Newsletter #5: Visual Thinking

 

Welcome! We're glad you found us. Tips for Technical Writing is a biweekly bite-size e-mail to help technical professionals produce better documents in less time, and build their skills and knowledge.  Sign up here to get this delivered right to your inbox. Tips for Technical Writing is brought to you by a trio of technical people – a chemist, an urban planner, and an engineer – turned wordsmiths. You can learn more about our writing, editing, and training services here:  ChristaBedwin.com, ScribeTW.com, WordswithPurpose.ca.   Newsletter #1: Measurement – A topic we can discuss at length! Getting measurements right is essential in all technical writing, but we all have team-mates who may cling to errors, or don't even realize they're making them. It can help to have sound resources at hand during those discussions. Here are a few of our favourites. From ERIN GUTSCHE: How well do you know your tons and tonnes? Did you know that there are multiple ways to describe a ton? Let’s start with a comparison: Short ton (sometimes called a US ton) = 2000 pounds Long ton (sometimes called a UK ton) = 2240 pounds Metric ton = tonne = 1000 kg = 2204.62 pounds Canada uses a mix of the short ton and the metric ton. How does this work? The Canadian government mandates the use of the International System of Units, but it still permits the use of certain imperial and customary units (see the Weights and Measures Act for more details). Mechanical fasteners (nuts and bolts), gas mileage, and land parcel sizes are a few examples of where you might find multiple units. This dual-unit system offers flexibility, but it can also lead to confusion. So, when it comes to working with tons, it’s always best to confirm how many pounds or kilograms are actually being referenced. Otherwise, you might find yourself in a ton of trouble. From CHRISTA BEDWIN: 8 Style Points for Metric Measurements.  One thing I've felt passionate about since the beginning of my career is data, and presenting it correctly! So for this first newsletter, I've addressed how to use metric. Two useful websites are the international standards body, BIPM, in France, and the NIST, which is an American site that lays out the metric rules in good clear English for all technical writers. They also address issues that sometimes come up in Canada with switching from Imperial to Metric. I would suggest printing the NIST guide linked below if any questions about units of measurement arise for your team. Bureau International des Poids et Mesures www.bipm.org/en/si National Institute of Standards and Technology physics.nist.gov/cuu/pdf/sp811.pdf Do you know why you would never write "a 100-m sprint," even though it seems like just last year you ran a 100-yard race? When is it not best to report in decametres? Briefly, here are 8 rules (sounding very strict and schoolmarmish!) covering the most common errors I have seen in consulting reports and scientific writing. They are further explained by BIPM and NIST in the links above, or in this blog post: https://techwritingengsci.blogspot.com/2020/12/eight-style-points-for-metric.html. 1. Put a space between the number and any metric unit. 2. Never put hyphens before metric units.  3. The capitalization of the letters for the metric symbols matters (e.g. mega vs. milli). 4. Do not put a period after the symbol for a metric unit.  5. Do not add an “s” to make metric units plural. They are plural already.  6. For modern metric measurement, signal units of area with an exponent of 2 for square units, and units of volume with an exponent of 3 for cubed units (e.g. not sq. or cc) 7. Never put metric units in italic type.  8. Choose metric prefixes that will be easily known to your reader, while making the number as easy as possible. From LISA ORCHARD: What the heck is a hectare?  Mention measurement, and a lot of urban planners tend to think of performance measurement, rather than land use measurement, which makes sense given the variety of fields we work in and types of organizations we work for. One thing we all spend time considering, though, is population density when evaluating new development proposals, or crafting new plans and policies. So what does that have to do with measurement? Gross population density looks at the total number of people divided by land area - in hectares - even though most of us struggle to grasp just how large a hectare is. Here's a handy way to visualize people per hectare. The grey areas have less than 1 person per hectare and are parks, industrial, and commercial land areas, while those with 1 to 25 people per hectare (in the lightest yellow) are usually in suburban areas (the densities increase as the yellow turns to orange) (see https://doodles.mountainmath.ca/blog/2017/08/23/density/).  So, what's a hectare? Officially, it's a useful way to measure an area somewhere between a square metre and a square kilometre, or, for those of us who prefer imperial measurements sometimes, it's 2.47 acres - about the size of an area that a yoke of oxen can plow in a day, or in contemporary terms, about 148 buses parked together (see thecalculatorsite.com).    Is there a topic you'd like us to cover? Email us here.