CAN’T SEE THE TREES FOR THE FOREST? A sea of undifferentiated text can obscure even the most finely-crafted written message. Careful attention to text design and formatting enhances not only readability, but comprehension as well.

During the 1960’s, the era of programmed instruction and blossoming technology, several different researchers working to increase reading comprehension identified text design as part of the problem. Though the solutions were all described as “structured writing,” several different approaches emerged.

Robert Horn, founder and former CEO of Information Mapping, Inc.

First, Hughes Aircraft developed a format for manuals called “Sequential Thematic Organization of Proposals” (STOP). This method prescribes separation of text and graphics—one on the left page and the other on the right, with each two-page spread limited to only one topic.

At around the same time, Robert Horn, working at the Institute for Educational Technology at Columbia University, developed and refined what he called Information Mapping® or IMAP®. Though several other companies (such at Docutool®) offer structured writing solution systems, Horn’s appears to be the most widely used.

The overall process of Information Mapping consists of three major steps: analysis, organization, and presentation.

First, analyze both the text and the audience’s needs in order to make effective decisions about how to present the content. During analysis, determine: 

• What type of information is to be presented? 
• What are the audience's needs? 
• What are your goals in presenting the information?
  

Place the mouse over the graphic for a before and after demonstration.

Next, organize existing content (like that illustrated to the right), into “information blocks.” Labeling these “chunks” of information lies at the heart of Robert Horn’s method.

He has defined about 200 types of information blocks, including “analogy,” “checklist,” “classification list,” “comment,” “ definition,” “ objective,” “synonym,” and “theorem,” to name a few. Horn developed these categories based on seven different types of information:

             Procedures—steps
             Process description—explanations
             Structure—descriptions
             Concepts—definitions and examples
             Principles—rules
             Facts—physical characteristics
             Classification—types and categories

Finally, present the content. This last step occurs after analyzing the audience's needs, breaking down the content into chunks of information, and labeling them. Only then do you assemble the content into a meaningful whole for presentation. Four basic principles guide the formatting decisions at this point:

              Chunking—Is all the information broken down into non-divisible chunks?
              Labeling—Are all chunks of information assigned an appropriate label?
              Relevance—Is everything within a chunk of information essential to the audience's needs?
              Hierarchy—Are hierarchical labels consistently applied to tell readers where the have been and where they are going? 
             

Because a long sequence of blocks of information offers no more clarity than a series of paragraphs, Horn recommends creating sections of one to nine blocks on a particular topic. He refers to this intermediate grouping as an “information map.”

Robert Horn has developed a method of formatting text based on analysis of not only the text itself, but also the audience's needs. He has created an easy-to-scan format that facilitates finding details. Application of Horn’s Information Mapping® principles increase readability and may enhance comprehension as well.

Horn, R. E. (1989). Mapping hypertext. Lexington, MA: The Lexington Institute.

Horn, R. E. (1992). Clarifying two controversies about information mappingís method. Educational and Training Technology International, 29 (2) 109-117.

Horn, R. E. (1992). How high can it fly: Examining the evidence on Information Mappingís method of high performance communication. Lexington, MA: The Lexington Institute.

Horn, R. E. (1993). Structured writing at twenty-five. Performance and Instruction, 32: 11-17.

Horn, R. E. (1998). Visual language: Global communication for the 21st century. Bainbridge Island, WA: MacroVU Press


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http://www.infomap.com

http://www.imap.dk/imap.htm

http://www.stanford.edu/~rhorn/Modularity.html

Eileen Floyd
San Diego State University