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Subject:CHI SIG on Documentation Usability From:TE <te -at- TECED -dot- COM> Date:Thu, 20 Mar 1997 12:48:15 -0500
At next week's CHI 97 Conference in Atlanta, Laurie Kantner and I will
lead a Special Interest Group on "Current Issues in Assessing and
Improving Documentation Usability." The SIG will take place on Thursday,
March 27th, from 2:30 to 4:00 p.m., in the Cairo/Vancouver Room.
This SIG--now in its 8th annual session--is a forum on human factors in
computer documentation. It will provide a specific opportunity to discuss
recent developments in documentation usability (print, online, WWW-based,
and performance support).
The session structure is informal discussion, moderated by the session
leaders. We'll begin by creating and prioritizing a list of specific
topics for discussion, which may include:
o Integrating documentation and rest-of-product usability testing
o Documentation on the Web (quality issues, update schedules, work
processes)
o Techniques for collecting documentation usability data early in the
product development cycle
o Structuring document libraries (what in print, what online, what both)
o The documentation/help interface (are we in the same product?)
o Changing role of the documentor in software development (as information
designers, as UI designers)
o Cost-justifying documentation usability programs
We'll take detailed meeting notes of the session and make them available
to the SIG participants after the conference. Feel free to e-mail or call
me with any questions about this session. Beginning Saturday March 22nd,
I'll be at the Hyatt (405-577-1234).
Everyone is welcome and invited to this session. Please come--the quality
of our discussion depends on you!
Stephanie Rosenbaum
Tec-Ed, Inc.
P.O. Box 1905
Ann Arbor, MI 48106 USA
Phone: 1-313-995-1010
Fax: 1-313-995-1025
E-mail: stephanie -at- teced -dot- com
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