What Am I Supposed to Do About This...?

Possums are stubborn creatures. Most animals caught in a humane trap want nothing more than to get out and run when you open the door. Possums are not so eager. In fact, I've had to lift a trap, turn it upside down, and shake it until the little guy loses his grip on the metal mesh-like sides and tumbles to the ground. I'm not sure why they're reluctant to leave. It could be they somehow feel safer there. Or it could be that they figure there was food there so it must be a good place to hang out until more food arrives. Kind of like the reverse of an automat - instead of pulling the food out of a box, you walk into the box and wait for the food to be put in.

Catching wild animals like possums and raccoons is one of the risks of trapping feral or free roaming cats. I've caught my share over the years. It's a little unnerving the first few times. What do you do? Fortunately, I knew a few wildlife rehabilitators and only had to make a couple of calls to get rational and safe instructions. But most people don't have those resources or know where to start. In fact, most people who want to help stray cats don't know where or how to begin.

So, a few months ago, a friend approached me about developing resources for people who want to do something about the feral or stray cats in their midst. After doing some research and pulling together some materials, I started a website - kind of a "do it yourself" guide for people new to this world.

Why a Website?I decided to use a website for a few reasons:

1. The material can be accessed immediately...provided the person looking for help has computer and Internet access.
2. There's no postage or printing expense to get the information to the people in need of it.
3. The information can be updated quickly and without the waste of tossing outdated printed materials.
4. Audio-video material can be provided at a much lower cost than sending out video cassettes, Cds, or DVDs.
5. We can always print out material for people who don't have Internet access.

I see two main drawbacks to using a website:

1. We lose the personal contact that we would otherwise have if they had to ask us directly for the information. Sometimes it is useful to talk to people to prevent them from undertaking unnecessary or ill-advised actions.
2. It can be difficult to effectively format extensive, detailed material for web use, especially for older users. I believe this is the reason that so many paper manuals still pop up in the workplace. More on formatting below.

Getting Started

There are actually a lot of sites out there with information on helping cats. Most are focused on "TNR" or trap-neuter-return. They link to either national groups or groups in geographic areas outside of ours for support. While I don't want to reinvent the wheel, I think we can improve on the available material with better visuals and formatting; in addition, we're providing links to resources local to our area and information beyond TNR. After all, not all cats in need are feral.

What I've posted so far is very basic. Just a start, really. No useful visuals - yet. And the formatting could use improvement. My plan is to approach the design as a technical writer, making it easier for visitors to find the material they need and understand it. While I develop the site, I need to keep these five things in mind:

1. Audience
2. Components
3. Meaningful descriptions
4. Effective visuals
5. Format and organization

Audience

Who is my audience? What will they do with this information? How detailed do we need to get? And what type of language should we use?

It's essential to determine these things before starting out. Typically the person writing instructions has experience and knows the process. But how familiar is the reader with the process, tools, or terms often used by experienced people? Can I use words like "feral" and terms like "TNR"? Can I just say "set the trap" without explaining what a humane trap is, where to get one, or how to set it up?

I've already determined that I'm writing for people who haven't done this before. Sure, we might get visitors who know the routine and are just looking for the local resources. But our primary intent is to have a site to which we can direct people looking for help. They will use this site to help them make decisions and take actions to help the cats. We'll have to take time and explain the difference between "feral" and "stray" and how to make those determinations. Instructions will need to be thorough and detailed. "Set the trap" won't cut it. We'll need to take time to explain what a humane trap is, what the parts are, and how to set it. We will concentrate a lot on detail and concise language.

Components

In a technical document that accompanies a tool or appliance, components refer to the structural components - or actual physical parts - and functional components- or tasks and operations in the use of the tool or appliance. The audience determines what components you describe and how you describe them.

Components on my website consist of the tools used to help cats and the processes - with a heavy emphasis on processes. Step one - assess the situation. Step two - prepare to trap the cat. And so on. Because our visitors are inexperienced, we will - eventually - describe the steps in detail. Alley Cat Allies does a good job of this on their site:

Click on image to view text.

Meaningful Descriptions

Language used must be verifiable and precise as well as appropriate for the audience. Use of carefully chosen accurate terms and figurative illustrations help make the information meaningful to the reader. Defining the audience, as described above, guides the author.

In the examples I provided under Audience, I will want to define the term "feral"- probably with a link to a pop-up definition - because many of our visitors will not know what distinguishes a feral cat from a stray cat. Parts of the trap, such as the trip plate, will be described. For instance:

The trip plate is the flat, rectangular metal piece on the floor of the trap at the opposite end from the trap door. When the trap is set, the trip plate is elevated just slightly at an angle. When the cat steps on the trip plate, he pushes it down pulling on the lever which releases the trap door.

Again, we will need a lot of detail with plain language to make this site useful.

Visuals

Visuals can make nearly any instructional material so much more meaningful than words alone. They can show the reader what an object looks like inside and out, in its entirety or just part of it. They can be used to clarify descriptions, show relationships in size or proportion, illustrate relationships, or demonstrate hard to describe concepts. Photographs, diagrams, illustrations, charts, models, and videos can all be used to support the text.

This is where many of the sites I visited (my own included) fall short. Too few illustrations. While the Feral Cat Coalition's website provides some wonderful information, it's all text:

Click on image to view text.

Others, like mine again, include lovely pictures of cats. Some even have photos of cats in traps like Cat Snip:

Click on image to view text.

While Alley Cat Allies' site has very few visuals with the text, they do have a couple of slide shows and one very useful video:

Click on arrow to view video.

I will add illustrations of traps, photographs, and, I hope, video to supplement the text on our site.

Format and Organization

Instructional information is typically provided in some kind of sequence based on the needs and expectations of the audience. It can be organized in:

• Spatial order - where components are located in relation to one another; describes appearance and structure. An example might be a description of the different components of a humane trap.

• Chronological order - a sequence of events in time; describes steps in order of when they are performed. This could be something high level like

"Step one: Assess situation. Step two: Plan to trap. Step three: Set trap."

or something more detailed like

"Step one: Push lever in front of trap door and squeeze against door. Step two: While still squeezing, lift trap door so it is flush with the top of the trap."

• Priority order - describes components in order of importance. On our site, this might be characteristics for determining that a cat is feral.

How to present information on-line is challenging. Too many sites treat the screen as if it is a paper page. Organizing instructional material on the web so that it is easy to read as well as easy to access can be difficult. Clicking from one page to another to access next steps can annoy users. However, pages with a lot of text are visually unappealing, can take a long time to load (especially if there are a lot of graphics and the visitor has an older computer), and make specific information difficult to find.

I'm a fan of Information Mapping, also called Structured Writing, in my paper documentation. Attempting to adapt that format to web delivery (without the expensive training) has been on my to-do list for some time. In the meantime, I will seek out well-structured "how-to" sites.

Another option is to provide high-level information on the site with links to more detailed documents in .pdf or .doc format. This may be useful but could prove problematic for visitors without the appropriate software. Some users don't know how to find or download the necessary tools to open these attachments; others may be wary about downloading anything for fear of viruses.

Next Steps

So, the to-do list gets longer. While I know our audience, I need to concentrate on:

• Providing more information overall.
• Descriptive, concise language appropriate for my audience - including definitions.
• Adding meaningful graphics.
• Ensuring that I use the appropriate order for each description.
• Creating downloadable documents.
• Formatting the site so it is easy to use.
• And, lest I forget, adding instructions on dealing with those darn possums when they won't leave the trap!

Lots to do. But, it's for the cats so I can't complain.