating old records
- Deleting some records
OLTP, then, supports your operations, stressing efficiencies of time, money, and resources. In the process, OLTP happens to produce an awful lot of data.
For some companies, OLTP is all they need. But if you have a decision support system, you may want to analyze that data.
With OLAP you can analyze the data, looking for improved value in
- Decisions
- Service
- Sales
- Processing
- Revenue flow
So OLAP depends on the data created by OLTP.
The Coast Guard has issued a heavy surf advisory, cautioning mariners and people on shore not to be caught off guard and swept into the ocean, during expected high winds and breaking surf close to 20 feet. Mariners ought not to forget to have adequate life vests, flares, and communication devices. You should not walk along the shore without paying attention to the developing weather and waves. During the month of November, eleven people were washed into the sea along the Northern California coast, and four were not recovered, and are now considered drowned.
Answer =>
(f)
The Coast Guard has issued a heavy surf advisory, cautioning mariners and people on shore that expected high winds and breaking surf close to 20 feet high could sweep them into the sea. Mariners ought make sure that they have adequate life vests, flares, and communication devices. When walking along the shore pay attention to the developing weather and waves. During the month of November, eleven people were washed into the sea along the Northern California coast, and four drowned.
The
virtues of good style are more negative than positive. The man who
knows what to avoid is already the owner of style.--Henry W. Fowler
Other ways to make your text easier to understand:
5a. Reduce the number of clauses per sentence.
5b. Blow up nominalizations and noun trains.
5c. Watch out for ambiguous phrases a user might have to debate.
5d. Surface the agent and action, so users don't have to guess.
5g. Let users print or save the entire document at once.
Resources on thoughtlessness
Taking a Position on Thoughtlessness
Heuristic Online Text (H. O. T.) Evaluation of Cognitive Burdens
