Online Information Course (Warning: Long Msg)....

[Brad Mehlenbacher <brad_m -at- UNITY -dot- NCSU -dot- EDU>]

Hi Folks-->I thought you might be interested in my dream course syllabus,
which has only recently been approved by the Department here at NCSU. Any
reactions/feedback/snorts of disgust are always appreciated. Yours, Brad.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
>> Brad Mehlenbacher         Phone:     (919) 515-4138           <<
>> Assistant Professor       Fax:       (919) 515-7856           <<
>> Technical Communication                                       <<
>>                           E-mail:    brad_m -at- unity -dot- ncsu -dot- edu    <<
>> English Department                                            <<
>> NC State University    You're working too hard if you analyze <<
>> Raleigh, NC 27695-8105 interfaces in episodes of Star Trek... <<
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

ENG 617: ONLINE INFORMATION DESIGN AND EVALUATION

DESCRIPTION:

Creation of online information and tools that support writing and reading.
Use of workstation-based technology. Theory and practice of human-computer
interaction. Communication and collaboration online.  Prototype design of
an online publishing and information delivery system.  Exposure to the
Internet as a research tool.

JUSTIFICATION:

Increasingly, students in the M.S. in Technical Communication, as well as
acting as technical writers and editors are being expected to exhibit
expertise in the development of online support systems, hypertext, and
multimedia systems, human-computer interfaces, and Internet tools. This
course introduces students to the many theoretical and practical issues
being explored by the designers of online information. As such, ENG 617
complements and extends the technical writing and document design
assignments offered in ENG 521.

Early in the course, students are introduced to the history of document
design and to recent, concerted efforts to move what we have learned about
producing persuasive, comprehensible, and usable documents into online
media. While it is clear that much remains to be learned about how people
learn from, use, and attempt to accomplish tasks with hardcopy
documentation, researchers are only just beginning to grapple with these
issues as they apply to "texts" which incorporate video, animation,
graphics, sound, and enormous storage, maintenance, and reuse
capabilities.

As the course is designed to introduce students to the new electronic
frontier challenging contemporary technical communicators, ENG 617 will
operate, largely, as a virtual graduate course. That is, students will be
trained to plan, collaborate, write, evaluate, and revise documents
online. And, since almost 40 percent of the companies located in Research
Triangle Park have adopted Ventura, Interleaf, PageMaker, BookMaster, and
FrameMaker (publishing systems that support the creation of large, online
hypertexts), students will collaboratively create online texts in these
environments.

Finally, students will experience, firsthand, the strengths and weaknesses
entailed in reading and writing in online environments by designing a
prototype online document publishing and delivery system.  Indeed, the
primary goal of the course is to teach students to apply principles for
the effective design of hardcopy texts to the development of virtual texts
and, ultimately, to better prepare them for research efforts currently
being carried out at such companies as AT&T, IBM, SAS Institute, BNR/NT,
Glaxo, Apple, and DEC.

COURSE OBJECTIVES:

Students will

% learn the major theories, methodologies, and practices in human-computer
interaction and online information design.

% develop skills in designing and evaluating particular interfaces, online
information systems, and document publishing and delivery systems.

% solve writing problem involving computers, workstation-based technology,
hypertext and hypermedia systems, and human-computer interfaces.

COURSE REQUIREMENTS:

ENG 617 is designed as both a lecture- and seminar-based course, that is,
students will be expected to lead a class discussion on a research area or
topic of their choice (e.g., virtual reality, intelligent help systems,
direct manipulation interfaces, etc.) at least once during the semester
(depending on the size of the class).

The course will require one major online design or evaluation project, a
final exam (taken online), and a series of short, practical assignments in
online communication, experimental design, and interface design and
evaluation.

TEXTS/READINGS:

Duffy, T. M., Palmer, J. E., & Mehlenbacher, B. (1992). _Online Help:
Design and Evaluation_. Norwood, NJ: Ablex. ISBN: 0-89391-848-2. Price:
$26.95.

Penzias, A. (1989). _Ideas and Information: Managing in a High-Tech
World_. NY, NY: Touchstone. ISBN: 0-671-69196-1. Price: $8.95.

Woolley, B. (1993). _Virtual Worlds: A Journey in Hyper and Hyperreality_.
NY, NY: Penguin. ISBN: 0-14-015439-6. Price: $12.00.

Readings on reserve in the NCSU library.

Additional texts, abstracts, and bibliographic materials, located on the
Internet (e.g., servers at RPI, Ohio State, MIT, and so on) will act as
supplementary resources.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES:

Access to the Eos UNIX Workstation environment (approved by the NCSU
Computing Center) and the Humanities Computing Laboratory.

ENG 617--SAMPLE SYLLABUS:

***Introducing the Rhetoric of Online Information Design (Week 1)***

% Hardcopy versus online information: differences, similarities, and
design decisions.

% Information design as problem solving in ill-structured communication
situations: persuading, engaging, and instructing computer users.

% Readings:

Mehlenbacher, B. (1993). Concerning SIGDOC'92: Text Transformation and the
World of Multimedia Documentation. _The Journal of Computer Documentation,
17 (4)_, 23-32.

Schriver, K. A. (1989). Document Design From 1980 to 1989: Challenges That
Remain. _Technical Communication, 36 (4)_, 316-331.

Woolley, B. (1993). _Virtual Worlds: A Journey in Hyper and Hyperreality_.
NY, NY: Penguin.

***Anticipating Audience: Modeling Online Users (Week 2)***

% Users as audience: what reading, writing, and cognitive science research
teaches us about online audiences.

% Readings:

Carroll, J. M. & Olson, J. R. (1988). Mental Models in Human-Computer
Interaction. _Handbook of Human-Computer Interaction_. M. Helander (Ed.).
NY, NY: North-Holland, 45-65.

de Haan, G., van der Veer, G. C., & van Vliet, J. C. (1992). Formal
Modeling Techniques in Human-Computer Interaction. _Cognitive Ergonomics:
Contributions From Experimental Psychology_. G. C. van der Veer, S.
Bagnara, & G. A. M. Kempen (Eds.). Amsterdam: North-Holland, Elsevier
Science Publishers, 27-67.

Hayes, J. R. (1989). Writing Research: The Analysis of a Very Complex
Task. _Complex Information Processing: The Impact of Herbert A. Simon_.
D. Klahr & K. Kotovsky (Eds.). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum, 209-234.

***Writing in an Electronic Place (Week 3)***

% The development of word processors, idea processors, and SuperBooks;
the implications of technology on writing.

% Readings:

Akscyn, R., McCracken, D., & Yoder, E. (1988). KMS: A Distributed
Hypermedia System for Managing Knowledge in Organizations.
_Communications of the ACM, 31_, 820-835.

Erickson, T. & Salomon, G. (1991). Designing a Desktop Information System:
Observations and Issues. _Proceedings of ACM CHI'91 Conference on Human
Factors in Computing Systems_. NY, NY: Association for Computing
Machinery, 49-51.

% Assignment Due: Task analysis of everyday decision-making processes:
problematizing models of human problems-solving behavior.

***Reading in an Electronic Place (Week 4)***

% Transforming genres: online tours, tutorials, demos, trouble-shooting
guides, and presentations; studies of how users read online information.

% Readings:

Cunningham, D. J., Duffy, T. M., & Knuth, R. A. (1993). The Textbook of
the Future. _Hypertext: A Psychological Perspective_. C. McKnight, A.
Dillon, & J. Richardson (Eds.). Chichester, England: Ellis Horwood, 19-49.

Gomez, L. M., Egan, D. E., & Bowers, C. (1985). Learning to use a Text
Editor: Some Learner Characteristics That Predict Success. _Human-Computer
Interaction, 2_, 1-23.

Lewis, C. & Mack, R. (1981). _Learning to Use a Text Processing System:
Evidence From "Thinking Aloud" Protocols_. NY, NY: Association for
Computing Machinery, Communication, 387-392.

***Designing Texts, Hypertexts, and Multimedia (Week 5)***

% Online documents: user goals, operations, methods, and strategies; what
we've learned about users and their online activities.

% Readings:

Kellogg, R. T. (1986). Designing Idea Processors for Document Composition.
_Behaviour Research Methods, Instruments, and Computers, 18 (2)_, 18-28.

Kukla, C. D., Clemens, E. A., Morse, R. S., & Cash, D. (1992). Designing
Effective Systems: A Tool Approach. _Usability: Turning Technologies into
Tools_. P. S. Alder & T. A. Winograd (Eds.). NY, NY: Oxford UP, 41-65.

Marshall, C., Nelson, C., & Gardiner, M. M. (1987). Design Guidelines.
_Applying Cognitive Psychology to User-Interface Design_. M. M. Gardiner
& B. Christie (Eds.). NY, NY: John Wiley & Sons, 221-278.

***Evaluating Texts, Hypertexts, and Multimedia (Week 6)***

% Evaluating online designs: protocols, benchmarking, beta-testing, the
Wizard of Oz technique, and Participatory Design projects.

% Readings:

Boyle, C. & Ratliff, K. (1992). A Survey and Classification of Hypertext
Documentation Systems. _IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication,
35 (2)_, 98-105.

Halasz, F. G. (1988). Reflections on NoteCards: Seven Issues for the Next
Generation of Hypermedia Systems. _Communications of the ACM, 31 (7)_,
836-852.

Walker, J. H. (1987). Issues and Strategies for Online Documentation.
_IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication, PC-30_, 235-248.

Yankelovich, N., Haan, B., Meyrowitz, N. K., & Drucker, S. M. (1988).
Intermedia: The Concept and Construction of a Seamless Information
Environment. _Computer, January_, 81-96.

***Attempting Self-Descriptiveness in Systems Design (Week 7)***

% Problematizing notions such as technological transparency and
self-descriptiveness; examining the dichotomy between system functionality
and system ease-of-use.

% Readings:

Brown, G. M. (1992). Knowledge Retrieval and Frequency Maps. _Cognitive
Ergonomics: Contributions From Experimental Psychology_. G. C. van der
Veer, S. Bagnara, & G. A. M. Kempen (Eds.). Amsterdam: North-Holland,
Elsevier Science Publishers, 97-110.

Stefik, M., Foster, G., Bobrow, D. G., Kahn, K., Lanning, S., & Suchman,
L. (1987). Beyond the Chalkboard: Computer Support for Collaboration and
Problem Solving in Meetings. _Communications of the ACM, 30 (1)_, 32-47.

***Overcoming the Human-Computer Vocabulary Problem (Week 8)***

% Models of human activities and problem representations; computer syntax
and semantics.

% Readings:

Landauer, T., Egan, D., Remde, J., Lesk, M., Lochbaum, C., & Ketchum, D.
(1993). Enhancing the Usability of Text Through Computer Delivery and
Formative Evaluation: The SuperBook Project. _Hypertext: A Psychological
Perspective_. C. McKnight, A. Dillon, & J. Richardson (Eds.). Chichester,
England: Ellis Horwood, 71-136.

Penzias, A. (1989). _Ideas and Information: Managing in a High-Tech
World_. NY, NY: Touchstone.

% Assignment Due: First prototype/draft of online support or delivery system.

***Achieving Dialogue Design and Error Recovery Support (Week 9)***

% Display organization and design: titles, labels, instructions,
definitions, procedures, and computer dialogue.

% User-generated versus system-generated online information: errors,
warnings, alarms, alerts, and the development of intelligent online
information systems.

% Readings:

Booth, P. A. (1992). Errors and Theory in Human-Computer Interaction.
_Cognitive Ergonomics: Contributions From Experimental Psychology_. G. C.
van der Veer, S. Bagnara, & G. A. M. Kempen (Eds.). Amsterdam:
North-Holland, Elsevier Science Publishers, 69-96.

Duin, A. H. & Redish, J. G. (1992). How Users Interact With Online
Information: Applying Research to Design Efforts. _Beyond the Printed
Page: Online Documentation: Proceedings of the Second Conference on
Quality in Documentation_. Waterloo, Ont.: The University of Waterloo, 71-96.

Hartley, J. R. & Smith, M. (1988). Question Answering and Explanation
Giving in Online Help Systems. _Artificial Intelligence and Human
Learning: Intelligent Computer-Aided Instruction_. J. Self (Ed.). London,
England: Chapman and Hall, 338-360.

***Supporting User Control, Navigation, and Flexibility (Week 10)***

% Exploring various researchersU attempts to support navigation and
customization in virtual spaces.

% Readings:

Chalfonte, B. L., Fish, R. S., & Kraut, R. E. (1991). Expressive Richness:
A Comparison of Speech and Text as Media for Revision.  _Proceedings of
ACM CHI'91 Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems_. NY, NY:
Association for Computing Machinery, 21-26.

Lewis, C. (1986). Understanding What's Happening in System Interactions.
_User Centered System Design_. D. A. Norman & S. W. Draper (Eds.).
Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum, 171-185.

Mehlenbacher, B. (1992). Navigating Online Information: A Characterization
of Extralinguistic Factors That Influence User Behavior.  _SIGDOC'92: The
10th Annual International Conference Proceedings_. NY, NY: The Association
for Computing Machinery (ACM), Special Interest Group on Documentation
(SIGDOC), 35-46.

% Assignment Due: Presentation of data collected about user behavior with
an online system, desktop publishing software, or word processor, and a
summary report.

***Designing Menus for Ease-of-use and Comprehensibility (Week 11)***

% Designing menu structures that support searching, recall, and learning
over time.

% Readings:

Halgren, S. L. & Cooke, N. J. (1993). Towards Ecological Validity in Menu
Research. _International Journal of Man-Machine Studies, 39_, 51-70.

Mehlenbacher, B., Duffy, T. M., & Palmer, J. E. (1989). Finding
Information on a Menu: Linking Menu Organization to the User's Goals.
_Human-Computer Interaction, 4 (3)_, 231-251.

Fischer, G. & Stevens, C. (1991). Information Access in Complex, Poorly
Structured Information Spaces. Proceedings of the ACM CHI'91 _Conference
on Human Factors in Computing Systems_. NY, NY: Association for Computing
Machinery, 49-51.

***Providing Online Help (Week 12)***

% A nine-step model of user behavior with online help systems; job-aiding
systems versus instructional/tutorial systems.

% Readings:

Duffy, T. M., Palmer, J. E., & Mehlenbacher, B. (1992). _Online Help:
Design and Evaluation_. Norwood, NJ: Ablex.

Elkerton, J. (1990). Online Aiding for Human-Computer Interfaces. _The
Handbook of Human-Computer Interaction_. M. Helander (Ed.). Amsterdam:
North-Holland, 345-364.

Sellen, A. & Nicol. A. (1990). Building User-Centered Online Help. _The
Art of Human-Computer Interface Design_. B. Laurel (Ed.). Reading, MA:
Addison-Wesley, 143-154.

% Assignment Due: Second prototype/draft of online support or delivery
system.

***Exploring the Internet, or the "Global SuperHighway" (Week 13)***

% E-mail, multi-user databases, Mosaic, Gophers, WWW, Ftping, Telneting,
and a host of other Internet resources for technical communicators.

% Readings:

To be assigned. Texts located in virtual libraries around the globe.

***Anticipating our Technological Future (Week 14)***

% The Knowledge Revolution: the technologizing of information for the
year 2000. The Internet as information disseminator and knowledge producer.

% Research on online developments originating from corporations such as
BNR/NT, SAS Institute, AT&T, BellCore, Apple, DEC, IBM, and Microsoft.

% Assignment Due: Finished online support or delivery system project.