Document Development: Getting the Technical Writer Involved Up Front  

Working in close cooperation with the chief subject-matter expert (SME) for a major group of documents, we changed the document development process. Instead of having a SME write a draft-leaving the technical writer function as secretary, editor, and layIout technician—we involved the writer from the beginning of the project. The result was a cleaner, neater document development process; a better document; and a lot less trouble for all concerned.

Remington, Thomas F. STC Proceedings (1995). Presentations>Documentation>Methods

Document to the Question: Understanding What Users Ask and Where They Look for the Answers  

The user's idea of the problem is often very different than the help or program designer's. The online help topics often reflect the designer's viewpoint, not the user's.

STC India (2003). Articles>Documentation>User Centered Design>Help

A Documentation Database for Managing Time and Costs  

Keeping track of a technical writing team’s time can be a tedious task, especially when that time has to be charged to various internal departments. Using Lotus Notes™ (Lotus Development Corporation and Iris Associates, Inc.), we developed a relational database to track this information. This database uses a single form for all documentation status inputs. Then it summarizes the data in a variety of view. Separate forms track SEI statistics and simplify department employee time administration.

Lang, Darice and Debra Ricks. STC Proceedings (1994). Articles>Documentation>Project Management

Documentation for Global Markets: Some Practical Considerations  

This panel will discuss the development of documentation for global markets. Many practical tips will be offered for discussion.

Bolton, David, Ralph F. Calistro and Laurel R. Simmons. STC Proceedings (1995). Articles>Documentation>International

Documentation for ISO 9000  

The ISO 9000 series of Quality Standards redefines how business will be conducted into the next century. The series is designed to measure the effectiveness of the Quality System in place, thereby ensuring both customer and company needs are always satisfied. The foundation of a robust Quality System is its documentation: problems in this area represent the largest single cause of registration failures. Quality System documentation also forms the basis upon which the 3rd party registrar builds the audit plan for your company.

Robinson, Ralph E. STC Proceedings (1999). Articles>Documentation>Standards>ISO 9000

Documentation on CD-ROM: Strategies for a Successful Implementation  

Producing documentation on CD-ROM can be extremely beneficial to users and can also save your company a lot of money over hard copy costs. To assure a successful roll-out of your CD product, it is critical to consider the involvement of key departments in your company as you plan the implementation in your user community. The two processes are closely related, and a well-integrated internal plan will help assure a successful introduction to your customers.

Florsheim, Stewart J. STC Proceedings (1994). Articles>Documentation>Online

Documentation Quality Metrics Within Total Quality Management Systems  

Total Quality Management (TQM), is now very much a feature of many organizations. One of the kernels of TQM is the process, with its related topics such as process design, process management and process improvement. One of the key requirements for process design and management is process measurements, often called 'metrics'. Within the document design and development process, process metrics, including quality metrics, must be based very strongly on customer values for documentation. Quality metrics can form one element within a composite customer satisfaction index for documentation projects.

Hosier, William J. STC Proceedings (1994). Articles>Documentation>Quality

Documentation Solutions for Complex Tools: Task-Based Design at the Cross Roads  

For most of the technical writing community, task-based documentation has become the panacea for presentation of end-product document (in any of its myriad forms including traditional linear manuals and online help). We believe, however, that applying this method to a complex tool, (for example, a software tool without a Graphical User Interface), challenges the task-based approach.

Swallow, Lisa and Matt Laney. STC Proceedings (2004). Articles>Documentation>Writing>Technical Writing

Documentation Team Leadership in the 1990s  

In the 1990s, product life cycles are short, technology is ever-advancing, work environments are fast-paced, and there is an ongoing agenda to cut costs. This environment requires documentation teams to accomplish more faster with fewer personnel resources These requirements have redefined the roles and responsibilities of technical writers and documentation team leaders. Leadership skills have become critical to the overall success of documentation teams Critical leadership skills include appropriately implementing situational leadership, working effectively with people who have diverse working and social styles, and participating in ongoing role negotiations.

Muench, Barbara S. STC Proceedings (1995). Careers>Documentation>Management

Documentation Through the Discovery Process  

The technical writers at a software company learn about the software by gathering information and running the software themselves.

Kloss, Marilyn B. STC Proceedings (2003). Articles>Documentation>Interviewing

Documenting Entertainment Software: The Mixed Challenge of Simplicity and Sophistication  

The challenges of documenting entertainment software are in many ways the challenges of all technical communicators. We strive to make the interface intuitive and the documentation interesting and easy-to-read. Although the nature of the world of entertainment may suggest that our task is simple, the breadth of our audience and the depth of our goals makes it more sophisticated than it looks. We must be as imaginative as our users, recognize the emerging dimensions of multimedia, and create with the constraints of low retail costs, small teams, and fast-paced deadlines.

Guthrie, Lynn Frances. STC Proceedings (1995). Articles>Documentation>Software

Documenting ISO 9000  

The ISO 9000 series of Quality Standards redefines how business will be conducted into the next century. The series is designed to measure the effectiveness of the Quality System in place, thereby ensuring both customer and company needs are always satisfied. The foundation of a robust Quality System is its documentation: problems in this area represent the largest single cause of registration failures. Quality System documentation also forms the basis upon which the 3rd party registrar builds the audit plan for your company.

Robinson, Ralph E. STC Proceedings (1998). Careers>Documentation>Policies and Procedures>ISO 9000

Documenting Procedures After the Sole Subject Expert Has Left the Organization  

A corporation's or nonprofit's life without written procedures is fraught with dangers and pitfalls that can strike without warning and potentially wreak havoc on the organization's ability to function efficiently—or even to function at all—especially when the lone source of how-to information leaves the organization. The task of creating those procedures from scratch from what often amounts to skeleton information and secondhand sources can be tedious and frustrating but well worth the effort if it helps prevent the organization from being caught off guard in the future. When it comes to workplace procedures, it pays to be prepared.

Kessler, Audrey Cielinski. STC Proceedings (1999). Articles>Documentation>Policies and Procedures

Documenting the Flow of Rule-Based Programming in Expert Systems  

With the spread of new technology, technical communicators face interesting new challenges for solving documentation problems. One area of software development that technical communicators are increasingly becoming involved in is that of rule-based expert systems. Because of their complexity, both the systems and their documentation can be difficult to maintain. Technical communicators can solve some of these maintenance problems by flow-charting only the chaining structure of the rule-base design.

Glover, Kyle S. STC Proceedings (1994). Articles>Documentation>Programming>Workflow

Downsizing Documentation: Meeting the Challenge  

The redesign of the Microsoft Windows operating system along with a shrinking page count and Help file-size allocation, presented Windows User Education with a unique opportunity. We not only redesigned our entire documentation model, we also changed and improved our authoring tools. And, along the way, we changed how we did our work.

Bloch, Peggy, Phyllis Levy, Kimberly A. Parris and Gayle Picken. STC Proceedings (1995). Articles>Documentation>Technical Writing>Minimalism

Driving Product Improvements through Customer Surveys: A Case Study  

IBM WebSphere Commerce is a software product that enables merchants to sell goods and services online. The user audience who has the task to understand the product complexities and build stores for the customers consists of store developers - a large group of users from external companies or within IBM. Conducting a survey to gather their feedback on store development proved to be a powerful method for understanding the various store development scenarios and identifying areas for product improvement. Some of the techniques that helped us create a successful customer survey involved using a multidisciplinary group to create the survey questions, tirelessly communicating the results, and following up on the issues.

Markova, Uliyana. STC Proceedings (2003). Articles>User Centered Design>Methods

A Dual Path Approach to Developing Documentation  

The document development process is traditionally viewed as a series of steps along a single linear path. Instead, it is useful to view document development as consisting of activities along dual paths: one product-centered and one document-centered. Isolating a product-centered path reveals how much of your time is spent on activities other than writing--for example, learning about the product. It also highlights the ways in which the documentation is dependent on or shaped by the product.

Igel, Victoria E. STC Proceedings (1994). Articles>Documentation>Methods

The Duty of Candor in Future Software Documentation

The STC Code for Communicators requires us 'to communicate technical information truthfully...'. Such truthfulness has two related but distinct aspects, honesty and candor. I have never been asked to falsify technical claims in documentation (honesty), but I have occasionally been asked to withhold true claims about software that, if known to users, would surely affect how they interpret or apply that software (candor). The century ahead will increasingly demand user documentation that is candid as well as honest.

Girill, T.R. STC Proceedings (1999). Articles>Documentation

Dynamic Content Management  

Until recently, technical communicators created static content--content that is created in a specific way for a specific purpose (e.g., user guides and help) and that remains the same until the technical communicator deliberately changes it. As single sourcing has made it possible to write information once and use it many times, technical communicators have begun to create static customized content, which is designed to meet the specific needs of the user, the materials to be developed (such as user guides, reference guides, and training), and the delivery media (paper or online). The content is customized for a particular requirement at a particular time but cannot be changed without being regenerated by the author. Now, the ability to create dynamic content will change the way technical communicators envision, create, and distribute information.

Rockley, Ann. STC Proceedings (2002). Design>Content Management>Single Sourcing>Web Design

The Dynamics of Collaborative Design  

The University of Colorado at Denver’s Internet Task Force designed a home page on the World Wide Web (WWW) for the School of Education, while simultaneously studying the group dynamics of the collaborative learning/design process. We developed a 4-point model which is appropriate for technically sophisticated adult learners, instructional designers, software developers, and information technologists. Critical features are reflection-in-action, building a common knowledge base, taking ownership of an authentic task, and generating research questions.

Sherry, Lorraine C. and Karen Madsen Myers. STC Proceedings (1996). Presentations>Collaboration>TC

E-Editing for Global Audiences  

The role of the technical communicator, including that of the technical editor, has evolved to encompass a broad range of responsibilities and skills. The familiar editing processes can be streamlined into four levels of editing, thus providing a basis for a business model for highperformance, global teams. By combining the familiar levels of editing with the latest innovations of one-page business plans, a streamlined e-editing model can be used by high-performance teams to produce high-quality information in a timely and an efficient manner for global audiences.

Adler, Linda J. and Helen Lenane. STC Proceedings (2003). Articles>Editing>Online

E-Learning, Single Sourcing and SCORM  

E-learning is a highly effective way of providing training to widely dispersed audiences. Single sourcing (information reuse) provides the facility to create and store reusable content from a single source, and delivers that content to multi-channel information products for learners. SCORM is the Sharable Content Object Reference Model; it’s an initiative of the ADL (Advanced Distributed Learning Network). This session provides an understanding of how you can create effective e-learning materials using single sourcing or SCORM.

Rockley, Ann and Steve Manning. STC Proceedings (2002). Articles>Education>Single Sourcing>Online

E-Mail in the Classroom Workplace  

E-mail usage creates special concerns in education, and teachers must learn how to make e-mail a more effective tool. Students must be taught how to use e-mail for purposes other than informal communication and to evaluate sources of information gathered through correspondence. Although e-mail presents problems in how and what students learn, it also can foster international learning experiences, provide some students with a clearer method of expressing their ideas, and increase collaboration.

Porter, Lynnette R. STC Proceedings (2003). Articles>Education>Online>Email

E-Portfolios  

E-portfolios collect samples of technical communication on a CD or a website. They offer more presentation options than the traditional hardcopy portfolio. While the construction differs from the traditional portfolio, the purpose and principles of design and content remain the same.

Smith, Elizabeth Overman 'Betsy'. STC Proceedings (2003). Careers>Portfolios>Online

E-Resources for Technical Communication  

E-resources provide a range of sources for locating information about technical communication or for technical communication documents. Researchers, teachers, students, and practitioners need to locate the journals, magazines, and proceedings of technical communication organizations to better understand the field. The websites of professional organizations and databases published by EBSCO, ProQuest, and InfoTrac are the focus of this paper.

Smith, Elizabeth Overman 'Betsy'. STC Proceedings (2002). Resources>TC>Online