Analysis and Resolution of Problems Occurring During the Production of Manuals  

We produce numerous manuals pertaining to telecommunications and, although we routinely devote much energy to reducing the number of problems occurring during the production process, this time we took up the challenge of eliminating the occurrence of problems altogether. Here, we overview the characterisitics of problems occurring at the company, profile their occurrence by process, and review a few corrective measures.

Konno, Toshiaki, Masanori Takagi and Osamu Tomooka. STC Proceedings (1995). Articles>Documentation>Quality

Analysis of the Communication Components Found Within the Situational Leadership Model: Toward Integration of Communication and the Model    

This article identifies and assesses the effectiveness of communicating expectations, listening, delegating, and providing feedback in relation to the Hersey-Blanchard Situational Leadership model. It reviews the correlation between task versus relationship behavior that forms the basis of the Situational Leadership model. Then the article summarizes information found in literature on effective techniques for the four skills stated above. As these techniques are identified, they are discussed in relation to their effective use in the Situational Leadership model. To understand the application of the model in businesses and its impact on managers communication effectiveness, we conducted a study of an operational department of a Fortune 500 financial services company. The results and content analysis of a survey we administered by random selection of the managers in this department indicate that successful use of the Situational Leadership model relies on effectiveness in four communication components: communicating expectations, listening, delegating, and providing feedback. Finally, we recommend areas of future research such as comparison analysis of surveys, interviews, and focus groups with subordinates of managers who have been trained on the Situational Leadership model and those who have not.

Brown, Nicole A. and Randolph T. Barker. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication (2001). Articles>Business Communication>Management

Analysis of Tools Used in the UK by Technical Communicators

During March and April 2003, Cherryleaf carried out an online survey into the current trends in technical communication. One of the questions we asked was: Which software tools do you personally use to do your job? The respondents were able to select more than one tool from the list provided. We filtered our results to find the most popular software tools used by technical communicators in the UK.

Cherryleaf (2003). Articles>Research>Software>United Kingdom

Analysis of Virtual Classroom Environments: Survey of Classroom Dynamics in RSVP Courses  

Students can earn Master's degrees or continuing education certificates by at tending courses offered live satellite or compressed video or on videotape for delayed viewing. This panel discussion evaluates the effects of the various forms of technology and modes of interaction on the classroom dynamics in a live satellite class offered by Rensselaer Polytechnic institute (RPI).

Brunner, Kirsten, Roger A. Grice, David F: Hans, Teresa L. Hood and Leo J. Smith. STC Proceedings (1997). Articles>Education>Online

Analyze Your Web Site Traffic

If you run a Web site, you're probably already thinking about tracking and analyzing the traffic it gets. Knowing how many pages are accessed, when, by whom, and for what purposes can mean the difference between simply having a Web site and building a sound Web strategy. Understanding how people use your site can help you--and your sales and marketing team--generate more traffic. If you can track your audience, learn which pages and resources are most popular, and identify technical problems and system bottlenecks, you can deliver a better experience. And that's the best way to keep people coming back to your site.

Aviram, Mariva H. Builder.com (1998). Articles>Usability>Assessment

Analyzing and Reporting Usability Data

The Just-In-Time (JIT) method of data analysis has the virtue of immediacy, rapid turn-around, and team involvement; however there are several disadvantages. First, this type of analysis is problem-focused, rather than goal-focused. Long lists of problems are generated, but there is no clear relation to specific usability goals. Second, developers may not be able to fix things immediately so the context of the problem may be lost when it is time to fix the problem. Third, the JIT analysis requires that the entire development team observe the testing sessions since problems may occur that are the responsibility of different developers.

Wilson, Chauncey E. Usability Interface (1997). Articles>Usability>Testing>Reports

Analyzing Card Sort Results with a Spreadsheet Template

This article explains how to quickly derive easily-read, quantitative results from a card-sort activity by entering data into a spreadsheet template that is adaptable to any set of cards and categories.

Lamantia, Joe. Boxes and Arrows (2003). Articles>Usability>Methods>Card Sorting

Analyzing Documents to Understand Tags  

SGML is a language for describing the structure of a document. The language involves using a system of tags for elements of a document. Document analysis is the process of discovering the elements of a document and understanding how the parts work together to form the document.

Coggin, William O. STC Proceedings (1996). Articles>Information Design>SGML

Analyzing the Analysts

An information architecture analysis of top business analysts' web sites.

Fox, Chiara and Keith Instone. Argus Center (2001). Articles>Content Management

The Analyzing the Apple: Persuasive Visual Rhetoric in the Campaign Literature of an Apple Party Candidate, St. Petersburg, Russia

In this article, I illustrate the essential role that visual rhetoric plays in a specific example of persuasive documentation. I focus narrowly on one element of persuasive visual rhetoric by examining the credibility of an Apple political candidacy flyer.

Herrington, TyAnna K. Argumentation (2000). Articles>Rhetoric>Policies and Procedures

Analyzing Usability of a Beta-Version Web Site Through Server Logs, User Profile Data, and Online Questionnaire Responses  

This paper discusses the use of automated data collection to learn from hundreds of beta-test users of a web-based industrial product database how successfully the product met their needs. The collected data consisted of web server log data, opinion data from online questionnaires and follow-up interviews, and user profile data from telerecruiting and online registration was also collected. In the Proceedings of the 1998 Usability Professionals' Association Conference.

Kantner, Laurie and Larry Rusinsky. Tec-Ed, Inc. (1998). Articles>Web Design>Usability

Analyzing Web-Based Help Usage Data to Improve Products  

This paper describes how user assistance can streamline deliverables and improve product design by analyzing usage patterns from server-based content. We can then base decisions about how to improve deliverables on a thorough understanding of how customers use help content to find information and solve problems. This approach enables user assistance to add more value to both our companies and our customers by creating a three-way dialog between user assistance, the customer, and the product team. It also broadens the definition of assistance to include helping to design products that people can use without the need for instructions.

Raiken, Nancy. STC Proceedings (2005). Articles>Documentation>Audience Analysis>Log Analysis

Anatomy of a Corporate Intranet Project  

Today more and more companies use intranets to communicate with employees and to help them perform their jobs. An intranet is an internal network that operates like the Internet.

Rhines, Becky. STC Proceedings (1998). Articles>Web Design>Intranets

The Anatomy of a Help File: An Iterative Approach

This article presents an approach to Help file design that focuses on creating a task-centered user experience and accommodates an iterative development strategy. This methodology allows the introduction of user assistance into early test phases--not only getting earlier validation for its accuracy, but also supporting quality assurance testing by serving as the test scripts for interactions with the user interface. This approach can also be a self-contained strategy--that is, one that allows an iterative approach to user assistance development even if the rest of product development operates on a waterfall model.

Hughes, Michael A. UXmatters (2007). Articles>Documentation>Methods>Help

Anatomy of a Weblog

In some sense, weblogs sum up what's so great about the Internet. Like fanzine editors before them, weblog editors embrace a topic or theme and run with it. Weblogs are a great indicator of what's happening on the Internet and within the web community.

Barrett, Cameron. Camworld (2005). Articles>Web Design>Writing>Blogging

And Now, From the Company that Brought You the Seven-Eyed Trout: Risk Communication in Action  

Risk communication is usually defined as an interactive process of exchanging information and opinions among individuals, groups, and institutions or agencies concerning a risk or potential risk to human health, safety, or the environment. It draws from established principles of sociology and psychology to communicate with hostile or frightened audiences about sensitive issues. The demonstration illustrates the most important principles of risk communication as they are applied to a fictitious community.

Durbin, Margaret E., Linnea E. Wahl, S.T. Molony, Susan Klein and Carol Wade. STC Proceedings (1993). Articles>Risk Communication

"And Then She Said": Office Stories and What They Tell Us about Gender in the Workplace    

This article calls for a rhetorical perspective on the relationship of gender, communication,and power in the workplace. In doing so, the author uses narrative in two ways.First, narratives gathered in an ethnographic study of an actual workplace, a plasticsmanufacturer, are used as a primary source of data, and second, the findings of this studyare presented by telling the story of two women in this workplace. Arguing that genderin the workplace, like all social identities, is locally constructed through the micro practicesof everyday life, the author questions some of the prevailing assumptions about genderat work and cautions professional communication teachers, researchers, and practitionersagainst unintentionally perpetuating global, decontextualized assumptionsabout gender and language, and their relationship to the distribution and exercise of power at work.

Weiland Herrick, Jeanne. Journal of Business and Technical Communication (1999). Articles>Collaboration>Workplace>Gender

And Then There Were Adwords... An Introduction

If you have been looking into Internet marketing, you have probably seen Adwords mentioned now and again. Why don’t we cover the basics of the program. Adwords is the name of the pay-per-click system offered by Google on its search engine.

Pires, Halstatt. Ezine Articles (2006). Articles>Web Design>E Commerce>Search

And They Said Computers Were Just a Fad  

Maslowski documents the rapidly changing technologies used by the technical communication profession.

Maslowski, David S. Intercom (2000). Articles>Technology>History

Angels and Copy Editors Defend Us!

Tinkering with the author's words simply because 'I would not write them that way' is not discretion, but interference. Preserving the author's authentic voice is as important as enhancing its presentation so as to maintain the authority of the words. Of what, then, does the enhancing consist? And how does editorial discretion fit in?

Fothergill-Brown, Ann. Writer's Block (1999). Articles>Writing>Editing

Ann Rockley on the Rockley Group Blog and a New CMS Report

Ann Rockley shares information about an upcoming report on component content management systems her group will be releasing this summer. She also says the Rockley Group is launching a blog to provide quicker information to users in a more interactive way. She talks about the growing presence companies have in the blogosphere, and why they chose WordPress as their blogging tool.

Rockley, Ann and Tom H. Johnson. Tech Writer Voices (2007). Articles>Interviews>Content Management>Podcasts

Annual Reports: A Literature Review (1989-2001)    

Since the collapse of Enron Corporation in November 2001, annual reports and corporate financial disclosures have been the focus of government, corporate, and public attention. This article examines the literature written about annual reports between 1989 and 2001 to identify trends in research and determine areas of future study. Articles were categorized as related to SEC regulations and guidelines, summary annual reports, online annual reports, rhetorical analysis of annual reports, readability and accessibility of annual reports, methods of conveying negative information in annual reports, effective annual report writing, use and importance of annual reports, or use of annual reports in business writing classes. Post-Enron, it is likely that the number of articles in this area will dramatically increase over the next five to ten years.

Lord, Heather L. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication (2002). Articles>Business Communication>Financial>Reports

Annual Reports That Work  

Offers suggestions for creating excellent annual reports.

Worth, Carol. Intercom (2000). Articles>Writing>Reports

Anonymity and Online Community: Identity Matters

While anonymity may allow people to feel more free and disinhibited to discuss otherwise embarrassing or stigmatizing topics, it can also be a community's biggest enemy.

Grohol, John M. List Apart, A (2006). Articles>Web Design>Community Building

Answering the Critics of Plain Language

Plain language has to do with clear and effective communication -- nothing more or less. It does, though, signify a new attitude and a fundamental change from past practices.

Kimble, Joseph. Plain Language Network (2003). Articles>Writing>Legal>Minimalism