RE: 7 +/- 2 (was: Omitting Table and Figure Numbers?)

["Nagai, Paul" <pnagai -at- inovant -dot- com>]

Miller's research is here:
http://www.well.com/user/smalin/miller.html

Microsoft research based on Miller but more on point for the discussions that tend to develop on techwrl is here:
http://www.research.microsoft.com/users/marycz/chi981.htm

And last but not least, Geoff Hart is too modest to point to his own techwrl article discussing (among other things) Miller is here:
http://www.raycomm.com/techwhirl/magazine/gettingstarted/tenmyths.html#myth5


While I haven't followed the original thread, I would guess that for anyone other than the document's author(s) and/or reviewer(s) that this phrase "see Figure 5, "The Creation of the Earth" on page 123" contains three chunks:
	figure 5
	page 123
	figure title

I would also guess that those are NOT the only three chunks a reader may be grappling with ... missing from this phrase is the proposition that the cross reference is supporting. It is impossible here to determine how many chunks that proposition might contain. And it is extremely difficult, without user testing, to determine how the "average" reader is chunking that information.

Finally, I would observe that the figure title could be useful to me in determining whether or not the figure is likely to contain information useful to me in my current foraging session. I want that figure title just as I want the table title, chapter title, document title, etc. when being offered an opportunity to reference another resource ... if only to rule out its value to me.

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Paul Nagai