Providing Documentation Over the World Wide Web—Pros and Cons  

The World Wide Web is a global network that supports a hypertext protocol and is built on top of the Internet. Vendors can now supply a single source of hyperlinked documentation for their products for customer use. The advantages would be document control, faster revision, and automatic feedback. The problems are network reliability, hardware limitations, and lack of support for the unnetworked user.

Alper, Samantha. STC Proceedings (1995). Articles>Documentation>Online

Providing On-line Documentation to the Non-Networked Enterprise  

We have all heard the terms, ‘telecommuting,’ ‘groupware,’ and intra- or internet at one time or another. However, the best designed information retrieval system is useless if you cannot get on-line to use it. Most companies are taking advantage of technology, and publishing their policies and procedures on their own intranet or Local Area Network. Unfortunately, some organizations with field offices, off-site agents or consultants, even executives on travel are not always ‘plugged-in’ to this information. There is a way to make dynamic information available to enterprises without internet accessibility or LAN/WAN connections. What follows is one solution to the quest for getting ‘plugged in’ and taking advantage of dynamic data exchange.

Anderson, Michelle E. STC Proceedings (1998). Articles>Documentation>Online>Help

Publications on On-Line Collaboration and Educational Technology

On-line collaboration enriches the educational experience, especially if instructors use software environments that support group-generated projects, products, case studies, and other kinds of academic deliverables. Such activities are not supported well by the standard 'threaded topic' discussion formats of e-mail and message-based conferencing systems.

Klemm, William. Texas A and M University (1998). Articles>Education>Collaboration>Online

Publish and Sell Your Book in Hypertext  

Anyone who would like to publish a book should consider using Windows™ hypertext Help. Publishing in hypertext can help authors fulfill their creative urge. Conventional publishing methods can obstruct good writers from contributing to their respective field of interest. It is hard to get a book proposal accepted today. Competition is fierce, and writers must follow accepted protocols to have ideas considered. There is potential for writers who develop and produce Windows online Help systems. They are already 'experts' in a newly emerging technology. Using the Windows hypertext medium, writers can publish and sell their ideas without the hassles of the publishing industry.

Davis, Douglas W. STC Proceedings (1994). Design>Publishing>Online>Hypertext

Publishing is Dead  

What does the internet mean for Traditional Publishing? It means death. Not one to pull punches, Mike Scantlebury expounds his theory in a humorous and direct way.

Scantlebury, Mike. FreeIQ (2007). Articles>Publishing>Online>Video

Publishing Newsletters on Paper or Online: A Profile of How Three Chapter Editors Did It

The switch to web delivery meant that we no longer had to restrict the newsletter to black and white, and we were no longer limited to four pages (a folio) or a multiple of four pages. An end to the cost constraints imposed by printing also allowed more creative formatting and the use of color.

Wilson, Scott. Usability Interface (2003). Articles>Publishing>Online>Newsletters

Publishing Online-Only Peer-Reviewed Biomedical Literature  

Pediatrics is the official journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics. Published continuously since 1948, the journal has achieved a circulation of 62,500, with broad additional distribution via international translations, proprietary computer systems, and online services. Pediatrics has an impact factor of 3.487, the highest ranked clinical journal (as opposed to research journal) in the specialty. In 1996, the editors were facing a growing backlog of quality articles, longer times to publication, and prohibitive and increasing print publication costs. They needed a viable publishing option that avoided the high variable costs and capacity constraints of print, and the Web beckoned.

Anderson, Kent, John Sack, Lisa Krauss and Lori O'Keefe. Journal of Electronic Publishing (2001). Articles>Scientific Communication>Online

Put Your Documentation Online--From Conception to Delivery  

After attending this demonstration, you should understand: what constitutes online information; why they should consider producing documentation for online viewing and searching; how to plan for online documentation; how to prepare the text and graphic files; what is required to convert text and graphic files; into online documentation; what is required for the end user to view, search, and print the online documentation; the different ways to deliver online documentation.

Barnes Jedlicka, Linda, Margaret Eissler Jones and Herbert E. Vogt. STC Proceedings (1995). Articles>Documentation>Online

Put Your Documentation Online: How to Deliver It to Your Users  

After attending this demonstration, you should understand: what constitutes online documentation; why you should consider producing information for online viewing and searching; how to select a tool for converting text and graphics files into online documentation; how to set up an online documentation database for delivering your online libraries; what is required for the end user to view, search, and print the online documentation; the different ways to deliver online documentation; (such as diskette, on the same media as the product, CD-ROM, electronically, and on the Internet).

Vogt, Herbert E., Linda Barnes Jedlicka and Margaret Eissler Jones. STC Proceedings (1996). Articles>Documentation>Online

Putting A College Course Online: A Development Log  

The high dropout rate for many online college courses is due in part to a failure to adapt teaching materials and methods to the medium and to user needs. The author joined an intensive instructional design project and developed an online college course using WebCT with courseware development software. Constructivist pedagogy and today’s instructional technology are a good match, giving online instructors the conceptual and practical tools they need to construct a rich learning environment. The emphasis on user analysis and meeting users at the point of need inherent in technical communication is also vital to the success of online learning.

Pringle, Mary Margaret. STC Proceedings (2002). Articles>Education>Instructional Design>Online

Quality Control in Scholarly Publishing on the Web  

As scholars and researchers, we are often called upon to separate the high-quality materials from the bad. What are the methods by which quality control is established and what are the indicators that allow a user to recognize the good materials?

Arms, William Y. Journal of Electronic Publishing (2002). Articles>Publishing>Research>Online

Quality Online Help Development  

Basic steps to developing successful online help include content planning based on available resources and user needs, use of a style guide, effective design and access, prototype development, usability studies, and being open to changes. Defining “quality” as “customer satisfaction” we can place the online help development process into the context of a continuous quality process model that focuses on meeting customer needs. This quality process includes identifying output, identifying customer and customer requirements, converting requirements into processes, measuring the output, and evaluating results.

Evans, Jeanette P. STC Proceedings (1999). Articles>Documentation>Online>Help

Re-Engineering Online Documentation: Designing Examples-Based Online Support Systems    

Developers of online documentation face a significant challenge in improving the performance of users of computer applications. This article posits that online documentation development might benefit from an approach that mimics principles found in business process re-engineering rather than an adaptive approach that simply moves paper-based information online. Information design rooted in paper-based methods does not meet the demands of online environments, contemporary users, or developing workplace practices. A case study of the development of an examples-based support system that integrates user-centered design processes, iterative user and task feedback, and an interdisciplinary design team, is presented and analyzed. Finally, the benefits of technical communicators incorporating reflection-in-action as part of the process of re-engineering online documentation efforts are elaborated upon.

Tomasi, Martin D. and Brad Mehlenbacher. Technical Communication Online (1999). Design>Information Design>Online

Re-Thinking Assessment: Assessment Measures for Online Writing Classrooms  

Because of the increase of fully online courses within the University setting, educators need to look more deeply at the teacher and student readiness and success in these environments. Assessment measures, such as self-assessments of technological comfort and online-specific course evaluations can assist with this examination. I will focus this discussion on observations and collection of interview data at Bowling Green State University using second semester fully online writing courses.

Monske, Elizabeth A. STC Proceedings (2004). Articles>Education>Online>Assessment

The Readers and Writers Behind Electronic Mail

As electronic mail replaces face-to-face communication in many work environments, a thorough analysis of this evolving medium and its impact on communication is necessary. In many workplaces, telephone calls and knocks on doors have dramatically decreased in frequency, but the number of emails that circulate through one’s inbox is continuing to increase. Yet, our understanding of this new medium and how it is being used is limited. Some scholars argue that email has many of the characteristics of speech; some argue that it has the same characteristics as writing, while others argue that it is a completely new genre of communication.

Abolrous, Sally. University of Washington-Seattle (2002). Articles>Communication>Online>Email

Reading on the Web about International Issues

A bibliography of online articles about international issues.

Hoft, Nancy L. Nancy Hoft Consulting (2003). Resources>Bibliographies>Online>International

A “Real World” Look at Windows Help Authoring Tools  

Aha, you say, you’ve finally gotten permission to go online. And your boss has even allocated enough precious-budget dollars to buy the right hardware and software to do the job. How hard can if be to find a good authoring tool, you think. And then you start to receive the product literature from n developers of Windows help authoring tools . . .

Zubak, Cheryl Lockett. STC Proceedings (1995). Presentations>Documentation>Help>Online

A Real-Time Online Documentation Delivery and Feedback System for a World Wide Audience – Via the Net  

This paper describes an online documentation delivery and feedback solution developed to meet the needs of a fast-paced project in which designers, developers, marketing specialists, technical writers, and beta-test customer sites were located all over the world. During the development of the IBM Health Data Network, we needed a way to provide drafts of the product documentation to all of the developers, reviewers, and users on a real-time basis. We also needed a way to get input and updates from the developers, and feedback from the people in the field who were working with beta versions of the new system. This paper describes how we set up a Web-based solution to meet these needs.

Vogt, Herbert E. STC Proceedings (1998). Articles>Documentation>Online>Help

Reality Bytes -What the Information Superhighway Won't Deliver  

Today, information technology has deluged us with not only a torrential flood of information but also a multitude of ways in which to display, package, and disseminate this information. With the proliferation of computer technology and the vigorously-and somewhat fanatically-promoted paperless and faceless virtual society of the fiture, we are faced with somewhat frightening challenges.

Dahm, Rea Etta M. STC Proceedings (1997). Articles>Publishing>Online

Reconstructing the Dialogs: Effective Methods for Structuring a Context-Sensitive Help System  

When assigned to create a context-sensitive hypertext Help system, writers and editors often find themselves asking, 'Where do I start? What is context-sensitivity and how in-depth should it be? How do I organize Help topics for the interface?' We will demonstrate how to structure a Help system based on context-sensitivity, the interface, and useful access tools. We will show how WordPerfect Domestic Documentation Services uses interface information to create a topics database and a corresponding text file.

Calhoun, Deirdre and Wendy Fritzke. STC Proceedings (1994). Articles>Documentation>Online>Help

Recreating the Technical-Writing Classroom on the World Wide Web  

Many of the limitations inherent in technical-writing instruction on the World Wide Web can be overcome by intelligently designed web sites. Web-based instruction here refers to courses, in either the corporate or academic setting, where most ofthe instructional materials are supplied over the WorId Wide Web and where students and instructors communicate and exchange writing projects through e-mail. Acknowledging that few instructors have the expertise or technical support to create such web facilities, this paper makes available annotated Per1 source code for instructors ’ use or customization.

McMurrey, David A. STC Proceedings (1997). Articles>Education>Instructional Design>Online

Remote Online Usability Testing: Why, How, and When to Use It

Traditional, one-on-one usability testing is a great technique for uncovering usability issues on a website. Unfortunately, in-person usability testing isn't always feasible due to tight schedules, tight budgets, and elusive target users. So what's a usability crusader to do when in-person usability testing is impossible?

Gough, Dabney and Holly Phillips. Boxes and Arrows (2003). Articles>Usability>Methods>Online

Remote Usability: Insight into New Tools

A review of software packages for moderated usability testing in a native environment via a telephone/web interface.

Madaio, Mike. Usability Professionals Association (2006). Articles>Usability>Testing>Online

Researchers Find Social Bonds to Be Important in Distance Education

An article about community among students in online higher education programs.

Carnevale, Dan. Chronicle of Higher Education (2000). Academic>Education>Online