Converting Documentation to Multimedia  

Multimedia has proven its ability to sell products and educate users. But can it also perform tasks traditionally done with conventional paper documents? Yes. This demonstration shows how several hardware and software documents were converted to multimedia and provides a plan for converting your documents. You learn whether to display, speak, or just eliminate existing text. You see how to replace action words, descriptions of motion, and arrows with animation. YOU see how sound can guide rather than distract the user. You also learn to use interactivity to give control to the user. Along the way you see the compromises needed to keep the project on schedule, within budget, and down to size.

Horton, Katherine W. and William K. Horton III. STC Proceedings (1995). Articles>Documentation>Multimedia

No Dumping Allowed: The Right Way to Put Documents Online  

The best way to fail at online documentation is to dump existing paper documents online. Successful online documentation requires thoughtful design that takes account of the many subtle differences between paper and online documents. This demonstration shows why dumping documents online is a bad idea, what you should do instead, how to convince your management not to dump documents online, and what to do if they require you to dump documents online.

Horton, Katherine W. and William K. Horton III. STC Proceedings (1995). Articles>Documentation>Online

Say It in Multimedia: Crash Course in New-Media Literacy  

Come to our demonstration to learn how to combine media to better communicate complex concepts. We’ll show step-by-step procedures, tutorials, and games—all using multimedia to communicate hard business and technical information.

Horton, William K. III and Katherine W. Horton. STC Proceedings (1996). Design>Multimedia>TC

Say It in Pictures: Crash Course in Visual Literacy  

Today, communication requires more than just pages of printed words. Producing effective documents and training requires the ability to understand, think and communicate graphically. This demonstration shows how to communicate almost anything graphically. Through creative brainstorming you will start to think visually and learn valuable principles that you can use back on the job to refine your own graphics.

Horton, William K. III and Katherine W. Horton. STC Proceedings (1996). Design>Graphic Design>Rhetoric>Visual Rhetoric

Tools for Authoring Knowledge Products

Authoring tools are used to create and integrate the components of knowledge products. They include tools used by designers, writers, editors, artists, animators, photographers, videographers, and others involved in producing knowledge products.

Horton, William K. III and Katherine W. Horton. Indus (2002). Articles>Knowledge Management>Software