TOPS Tours

A Tour is an overview or description.

The information types used in a Tour are:

• Physical descriptions and characteristics
• Block or layout diagrams
• Preview of a job or group of tasks
• Overview or outline of functions
• Organization charts
• Walk-throughs
• Models
• Mock-ups
• Maps

The common identifying characterstics of Tour information types is that they:

• give a high-level view of the subject
• show the relationship of parts or major components
• do not go into operational detail
• are a single object or page

A Tour is intended to be swallowed all at once, gulped down rather than savored minutely, so the student gains an immediate sense of the layout of the neighborhood, a couple of good places to shop, some points of interest for later exploration, and an idea of where to start and where it will end.