Screen Captures to Support Switching Attention      

This study set out to validate the supportive role of screen captures for switching attention. Forty-two participants learned how to work with Microsoft Excel with a paper manual. There were three types of manuals: a textual manual, a visual manual with full-screen captures, and a visual manual with a mixture of partial- and full-screen captures. The findings show that participants in all conditions looked up from the manual to the screen on about 97% of the cases in which such a switch was called for. Rank order analyses showed that users of the visual manuals switched attention significantly more often than did users of the textual manual. No differences were found between conditions on learning effects and training time.

Gellevij, Mark and Hans Van Der Meij. IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication (2002). Design>Graphic Design>Documentation>Screen Captures

A Selected Bibliography: A Beginner's Guide to Usability Testing    

Many people interested in learning about usability testing have trouble finding an entry point into the literature of the field. This bibliography offers to help.

Ramey, Judith A. IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication (1989). Resources>Bibliographies>Usability

Tacit Knowledge, Knowledge Management, and Active User Participation in Web Site Navigation      

One of the reasons that people who seek out information on web sites often feel powerless is that when they do not find what they are looking for, their own tacit sense of what they know is not validated. If tacit knowledge is not calculated for in the design of a web site, it puts the people navigating the site in the position of passive observers. The primary reason for this can be found in the rigid organization schemes in place on many sites. Even the most sophisticated manuals that offer methods for designing web site architectures fail to suggest how they can replicate what is known in knowledge management circles as an “enabling environment.”

Applen, J.D. IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication (2002). Articles>User Centered Design>Knowledge Management>Web Design

Visual Disciminability of Headings in Text    

Headings in text provide critical symbols that help a reader discern a writer's structural treatment of a topic.

Williams, Thomas R. and Jan H. Spyridakis. IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication (1992). Design>Typography

Web Accessibility for People With Disabilities: An Introduction for Web Developers    

This article presents an overview of the topic of web access for people with disabilities. First, we describe the four basic disabilities and explain the benefits of making sites accessible, as well as the reasons that more sites are not accessible. We review the relevant laws regarding web access, and we then discuss efforts being made by vendors and professional organizations, especially Microsoft and the World Wide Web Consortium, to encourage accessibility. Finally, we describe major resources that web developers might consult to assist them in making their sites accessible to people with disabilities.

Carter, Jeff and Mike Markel. IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication (2001). Design>Accessibility>Web Design

What Is Thought?      

Students think better with “props,” i.e., concrete physical examples to discuss and manipulate. This observation, however, leads to a much broader theoretical insight. Thought, by its nature, equally requires the developing organization of physical objects and the mediating traffic of neuronal impulses in our brains.

Manning, Alan D. IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication (2001). Articles>Education>TC

Technical Communication Outsourcing: The Twelve Driver Framework Tutorial    

Almost all IT, engineering research, financial analysis, and manufacturing industries are confronted with a question: to outsource or not? The outsourcing and offshoring trend is inspired by success stories of huge cost savings, decreased time-to-market, and better quality. Simultaneously, outsourcing-gone-bad stories highlight how hidden costs exceed benefits, cross-cultural problems impact quality, and intellectual property risks shadow project lifecycles. Managers in companies are presented with a confusing picture for which there are no easy answers. Companies, vendors, and policymakers need a framework to understand the outsourcing phenomenon and plan implementation strategies for outsourced projects. At present, many companies go with the gut based on the experience of others and media reports. But very rarely are two technical documentation tasks alike and never are the concerns of two technical communication tasks the same. This tutorial presents the twelve driver framework and the driver-model percentage matrix to assess the benefits and risks of outsourcing a technical communication task. In the end, qualitative decision-making will determine an organization's decision about outsourcing, but the use of such a framework and related metrics will greatly enhance the quality of the final choice.

Padmanabhan, Poornima. IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication (2007). Journals>Project Management>Assessment>India

Technical Communication and Consulting: The Flat World Alignment Paradigm, or Why Technical Communication Consultants Have Nothing to Fear from Offshoring    

In support of the IEEE Professional Communication Society's 50th anniversary conference, this paper suggests ways in which the technical communication profession can ensure its sustainability throughout the next 50 years of business evolution. This paper seeks to present a compelling argument directed at conventionally-employed technical communicators that a paradigm shift towards consulting employment is in their best interest - and in the technical communication profession's best interest. Because of exposure to many and varied companies and methodologies, technical communication consultants tend to have more wide-ranging and current skills that they can offer to companies over their peers who work in conventional employment arrangements. For this argument, this paper will look at how technical communicator consultants can make significant contributions to business by comparing the attributes of technical communication consultants to the attributes of the untouchables defined and discussed in The World Is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century, the maverick analysis of the globalization phenomenon by Thomas L. Friedman.

Davy, D. IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication (2007). Careers>Consulting>Outsourcing>Offshoring

Connecting Usability Education and Research with Industry Needs and Practices    

Ideally, academic research should inform workplace practices and workplace practices should inform academic research and education. However, as many researchers have noted, a gap often exists between academia and industry. This article begins to bridge that gap by reporting the results of a small-scale study at Microsoft in which 12 individuals were interviewed about their views on usability education and research. This study addressed two questions: (1) What knowledge, skills, and abilities should technical communication teachers stress in teaching usability and (2) how can academic research in usability benefit practitioners? The results indicate that usability education needs to be expanded to include additional usability evaluation methods and that students need strong critical assessment and communication skills when they enter the workplace. The results also reveal that usability research in the areas of return-on-investment, online help, and cognition would be of great use to practitioners.

Cooke, L. and S. Mings. IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication (2005). Articles>Usability>Research>Publishing