Designing the User-Centered Process Model: A Case Study  

The case study involved the redesigning of NCR’s performance improvement model for developing information products, documentation, and training interventions for our customers. This process model, the Quality Information Products Process (QIPP) seeks to move information product developers away from an adversarial, compliance type model towards a quality improvement system that is grounded in the everyday practices of the users. The redesign effort was initiated during a review of the existing process as it related to a new corporate-wide product creation process which was recently implemented.

Kabel, Mary Ann. STC Proceedings (1998). Articles>User Centered Design>Usability

Designing to Sell Online: Persuasive Power in Action  

Electronic commerce promises to radically transform business. To remain competitive, businesses must address many issues before success can be realized. Key to the success of ecommerce will be the effectiveness of the web design interface interacting with consumers. Our user-centered case study, which received an STC Research Grant last July, evaluates consumer attitudes to the on-line shopping experience by observing this interaction. We measure the rhetorical power of design elements on an e-commerce site by using classical rhetoric as the theoretical framework for analyzing our results. This paper reports the preliminary findings of this research.

Winn, Wendy and Kati Beck. STC Proceedings (2000). Design>Web Design>E Commerce>Rhetoric

Designing Usable Forms: The Three-Layer Model of the Form  

Why do people say 'I’m not good with forms' or 'I don’t like forms' when a form is only a piece of paper, or a screen, with some printing on it? There must be something special about forms that inspires these comments. The 'three-layer model” considers forms from three points of view: perceptual (layout), conversational (questions and answers) and relationship (the structure of the task). Analysing a form using the three layers helps to un-pick its problems, and to suggest ways of making it more usable.

Jarrett, Caroline. STC Proceedings (2000). Design>Information Design>Forms

Designing Web Personalization Features  

Personalization, which allows a web user to choose the content and layout of their own portal web page, is one of the most popular ways of increasing traffic at web sites, and helps to ensure return customers. But to be successful, it must be simple and it must be intuitive. This paper presents common personalization features used by top portals and reviews the design of the interfaces of three top portals: My Excite, My Yahoo and MSN. This paper provides examples of good and bad design techniques used in the portal sites, and gives tips on how to design usable personalization features.

Kravatz, Harris. STC Proceedings (2000). Presentations>Web Design>Personalization

Designing Web Sites to Educate, Induce Action, and Promote Participatory Communication for Decision-Making  

Knowing more about how web site characteristics work to reach non-e-commerce goals can guide web designers working towards some of those goals. Environmental advocacy sites are apt to provide rich examples of how web sites try to educate, change behaviors and values, induce action, and promote participatory decisionmaking. Studying them, then, may help us understand how the characteristics of their web sites work. This paper explores how a particular advocacy group web site, www.seedcoalition.org, educates and induces action in its visitors. The site seems likely to effectively educate and induce action, but could do more to induce deliberation and encourage interpersonal communication and discussion about issues, which might better support the group’s long term goals.

Sehmel, Heather. STC Proceedings (2001). Presentations>Web Design>Education>Participatory Design

Desktop Publishing and Design: Took, Tips and Techniques  

The organization of your document in combination with its typographic and graphic elements comprise its design. Good design improves your document's ability to communicate effectively. Novice document designers will want to attend this workshop to learn how to use design to their advantage.

Tucker, Kimberly and Lisa Burke-Marose. STC Proceedings (1996). Design>Document Design>Typography

Determining the Right Training and Documentation Solution  

Frequently a product has documentation associated with it. Large products may have training and documentation. However, as corporations are 'rolling out' new technology to their staff they are becoming aware that supporting the user through a unified documentation and training strategy, results in fewer problems and faster integration and usage. This paper addresses the process of determining the right solution and an effective design and development process.

Rockley, Ann and Hifary Shirley. STC Proceedings (1997). Articles>Documentation

Determining When to Use Show-Me Helps and Demos  

The availability of powerful yet easy-to-use multimedia tools enables technical writers to consider a powerful new form of embedded user assistance: show-me help. This paper provides an overview of who is currently using show- me help--some current research, some history, and some definitions. It offers some guidance in choosing tools, designing show-me help, and deciding when to include then, concentrating on consideration of your users, potential topics, subsequent releases, and translation. It also suggests how show-me helps can be reused as part of product education and single-sourced into user assistance from the Web. When this information is presented in a conference session, the final part of that session will be a workshop in which a sample show me will be built using the QarbonTM ViewletBuilderTM tool. For this session, you have a choice to watch or do. You can watch as I create a show me for Windows(R) Explorer in this session or you can go to www.qarbon.com, download the demo version of ViewletBuilder, and do the exercises along with me.

Norris Bradford, Annette. STC Proceedings (2005). Articles>Documentation

Developing a Chapter Mentoring Program  

In an effort to promote and encourage an interest in the field of technical communication through academic/professional relationships, the New York Metro Chapter has developed a mentoring pilot program with Fairleigh Dickinson University (FDU) in Madison, New Jersey. The chapter, along with Dr. Michael B. Goodman, Director of FDU’s M.A. program in Corporate and Organizational Communication, coordinated their efforts to select members who can serve as role models for students interested in this field.

Epp, Barbara E. STC Proceedings (1996). Careers>Mentoring>Community Building>STC

Developing a Communication Strategy for a Research Institute  

For an organization with a broad mission to improve the state of the practice in a domain, effective communication is essential. Our team developed a communication strategy for creating clear and consistent messages and for making the best use of resources for communication work. Our communication strategy defines products and internal processes for optimizing communication with our most important stakeholders, organizational decision makers in the software engineering community.

Pollak, Bill and Anne Humphreys. STC Proceedings (1998). Articles>Communication>Policies and Procedures

Developing a Continuum to Describe Technical Communication  

The more integrated a discipline is, the greater the likelihood that the researchers are sharing ideas and the greater the chances are for developing theories and models to support the knowledge base. A fragmented discipline offers few connections between discussions and research. This study of technical communication literature reports and reflects upon the dialogue established among practitioners, researchers, and scholars as theories are built. A continuum--fragmented to integrated--places areas of study in technical communication and offers an interpretation of the field.

Smith, Elizabeth Overman 'Betsy'. STC Proceedings (1993). Articles>TC>Research>Professionalism

Developing a Corporate Style Guide  

Developing corporate style guides helps documentation departments or any other group apply the same standards when writing documents for publication or presentation. Three types of style guides exist: static, dynamic, and multi-level. The information that goes into a style guide depends upon corporate and department guidelines. Publishing, promoting, and maintaining style guides are the responsibility of the responsible department. In many corporations this may be the technical documentation department, while for others it may be the corporate marketing or internal communications departments.

Damrau, Jackie. STC Proceedings (2005). Articles>Style Guides>Business Communication

Developing a Database Publishing System: A Demonstration  

We developed a database publishing system that uses raw data from a database and produces camera ready copy using Microsoft Access, FrameMaker, and Brio Publish. This type of project requires a project plan that defines the scope of the project, a complete understanding of the various relationships in the database, selection of the right tools for the task, and a sensitivity to the needs of the users who face dramatic change in their environment. This demonstration focuses on all aspects of this effort.

Cantoni, Georgina C. and Judith L. 'Judy' Glick-Smith. STC Proceedings (1995). Articles>Content Management>Single Sourcing>Microsoft Access

Developing a Departmental Intranet Site: From Fantasy to Reality  

If you are considering or planning an intranet site, you know it can be an overwhelming experience. Given all the hype around the World Wide Web and HTML these days, it's easy to become overwhelmed--we were too. We were given the task of developing an intranet site for our department. We lost sight of the fact that, as technical writers, we are skilled at learning new tools and new technology and we are trained to present information in an effective manner. There will always be new tools and technology, but the process of good information design remains the same.

De Jong, Karen, Elizabeth DeDreu and Sharon Gray. STC Proceedings (1998). Design>Web Design>Intranets

Developing a Documentation Process that Works in a Regulated Environment  

Working in a regulated environment (for example, an ISO-certified company or a company regulated by the FDA) necessarily changes the way documentation is developed and managed. The documentation development process must exist and must meet all of the requirements set by the governing body, yet not be so mired in detail that it overwhelms the writers and managers.

Rupel, Roberta A. STC Proceedings (2000). Presentations>Documentation

Developing a Project Life Cycle for Technical Publications  

Having a technical publications project life cycle (pLC) that parallels an organization's product life cycle (PLC) greatly facilitates its adoption by engineering or development organizations. A technical publications project life cycle relates major documentation project management strategies, tasks, and deliverables to the same model used by technical organizations to control product development in an efficient and cost-effective manner. Some technical organizations perceive the documentation development process as being “intrusive” into the product development process, particularly during the Implementation Phase of the PLC. Communicating a technical publications pLC to these organizations early in the PLC eliminates this misperception.

Le Vie, Donald S., Jr. STC Proceedings (2003). Articles>Documentation>Project Management

Developing a Single-Sourced Online Help System    

The definition of single sourcing continues to broaden in scope since its first mention in The Society of Technical Communication’s 46th Annual Conference publication. As a result, it is becoming increasingly difficult for technical communicators to understand what single source means and, more importantly, choose a definition of single sourcing that correlates with their specific task. One “type” of single sourcing involves reusing information for multiple products. Several developers at IBM have produced a single-source online help system. Unlike other single-sourcing methods that require a significant investment and a high degree of technical experience, these methods are inexpensive and require a moderate, yet creative, technical aptitude.

Vicek, Keith, Phil Menzies and Andre Evans. STC Proceedings (2002). Design>Documentation>Single Sourcing>Online

Developing a Style Guide in the Real World  

Style guides present a series of rules for standardizing writing. Style guide developers run the risk of concentrating too much on these rules, and too little on other factors that may ultimately affect the quality of the documents that are governed by the style guide. I would like to consider some of these other factors in this paper. I’ve drawn this discussion from Battelle’s efforts developing style guides in various industries. Another reason to involve your clients in the development process is to help ensure that the style guide includes the information they will need. For example, we included tips on using Microsoft Word in a style guide that would be used by writers working in Word. Don’t be afraid to be creative when deciding what to include in your style guide; if it gives writers a reason to look something up in the style guide,

Wieringa, Douglas. STC Proceedings (1996). Presentations>Documentation>Style Guides

Developing a Successful, Low-Maintenance Internship Program  

EDS High Tech Publications has developed a successful, low maintenance internship program. The program was designed to meet the needs of all the participants. EDS cultivates a talent pool to hire from and provides training for their own employees. Interns develop jobs skills and gain experience. The schools establish ties with local professionals.

Smimov, Lynette L.. STC Proceedings (1997). Careers>Internships>Education

Developing an Effective Online Marketing Plan  

A business plan is a basic strategic guide showing where your business should be going over the next one to five years. A marketing plan is a subset of the business plan. It lays out the goals and quantifiable objectives for all of your company’s marketing activities, such as TV, radio, print, or online. An online marketing plan is a subset of the marketing plan for all online activities. The center of the plan is the Web site, but the overall plan could include more than just the site. It could include e-mail, mail subscriptions or lists, newsgroups, online advertising, and even chat room participation. This paper discusses the elements of an online marketing plan, the strategy, tactics, and offers. It also briefly discusses an example project.

Caldanaro, Regina M. and Jodie Pait. STC Proceedings (2001). Careers>Management>Marketing

Developing an Information Strategy  

The role of the technical communicator has been changing dramatically over the past few years. Gone are the days when hefty user manuals are considered desirable. Technical communicators must now think of ways of building intuitiveness into products to obviate the need for reams and reams of hard copy documentation. This understanding forms the basis for developing an information strategy.

Florsheim, Stewart J. STC Proceedings (1997). Design>Documentation>Information Design>Content Strategy

Developing and Implementing Effective Web-Based Surveys  

In this paper we will report on the development and implementation of the first part of a two-part web-based survey distributed to a university population of over 20,000 faculty, staff and students. This large-scale project presented multiple operational, technical and design challenges. User-centered design was crucial to the successful development and deployment of the survey. This survey tool was used to explore the richness and potential value of web surveys motivated by a combination of a desire to improve both the survey-taking process and results-computing process. The objective of this research is to design and implement an effective Web survey tool, record user participation, determine the value of implementing a two-part survey over time (longitudinal), and to identify improvements for future web-based surveys. The benefit to the organization will be the identification of service areas in need of improvements and the ability to match satisfaction level with actual product/service costs.

Andrews, Susan and Susan Feinberg. STC Proceedings (1999). Articles>User Centered Design>Methods>Surveys

Developing and Implementing Project Style Guides  

Style guides can be very effective tools for achieving uniformity in documentation. Their use can enhance the appearance, readability, and tone of a document. In this progression session, I would like to discuss why style guides are needed, what should be included in them, and how to create a style guide appropriate for your project. I invite participants to bring style guides with them for critique and discussion.

Marks, Sandra R. STC Proceedings (1996). Articles>Style Guides>Editing

Developing and Maintaining a Large Document for Publication in Multiple Media  

This paper outlines the development of the Software Technology Reference Guide—a 500-page directory of software technologies— from the planning phase to its publication in both hard copy and HTML. It explores the problems of coordinating multiple, remotely located authors; producing frequent drafts when material is changing rapidly; managing a large documentation project; maintaining a source document for publication in multiple media; and handling the conversion of a complex hard-copy document to a usable online document.

Brune, Kimberly. STC Proceedings (1998). Articles>Content Management>Single Sourcing