#21741
Requesting a quote for outsourced documentation services can be confusing and frustrating. Often it means that managers in IT, engineering or HR must negotiate with professionals whose skills they cannot effectively assess. This can easily lead to inappropriate expectations and disappointment.
Dawson, Colin. Info Action (2000). Articles>Documentation>Outsourcing>Assessment
#31500
Response Mechanisms—The Key to ROI
ROI still eludes many B2B communicators, despite the increasing pressure to prove it. What is the amount of revenue your company gains as a result of your communication after you’ve subtracted expenses? This is especially good to know if you integrate your marketing communication. What part of the mix is working, and what isn’t? If you know that, you can eliminate the duds and rev up the elements that really bring in revenue. Ultimately, over time, you can increase the return on your marketing investment by knowing how well the components of your program perform.
Elrick, Merry. Communication World Bulletin (2004). Articles>Business Communication>Assessment
#11778
Results on a Study of Usability Testing
A study I conducted as part of my graduate work at the University of Houston shows that technical communicators find many benefits in usability testing of documentation but cannot quantify them. The study’s purpose was to identify an exact return on investment figure that could be used to convince otherwise unwilling management to initiate usability studies. While the data failed to produce such a figure, impact analysis indicated that the return on investment is probably high.
Ostrander, Elaine. Usability Interface (2000). Articles>Usability>Assessment
#14930
Return on Investment for Usability
Development projects should spend 10% of their budget on usability. Following a usability redesign, websites increase usability by 135% on average; intranets improve slightly less.
Nielsen, Jakob. Usability News (2003). Articles>Usability>Assessment
#19671
Have you ever felt as though technical communicators don’t get the proper respect for the work they do? This isn’t just a problem of identifying with the comedian Rodney Dangerfield. And I’m not just asking whether you go home at the end of the day with your feelings hurt, although job satisfaction is certainly an important factor. But even more important, you need to have the respect of your boss and co-workers to be effective in your job and to advance your career.
Laurent, J. Suzanna. Intercom (2003). Careers>TC>Assessment>Formulas
#13203
This article offers suggestions about how Technical Communication might reconsider the task of building theory. Beginning with a discussion of the design of a new course called Technical Communication: Theory and Research for the M.S. in Technical Communication Program at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, the author focuses on the intersections between the relatively recent movement known as user-centered design and the foundations of technical communication. Highlighting familiar tensions in the emergence of user-centered design, the essay encourages technical communicators to see theory building as an ongoing effort to refine the practices of technical communication in relation to the predominant mode of technological innovation.
Hart-Davidson, William. STC Proceedings (2001). Articles>Education>Research>Assessment
#21522
In the age of the national information infrastructure, we are inundated with information from various sources. Each day, we come into contact with much more information than we can ever assimilate, and the amount of information that we have access to constantly increases. We generate more and more information daily, and with modern technology, such as Internet, we have immediate access to libraries and databases worldwide.
Jeansonne, Jerold. STC Proceedings (1994). Articles>Writing>Assessment>Technical Writing
#26282
RoI: How Hard is Your Web Site Working?
Accountability is a good thing — as long as it's based on sound objectives. ROI objectives can represent tangible things such as cost savings and intangible tings such as the projected impact your Web site will have on customer perception and behavior. They identify how you plan to use the Internet recover your financial investment and to achieve some specific communication goals and marketing efforts.
Janisch, Troy. evolt (2005). Articles>Web Design>Assessment
#25216
ROI: How Hard is Your Web Site Working?
Every web site needs to provide a tangible and timely return on investment (ROI). Your company's web site should be one of the most active and accountable members of its marketing team.
Janisch, Troy. Icon Interactive (2005). Articles>Web Design>Assessment>Marketing
#18899
Industry and academia have developed disparate models for evaluating the success of a given project. Academia applies a scientific research model, with an emphasis on environmental control and static reproducibility. Industry, software development in particular, has employed a more user-centered approach, gathering user feedback to inform successive waves of redesign. This study describes how the blending of these two approaches can result in quantifiable descriptive data, which can be immediately applied to the design process.
Eliot, Matthew J., Tristan Robinson, Robin Maberry, Judith A. Ramey, Brent Stewart. STC Proceedings (2002). Articles>Usability>Assessment
#14305
Sample Oral Presentation Evaluation Form 
A form for evaluating presentations.
Markel, Mike. Bedford-St. Martin's (2001). Academic>Course Materials>Assessment
#24765
Scientific and Technical Communicators' Perceptions of the Performance Appraisal Interview 
This study surveys scientific and technical communicators to determine their perceptions of their role as interviewees in the performance appraisal interview. The results reveal that interviewees think the appraisal process is unreliable and invalid, that managers do not stimulate growth and development in the appraisal interview, and that subordinates have little influence concerning what goes on in the department. Other results are discussed in the paper.
McDowell, Earl E. STC Proceedings (1994). Careers>Management>Assessment
#28558
Selecting a Content Management System
Learn about what a content management system (CMS) does and the different types of systems available in order to better understand how to select a new system or replace an existing one with a CMS that will be more effective for your organization.
Doyle, Bob. Intercom (2007). Articles>Content Management>Assessment
#14580
This is a collection of presentations, white papers and other resources on selling usability. Links are provided where they are available.
Usability Professionals Association. Articles>Usability>Assessment
#23027
Separate But Equal: Developing Success Profiles for Technical Communicators
To compare and evaluate expertise within a group of technical communicators, we developed a Competencies/Career Phases Matrix. This matrix breaks down soft and hard skills in 12 categories, such as technical depth, skill acquisition, and teamwork/leadership. The matrix also evaluates each category in four levels of mastery: Apprentice, Experienced, Master, and Expert. Through this evaluation process, the leader is able to obtain a clear picture of an individual’s strengths, weaknesses, and areas for improvement. In addition, it gives the technical communicator a way to evaluate him/herself and provides a clear image of what is expected of them, should they choose to improve their performance in the different categories.
Ricks, Debra and Patricia N. Madigan. STC Proceedings (1996). Careers>Advice>Assessment
#13845
This article argues for a social perspective of the new technical communication service course, a conclusion supported by several premises: the technical communication profession wants and needs accountability, accountability is demonstrated by evaluation, assessment requires that we define literacy, evaluating technical communication literacy requires portfolio evaluation, portfolio assessment supports the social perspective of learning, and the social construction concepts imply teaching strategies. The argument proceeds from a case study that demonstrates reliability, stability, and validity in its technical communication service course assessment, tasks, and instructor community. This article demonstrates that portfolios can help us both conceptualize and evaluate the new technical communication service course.
Coppola, Nancy W. Technical Communication Quarterly (1999). Articles>Education>WPA>Assessment
#30060
Settings and the Institutional Organization of Language
Discursive activity in any setting (classrooms, coffee bars, laboratories, greenhouses, or the virtual settings of the Internet), occurs within a semiotic system, and it is useful to think of settings in this way. And, because I've be recently integrating an Activity Theory perspective into my teaching of qualitative research en methods, I wanted to describe the socially-situated organization of talk-in- context in Minneapolis's neighborhood coffee houses. I'm very pleased that Beth Sokolowski's drawings capture the typified activities indigenous to the settings and demonstrate what an important role the setting plays.
Berkenkotter, Carol. University of Minnesota (1998). Articles>Language>Assessment>Cognitive Psychology
#26148
Seven Tests for Quality Web Content
Do these quick tests on every web page you write or edit. Use the tests for quality control of web content.
McAlpine, Rachel. Quality Web Content (2004). Articles>Web Design>Assessment
#31757
Seven Tips for Living with Technology
After living through more than a few technology acquisitions, variously as perpetrator, victim, and bystander, I’ve come across a few tips that can make the process a little easier.
Hamilton, Richard. Content Wrangler, The (2008). Articles>Technology>Assessment
#25787
Six Tips for Effective Self-Appraisals
Thorough, ongoing documentation is the key to well-written Self-Appraisals that increase your perceived value within your Company and impact your performance rating.
ULiveandLearn.com (2005). Careers>Writing>Business Communication>Assessment
#30375
A Slippery Slope: Using Value Analysis to Resolve Ethical Conflicts in Technical Communication
Increasingly, technical communicators are confronting ethical issues in the workplace. Conflicts arise that appear to defy black-and-white solutions. To render every verdict as 'gray,' however, begs the question. Clear direction in the face of thorny ethical dilemmas requires objective value analysis, to logically reduce such dilemmas to clearly defined value conflicts. Once these conflicts are understood, the proper ethical path can more readily be discerned. This paper addresses the need for specific, real-world ethical guidelines for technical communicators. It also explores the possibility of developing a value analysis model to establish such guidelines. A typical model is applied to four representative ethical conflicts.
Voss, Daniel W. STC Proceedings (1993). Articles>TC>Ethics>Assessment
#14534
Son Of Bubba: Applying Chapter Experience To Business
Being a chapter leader can lead to extensive learning and skill development. Many of us overlook the fact that these skills are transferable. Many of us attend the STC Annual Conference with expenses paid by our employer. We often do not attend chapter development sessions because we feel that, as employees, we should attend sessions more applicable to our jobs. Actually, many of the skill we learn in chapter development sessions and in being chapter leaders can be applied equally in well and effectively in our jobs. This paper explores an avenue of recognition that can be applied at work or in the chapter.
Skinner, Judith N. STC Proceedings (1994). Presentations>Management>Assessment
#30376
A Standardized Analysis Method for Customer Inquiries
The Documentation Development Department (DDD) of Hitachi has been improving its software manuals by analyzing inquiries from its customers to the Hitachi Computers Customer Answer (HCA) center. In order to improve inquiry application procedure the DDD isolated and studied inquiries about Hitachi’s workstation, OA software products, from October, 1991 until March 1992.
Ieda, Fumitaka. STC Proceedings (1993). Articles>Documentation>Assessment>Surveys
#26134
Stanford's Web Credibility Study
In this study, 2,684 people evaluated the credibility of two live web sites randomly assigned from one of 10 content categories. A total of 100 sites were assessed. The Stanford credibility team analysed the comments to discover how consumers evaluated credibility online.
McAlpine, Rachel. Quality Web Content (2005). Articles>Web Design>Assessment
#19366
Less than true software (in the traditional sense), but more than mere documents, Web pages constitute a strange mixture of content and commands. Still, Web documents can and do trigger client-side software processes, and thus can (and do!) generate client-side software errors. So it is appropriate to apply some of the basic principles and practices from software quality assurance (SQA) to Web documents.
Sullivan, Terry. All Things Web (1997). Design>Web Design>Assessment
