Assistive Technology: What Is It?

The term 'assistive technology device' means any item, piece of equipment, or product system, whether acquired commercially off the shelf, modified, or customized, that is used to increase, maintain, or improve the functional capabilities of a child with a disability.

ALLTech (2004). Articles>Accessibility>Technology

Assumptions About Technical Communication Programs  

Survey data indicate that current academic programs in technical communication exhibit more differences than similarities in requirements, student support, faculty, schedule, and student support. Moreover, current programs are vigorous, continue to increase, and exhibit three primary needs: increased budgets, more new faculty, and increased involvement with industry.

Rainey, Kenneth T. STC Proceedings (1995). Articles>Education>TC

At Oracle, Simplicity Rules All

To jump-start revenue growth, Mark Jarvis has insisted that simplicity be the foundation not only of Oracle's marketing but also of its product development. Programmers, salespeople, and marketing staff now work closely to satisfy real customer problems, not just deliver glitz. On Nov. 18, Mark Jarvis spoke with BusinessWeek Online Technology reporter Jane Black about his plans to improve Oracle's fortunes. Here are edited excerpts from that conversation.

BusinessWeek (2002). Articles>Usability>Databases>Software

At the Heart of Information Ecologies: Invisibility and Technical Communication    

The ecological metaphor for technological systems provides a useful supplement to others dealing with the question of human control over technologies. However, it fails to develop adequately its own reliance on communication as the means whereby human values may be embedded in technologies, or to recognize the role of professional communicators in that process.

Ranney, Frances J. Journal of Computer Documentation (2000). Articles>Information Design>TC

ATAG (Authoring Tool Accessibility Guidelines) Assessment of WordPress

This document assesses WordPress 2.01 against the Authoring Tool Accessibility Guidelines 1.0.

Clark, Joe. JoeClark.org (2006). Articles>Web Design>Accessibility>Content Management

The Atmosphere at Interaction Frontiers 2006

Interaction Frontiers 2006 was a great experience, with some margin for improvement. I'm sure next year's Interaction Frontiers will be even bigger and better.

Bellocchio, Giovanni. UXmatters (2006). Articles>User Interface>User Experience>

Attack of the Blog

Although blogs are generally linked with business, personal, and entertainment sites, Eugene Volokh, a professor of law at the University of California at Los Angeles, thinks that blogs are evolving into a major academic tool for universities. Members of the academic community have discovered that blogs offer the classroom a cheap, sociable, and fast way for everyone in the class to actively participate in discussion.

Lisson, Kristin. Techniques (2003). Articles>Web Design>Writing>Blogging

Attack of the Zombie Copy

You can keep copy from turning zombie by starting with a clear idea of exactly what you want to say. It's tempting to just start writing, but this approach can leave your pages vulnerable to zombification, because it's easier to sound like you’re making sense than to actually make sense. Outlines can serve as an effective vaccine against living death.

Kissane, Erin. List Apart, A (2005). Articles>Web Design>Writing

Attending an STC Conference on a Shoestring Budget

Companies are reducing their training budgets. During these austere times, the technical writer must get more creative than ever to participate in the annual conference. An informal survey of attendees at the 50th Annual Conference in Dallas showed that many people paid their own way to the conference. There are numerous ways to reduce the cost to attend the conference.

Bine, Katharyn. Usability Interface (2003). Articles>TC>Professionalism>STC

Attributes of Performance-Centered Systems: What Can We Learn from Five Years of EPSS/PCD Competition Award Winners?    

Reviews briefly the systems that Gery presented in Electronic Performance Support Systems and then focuses on the 19 attributes she subsequently developed to elucidate them. Then examines the 1997–2001 competition award winners in light of these attributes. Doing so, it turns out, both clarifies the attributes and suggests a few new ones.

Marion, Craig. Technical Communication Online (2002). Articles>Content Management>Online

ATTW Code of Ethics

This is a working draft of the code of ethics of the Association of Teachers of Technical Writing. As a work in progress, it is subject to substantial change and carries no authority from ATTW. It is meant only for inspection and comment by the ATTW Ethics Committee and general ATTW membership.

ATTW. Articles>Writing>Ethics>Technical Writing

Audacity Tutorial: How to Record and Edit Audio with Audacity

Audacity is a free cross platform multi track audio editing program from Sourceforge.net. It will let you record, edit, and mix an unlimited number of tracks. Audacity runs on Windows (98 through XP), Mac OS X, and Linux.

Guides and Tutorials (2006). Articles>Documentation>Software>Audio

Audience Analysis and Information Design: Creating a Needs Assessment Documentation Strategy  

A user needs assessment developed from extensive audience analysis can be used to develop a documentation strategy that effectively meets user needs. This paper provides an overview of the steps required to identify and analyze the various audiences critical to enterprise software documentation and create a needsassessment- based strategy.

Yeats, Dave and Paula Kozlowski. STC Proceedings (2003). Articles>User Centered Design>Audience Analysis

Audience Analysis: Can You Get There From Here?  

As writers we face many pitfalls. One of the most challenging is trying to meet multiple audience needs -- once we identify the audience. Rarely do we have the luxury of knowing the members of our audience personally and, even if we did, bringing them to consensus would consume all our time. As writers we often decide what the readers in our audience need before the readers have ever seen our material. The analogy of map readers can help us focus on our clients' needs.

Blagg, Lynn and Carolyn K. Johnson. STC Proceedings (1994). Articles>Rhetoric>Audience Analysis

Audience Analysis: Looking Beyond the Superficial  

In performing an audience analysis, it’s easy to focus on simple, obvious issues such as the differences between men and women. In fact, men and women have more similarities than differences when it comes to most of the things that technical communicators document. A discussion of some seemingly obvious differences between men and women illustrates how to look beyond superficial issues to find the truly important differences.

Hart, Geoffrey J.S. STC Proceedings (2001). Articles>Usability>Audience Analysis

Audience Analysis the Easy Way  

Audience analysis is more often a process of guesswork than of an in-depth inquiry into the mind and activities of the user. In fact, it is pretty easy to analyze your audience without having to do any research. Essentially, there are only two things that technical writers need ask themselves during the audience-analysis phase: what does the user know about the thing I am writing about? And what does the user want to know about the thing I am writing about?

Docsymmetry (2003). Articles>Rhetoric>Audience Analysis

Audience and Document Analysis

Before you begin editing a document, try to find out as much as you can about the audience for the document and purpose of the document.

Hollis Weber, Jean. Technical Editors Eyrie (2001). Articles>Writing>Audience Analysis>Rhetoric

Audio Recording of Workshops and Seminars

The AHDS made audio recordings of recent seminars with the aim of transcribing the recordings, and presented them to seminar chairs to facilitate their task of completing reports on each event. This case study looks at some of the issues that occurred as the AHDS recorded and transcribed the material from these seminars. While its findings are based on roundtable seminars, some of them may also be of use to those doing other types of audio recording - interviews, field notes etc.

AHDS (2006). Articles>Collaboration>Multimedia>Audio

Austin's Technical Documentation Focus Group: An Industry/Academic Partnership In Action  

Austin's Technical Documentation Focus Group represents an innovative collaboration between major area publications departments and academia. Designed to provide a networking forum on current publications, the group is managed by its one not-for-profit member, Austin Community College's Department of Technical Communication.

Dunlap, Johnny L., Deborah J. Rosenquist and Katherine E. Staples. STC Proceedings (1994). Articles>Collaboration>TC

Authentic Behavior in User Testing

Despite being an artificial situation, user testing generates realistic findings because people engage strongly with the tasks and suspend their disbelief.

Nielsen, Jakob. Alertbox (2005). Articles>Usability>Testing

Author-Friendly Electronic Submission to SGML-based Academic Journal

I and my co-workers developed an author-friendly method for electronic submission to an academic journal, which is published using a SGML (Standard Generalized Markup Language)-based system. The method uses a style function and RTF (rich text format), and can be used in popular word processing software: Microsoft Word, WordPerfect, PageMaker, etc. The method has been adopted in Bulletin of Chemical Society of Japan (CSJ) since April 1994, which is the monthly English journal of CSJ, and has been published since 1937. The journal has been published in a SGML-based system since January 1993. Our electronic submission method will be included in SIST (Standards for Information of Science and Technology) No. 14 (draft): 'Guideline for electronic submission', which is considered in SIST Committee in Japan, and will be published in near future.

Ishizuka, Hidehiro. ISRDP in Digital Libraries (1997). Articles>Content Management>SGML

Authoring and Documentation Workflow Tools for Haitian Creole: A Minority Language

Although research has been conducted by several institutes on how to process written text for minority and vernacular languages, no academic research project thus far seems to have produced a usable, functional, authoring or translation tool for end-user native speakers of these types of languages. On the other hand, a set of software programs has been in the making for twenty years outside of academia.

Mason, Marilyn. TC-FORUM (2000). Articles>Language>Localization>Machine Translation

Authoring Content in XML

XML authoring is the latest mode of electronic communication of content. XML is about freedom: freeing the content, freeing the author.

Albing, Bill. KeyContent.org (2004). Articles>Writing>XML

Authoring for Electronic Delivery  

Caterpillar is dramatically changing the way technical, product support information is authored. Book paradigms have been replaced by the more granular Information Element (IE) approach. The new integrated environment utilizes Unix based, TCP/IP connected, ECALS compliant tools on multi-tasking author workstations. Research data, in-process work approved IE's and relational indices are distributed to work group servers. Application software tools include a graphics editor and an interactive, context sensitive, SGML text editor. The environment is managed by a robust file management system that provides file tracking, revision control, workflow sensitive tool launching, burden planning and management reporting capabilities.

Hudson, Dave. STC Proceedings (1993). Articles>Documentation>Online>Help

AuthorIT: Creating a 2-Column Glossary in Word  

How to modify AuthorIT objects to get a 2-column glossary in the Word output.

Bracey, Rhonda. CyberText Consulting (2003). Articles>Word Processing>Style Sheets