#10630
The EZSort tool helps interface designers organize information based on users' expectations using statistical cluster analysis. This tool includes two packages -- USort and EZCalc. The USort program can be used by card sort participants to sort virtual cards with a simple GUI interface, instead of using physical cards. It can also be used by study administrators to generate card list and enter existing card sort result from individual participants. Once individual card sort results are captured by the USort package, test administrators can use the EZCalc package to manage card sort data from multiple participants, and perform cluster analyses. EZCalc generates tree diagrams that allow direct adjustment of the cluster thresholds. The packages can be used in designing Web sites, program interfaces, and many other information design applications.
IBM (1999). Resources>Software>User Centered Design>Card Sorting
#14684
Faster, Better, and Cheaper: The Software Development Life Cycle 
Block shows how a technical writer's involvement in each stage of software development can lead to higher quality software products.
Block, Barbara M. Intercom (2001). Design>User Centered Design>Software
#27575
Your requirements document needs to focus on the user’s goals. They should not be marketing’s list of features 'we’ve got to have' because the competition has these features. They should not be a list of things the programmers think ought to be included 'because we can add those things for very little cost.' Feature bloat does not benefit the user.
Ferlazzo, Ellen Lawson. Sprezzatura Systems (2002). Articles>User Centered Design>Specifications>Software
#14601
The Software for Cultures and the Cultures in Software
Software is viewed as an artifact which interacts with cultures of societies in which it functions. Software manufacturers make efforts to adapt the appearance of their products to aesthetic and historical values of the markets in which they are sold (“software for cultures”). It is well known that software embeds behavioral and organizational principles that are culture-determined (“cultures in software”). Internet and e-commerce bring these phenomena into the fore of the debate on societal implications of Information Technology. The paper argues for a research agenda on the multifaceted interactions between software and culture.
Kersten, Gregory E., Stan Matwin, Sunil J. Noronha and Mik A. Kersten. University of Ottawa (1999). Articles>User Centered Design>Software
#14679
Technical Communicators: Designing the User Experience
Fisher argues that technical communicators should take the lead in developing software that satisfies user demands, and describes how to develop the new skills needed to do so.
Fisher, Lori H. Intercom (2001). Design>User Centered Design>Software
