Assessing Information Needs of Diverse Users to Guide Web Design and Content Development  

This paper presents a qualitative study of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's diverse users and their mental models regarding injury-related content. The study employed an innovative modified contextual inquiry method utilizing tailored, in-depth interviews with five distinct user groups. Included in this paper is a detailed description of the background, framework, and method used for this study. Analysis of the full results was still in process at the due date of this paper. The results will be in the presentation's slide set and available from the STC website www.stc.org.

Pettit Jones, Colleen and Susan J. Robinson. STC Proceedings (2004). Articles>Web Design>Scientific Communication>Biomedical

Case Study: Implementing a Content Management System  

This paper presents a case study of implementing a content management system in a federal government setting. This case study may aid technical communicators who are interested in leveraging content management technology and who work for complex organizations or organizations with intricate communications requirements. Included in this paper is a detailed description of the background, approach, and early lessons learned for this implementation. The implementation was still in process at the due date of this paper. Additional lessons learned will be in the presentation's slide set and available from the Society for Technical Communication (STC) website at www.stc.org.

Pettit Jones, Colleen, Jane Mitchko and Marc Overcash. STC Proceedings (2004). Articles>Content Management>Case Studies>Government

Geographic Information Systems  

Explains GIS (geographic information systems), which capture and display geographically referenced information) and suggests ways that technical communicators can become more involved with this technology.

Pettit Jones, Colleen. Intercom (2003). Articles>Information Design>Technical Illustration>Geography

Lessons Learned from Discount Usability Engineering for the Federal Government  

This case study presents lessons learned from usability engineering in a federal government setting. Technical communicators are becoming increasingly involved in usability issues but may face difficulties in addressing them. For example, producing web communications for the federal government presents special challenges, such as time and financial restraints, legal requirements, technical constraints, and an internal focus. Discount usability engineering helped the CDC address these challenges in developing an injury data web application. The lessons learned can help technical communicators advance usability as a priority in their workplaces and overcome constraints and challenges they face.

Pettit Jones, Colleen. STC Proceedings (2003). Articles>Usability>Government>Case Studies

Lessons Learned from Discount Usability Engineering for the U.S. Federal Government    

Presents a case history of implementing discount usability engineering in a U.S. federal government agency. Discusses the case history's implications for technical communicators who must implement Web communications in a restricted environment.

Pettit Jones, Colleen. Technical Communication Online (2003). Articles>Usability>Government