#26492
Measurement is a crucial part of a successful search marketing campaign, but understanding and using web analytics tools can be daunting. A new book demystifies the process, showing you how to implement your own effective measurement strategies.
Sherman, Chris. Search Engine Watch (2005). Articles>Web Design>Assessment>Log Analysis
#13513
What Do Technical Writers Find Stressful?
If you are new to the technical writing profession or are considering technical writing as a career, you may be wondering whether technical writing is a high-stress occupation. According to The Jobs Rated Almanac 2001 by Les Krantz, technical writers are rated as having a 'relatively moderate to medium level of stress' when compared to other professions. The Almanac ranks 250 professions based on a range of job demands that are considered to cause stress; the stress ranking for 'technical writing' is based on the large workloads, tight deadlines, stringent demands for quality, and the exposure to criticism characteristic of many technical and marketing writer jobs.
Singer, Warren. TECHWR-L (2002). Careers>TC>Assessment
#31669
What Do We Gain by Assessment?
The question, what do we gain by assessment, is one that has been asked more and more often by engineering educators. They ask the question even as the changes in accreditation brought on by ABET, Inc. and the Engineering Criteria have been cemented in programs both in the United States and abroad.
Williams, Julia M. IEEE PCS (2008). Articles>Education>Assessment>Engineering
#21386
This article lists some basic metrics for determining whether documentation is useful or not. Users' needs and issues of accessibility are highlighted.
Unwalla, Mike. TechScribe (2003). Articles>Documentation>Assessment
#31375
This hypertext examines from an activity theory perspective the vexed problem of assessment and its relation to planning, accountability, curriculum, and learning. Assessment although only part of the educational process has implications for almost all of education. Local, state, and federal policies that have put great weight and high stakes on a battery of assessment tools that stand outside the daily life of the classroom but are intended to hold classrooms, teachers, and schools accountable for results. While situated evaluation is an aspect of most human practices, institution-wide testing creates substantial difficulties for the local practices of each class, and particularly creates tensions between student-centered classroom practice and subject-centered expectations. Such tensions have been a continuing puzzle for progressive education. Dewey and his followers regularly preferred to keep evaluation and decision-making local, but for various institutional reasons had to seek larger ways of assessing student achievement without ever being able to develop fully appropriate assessment tools. The teaching of writing has faced a similar dilemma, with standardized forms of writing assessment setting reductionist definitions and expectations of writing, and not directing students towards the highest levels of accomplishment. This study considers genre and activity analysis as the basis for defining and assessing writing tasks through analysis of materials collected from a complex sequence of social studies writing assignments on the Maya from a sixth grade class.
Bazerman, Charles. WAC Clearinghouse (2003). Articles>Education>Assessment>Activity Theory
#21568
What makes a good Web site? That depends on whom you ask. A lot of managers have turned their Web design projects over to programmers. They seem to think that a good Web site means good HTML tagging and Java programming… and only that. My opinion is that a good site should give the people who visit it an 'experience.' By experience I mean the 'effect' your site has on visitors. And how do you ensure a good effect? A good site requires a delicate balance between content, visual appeal, and technology.
Leonard-Wilkinson, Theresa A. W-edge Design (1998). Design>Web Design>Assessment
#13514
What Strategies Can Technical Writers Use to Cope with Stress?
This article offers some practical suggestions for increasing your ability to cope with stressors. Rather than attempting to cover solutions in depth, this article provides a range of ideas to explore in addressing the stressors discussed in Part One. The 'See Also' section at the end of each topic provides links to additional resources related to the topic, which help clarify or expand on the strategies briefly described under each topic.
Singer, Warren. TECHWR-L (2002). Careers>TC>Assessment
#10095
What Technical Communicators Think About Measuring Value Added 
As part of an STC-funded research project on measuring the value added by technical communicators and information products, researchers designed a questionnaire to get a view of current thinking in the profession about the issue of measuring value added.
Ramey, Judith A. Technical Communication Online (1995). Articles>TC>Assessment
#18223
What You Can Learn From Analyzing Artifacts and Outcroppings in Field Studies 
Two often overlooked sources of data in field studies reside in the physical dimension of the workplace: artifacts and outcroppings. Artifacts are physical objects in use at a site: tools, forms, reports, templates, etc. Outcroppings are noticeable physical traits that mark or characterize the site: size of cubicles, whiteboards and what’s written on them, uniforms worn by certain classes of personnel, etc. These two sources of data can greatly enrich the overall understanding of the site. This paper describes artifacts and outcroppings found in the workplace, what you can learn from them, how to collect data about them, how to analyze the data, and how to report what you’ve learned. The points are illustrated with examples from three case studies.
Ramey, Judith A., Denise Carlevato and Erin Leanne Schulz. STC Proceedings (1996). Presentations>Usability>Assessment
#25851
What's the Buzz About? An Empirical Examination of Search on Yahoo!
We present an analysis of the Yahoo Buzz Index over a period of 45 weeks. Our key findings are that: (1) It is most common for a search term to show up on the index for one week, followed by two weeks, three weeks, etc. Only two terms persist for all 45 weeks studied — Britney Spears and Jennifer Lopez. Search term longevity follows a power–law distribution or a winner–take–all structure; (2) Most search terms focus on entertainment. Search terms related to serious topics are found less often. The Buzz Index does not necessarily follow the "news cycle"; and, (3) We provide two ways to determine "star power" of various search terms — one that emphasizes staying power on the Index and another that emphasizes rank. In general, the methods lead to dramatically different results. Britney Spears performs well in both methods. We conclude that the data available on the Index is symptomatic of a celebrity–crazed, entertainment–centered culture.
Bladow, Nicole, Cari Dorey, Liz Frederickson, Pavla Grover, Yvette Knudtson, Sandeep Krishnamurthy and Voula Lazarou. First Monday (2005). Articles>Web Design>Search>Assessment
#14964
What's the Value of Technical Communication? 
Unlike many other professions, our work products rarely stand by themselves. The work product of an engineering team may be a new pager or PDA; the work product of a development team may be a general-market software application. Data sheets, programmers reference manuals, and microprocessor design guides don't have their own standalone markets. They are designed and produced specifically for supporting standalone products. Their value, therefore, lies in how well they serve as a conduit for transferring and translating knowledge about the product to customers or end users according to their requirements.
Le Vie, Donald S., Jr. GaryConroy.com (2002). Articles>TC>Assessment
#25711
Of just under 100 companies, only 27 percent of companies surveyed planned to continue using their Web content management systems as they do now. So why do these CMS projects almost always fail?
Veen, Jeffrey. Adaptive Path (2004). Articles>Content Management>Assessment
#22191
Why Should We Be Exploring Accountability?
We probably need to think much more than we have in the past in terms of assessment, external evaluation, and accountability. We are hearing ever more frequently the concerns of administrators, regents, legislators, and departments of education for greater accountability by universities-concerns that will be passed down the administrative levels to program directors and teachers. This may be a blessing in disguise, an opportunity to tell the public who we are and why we are important.
Savage, Gerald J. CPTSC Proceedings (2003). Articles>Education>TC>Assessment
#23884
Why We Need More Assessment of Online Composition Courses: A Brief History
Online courses now command a prominent position in composition scholarship where we dream of democratized education and liberating literacies. But...
Charles, Cristie Cowles. Kairos (2002). Articles>Education>Assessment>Online
#21807
WikiWiki as Tech Review Vehicle
Like most technical writers, getting my feature team to review my help topics for technical accuracy is like keeping an Iditarod team from making a dash for the nearest McDonalds or garbage dump in the middle of a blinding blizzard. Technical contributors want to participate in technical documentation reviews but they rarely have enough bandwidth to do so effectively. Consequently, I spend a lot of time trying to determine the most effective way to squeeze my teammates for feedback. This can be a painstaking process, especially for technical writers who are unlucky enough to work with teams that are halfway around the world or spread across the country. Some contributors only produce if I corner them in their office with a paper copy. Others are overly motivated, but I love them all the same. Most technical reviewers, at least at Microsoft, require a combination of: incentives (food, beer, ...), attention getters (a stern note from their manager) and tech review tools that fit their working style and team culture.
Parnell, Korby. Microsoft (2004). Articles>Editing>Engineering>Assessment
#20754
Winning Them Over: Demonstrating the Value of Technical Communication
Demonstrating the value of technical communication is an ongoing problem for technical communicators everywhere. Two problems face technical communicators. First, the flow of information (or lack thereof) between technical communicators regarding the wide variety of jobs we perform. Second, explaining and justifying the work we do to potential clients, managers, and technical staff that are either unaware of the work we do or skeptical of the added value that technical communicators can bring to the work place. Proactive approaches overviewed will include ways to educate others about the tasks included in job descriptions of technical communicators and how to demonstrate the value of good technical communication to others.
Gasser, Carol and Lianna Fahey. STC Proceedings (1999). Articles>TC>Assessment
#22367
Writing Course Evaluations that Matter
An article on writing course evaluations that measure the effectiveness of training courses, in relation to business objectives and return on investment.
Rice, William H. IV. WilliamRice.com (2004). Academic>Course Materials>Instructional Design>Assessment
#27274
You Can't Fix What You Can't Measure: Toward Better Content Metrics
Fenstermacher writes that while there are substantial benefits to globalized content, it is difficult to develop metrics to analyze this content. He discusses key terms and processes that can be used when considering cost-reduction strategies to get you on your way to developing your own content metrics.
Fenstermacher, Hans E. Intercom (2006). Articles>Writing>Technical Writing>Assessment
#32089
As part of the product, testing documentation seems like an obvious thing to do, but what does it really mean? I’ve fielded the question in a few different places now and it’s always interesting to delve deeper and understand the rationale behind the request.
McLean, Gordon. One Man Writes (2008). Articles>Documentation>Assessment>Testing
#32169
The authors' goal was to model the role played by the relationship between a writing teacher and her students in the feedback and revision cycle they experienced in an English-as-a-foreign-language context. Participants included a nonnative teacher of English and 14 students enrolled in her English writing class in a Korean university. Data came from formal, informal, and text-based interviews; semester-long classroom observations; and students' drafts with teacher comments. Findings showed that caring was enacted in complex and reciprocal ways, influenced by interwoven factors from the greater society, the course, the teacher, and the student. Students' level of trust in the teacher's English ability, teaching practices, and written feedback, as much as the teacher's trust in particular students based on how they revised their drafts, played a great role in the development of a caring relationship between them.
Lee, Given and Diane L. Schallert. Written Communication (2008). Articles>Education>Writing>Assessment
#32192
If the documentation is not being used and used effectively, it will never help the bottom line. The trick to increasing value with internal and external users is to identify areas where documentation can save time and money, to create agreement that the documentation can save time and money, and to ensure that the documentation does save time and money.
Kirk, Hannah. TechCom Manager (2007). Articles>Management>Documentation>Assessment
#32200
Feedback is important to business, but no one needed to tell us that. As Technical Communications managers, we regularly see feedback in many forms: user feedback, customer feedback, internal feedback, external feedback, feedback from testing, and feedback in performance appraisals. As beacons of information communication in our organizations, we are responsible to communicate well and, by extension, possess a solid appreciation of and ability to respond to feedback.
Kirk, Hannah. TechCom Manager (2006). Articles>Collaboration>Assessment
#32219
It's In the Numbers: Using Metrics to Plan Documentation Projects
It's in the numbers. Creating documentation is not an exact science, yet as communication leaders, we are expected to provide real estimates for how much time we need to document a project, or what we can produce given a predetermined timeline.
Yundt, Margie and Sherry McMenemy. TechCom Manager (2005). Articles>Documentation>Assessment
#32306
On the History of Evaluation in Information Retrieval
This paper is a personal take on the history of evaluation experiments in information retrieval. It describes some of the early experiments that were formative in our understanding, and goes on to discuss the current dominance of TREC (the Text REtrieval Conference) and to assess its impact.
Robertson, Stephen. Journal of Information Science (2008). Articles>Information Design>Assessment>Search
#32307
Bibliometrics has changed out of all recognition since 1958; becoming established as a field, being taught widely in library and information science schools, and being at the core of a number of science evaluation research groups around the world. This was all made possible by the work of Eugene Garfield and his Science Citation Index. This article reviews the distance that bibliometrics has travelled since 1958 by comparing early bibliometrics with current practice, and by giving an overview of a range of recent developments, such as patent analysis, national research evaluation exercises, visualization techniques, new applications, online citation indexes, and the creation of digital libraries. Webometrics, a modern, fast-growing offshoot of bibliometrics, is reviewed in detail. Finally, future prospects are discussed with regard to both bibliometrics and webometrics.
Thelwall, Mike. Journal of Information Science (2008). Articles>Research>Online>Assessment
