#28643
Users take photos to highlight important aspects of their lives and context. The photos are assembled into collages and studied to highlight opportunities for new technologies and barriers to their acceptance.
. Usability Body of Knowledge (2007). Design>Usability>Photography>Methods
#26656
Pluralistic Usability Walkthrough
A usability test method employed to generate early design evaluation by assigning a group of users a series of paper-based tasks that represent the proposed product interface and including participation from developers of that interface.
Usability Body of Knowledge. Resources>Usability>Methods>Card Sorting
#18628
Pluralistic walkthroughs are meetings where users, developers, and usability professionals step through a task scenario, discussing and evaluating each element of interaction. Group walkthroughs have the advantage of providing a diverse range of skills and perspectives to bear on usability problems. As with any inspection, the more people looking for problems, the higher the probablility of finding problems. Also, the interaction between the team during the walkthrough helps to resolve usability issues faster.
#14692
Morris demonstrates a method of editing that reveals the essence of a communication without distorting it.
Morris, M.D. Intercom (2001). Articles>Editing>Methods
#28588
How Community Manager Karen Bachmann has learned about the power and importance of storytelling, and some of the many stories that have deeply affected her.
Bachmann, Karen L. Usability Interface (2007). Articles>Usability>Methods
#18685
The Power of the Usability Lab
You cannot build a useful product or Web site without usability testing. If you have never watched someone use your designs in a usability lab, you are taking shots in the dark. You can't possibly know whether your hard work is making things better or worse. The features you are focusing on may be things that no one really needs, or could never figure out. Without regular sessions in the usability lab during the development cycle, projects are guaranteed to head in directions that do not benefit the users of the product. As a developer, you should have deep interest as to whether your hard work is making the product better. It's in your interest to make sure your work gets examined in the labs, so that you can make adjustments and ensure that you are making the best possible product for your users.
Berkun, Scott. UIWeb (1999). Design>Usability>Methods
#20540
PowerPoint Tutorial: Adding Sound to a PowerPoint Show
There are many sites where you can download or buy MIDI or Audio files on the web. Many of these sites offer illegal sound clips. Finding sound clips on the Web is very easy--simply do a search for sound clips, and you'll be directed to many different web pages. Just be sure that you can legally use these sound clips before putting them on your site.
Presenters University (2001). Articles>Presentations>Methods>Microsoft PowerPoint
#23912
A Pragmatic Framework for Selecting Empirical or Inspection Methods to Evaluate Usability 
Within the literature of human-computer interaction there is a vigorous debate on the relative merits of two classes of evaluation methods; those that carry out an empirical study of users' task performance and those that employ experts to inspect a design. The central themes in this debate are effectiveness and cost-efficiency. While these concerns are important in commercial usability work, an analysis of project goals and constraints may be more useful in selecting and justifying methods.
Englefield, Paul. IBM (2004). Articles>Usability>Methods
#30374
A Primer of Object Orientation: What It Is and What It's Good For
The computer industry is moving toward the adoption of the object-oriented approach as the standard mode of analyzing, designing, and implementing applications. This paper applies the new orientation to the task of simulating the traffic of people in a building. This paper is a primer to a new technology which promises to revolutionalize programming: object orientation. To make the presentation concrete, I will build it around a case history. Imagine that an architect asked you to create a simulation that will help her determine how many elevators anew building will need to keep the average wait for an elevator to, say, under thirty seconds. How would you go about this task?
Haltresht, Michael. STC Proceedings (1993). Articles>Software>Programming>Methods
#19262
A Primer on Using Focus Groups in Technical Communication
In technical communication, focus groups are a relatively new method for analyzing audience needs and for evaluating technical documents. As an outgrowth of usability testing, focus groups have been used primarily as a means of revising texts. Their application to technical communication projects is much broader, however, as they can be used at any stage of a project and for a multitude of purposes. As technical communicators place more emphasis on satisfying their clients, we can expect focus groups to become increasingly popular. This primer explains what they are, when and why to use them, and how to plan them.
Abbott, Christine and Philip Eubanks. STC Proceedings (2002). Articles>Usability>Methods>Focus Groups
#18655
Probing and its Effects on the Validity and Reliability of Verbal Reports
Eliciting verbal reports from participants in usability studies is a commonly used method used to collect performance and preference data. By asking users to 'think-aloud,' usability practitioners can observe users interact with an interface and listen to their concurrent thoughts at the same time. Verbal data is helpful because it allows observers to know how users think—what they look for, how they expect to accomplish tasks, and what elements of the interface they find confusing or helpful.
Abolrous, Sally. University of Washington-Seattle (2001). Articles>Usability>Methods
#25601
The Problem with Usability Change Recommendations
Contemporary user testing methods have proven highly effective at identifying problems in computer interfaces. By directly measuring users’ ability to complete key tasks, practitioners can expediently uncover what are often colossal failures of usability that are otherwise difficult to perceive. User testing, then, affords a strong empirical basis for recommending that designers make changes to resolve the problems found.
Ferrara, John. Usability Professionals Association (2005). Articles>Usability>Methods
#19824
A Problem-Solving Process that Really, Really Works
Under the auspices of Hayes Quality Program we were introduced to a problem-solving process that really works for us. It gives writers (or anyone!) a truly objective means for addressing and resolving problems, issues, confusions, inefficiencies, and other stumbling blocks in the documentation development process. It also teaches one to remove the personal from the problem, and focus on root causes versus individual fault. I will walk participants through the step-by-step methodology by which the problem-solving process works, demonstrate how to apply the process to a specific documentation problem, and provide a hands-on exercise.
Jandel-Leavitt, Juliette. STC Proceedings (1995). Articles>Documentation>Methods
#28388
Designing for the web means designing sympathetically with the way people actually use the web, not how we think they should. This section looks at the discipline of web design, how to approach design as a job, and introduces some mental techniques for increasing enjoyment and success.
Hunt, Ben. Web Design From Scratch (2006). Design>Web Design>Methods
#13983
The Process of Writing: A Philosophical Base in Hermeneutics 
There is no doubt that among those concerned with composition and the teaching of writing, one of the dominant concerns is the process of writing. Anyone who has attended the annual Conference on College Composition and Communication in the past five years can attest to this fact. Indeed, writing across the curriculum and the process method of teaching composition are probably the two most important innovations in the field of composition in the past ten years. Whole programs have been restructured to enable teachers to teach by the process method. At my own institution, John Ruszkiewicz added this dimension to an already fairly elaborate composition program. Many of us who have been teaching composition for a good number of years have substantially altered our own techniques of teaching to incorporate more process emphasis.
Kinneavy, James L. JAC (1987). Articles>Rhetoric>Methods
#29808
Professional Editing Strategies Used by Six Editors 
Identifying the approach used by those revision experts par excellence--that is, professional editors--should enable researchers to better grasp the revision process. To further explore this hypothesis, the author conducted research among professional editors, six of whom she filmed as they engaged in their practice. An analysis of their work approach strategies showed their detection strategies to consist in anticipating errors and in comparing the author's text with the editor's knowledge, which appears in a range of states: certitude, uncertainty, and ignorance. Furthermore, the participating editors used problem-solving strategies to automatically solve more than half of the problems encountered in the text. Otherwise, they used immediate or postponed strategies. This description of professional editors in action opens a number of avenues for the further research and development of in-class instruction of self-revision and professional editing.
Bisaillon, Jocelyne. Written Communication (2007). Articles>Editing>Methods>Case Studies
#29085
The Professional Portfolio As Heuristic Methodology
The antecedents of literary autobiography as we know it today emerged during the 17th century against a backdrop of the rise of empirical science and inductive method. An arguably older form of autobiography--the portfolio-- has, unlike the literary biography, languished on the periphery of academia during our time. While it should not be controversial to say that possession of an heuristic bent is one mark of a successful education (since learning how to think, that is learning how to be open, alert, engaged, is the fundamental mission of the student), the portfolio has been ignored in part because of its modern connotation as a 'marketing' tool but perhaps more significantly because as a heuristic methodology it is a threat to the centrality of the pedagogue. I argue that the portfolio deserves at very least a re-evaluation throughout academic (to say nothing of quotidian) life as an indispensable tool of the spirit of pedagogy. Like the autobiography, it is validated by the belief that gathering data or details about individual lives has to precede drawing general conclusions or seeing any overarching patterns.
Luescher, Andreas. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication (2002). Careers>Portfolios>Methods
#21066
A Proposal for Evaluating Usability Testing Methods: The Practical Review System (PRS)
The purpose of this article is to explain the Practical Review System (PRS). The PRS is an outline of 28 characteristics that can be used to understand any usability method, thereby allowing any individual to decide between methods. This solves many of the problems associated with understanding and explaining usability methods.
Rhodes, John S. WebWord (2003). Articles>Usability>Methods
#24508
Protecting the Voices of Our Research: Appropriately Verifying Qualitative Data
Although discussion of composition research methods over the last 10 years has culminated in Conference on College Composition and Communication (CCCC) guidelines, these guidelines do not include procedures for verifying qualitative data. Such procedures would entail having a third party check to some degree that the researcher spent the time claimed at the site and that the subjects did what was described and said what was quoted in the published research. This commentary reviews federal policies on research misconduct and government and professional association responses to data faking, noting the additional danger of incompetent investigations of research misconduct. Arguing that the discipline should take appropriate measures to verify qualitative data, I recommend a two-tiered approach.
Cross, Geoffrey A. Journal of Business and Technical Communication (2004). Articles>Research>Methods
#29235
A Prototype Theory Approach to International Website Analysis and Design
As global online access grows, Web site designers find themselves creating materials for an increasing international audience. Cultural groups, however, can have different expectations of what constitutes acceptable Web site design. This article examines how prototype theory can serve as a methodology for analyzing Web sites designed for users from different cultures. Such analyses, in turn, can help individuals create more effective online materials for international audiences.
St. Amant, Kirk R. Technical Communication Quarterly (2005). Design>Web Design>Methods>International
#20930
Prototyping and Usability Testing with Visio
An overview of prototyping: uses, functions and types of prototypes.
Bachmann, Karen L. and Whitney Quesenbery. WQusability (2001). Articles>Usability>Methods
#28500
Prototyping Beyond the Sunshine Scenario
Prototypes often model one flow of interaction--the path that users are most likely to take. But when we create interaction designs with dynamic and complex flows, we often need to include deviations from the sunshine scenarios to see whether they work. In this article, we'll look at how to do this Visio and Axure.
Olsen, Henrik. GUUUI (2006). Articles>User Interface>Interaction Design>Methods
#19990
Prototyping Your Process, Team and Tools Improving the Usability of Work
This paper explores prototyping the process, team, and tools comprising the work environment within which technical communicators operate when creating documentation. If you create a prototype of your documentation through a prototype of your work environment, you can uncover numerous flaws in your process, team, and tools. Iterative prototyping encourages adjusting the work environment to meet constantly changing requirements. If we consider how programmatic much of our work has become, especially with online help systems or the World Wide Web, prototyping our process, team, and tools can be invaluable toward improving the usability of our working lifestyle.
Mobley, Karen L. and Judith R. Fisher. STC Proceedings (1999). Design>Usability>Methods
#28408
My friend John Endean is one of the most successful people I've met in web development. He taught me that the most important skill for a developer is laziness. When faced with a problem, the lazy developer will first find out if it has been solved before, and if possible rip off the code. The hardworking developer will stay late and try to figure out the problem from first principles. Who is most likely to succeed? Who is most likely to produce more successful code in less time? Who would you rather have on your team? I propose that web designers too should embrace laziness, and stop straining to create the truly original.
Hunt, Ben. Web Design From Scratch (2006). Design>Web Design>Methods
#14758
Quality and the Consumer Experience: Methods of Collecting Data
Smart reviews several user-centered methods technical communicators can use to gather information for designing and improving customers' experience with documentation.
Smart, Karl L. Intercom (2002). Articles>User Centered Design>Methods
