ACM

Pragmatic DITA on a Budget

A small documentation team working on a tight budget can now use the tool ecosystem enabled by the DITA standard to create the sophisticated content that previously required long and expensive projects. The author spent just nine person-weeks over three years to replace a custom XML system with a DITA system based on a combination of off-the-shelf software, authoring conventions, and custom scripts.

Agile Documentation with uScrum

uScrum (uncertainty Scrum) is an agile process developed by a small team at Altitude Software to manage the process of writing user documentation. uScrum manages uncertainty and the unknown, allowing writers to quickly react to changing conditions. uScrum uses orders of ignorance to understand the difficulty of tasks, allowing the team to effectively prioritize regular work together with difficult creative work.

Content Management and the Production of Genres

In this paper, I suggest that granularized content management introduces as-yet-unexplored issues to genres of technical communication. I argue that content management, while it can, as advertised, free content and make it easy to reuse that content in multiple genres, that flexibility can create new problems for genres and genre systems, leading to problematic reuse, inflexible genre systems, rigid and proprietary genres, and uncritical internationalization.

Toward 2^W, Beyond Web 2.0

From its inception as a global hypertext system, the Web has evolved into a universal platform for deploying loosely coupled distributed applications. As we move toward the next-generation Web platform, the bulk of user data and applications will reside in the network cloud. Ubiquitous access results from interaction delivered as Web pages augmented by JavaScript to create highly reactive user interfaces. This point in the evolution of the Web is often called Web 2.0. In predicting what comes after Web 2.0--what I call 2^W, a Web that encompasses all Web-addressable information--I go back to the architectural foundations of the Web, analyze the move to Web 2.0, and look forward to what might follow.

Technical Communication Degrees for the 21st Century

The practice of technical communication, especially for professionals just entering the workplace, is rapidly changing. Companies have higher expectations for degrees in technical communication, a strong foundation in technology, and the ability to function on cross-disciplinary teams alongside technical experts in the design and development process. As the practice of technical communication shifts its focus, academics have the responsibility to be certain that technical communication degree programs have a strong component of such topics as engineering design, programming, human factors, usability, instructional design, and project management, in addition to traditional communication skills. Academic programs have lagged behind practice, largely due to the location of degree programs, departmental reward systems, faculty deficiencies in technology, little depth in fields beyond rhetoric, and lack of exposure to best industry practices. This paper addresses these issues and makes some practical recommendations for catching academe up to practice.

Usability Testing: Revisiting Informed Consent Procedures for Testing Internet Sites

This paper explores issues of professional, ethical conduct in usability testing centering around the concept of 'informed consent'. Previous work on informed consent has been in homogeneous geographic locations. With Internet sites being developed at a prodigious rate, these procedures need to be revisited for their applicability to heterogeneous locations, in terms of culture, business practice, language and legal requirements. Some previously valued principles might now be considered discretionary, that is their applicability has situational specificity. Other principles are mandatory.

Ethics, Lies and Videotape...

Videotape has become one of the CHI community's mostuseful technologies: it allows us to analyze users' interactions with computers,prototype new interfaces, and present the results of our research andtechnical innovations to others. But video is a double-edged sword. It isoften misused, however unintentionally. How can we use it well, without compromising our integrity? This paper presents actual examples of questionable videotaping practices. Next, it explains why we cannot simply borrow ethical guidelines from otherprofessions. It concludes with a proposal for developing usable ethical guidelines for the capture, analysis andpresentation of video.

Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct

Commitment to ethical professional conduct is expected of every member (voting members, associate members, and student members) of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM). This Code, consisting of 24 imperatives formulated as statements of personal responsibility, identifies the elements of such a commitment. It contains many, but not all, issues professionals are likely to face.

Readability of Fonts in the Windows Environment

The readability of twelve different fonts and sizes in the Microsoft Windows environment was studied. The specific fonts were Arial, MS Sans Serif, MS Serif, and Small Fonts. Their sizes ranged from 6.0 to 9.75 points. These were presented using black text on either a white or gray background and either bold or non-bold style. There were significant differences between the various font/size combinations in terms of reading speed, accuracy, and subjective preferences. There were no consistent differences as a result of background color or boldness. The most preferred fonts were Arial and MS Sans Serif at 9.75. Most of the fonts from 8.25 to 9.75 performed well in terms of reading speed and accuracy, with the exception of MS Serif at 8.25. Arial at 7.5 and both of the Small Fonts (6.0 and 6.75) should generally be avoided.

Interface Design for Children’s Searching and Browsing

Elementary-age children are among the largest user groups of computers and the Internet, so it is important to design searching and browsing tools that support them. However, many interfaces for children do not consider their skills and preferences. Children are capable of doing Boolean searches, but have difficulty with the sequential presentation of hierarchical structures used in many category browsers. Based on previous research, we believed a simultaneous presentation of a flat category structure might better support children. We conducted two studies of searching and browsing with these two types of category browsers. Our results suggest that a flat, simultaneous interface provides advantages for both Boolean searching and casual browsing. These results add to the understanding of children’s searching and browsing skills and preferences and suggest guidelines for other interface designers.

XML Fever

Don't let expectations or excitement about XML develop into a virulent strain of XML fever.

Developing User Interface Guidelines for DVD Menus

Watching DVDs can be a frustrating experience, because DVD menus often miss out on usability and are complex and difficult to navigate through. Similar to the early years of web development, there is a lack of design standards. In this paper, we show the development of user interface guidelines for DVD menus. These guidelines can be used to design and evaluate DVD menus. We built a prototype according to the guidelines, conducted usability tests with the prototype and evaluated other movie DVDs using the guidelines to show the applicability, utility and usability of the guidelines.

Implications for Designing the User Experience of DVD Menus

DVD menus often miss out on usability and are complex and difficult to navigate through. One of the main problems is the lack of design standards. By conducting an expert walkthrough we identified typical usability issues of DVD menus and verified them with usability testing and a user survey. Our research goal is to develop a set of specific solutions for designing usable DVD menus to improve the overall user experience. As a first step towards this goal we present an initial set of usability issues that are specifically relevant for DVD menu design.

Technologizing Change: Rhetoric of Software Implementation at a University Campus

This paper reports on a study of new software implementation at a university. Seven emails distributed by a central Office of Information Technology were examined for semantic (content) meaning and syntactic (grammatical) function. Semantic findings show a high degree of topical shift. Syntactic findings show a high number of clauses and complements. The analysis also shows how determiners were used to construct 'new' information as 'given' (presupposition). The paper argues that discursive stability was created by technologizing the rhetoric of implementation. The study concludes by suggesting that a heavy reliance on dependent clauses, along with other features, may be indicative of technologized discourse.

Dynamic Hypertext: Querying and Linking

There are many models of hypertext, distinguished by a number of factors such as the underlying semantic data model (link typing and node typing), the degree of dynamic linking in the hypertext, and how dynamism and other behaviours are implemented. This essay examines a particular approach to dynamism in hypertext, based on the degree of similarity between a text passage in a source node and the text of a target node. It reviews work carried out over the past decade in creating systems for markup-based querying and dynamic hypertext, with particular emphasis on a model of dynamic hypertext that computes hypertext links on the fly using queries.

Hypermedia Research Directions: An Infrastructure Perspective

This paper offers a perspective on the directions in which hypermedia infrastructure research will move in the next several years. The perspective is based on the authors' experiences and insights from a decade of active participation in this research area. After a review of hypermedia infrastructure research, the paper focuses on two particular threads of such research named 'multiple open services' and 'structural computing'. We believe that these threads show much promise for the future.

Quantitative Evidence For Differences Between Learners Making Use Of Passive Hypermedia Learning Environments

This paper presents a summary of the results of several relatively large studies which attempted statistical analysis of audit trails created by learners accessing information in typical hypermedia or hypertext learning environments, and interpreted them in relation to learner characteristics and study tasks. Significant differences in the information access strategy, amount of information accessed, student estimates of achievement and knowledge outcome were observed between learners in these studies. This paper concluded that some learners may be systematically disadvantaged where support for (or the delivery of) the curriculum depends on hypermedia, such as via a networked learning environment delivered passively over the WWW. It is suggested that the audit tools available from the WWW provide an opportunity to develop multi-discipline evaluation mechanisms which may enable researchers to provide learners with standard 'learning profiles' with which to reflect on their own learning effectiveness when using hypermedia educational materials.

Eye Tracking in Usability Testing: Is It Worthwhile?

The bottom line is how to ensure the customer that eye tracking provides additional value for their money. If we do numerical analysis in addition to video analysis, the need for extra time is remarkable and the analysis will become more expensive. To reduce analysis time we need automated special software and therefore we are currently developing scan path visualization software in which we include a new fixation recognition algorithm.

Universal Usability

An early definition of universal usability.

Does Information Really Have to be Licensed?

Discusses the proposed Article 2B of the Uniform Commercial Code, which will be presented to US state legislatures for enactment. It would 'validate shrinkwrap and other mass-market licenses of information' and establish other electronic commerce rules. Samuelson sees a danger in such licenses, in that consumers are said to have agreed to their provisions by 'token assent' such as clicking 'I agree.'

DRM {and, or, vs.} the Law

Copyright industries are hoping that digital rights management (DRM) technologies will prevent infringement of commercially valuable digital content, including music and movies. These industries have already persuaded legislatures in the U.S., the European Union, and other countriesto adopt broad anti-circumvention rules to protect DRM from being hacked, and courts have interpreted these statutes even more broadly than the lawmakers intended.

Legally Speaking: Does Information Really Want To Be Licensed?

Although Louisiana and Illinois once passed laws to validate software shrinkwrap licenses, neither statute survived closer review. In the Vault v. Quaid decision, federal judges refused to enforce the Louisiana law insofar as license terms interfered with consumer rights under federal copyright law. The Illinois software shrinkwrap license enforcement statute was subsequently repealed due to industry dissatisfaction with it.

How Document Design Helps English Learners Master Science

Explores how basic, scaffolded technical-writing exercises can help ESL students gain cognitive maturity, practice science literacy, improve their note taking, and use text signals and science idioms more effectively.

ACM SIGCHI Job Postings in HCI

List archives, from the ACM SIGCHI job postings in HCI mailing list.

BayCHI Job Bank

The BayCHI Job Bank is a service that enables local employers to publish job openings to the members of BayCHI. The job bank connects the BayCHI members, who are professionals in the Human-Computer Interaction field, with job openings in the local HCI industry. Bay Area employers may submit descriptions for jobs that are relevant to our membership to the job bank at no charge.

RusCHI

RusCHI serves as an inter-disciplinary group for the exchange of ideas and experience in the field of usability and human-computer interaction (HCI) by bringing together people working on the design, evaluation, implementation, and study of interactive systems.

Developing Voice Interfaces for Legacy Web Applications

Traditionally, web applications are accessed via a single mode interface; information is presented and captured with text. However, one can additionally use a voice browser to navigate the Internet. One can navigate or access 'hands free' Internet applications from anywhere; you are not restricted to the desktop or a portable computer. VoiceXML is a language for Internet telephony applications and is based on the XML language. VoiceXML can 'speech-enable' an existing web application to be used through a conversational interface, providing a more natural way of interaction between users and Internet applications.

The Development of a Game Playing Framework Using Interface-Based Programming

The Java programming language contains object-oriented features enabling the construction of interface-based application frameworks. Interfaces separate module implementation from core implementation, thus simplifying module development. The following article demonstrates how to take advantage of Java interfaces by designing and implementing a game playing application framework.

Ethical Lessons Learned from Computer Science

In this article, we will address the question 'How can computer science methods help us to better understand ethics?'

Learning to Use Virtual Team Collaboration to Solve Wicked Problems

The focus of this paper is the ELEARNING RESEARCH PROJECT (hereafter referred to as the EProject), a project to investigate how virtual teams collaborate to solve highly complex or wicked problems. The EProject designed, constructed, and assessed a Web-based collaborative learning environment to support virtual teams of intelligence analysts. The mission of these geo-distributed and cross-disciplinary teams is to learn to collaborate in order to integrate knowledge from diverse domains and thereby produce solutions for wicked problems.

Mixed Nuts: Atypical Classroom Techniques for Computer Science Courses

Unlike lecturing and giving homework, these unorthodox techniques can also keep students attentive and target preferred learning styles. This article presents some experimental and anecdotal evidence to support the theory that the use of these techniques improves students' learning in an introductory Computer Science (CS) class.

Network Resource Planning

Building larger networks implies higher infrastructure and maintenance costs, and increased sophistication. Any additions or modifications to a large operational network necessitate a plan, which should be devised after understanding existing weaknesses and vulnerabilities, and identifying current and future needs. This article will introduce the fundamental concepts of network resource planning (NRP), a methodology used to design, upgrade, and expand computer communication networks, and will focus on how such a methodology can be applied in enterprise networks.

Requirements Engineering: Closing the Gap Between Academic Supply and Industry Demand

In this economic situation, it is imperative that computer science students are well prepared before entering the work force; new graduates must understand what skills the IT industry is seeking.

Using Perception in Managing Unstructured Documents

Over the last ten years, the increased availability of documents in digital form has contributed significantly to the immense volume of knowledge and information available to computer users. The World Wide Web has become the largest digital library available, with more than one billion unique indexable web pages. Yet, due to their dynamic nature, fast growth rate, and unstructured format, it is increasingly difficult to identify and retrieve valuable information from these documents. More importantly, the usefulness of an unstructured document is dependent upon the ease and efficiency with which the information is retrieved. In this paper, we define an unstructured document as a "general" document that is without a specific format e.g., plain text. Whereas, a document divided into sections or paragraph tags is referred to as semi-structured e.g., a formatted text document or a web page.

Using Practical Toys, Modified for Technical Learning

Educators have used toys in the classroom for as long as toys have been in existence, especially in the field of elementary education. Toys can provide motivation as well as keep the students focused on a particular area of study for longer periods of time - something students at the elementary level often struggle with. These students need to obtain fundamental skills for creating, disseminating, retrieving, and evaluating information from electronic media. Using robots as toys and teaching tools is a concept that has also been around for quite a while, and a great way to introduce these fundamental skills.

Using the Web to Enhance and Transform Education

With the aid of the Internet and web technology, today's classrooms and learning environments are undergoing a major transformation. There is a massive effort to utilize the Internet as an effective communications and storage medium for education, research, and corporate training.

Virtual Communities and Team Formation

With the growth of global computer networks, virtual communities have become an important new way for people to interact. People are beginning to realize that networks are not only affecting the way businesses operate, but also our everyday lives [7]. One of the simplest examples of a virtual community is online chat. Through a chat application, one can participate in diverse discussions with numerous people, many of whom are strangers.

What is a Good First Programming Language?

Programming is an art. As with any other art, it is important to use the right medium. In programming, this translates to the choice of programming language. But why should one pay so much attention to one's first programming language?

A Critical Assessment of the Minimalist Approach to Documentation

Carroll's (1991) minimal manual has been considered an important advance in teaching first-time users the basics of computer programs. Unfortunately, it is not very clear what minimalism really means. Practitioners, for example, will find it difficult to create their own minimal manual because the principles of minimalism have not been described in enough detail (see Horn, 1992; Tripp, 1990). It is also not yet settled that a minimalist approach is the most effective one because critical experiments have hardly been conducted. This study therefore closely examines the minimalist principles and claims. This paper describes the basic ideas of minimalism, its design principles and how they can be operationalized. A parallel is drawn between a minimalist and constructivist perspective on learning and instruction. Like minimalism, constructivism places a high value on experience-based learning in context-rich environments. Like minimalism, it stresses the need to capitalize on the learner's prior knowledge as much as possible. And like minimalism, constructivists urge learners to follow their own plans and goals, to make inferences, and to abstract principles from what they experience (see Duffy & Jonassen, 1991, 1992). An experiment is reported that examines the claims of minimalism. Strong and significant gains on several factors were found, all favoring the minimal manual over a control (conventional) manual. The discussion points to several issues that minimalism has yet to address.

Developing Intranets Which People Use: Making Progress When Everyone has an Opinion

The goal of an intranet site is to improve knowledge sharing and productivity. In a large company, it can be difficult to achieve consensus on how to make this happen. Knowledge management experts, information systems project managers, graphic designers, marketing leaders, HTML developers and usability engineers are used to fighting for their places, convinced that they know best. In truth, the intranet is not yet mature, and there are no definite answers. This chapter describes experiences with the intranet sites of two Fortune 500 companies. In both cases, the usability engineer was a consultant from outside the company, in one case part of a team of consultants and in the other working more closely with company employees. Both intranet projects were riddled with mishaps, bad decisions, personality conflicts, and compromises. Still, the usability engineers were able to improve the sites by becoming members of the project teams, and by tirelessly incorporating usability in everything they did.

Applying Hypertext and Hypermedia to Scholarly Journals Enables Both Product and Process Innovation

Early uses of hypertext technologies were associated with scholarly communication. New electronic-only journals have been quick to adopt hypertext/hypermedia technologies. Existing print journals have also started to adopt such technologies as they make the transition to parallel delivery. The widespread uptake of the World Wide Web has enabled journals to improve, enhance and transform what they do. This paper surveys these developments and places them in context.

Hypermedia: A Design Philosophy

Few designers explicitly think about their applications' interrelationships. Designers appear not have a deep enough conceptualization of their domains to identify intuitive relationships and realize the full scope and interconnections within domains. RNA (Relationship-Navigation Analysis) gives designers and developers an analysis tool to think about an information domain in terms of its interrelationships. RNA incorporates a complete taxonomy of generic relationship types that would apply to any application domain.

Hypertext Functionality

The Hypertext Functionality field studies techniques for and the impact of supplementing everyday computer applications with hypertext (or hypermedia) functionality (HTF). The HTF approach encourages system developers to think actively about an application's interrelationships, and whether users should access and navigate along these relationships directly. It views hypertext as value-added support functionality. The HTF approach fosters three major areas of research: using HTF to improve personal and organizational effectiveness, HTF and application design,and integrating HTF into applications.

Crossing the Divide

This essay summarizes the editor's views of publication in the field of human-computer interaction. Digital technologies have begun changing the way journal articles and conference papers are produced, reviewed, published, accessed, and used. This period of profound change presents challenges and opportunities for both new and existing channels of scientific and technical communication.

The Grading System of the Real World

At the beginning of each semester, the instructor hands out a syllabus packet which often contains a course outline or schedule and an explanation of the grading policy. The work world has grading systems too, and you need to know about them in advance so you can prepare for Performance Reviews.

Macromedia Director as a Prototyping and Usability Testing Tool

Efforts to understand user requirements commonly focus on the functionality and features of a product. However, it is important to analyze other product attributes, such as usability. A product may meet all of its functional requirements, but can fail if it has an interface that is difficult to navigate and learn. To address this problem, it is important to get feedback from users as early in the development life cycle as possible. A common technique is to develop a prototype or mockup of a product's interface to present to users.

Managing XML Data Storage

XML is becoming the data format of choice for a wide variety of information systems solutions. Common applications using XML include document transmission in B2B systems, message format construction for integration of Internet applications with legacy systems, binding of XML data to visual and non-visual controls, data storage and retrieval, and various data manipulation activities within applications.

Survive and Thrive at a Job Fair

Job fairs can be powerful tools in the search for employment after graduation. There are a lot of opportunities for entry level computer related jobs at these fairs, but coming prepared is the key. You serve as your cover letter, so be at your best.

Unified Communication Systems

Unified messaging and person-to-person communications over heterogeneous networks are relatively new applications. Many commercial messaging systems, such as Onebox.com and Ericsson's Unified Messenger, have already begun their journey in this direction. There is much room for growth, however, and many other systems will soon need the capabilities described above just to stay competitive in the market.

Declarative Information in Software Manuals: What's the Use?

Declarative information is often considered to be of little value to software manual users, for two reasons: some research results state that it is consistently skipped by users, and other research results show that declarative information does not enhance task performance. This study puts these conclusions to the test, because the research underlying them does not support such general conclusions. Two experiments are conducted to collect quantitative data about the selection and use of procedural and declarative information and to investigate whether or not the use of declarative information affects task performance and knowledge. A new technique for measuring information selection was developed for this purpose: the click and read method.

Making Sense of Step-by-Step Procedures

Procedural instructions that consist of only a sequence of steps will probably be executable, but nevertheless 'meaningless' to users of technical devices. This paper discusses three features that can make procedural instructions more meaningful: adding functional coordinating information, adding information about the use of the technical device in real life, and adding operational information about how the device works. The research literature supports the effectiveness of the first feature, but offers little evidence that real life elements enhance understanding of instructions. As for operational information, the research suggests that users are willing to read it, and that it contributes to better understanding and performance in the long term, but only if it is closely related to the procedure. As a conclusion, we propose a theoretical framework that assumes three levels of mental representation of instructions: syntactical, semantic, and situational.

Post-Cognitivist HCI: Second-Wave Theories

Historically, the dominant paradigm in HCI, when it appeared as a field in early 80s, was information processing ('cognitivist') psychology. In recent decades, as the focus of research moved beyond information processing to include how the use of technology emerges in social, cultural and organizational contexts, a variety of conceptual frameworks have been proposed as candidate theoretical foundations for 'second-wave' HCI and CSCW. The purpose of this panel is to articulate similarities and differences between some of the leading 'post-cognitivist' theoretical perspectives: language/ action, activity theory, and distributed cognition.

ACM/SIGCHI Mailing Lists and Aliases

The SIGCHI mailing and discussion lists are open to all interested people and do not require ACM or SIGCHI membership. Posting to the lists is moderated to avoid spam, irrelevant posts, and subscription queries, but are generally open to to any people, whether subscribers or not. Many lists are archived and searchable on the Web.

CHI-WEB Mailing List

CHI-WEB is an ACM SIGCHI moderated discussion list on the human factor aspects of the World Wide Web.

The Anti-Mac: Violating the Macintosh Human Interface Guidelines

Graphical computer interfaces have become the norm. They are based on a number of principles such as metaphor, see-and-point, direct manipulation, user control, and WYSIWIG. The Anti-Mac project explored alternative interfaces that might result from violating the principles behind conventional graphical interfaces. What emerges is a human-computer interface based on language, a richer representation of objects, expert users, skilled agents, and shared control.

ACM Crossroads

Crossroads is a student-run publication of the ACM.

Does Typography Affect Proposal Assessment?

Experience from assisting in the review of 30 proposals to a major funding agency suggests that mundane aspects of proposal formatting have an effect on proposal assessment. Why do these apparent connections between mundane formatting and actual funding occur? Here are a few possibilities.

Web Navigation: Resolving Conflicts between the Desktop and the Web

This paper summarizes a workshop at CHI98 that focused on navigational problems caused by differences in navigational models between the desktop and the Web. The goal of this workshop was to identify usability problems encountered when users move from the 'traditional' desktop to the Web and to identify ways to minimize transfer-learning problems between the two platforms.Workshop papers will soon be available online.

Building a User-Defined Interface

A measurably easy-to-use interface has been built using a novel technique. Novices attempted an electronic mail task using a command-line interface containing no help, no menus, no documentation, and no instruction. A hidden operator intercepted commands when necessary, creating the illusion of a true interactive session. The software was repeatedly revised to recognize users' new commands; in essence, the users defined the interface. This procedure was used on 67 subjects. The first version of the software could recognize only 7% of all the subjects' spontaneously generated commands; the final version could recognize 76% of those commands. This experience contradicts the idea that people are not good at designing their own command languages. Through careful observation and analysis of user behavior, a mail interface unusable by novices evolved into one that let novices do useful work within minutes.

How Do People Really Use Text Editors?

Keystroke statistics were collected on editing systems while people performed their normal work. Knowledge workers used an experimental editor, and secretaries used a word processor. Results show a consistent picture of free use patterns in both settings. Of the total number of keystrokes, text entry accounted for approximately 1/2, cursor movement for about 1/4, deletion for about 1/8, and all other functions for the remaining 1/8. Analysis of keystroke transitions and editing states is also presented. Implications for past research, editor design, keyboard layout, and benchmark tests are discussed.

Educational Models and Open Source: Resisting the Proprietary University

This paper presents an educational model derived from open source methods for computer programming. The article places this search for an alternative model within a framework of proprietary educational practices that are driven by a need for efficiency and rationalization. As an alternative model, the paper suggests that an open source derived educational process would emphasize collaborative problem based learning, working through drafts, risk taking, mentoring, user testing, releasing early and often. . . .

Full Text Available Documentation, Participatory Citizenship, and the Web: the Potential of Open Systems

Technical communicators have become increasingly interested in how to 'open up' the documentation process - to encourage workers to participate in developing documentation that closely fits their needs. This goal has led technical communicators to engage in usability testing, user-centered design approaches, and, more recently, open source documentation. Although these approaches have all had some success, there are other ways to encourage the participatory citizenship that is implied in these approaches. One way is through an open systems approach in which workers can consensually modify a given system and add their own contributions to the system.

What Makes People Trust Online Gambling Sites?

A validated model of trust was used as a framework for an empirical study to identify on- and offline factors that influence gamblers’ perception of an online casino’s trustworthiness. The results suggest that the quality with which casinos address gamblers’ trust concerns by providing appropriate content is the prime factor. However, designing for trust must be part of a consistent strategy that also involves customer service and usability.

CHI Letters

CHI Letters is an edited collection of the very best proceedings from conferences sponsored by SIGCHI.

CHI-WEB Mailing List Archives

CHI-WEB is an ACM SIGCHI moderated discussion list on the human factor aspects of the World Wide Web.

Tools and Trade-Offs: Making Wise Choices for User-Centered Design

How can we choose among customer data collection methods when limited staff and financial resources must be spread across the whole development cycle? This tutorial helps participants understand the tradeoffs, so they can make effective choices among methods at different points during product design and development. It focuses on early user-centered intervention to gain cost-effective, reusable end-user information.

There's More Than One Way To Wire That: When Assembly Workers Are Technically Writers

While technical writing is becoming a more obvious part of undergraduate education, it is not uncommon for an engineer to face the task of writing documentation without much training in the craft of communication. Other members of production teams may have received even less training, and yet have an equal or greater need to have a say in how documentation is produced and what it contains. In this paper, we will examine a situation in which an assembly worker, or system integrator, demanded the opportunity to document the appropriate ways to assemble complex Test and Measurement systems (for evaluating the electronic components of products such as PC’s, cars, and cellular phones), and the effects her change in roles has had on the production processes for both systems and their documentation.

Publishing on the Cheap: One Idea That Worked

For computer centers to eliminate paper documentation is cutting off one’s nose to spite one’s face.

Activity Theory: Basic Concepts and Applications

This tutorial introduces participants to Activity Theory, a conceptual approach that provides a broad framework for describing the structure, development, and context of computer-supported activities. The tutorial will consist of lectures, discussion and small group exercises. A Web community will be established so attendees will be able to continue to learn about and use activity theory.

ACM SIGDOC Undergraduate Scholarship

One non-renewable scholarship of $500 will be granted toward school tuition and expenses for the 2003-2004 academic year. The award will be paid directly to the school for crediting to the student's account. To assist a student who is pursuing an established degree program in an area of technical or professional communication. A committee set by the SIGDOC board will evaluate each application with respect to potential future contribution to the field of technical communication. Financial need is not a factor.

HyNIC: ACM SIGWEB's Digital Library Project

Inspired by Doug Engelbart's and John Leggett's keynote addresses at the Hypertext'98 conferences, SIGWEB is beginning to design a state-of-the-art digital library to support the community in most of its functions. The project's eventual goal is to transition SIGWEB into what Doug Engelbart calls a Networked Improvement Community (NIC), which focuses on continuous metaimprovement of services to the community. HyNIC eventually will contain a respository of the community's formal and informal documents, teaching materials and memorabilia; a process repository of the community's activities and workflows; a structured group communications environment, conceptual mapping tools, and of course, the full range of hypermedia features our community has been advocating. HyNIC also should serve as a testbed for the community's prototype systems.

SIGWEB Newsletter

SIGWEB supports the multi-disciplinary field of hypertext and hypermedia, facilitating its application both on the World-Wide-Web and also in independent, distributed and stand-alone environments. It provides a forum for the promotion, dissemination, and exchange of ideas concerning research and application among scientists, systems designers and endusers. Particular emphasis is placed on the development of technology methodologies and standards, encouragement of greater public acceptance of hypertext technology and the promotion of consensus within the field.

A Scalable Method for Deductive Generalization in the Spreadsheet Paradigm

In this paper, we present an efficient method for automatically generalizing programs written in spreadsheet languages. The strategy is to do generalization through incremental analysis of logical relationships among concrete program entities from the perspective of a particular computational goal. The method uses deductive dataflow analysis with algebraic back-substitution rather than inference with heuristics, and there is no need for generalization-related dialog with the user. We present the algorithms and their time complexities and show that, because the algorithms perform their analyses incrementally, on only the on-screen program elements rather than on the entire program, the method is scalable. Performance data is presented to help demonstrate the scalability.

Transactions on Computer-Human Interaction

This archival journal publishes original research that spans the field of human-computer interaction. Beginning with its first issue in March, 1994, it has sought to present work of high scientific quality that contributes to practice in the present and future. The primary emphasis has been on results of broad application, but the journal considers original work focused on specific domains, on special requirements, on ethical issues -- the full range of design, development, and use of interactive systems.

Human Factors in Software Development: Models, Techniques, and Outcomes

We present the results of a survey designed to identify ways that human factors engineers have been successfully involved in software projects. Surveys describing successful and unsuccessful outcomes were returned by 14 human factors engineers and 21 software and documentation engineers at Hewlett Packard. In addition to describing the type of involvement and techniques used, respondents were also asked to define what they considered to be a successful outcome and give their views on what factors contribute to success or failure. The results of this study suggest ways in which the human factors/R&D partnership can be more effective in current development scenarios.

Local Chapters of the ACM SIGCHI

ACM SIGCHI brings together people working on the design, evaluation, implementation, and study of interactive computing systems for human use. ACM SIGCHI provides an international, interdisciplinary forum for the exchange of ideas about the field of human-computer interaction (HCI).

Web Design Issues When Searching for Information in a Small Screen Display

In this paper, we report preliminary findings from an experimental study in which twenty-eight users answered questions by performing strategic information searches on web pages. Pages, which varied in length from 100 to 850 words, were displayed on either a standard, desktop monitor (full-sized) or a palm handheld interface (small-screen). Overall, users took more time to perform the tasks on the small screen interface, with the break in efficacy appearing between 225 and 350 word-lengths. Finally, contrary to our hypothesis, participants were similarly accurate across conditions.

SIGCHI.NL

Het doel van deze website is om leden van en geïnteresseerden in de vereniging SIGCHI.NL een platform te bieden om op de hoogte te blijven van de stand van zaken op HCI-gebied.

Editing Computer Hardware Procedures for Multimedia Presentation

Traditionally, technical editors have ensured consistency in the voice, grammar, and terminology of print documentation. As publications departments have moved to delivering online documentation, the role of the editor has varied and expanded. Editing multimedia documentation requires an even wider scope of skills than editing online documentation.

Hypermedia Systems in the New Millennium

This article revisits three past articles about the implications of hypermedia in the 21st century. Each August, the ACM Journal of Computer Documentation reprints a classic article, book chapter, or report along with several analytical commen- taries and a response by the author of the classic document. In this context, a 'classic' document means one that was published at least five years ago but is no longer in print. It also means one that raises issues of lasting importance to the profession.

Reflections on NoteCards: Seven Issues for the Next Generation of Hypermedia Systems

NoteCards, developed by a team at Xerox PARC, was designed to support the task of transforming a chaotic collection of unrelated thoughts into an integrated, orderly interpretation of ideas and their interconnections. This article presents NoteCards as a foil against which to explore some of the major limitations of the current generation of hypermedia systems, and characterizes the issues that must be addressed in designing the next generation systems.

Successfully Crossing the Language Translation Divide

Going global is a familiar phrase in today’s competitive business environment. When we hear the phrase “going global” what comes to mind? Most of us think of products being sold in a foreign country. Providing documentation in your customer’s language gives your company the competitive advantage in the global marketplace. For those products to be sold successfully, a clear understanding and communication of the language is imperative. Language translation into each target language presents a host of challenges and choices that must be anticipated and resolved in the source language prior to translation.

Cognitive Strain as a Factor in Effective Document Design

People have a limited amount of cognitive resources. Coping with the increasing amount of information presented via a software interface strains a user’s cognitive resources. If a person has to use documentation, whether on-line or paper, additional cognitive resources are consumed, often overloading the user. Using several windows or multi-media elements can compound the problem. Unfortunately, as Wickens (1992) states, humans are unable to manage excessive cognitive strain and they respond by getting frustrated, committing errors, shedding tasks, or reverting to known methods.

Communicating Effectively With Interaction

The ability to build interactions that support, enable, and improve communication is a valuable skill for help developers, Web-site designers, multimedia content developers, information-rich user interface designers-anyone who designs and develops information to be used online. This paper presents the basics of interaction design for information products and describes some basic underlying human factors and user-interface design principles.

Decision Making: A Missing Facet of Effective Documentation

The old school of software interface design and document writing took the view that if the user could find the information someplace, the user could use it. But simply sticking in details ignores how readers access and process information.

Information Design Considerations for Improving Situation Awareness in Complex Problem-Solving

The conventional techniques for task analysis derive the basic tasks that make up user actions. However, in the complex-problem solving environment, attempts to describe step-by-step actions break down because no single route to a solution exists. Although individual tasks can be defined, task-analysis normally results in the tasks being divorced from context. However, to support complex problem-solving, the design must place the information within the situation context and allow users to develop and maintain situation awareness.

Learnability in Information Design

Design of information used for technical communication of complex products should consider how learnable that information is, and strive to deliver materials that are inherently learnable.The speed of information interchange and the demands of the workplace and school curricula require increasingly minimalist approaches to the material that is made available. People are frustrated by long learning times, and new users of software tools demand rapid absorption of tool capabilities. In addition, many readers of technical information are people for whom English is not their native language.Methods and practices that worked in the period when people were willing to commit to hours of study to understand a topic, or days of practice to master a tool, no longer work in a world based on ?internet time.? To assist our understanding of these trends in learning, this paper addresses three key areas related to learnability: proposing a definition of learnability, showing where learnability and usability intersect, and providing a basis for learnability based on some attributes of human beings.

Single Sourcing for Translations

OCLC Online Computer Library Center has reduced costs and improved quality by using single sourcing in the localization of its services. For its FirstSearch reference service (which provides access to 80 databases for 18,000 libraries in 64 countries), OCLC has been through three phases of localization. Each phase has increased consistency and efficiency and lowered our translation costs. In the first phase of localizing FirstSearch in 1999, we introduced French and Spanish versions. The translation included the user interface screens and the help system. During this phase, we had minimal reuse of text in the interface and help files. The next year, OCLC released a major redesign of that service-with three levels of searching and greatly expanded database help. A separate administrative service and help system were also included. The translation task became much larger, and we needed to optimize the opportunities for text reuse in the system interfaces, help systems, and documentation. In the interfaces, all text strings were categorized and defined as entity strings-reused as needed among functions, databases, and user levels. For help and documentation, the needed content was analyzed and defined in an SGML DTD. Scripts were used to generate 240 help topics from a few SGML files. This approach reduced translation costs and facilitated consistency. Now in the third phase of localization, we are integrating our tool set, implementing a content management system, and adding support for Asian languages. Through this phase, we expect to reduce translation costs and improve quality.

"Yes, But Does it Scale?": Practical Considerations for Database-Driven Information Systems

This paper explores the process of designing and implementing a database-driven system of online documentation, and putting it live on the web for customers to use. Using real-life examples, it discusses practical considerations for balancing performance, scalability, and reliability.

Professional Organizations in Collaboration

Links to a number of organizations that study groupware and collaboration.

Upcoming Collaboration Conferences

A listing of conference that we have been notified about in reverse chronological order. If you wish to get a conference or workshop mentioned here that has relevance to the groupware community, then please send information to the SigGROUP Information Director.

Building a Home-Grown Knowledge Base: Don't Wait for the Resources—Build a Prototype

In this presentation, we will discuss why and how we came to build a knowledge base for the Computing Help Desk at MIT. We discuss MIT’s re-engineering effort and its impact on the various Help Desk groups who were brought together as a single team; how this centralizing of Help Desk services created a new requirement of getting useful, just-in-time knowledge to student consultants, and professional staff; and how that requirement helped us approach another goal of our re-engineered processes-helping our customers to help themselves. We then describe the tool we created and how we are using it.

The Changing Face of Technical Communication: New Directions for the Field in a New Millennium

Identifies four different factors shaping the future of technical communication: user-centered design, corporate universities, cross-disciplinary collaboration, and knowledge management. The authors each address how factors once considered external to the field of technical communication are now becoming thoroughly integrated with it. These four studies, in conjunction, suggest how the field of technical communication is becoming increasingly complex and how participants (practitioners, researchers, and educators) will need to adapt to this new terrain.

Finding a Home for Technical Communication in the Academy

The placement of technical communication within an academic curriculum presents an interesting challenge for university administrators and faculty. Technical communication is a young discipline that borrows content from several older, more established disciplines. As a younger discipline, technical communication must combine its borrowed ingredients from other areas into a new and complete offering that can attract research funding for professionals in the academy and deliver job opportunities for its students preparing to enter industry. The credibility of technical communication as a new discipline is dependent on its ability to develop a cohesive body of basic and applied research, its ability to manage technological change, and its ability to promote its identity among an army of competing disciplines.

Issues in the Design of Computer Support for Co-Authoring and Commenting

This paper reports on a project to develop a “work in preparation” editor, or PREP editor, to study co-authoring and commenting relationships. As part of the project, we have identified three issues in designing computer support for co-authoring and commenting: (1) support for social interaction among co-authors and commenters; (2) support for cognitive aspects of co-authoring and external commenting; and (3) support for practicality in both types of interaction. For each of these issues, the paper describes the approach the PREP editor takes to address them.

Online Communities

A study of how a rhetorical perspective can help to improve the construction of virtual communities. By applying rhetorical theory to environments and communication, my research demonstrates that the relationship between a speaker and audience is in part determined by spatial cues. That means that the architecture of a virtual environment creates interactional expectations that guide activity within the environment. A major component of these expectations is the authority of a participant in relation to others; spatial cues help speakers determine the ethos -- or relational background -- of others. Researching this relationship across a variety of online environments has demonstrated that the structure of public and private spaces within an online community will affect congregating patterns, conversational habits, genres of discourse, community coherence, and social structure. In addition to spatial cues, representational choices also influence participants’ expectations of themselves and others. In my most recent study I have created an online environment that incorporates an @race property into the familiar litany of @gender, @description, and @research found in many educational and social environments.

Annual Awards for Contributions to the Field of Technical Communications

The ACM SIGDOC Executive Board welcomes letters of nomination for the SIGDOC Rigo and Diana Awards. The Rigo Award celebrates an individual's lifetime contribution to the field of information design, technical communication, and online information design; the Diana Award celebrates the contribution of an organization, institution, or business.

SIGCHI Tutorials To Go Program

The Tutorials To Go program enables local SIGs to sponsor professional seminars for their members, both for purposes of professional development and for purposes of outreach to others who might eventually become members of the local SIG. These seminars are based on successful CHI Conference Tutorials, chosen by a committee of SIGCHI members, and agreed to by the developers of each Tutorial. The program is sponsored by the ACM SIGCHI Executive Committee, and was developed by Tom Hewett and colleagues listed below.

SIGWEB

SIGWEB supports the multi-disciplinary field of hypertext and hypermedia, facilitating its application both on the World-Wide Web and also in independent, distributed and stand-alone environments. It provides a forum for the promotion, dissemination, and exchange of ideas concerning research and applications among scientists, systems designers and end-users.

ACM SIGDOC (Special Interest Group on Design of Communication)

The ACM Special Interest Group on documentation provides a forum on documentation and user support for computer products and systems. The SIG studies processes, methods, and technologies for communicating information via printed and online text, hypermedia, and multimedia. Members include technical communication professionals, educators, and researchers, as well as system designers, developers, usability specialists, and managers responsible for producing or supervising the creation of documentation, online help systems, and end user interfaces. SIGDOC offers conferences, a high-quality Web site, and The Journal of Computer Documentation, a respected quarterly publication.

Special Interest Group on Computer Graphics and Interactive Techniques

The ACM Special Interest Group on Computer Graphics and Interactive Techniques is an interdisciplinary community interested in research, technology, and applications in computer graphics and interactive techniques. Members include researchers, developers and users from the technical, academic, business, and art communities. SIGGRAPH provides information to the computer graphics community through its annual conference, publications and the SIGGRAPH Video Review. SIGGRAPH members receive the quarterly newsletter Computer Graphics, the SIGGRAPH annual conference publications which consist of the proceedings (printed, CD-ROM and videotape), electronic art and animation catalog (printed and CD-ROM) and the conference abstracts and applications (printed and CD-ROM). A 'Lite' membership is available at a reduced rate that includes the quarterly newsletter but not the conference publications package. A 'Plus' option is also available with significant discounts on the proceedings of other computer graphics conferences and workshops. All members receive discounts to the annual conference, publications and other SIGGRAPH sponsored events, and complimentary access to the graphics publications in the ACM Digital Library.

Special Interest Group on Supporting Group Work

The ACM Special Interest Group on Supporting Group Work (SIGGROUP, formerly called SIGOIS) is interested in topics related to computer-based systems that have a team or group impact in workplace settings. A strong emphasis of SIGGROUP is the integration of multiple computer-based tools and technologies and the impact on the human activities supported by those tools and technologies. Relevant issues include design, implementation, deployment, evaluation, methodologies and impact that arise when researching computer-based systems in a development environment. SIGGROUP publishes the SIGGROUP Bulletin and offers the members a Member Plus Package.

The ACM Digital Library

As a service to the computing community, the Digital Library will offer its search and bibliographic database resources to all visitors, for free. All you need to do is register with us. Access to full-text is by pay-per-view or subscription only: ACM members who are Digital Library subscribers have access to all full-text articles, as well as the advanced search and notification functions of the 'My Bookshelf' feature. Members and nonmembers who subscribe to electronic publications (but not to the entire Library) have full-text access to their subscriptions

Special Interest Groups of the Association for Computing Machinery

This site links to various interest groups of the Association for Computing Machinery, including Computer-Human Interaction SIGCHI, Systems Documentation SIGDOC, Computer Graphics and Interactive Techniques SIGGRAPH, Management Information Systems SIGMIS, Multimedia SIGMM, etc.

ACM SIGCHI (Special Interest Group on Computer-Human Interaction)

Journal of Computer Documentation

This quarterly publication of SIGDOC features refereed original articles and classic reprints, always accompanied by open peer commentary essays and multiple, comparative book reviews.