The transformer revisited

Written in 1974 while the authors were with the Open University, this paper first appeared in the 1976 Penrose Annual. The original abstract, written by the Penrose editor, read: Break down the barriers in the interests of the reader. Take responsibility for the success or failure of the communication. Do not accept a label or a slot on a production line. Be a complete human being with moral and intellectual integrity and thoroughgoing technical competence. This is the message of this article by two highly professional communicators at the Institute of Educational Technology of the Open University, Milton Keynes. It examines the range of complex problems involved in putting the expert's message in a form the ordinary person can best understand and use. It is reprinted here with minor changes that mostly reflect the current un acceptability of the pronoun 'he' used generi-cally. The authors have also added a 2000 Postscript.