Pub Date : 1996-09-18DOI: 10.1109/IPCC.1996.552604
Ruby, Tebelak, rmtebeblak, Kathy Kaufman, kaufman
The Information Revolution has had a major impact on our society, especially in the field of communication. Although the revolution has many positive aspects, it has resulted in a degradation of quality in publications. Having all the "tools of the trade" available at one workstation or over the Internet does not mean that one person can write, edit, design, and publish a professional document. Talented communicators are still needed, but they must fight for a place in the pack by using the new technologies to compliment their communication skills and reestablish the standards of their profession.
{"title":"Can you cross the finish line without a communicator?","authors":"Ruby, Tebelak, rmtebeblak, Kathy Kaufman, kaufman","doi":"10.1109/IPCC.1996.552604","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/IPCC.1996.552604","url":null,"abstract":"The Information Revolution has had a major impact on our society, especially in the field of communication. Although the revolution has many positive aspects, it has resulted in a degradation of quality in publications. Having all the \"tools of the trade\" available at one workstation or over the Internet does not mean that one person can write, edit, design, and publish a professional document. Talented communicators are still needed, but they must fight for a place in the pack by using the new technologies to compliment their communication skills and reestablish the standards of their profession.","PeriodicalId":375251,"journal":{"name":"IPCC 96: Communication on the Fast Track. IPCC 96 Proceedings","volume":"10 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1996-09-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"124253052","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 1996-09-18DOI: 10.1109/IPCC.1996.552701
R. Blicq
A specially designed instrument that measures the effectiveness of written communication courses taught in-house has been pilot-tested with employees of a major power utility. The instrument showed that, one month after attending the course, participants' written communication skills increased by twenty percent. A second measurement recorded four months after the course, showed there had been only a marginal drop in skills compared to the level recorded three months earlier.
{"title":"Researching the value added by teaching in-house technical communication courses","authors":"R. Blicq","doi":"10.1109/IPCC.1996.552701","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/IPCC.1996.552701","url":null,"abstract":"A specially designed instrument that measures the effectiveness of written communication courses taught in-house has been pilot-tested with employees of a major power utility. The instrument showed that, one month after attending the course, participants' written communication skills increased by twenty percent. A second measurement recorded four months after the course, showed there had been only a marginal drop in skills compared to the level recorded three months earlier.","PeriodicalId":375251,"journal":{"name":"IPCC 96: Communication on the Fast Track. IPCC 96 Proceedings","volume":"77 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1996-09-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"132243499","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 1996-09-18DOI: 10.1109/IPCC.1996.552607
Rob Houser, Scott DeLoach
Why does it take hours for our users to build up their confidence to approach our products, try to install or use them, consult the manuals in frustration, and finally ask the person down the hall for help? In contrast why do players of arcade, video and computer games seem to approach the games without fear, eagerly exploring and learning as they go? Our research examines the way interface design for applications influences motivation, training, performance, and error correction. In this paper and presentation, we attempt to lay the ground work for additional research by defining the instructional methods used in games and by surveying the literature related to the design of game and business applications.
{"title":"Instructional design lessons technical communicators can learn from games","authors":"Rob Houser, Scott DeLoach","doi":"10.1109/IPCC.1996.552607","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/IPCC.1996.552607","url":null,"abstract":"Why does it take hours for our users to build up their confidence to approach our products, try to install or use them, consult the manuals in frustration, and finally ask the person down the hall for help? In contrast why do players of arcade, video and computer games seem to approach the games without fear, eagerly exploring and learning as they go? Our research examines the way interface design for applications influences motivation, training, performance, and error correction. In this paper and presentation, we attempt to lay the ground work for additional research by defining the instructional methods used in games and by surveying the literature related to the design of game and business applications.","PeriodicalId":375251,"journal":{"name":"IPCC 96: Communication on the Fast Track. IPCC 96 Proceedings","volume":"2011 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1996-09-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"114449464","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 1996-09-18DOI: 10.1109/IPCC.1996.552602
R. Krull
When readers consume the products of technical communicators, their brains detect, identify, interpret, decide about and act on information. While to an observer these processes may seem smoothly linked they are performed by different parts of readers' brains and operate differently. Technical communicators may be able to produce more usable information if they take readers' brain processes into account. The paper provides a rough guide to some fundamental features of brain anatomy and functioning.
{"title":"How the brain acts on technical information","authors":"R. Krull","doi":"10.1109/IPCC.1996.552602","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/IPCC.1996.552602","url":null,"abstract":"When readers consume the products of technical communicators, their brains detect, identify, interpret, decide about and act on information. While to an observer these processes may seem smoothly linked they are performed by different parts of readers' brains and operate differently. Technical communicators may be able to produce more usable information if they take readers' brain processes into account. The paper provides a rough guide to some fundamental features of brain anatomy and functioning.","PeriodicalId":375251,"journal":{"name":"IPCC 96: Communication on the Fast Track. IPCC 96 Proceedings","volume":"73 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1996-09-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"127402443","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 1996-09-18DOI: 10.1109/IPCC.1996.552703
E. Bacher
Random access collections of information are not new: books, magazines, and newspapers are effective ways to package and deliver information that can be scanned, indexed, and searched. The explosion of hypertext media in the last several years, especially the World Wide Web, has been accompanied by lots of ranting about new paradigms and a revolution in information delivery. We look at some of the pros and cons of hypertext, and then get into some specific examples of effective techniques to deliver information to users effectively.
{"title":"Creating effective hypertext","authors":"E. Bacher","doi":"10.1109/IPCC.1996.552703","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/IPCC.1996.552703","url":null,"abstract":"Random access collections of information are not new: books, magazines, and newspapers are effective ways to package and deliver information that can be scanned, indexed, and searched. The explosion of hypertext media in the last several years, especially the World Wide Web, has been accompanied by lots of ranting about new paradigms and a revolution in information delivery. We look at some of the pros and cons of hypertext, and then get into some specific examples of effective techniques to deliver information to users effectively.","PeriodicalId":375251,"journal":{"name":"IPCC 96: Communication on the Fast Track. IPCC 96 Proceedings","volume":"1 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1996-09-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"121414453","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 1996-09-18DOI: 10.1109/IPCC.1996.552596
J. Lane
Cavewalls and cuneiform came to mind when I began to ponder the amazing palette of multimedia that we can mix on our canvas today. An ideal mix of abstract and multisensory alphabets is possible in the technical communication process. With 3D graphics, virtual reality, and audio and video interactions we come closer to inserting a self, time, and multisensory relationships into the GUI. I document the process I went through, to better define the heuristics which may help guide the process-approaches to dealing with Seven Slippery GUI Intersections for which multimedia is the ideal intervention.
{"title":"Multimedia and the user","authors":"J. Lane","doi":"10.1109/IPCC.1996.552596","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/IPCC.1996.552596","url":null,"abstract":"Cavewalls and cuneiform came to mind when I began to ponder the amazing palette of multimedia that we can mix on our canvas today. An ideal mix of abstract and multisensory alphabets is possible in the technical communication process. With 3D graphics, virtual reality, and audio and video interactions we come closer to inserting a self, time, and multisensory relationships into the GUI. I document the process I went through, to better define the heuristics which may help guide the process-approaches to dealing with Seven Slippery GUI Intersections for which multimedia is the ideal intervention.","PeriodicalId":375251,"journal":{"name":"IPCC 96: Communication on the Fast Track. IPCC 96 Proceedings","volume":" 16","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1996-09-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"132124320","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 1996-09-18DOI: 10.1109/IPCC.1996.552583
J. Fisher
Technical communicators today write information for a wide range of media and audiences, many will not read English. Consideration has to be given to how the writer's work will stand up to translation and how the material will be received by those from other cultures. Business information systems are usually written and presented in English with online help and error messages in English and with graphics and icons designed from a western cultural perspective. This paper presents a project which involved translation of online help from English to Chinese. It describes the approach taken and discusses some of the associated difficulties.
{"title":"Communicating internationally with users: the cultural and language implications for translating electronically delivered information","authors":"J. Fisher","doi":"10.1109/IPCC.1996.552583","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/IPCC.1996.552583","url":null,"abstract":"Technical communicators today write information for a wide range of media and audiences, many will not read English. Consideration has to be given to how the writer's work will stand up to translation and how the material will be received by those from other cultures. Business information systems are usually written and presented in English with online help and error messages in English and with graphics and icons designed from a western cultural perspective. This paper presents a project which involved translation of online help from English to Chinese. It describes the approach taken and discusses some of the associated difficulties.","PeriodicalId":375251,"journal":{"name":"IPCC 96: Communication on the Fast Track. IPCC 96 Proceedings","volume":"1 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1996-09-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"133516811","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 1996-09-18DOI: 10.1109/IPCC.1996.552589
P. Reimold
Developing greater assertiveness can be key to enhancing your work and career as well as your personal life. Almost everybody can improve in this area. The author describes a practical approach to moving from timid, negative, or aggressive communication styles toward a positive, assertive stance. This will get results not only in tough one-on-one communication but also in presentations especially as you deal with difficult questions. The approach has two basic components. (1) Identify any destructive or self destructive communication patterns you may have and their reasons. Then begin improving those patterns by working "from the outside in", or simply changing what you say and do. (2) Learn a protective framework for difficult situations that increases your chances of communicating well under pressure. This framework involves: buying time with a safe "minimal response"; reducing resistance and surprises through realistic preparation that considers goals, needs, and complete "scenarios", including worst possible outcomes; conducting the discussion by setting a context of goodwill and then using active and supportive listening, focused questions, main-point-first information style, and firm yet friendly language and body language; keeping focused on getting concrete agreements and then following up promptly on them.
{"title":"Becoming more assertive in your communications","authors":"P. Reimold","doi":"10.1109/IPCC.1996.552589","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/IPCC.1996.552589","url":null,"abstract":"Developing greater assertiveness can be key to enhancing your work and career as well as your personal life. Almost everybody can improve in this area. The author describes a practical approach to moving from timid, negative, or aggressive communication styles toward a positive, assertive stance. This will get results not only in tough one-on-one communication but also in presentations especially as you deal with difficult questions. The approach has two basic components. (1) Identify any destructive or self destructive communication patterns you may have and their reasons. Then begin improving those patterns by working \"from the outside in\", or simply changing what you say and do. (2) Learn a protective framework for difficult situations that increases your chances of communicating well under pressure. This framework involves: buying time with a safe \"minimal response\"; reducing resistance and surprises through realistic preparation that considers goals, needs, and complete \"scenarios\", including worst possible outcomes; conducting the discussion by setting a context of goodwill and then using active and supportive listening, focused questions, main-point-first information style, and firm yet friendly language and body language; keeping focused on getting concrete agreements and then following up promptly on them.","PeriodicalId":375251,"journal":{"name":"IPCC 96: Communication on the Fast Track. IPCC 96 Proceedings","volume":"102 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1996-09-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"128235385","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 1996-09-18DOI: 10.1109/IPCC.1996.552577
D. Way
In getting to the next millennium, we are confronted with a serious challenge that threatens the catastrophic collapse of our information systems infrastructure. The effort to deal with that will, of necessity, lead us to new ways of understanding and managing our data and information systems. This paper explores the nature of this infrastructure and some new concepts and techniques that will be needed to save it. If applied successfully, such concepts and techniques will transform the way we manage our data and information systems.
{"title":"Managing technical data and information systems into the next millennium","authors":"D. Way","doi":"10.1109/IPCC.1996.552577","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/IPCC.1996.552577","url":null,"abstract":"In getting to the next millennium, we are confronted with a serious challenge that threatens the catastrophic collapse of our information systems infrastructure. The effort to deal with that will, of necessity, lead us to new ways of understanding and managing our data and information systems. This paper explores the nature of this infrastructure and some new concepts and techniques that will be needed to save it. If applied successfully, such concepts and techniques will transform the way we manage our data and information systems.","PeriodicalId":375251,"journal":{"name":"IPCC 96: Communication on the Fast Track. IPCC 96 Proceedings","volume":"87 1 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1996-09-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"134061728","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 1996-09-18DOI: 10.1109/IPCC.1996.552603
T. Warren
Task analysis involves several stages. Two preliminary stages that writers frequently forget are determining what information the user needs to perform the task and what tasks are required for the user to reach a goal. All too often writers fail to understand what knowledge and skills users already possess and which they need. I look at task analysis as it applies to designing instructions, focusing on these two preliminary levels. I also examine two samples and apply these levels to them.
{"title":"Improve your instructions: begin with the basics","authors":"T. Warren","doi":"10.1109/IPCC.1996.552603","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/IPCC.1996.552603","url":null,"abstract":"Task analysis involves several stages. Two preliminary stages that writers frequently forget are determining what information the user needs to perform the task and what tasks are required for the user to reach a goal. All too often writers fail to understand what knowledge and skills users already possess and which they need. I look at task analysis as it applies to designing instructions, focusing on these two preliminary levels. I also examine two samples and apply these levels to them.","PeriodicalId":375251,"journal":{"name":"IPCC 96: Communication on the Fast Track. IPCC 96 Proceedings","volume":"27 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1996-09-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"116379338","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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