Human Factors and Behavioral Science: The UNIX Writer's Workbench Software: Rationale and Design

The UNIXTM Writer's Workbench Software: Rationale And Design By N. H. MACDONALD* (Manuscript received December 17, 1981) The UNIXTM Writer's Workbench software is a set of computer programs that help with two stages of document production: evaluation and editing. These programs analyze prose documents and suggest improvements. There are several types of programs: those that proofread, analyze style, and reformat the text in new ways, and those that provide information about the English language. This paper first describes the rhetorical and psychological writing principles that underlie the Writer's Workbench programs. It then describes the major Writer's Workbench programs and how they judge writing, based on these writing principles. Finally, it presents the human factors principles used in the design and development of the Writer's Workbench system. I. INTRODUCTION T h e previous paper in this issue of t h e Journal1 pointed out the growing need for automated language processing, t h a t is, for tools to help authors write clearly and understandably. Such tools are especially i m p o r t a n t for technical writing where the content is precise and a reader's failure to u n d e r s t a n d the text can be costly. 2 T h i s paper * Bell Laboratories. ®Copyright 1983, American Telephone & Telegraph Company. Copying in printed form for private use is permitted without payment of royalty provided that each reproduction is done without alteration and that the Journal reference and copyright notice are included on the first page.