CD-I, IV-D: the challenge for technical manuals

With the advent of IV-D (interactive video disc) and CD-ROM (compact disc read-only memory) systems, the training manual has become electronic. Traditional theoretical approaches can prove inadequate when dealing with electronic information and new methods of learning. Some suggestions for creating a theory of interactive electronic technical communications are presented. The aim of such theoretical investigation is the development of a recursive, multifaceted heuristic with which to generate or evaluate communication. A possible framework would be to examine how communication serves its purpose by superimposing Jakobson´s six elements of discourse onto the five canons of classical rhetoric and the three Aristotelian aspects of effective communication