Designing Effective User/Training Documentation with the Learning Style Inventory (LSI), the User Empowerment Inventory (UEI), and Think-Aloud Protocols  

While there are many instruments that measure the capacity for establishing peer-level communication skills, few exist that evaluate the effectiveness of knowledge transfer in the writer-reader relationship. The Learning Style Inventory (LSI), the User Empowerment Inventory (UEI), and thinkaloud protocols help assess how people acquire new knowledge and process information. The results of such measurements/ observations help determine user requirements. This paper presents a case history of how the LSI, the UEI, and think-aloud protocols helped improve both user and training documentation to a technology-averse audience in a reactive project environment.

LeVie, Donald S., Jr. STC Proceedings (1996). Design>Documentation>Methods>Usability

How to Become a Value-Add Technical Communicator to Scientists, Engineers, and Technical Staff  

At one time or another most technical communicators have had to work with scientific/technical professionals who were the authors of their own research projects or product documentation. As a group, engineers more so than scientists do not view writing documentation as a critical (though perhaps important) part of the product or their job description. The technical publications team in Motorola’s RISC Systems Engineering Division has adopted seven strategies developed by the author that will help get engineers, programmers, and other technical professionals clamoring for the services of technical communicators. This paper addresses these seven strategies.

LeVie, Donald S., Jr. STC Proceedings (1997). Articles>Collaboration>Engineering

How to Develop and Implement a Usable Training Database  

The results of a Motorola human resources survey revealed an inadequate procedure for selecting training programs pertinent to specific job functions and individual career aspirations. A cross-functional team was formed to remedy the situation within one division. The team selected skill and knowledge criteria for career paths (early, middle, and late) in specific technical disciplines, such as applications engineering, technical communications, applications support, etc. The new training database also includes training, book, and article evaluations that other employees can review. In addition, the database provides access to the Motorola University training catalog and the Motorola technical libraries.

LeVie, Donald S., Jr. STC Proceedings (1997). Articles>Education>Instructional Design>Databases

Technical and Scientific Communicators as Infopreneurs  

The technology trend for the future can be summed up in four words: instantaneous global information access. Advances in communications (wireless and electronic) and microprocessor technology will be responsible for the majority of this technology trend. The demand for immediate access to information from and to anywhere in the world will create a need for people with the requisite skills to design, develop and/or locate, and disseminate that information in as many formats as possible. To compete in this increasingly specialized information universe, technical and scientific communicators, information architects, and interactive information systems designers must expand their view of what they do to encompass the idea of 'infopreneuring' and see themselves as infopreneurs.

LeVie, Donald S., Jr. STC Proceedings (1996). Careers>TC>Online