Participatory design is an approach to design that attempts to actively involve end users in the design process to help ensure that the product designed meets their needs and is usable. This approach is focused on process and is not a design style. For some, this approach has a political dimension of user empowerment and democratisation. For others, it is seen as a way of abrogating design responsibility and innovation by designers.
#30698
As college instructors endeavor to integrate technology into their classrooms, the crucial question is, 'How does this integration affect learning?' This article reports an assessment of a series of online modules the author designed and piloted for a business communication course that she presented in a hybrid format (a combination of computer classroom sessions and independent online work). The modules allowed the author to use classroom time for observation of and individualized attention to the composing process. Although anecdotal evidence suggested that this system was highly effective, other assessment tools provided varying results. An anonymous survey of the students who took this course confirmed that the modules were effective in teaching important concepts; however, a blind review of student work produced mixed results.
Katz, Susan M. Journal of Business and Technical Communication (2008). Articles>Education>Instructional Design>Online
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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
#30144
As Information Development organizations grow and mature, their organizational structure should grow and mature as well. The optimal structure for an organization in its early stages should focus on achieving stability and repeatable quality. As an organization matures, the optimal structure may need to be significantly different to develop a more thorough understanding of customers and contribute substantially to customer satisfaction.
Hackos, JoAnn T., Lisa Blaschke, Brenda MacKay and Deborah J. Rosenquist. STC Proceedings (1997). Articles>Information Design>Assessment>Case Studies
#14381
Assessing Web site usability can be complex, because the medium can be both a document and a 'software product.' Documentation usability testing asks how headings, page elements, and index entries help users find the content they need, and whether that content is useful. Software usability testing asks how well the user inteface supports users’ job-task activity, indicates functionality, provides navigation signposts and program status, and prevents errors. A Web site must meet a combination of these goals—links should lead to the content that users seek, through pathways that users can easily follow without reaching a dead-end or getting lost.
Hinderer, Deborah and Laurie Kantner. STC Proceedings (1998). Presentations>Usability>Web Design
#15090
Lists several questions to pose when evaluating a Web site's form and content.
Smart, Karl L. Intercom (2000). Design>Web Design>Assessment
#14994
Assessing Web Site Usability from Server Log Files
White paper on how to glean usability data from web server log files and how to use that data.
Tec-Ed, Inc. (1999). Articles>Web Design>Usability
#20060
Assistive Device Behaviour Chart 
These charts have been produced to help developers understand how assistive devices work. We're in the early days of collating the data, and would appreciate feedback from users of assistive devices to ensure our results are accurate. This page contains many features that are advocated for accessibility, allowing you to send feedback on how your particular assistive device behaves. If we don't have a category for your assistive device, please send your results and we will add a category for the device. Your cooperation is greatly appreciated, and should make this an invaluable resource for developers.
Juicy Studio (2003). Design>Accessibility
#28383
The Association of Medical Illustrators
The professional objectives of the AMI are to promote the study and advancement of medical illustration and allied fields of visual communication, and to promote understanding and cooperation with the medical profession and related health science professions. Its members are primarily artists who create material designed to facilitate the recording and dissemination of medical and bioscientific knowledge through visual communication media. Members are involved not only in the creation of such material, but also serve in consultant, advisory, educational and administrative capacities in all aspects of bioscientific communications and related areas of visual education.
AMI. Organizations>Graphic Design>Technical Illustration>Biomedical
#14222
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
#30604
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
#21105
Getting stuck on a web page can be painful. The back button doesn't always work. While there are many ways to escape from web pages, many users don't know the tricks. A company can stop hurting users by doing more testing, using proper development methods, and being aware of the issue.
Rhodes, John S. WebWord (2001). Design>Web Design>Usability
#22738
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
#26440
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
#28397
Attention mapping is a tool to help you start to plan a visual layout around realistic communication between user and site. It can also be a helpful analysis tool, helping you work out what's wrong about a layout.
Hunt, Ben. Web Design From Scratch (2006). Design>Web Design>Document Design>Usability
#24838
Until recently, emotion was an ill-explored part of human psychology. Some people thought it an evolutionary left-over from our animal origins. Most thought of emotions as a problem to be overcome by rational, logical thinking. And most of the research focused upon negative emotions such as fear, anxiety, and anger. Modern work has completely reversed this view.
Norman, Donald A. JND.org (2003). Design>User Interface>User Experience>Emotions
#22708
Attractive Vectormaps: A Call for Well-Arranged Webmaps
If a user has a choice between two maps he/she will often use the map with the 'better' design. This means a map, besides being readable, should be visually attractive, comparable with other maps and eventually deliver some tools to navigate and interact with a map. A further problem is that a lot of maps are not always self-explaining by default. SVG offers some possibility to make maps well designed. The readability is dependent on several factors: e g. the chosen colors, used fonts or minimal dimensions for symbols, line-styles and fill-patterns. The article is pointing to basic principles for designing visually attractive maps.
Dahinden, Tobias. SVG Open (2002). Design>Web Design>Graphic Design>Sitemaps
#22932
Attractive, Accessible Web Sites: AKA, Disproving the Myth of Ugly
Web accessibility is not the sexiest subject in the world. Let's be realistic. And selling the concept is never all that easy as a result. Sure, you can harp on about all the 'business benefits' (potential increased audienced, reduced bandwidth costs, good PR), but what you really need to be able to do is show that it's possible to do this without compromising on the design, and that's often where the problems begin.
Accessify (2003). Design>Web Design>Accessibility
#24100
Attributing Meaning to Corporate Logos: A Cross Cultural Comparison 
Visual symbols are an essential part of corporate communication. The development of an appropriate corporate logo is an expensive and a time-intensive process. This study examines the meaning of visual form as perceived via corporate identity. Global economies demand that such symbols carry consistent meaning across cultures. 170 subjects from the U.S. and Hong Kong participated in a survey that identified positive business attributes associated with six logos. Another 60 subjects (30 from the U.S., 30 from Hong Kong) participated in focus groups and collectively discussed and collectively identified attributes as related to certain logos. Results indicate that there was agreement between and within groups on the perception of attributes with specific shapes. There were no significant differences between cultural groups.
Martinson, Barbara and Sauman Chu. University of Alberta (2003). Design>Graphic Design>Visual Rhetoric>International
#23611
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
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An Audience of One: Creating Products for Very Small Workgroups
As creators of digital user experiences, we must transform complex workflows and tasks into useful applications. Experts have written much about the UX design process as it applies to broad audiences, industry-specific vertical markets, and large corporate user groups. However, as our evolving information economy continues to encourage greater and greater specialization of job roles, there is an increased need for customized applications--digital systems that only a select few people will ever use.
Follett, Jonathan. UXmatters (2007). Design>User Interface>Collaboration
#14304
A form for coding users' interaction with a written document.
Markel, Mike. Bedford-St. Martin's (2001). Design>Usability>Workflow
#13905
An Audience With Alan Cooper: Defining Interaction Design
What was intended to be an Interview immediately became an audience with the master. It became difficult to slide in the questions as Cooper began to tear up the rulebook for the technology industry and throw it out. He discusses why Interaction Design is about complete systems architecture and he hits on what's wrong with relational databases; what's wrong with file systems; why Interaction Design is a lot more than Interface Design; and why he really doesn't like Usability much either.
Cooper, Alan. UIdesign (2001). Design>Information Design>Interaction Design>Usability
#14249
Audience-Driven Web Design: An Application to Medical Web Sites
We begin by identifying the problem of defining medical Web site credibility and then identify the gap in Web design research, a gap that fails to identify or address specific audience needs in Web site design. We then present our process for identifying and fulfilling specific audience needs, describe a framework, and present a case study in audience-driven Web design using the framework to guide the discussion.
Swenson, Jenni, Helen Constantinides and Laura J. Gurak. Technical Communication Online (2002). Design>Web Design>User Centered Design>Biomedical
#28897
Audio signals also help us interact with our environment. Some of these signals are designed: We wake to the buzz of the alarm clock, answer the ringing telephone, and race to the kitchen when the shrill beep of the smoke alarm warns us that dinner is burning on the stove. Other audio signals are not deliberately designed, but help us nonetheless. For instance, we may know the proper sound of the central air conditioning starting, the gentle hum of the PC fan, or the noise of the refrigerator. So, when these systems go awry, we notice it immediately--something doesn't sound right. Likewise, an excellent mechanic might be able to tell what is wrong with a car engine just by listening to it run.
Follett, Jonathan. UXmatters (2007). Design>User Centered Design>User Experience>Audio
#19225
Auditing Software Tools for SENDA Compliance
This project has identified a number of tools that may be of use to the academic community. The starting point of this investigation was the W3C WAI web page that lists existing evaluation, repair, and transformation tools for Web Content Accessibility.
