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Subject:RE: So now we are content engineers? From:"Janoff, Steven" <Steven -dot- Janoff -at- ga -dot- com> To:Milan DavidoviÄ <milan -dot- lists -at- gmail -dot- com>, techwr-l <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com> Date:Wed, 6 Nov 2013 17:38:37 -0800
Primarily cognition and learning-based research. That might be more the province of usability or UX (or cognitive science), and in fact the research might already exist out there.
I'd like to see things move beyond what was done in the 80's and 90's. I'd like to see something that is sort of a next step after minimalism, if there is such a thing, and maybe an update on screen capture research, how effective if at all, what kinds, etc. (That's a little more pedestrian; but practical.) More research is probably also needed on the new media for consuming information, mainly smartphones and tablets. Maybe also ebooks but that's a lesser market. I mean, I spend most of my day consuming information from a 21-inch monitor.
But my personal area of interest is in Information Architecture, Information Design, and those sorts of things. Seems like a lot of the richest work was done in the late 80's and early to mid 90's and then just dropped off.
I would like to see studies that indicate what kinds of information design are effective in aiding the learning process. We had a recent thread where someone wanted to use a table layout for the steps of a procedure. I'd think a simple study could be devised where you take some basic information, present it in a table versus in a linear, down-the-page format, and see what happens. If 90% of the people learn effectively from the linear presentation and only 10% learn better from a table, assuming a good study, then that argues against using tables (maybe not for everything, but you'd have a beginning).
I realize different people learn differently, but there have got to be some common themes or else we're doing it wrong or right just by a shot in the dark.
I'm honestly not sure what our field is about anymore. It was very clear cut in the 90's. I know what my job demands, and my task of the moment, but in the longer-term picture, it's tough to get one's bearings. I don't necessarily mean that from a career standpoint but from a "you are here" standpoint.
Steve
On Wednesday, November 06, 2013 1:41 PM, Milan Davidovic
> What sort of research are you thinking of?
>
> --Milan DavidoviÄ
On Wed, Nov 6, 2013 at 4:33 PM, Janoff, Steven <Steven -dot- Janoff -at- ga -dot- com> wrote:
> PS - I wish more of the leading-edge thinkers in our field would spend more time doing more research studies as opposed to only opining. But that does take a lot of time, and there are bills to pay. I'm sure they all work, by the way. And probably harder than I do.
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