Brief Survey: Information Design Responsibilities (Optional, of course)

[DEB COFFMAN <NGADC -at- TTACS -dot- TTU -dot- EDU>]

TO:     Practicing Professional Technical Communicators / Information
Designers

FROM:   Deborah A. Coffman, Texas Tech University Dept. of Technical
Communication (ngadc -at- ttacs -dot- ttu -dot- edu)

DATE:   April 22, 1998

SUBJ:   Pilot Survey: Determining Information Design Responsibilities


Dear TECHWR-L Member:

If you are a practicing Technical Communicator (corporate, contracted or
consultant), will you please take approx. 10 minutes to complete a brief
survey (20 questions) to determine the responsibilities of the Information
Design field as they apply to you?

PURPOSE
Initially, your information and insight will help me to complete a graduate
research project.  Also, it may indicate a need for a subsequent and more
detailed study of where our field is today and how we can proactively direct
our professional futures.

RESPONDING
Indicate your answers by placing a capital "X" to the immediate left of the
corresponding answer you have chosen.  Where more than a simple choice is
requested, insert and type your own brief answer.

TRANSMISSION
   E-mail:  Use the survey included below (as part of this message), and
insert your answers before sending it to me OFF-LIST at ngadc -at- ttacs -dot- ttu -dot- edu
(my e-mail cannot accept attached files).
   Internet:  Use the same survey (a cleaner version) at
http://english.ttu.edu/studentwebs/coffman/5363/survey.doc and rename and save
it as "survey_xxx.doc" (where "xxx" can be anything you choose and will merely
serve to avoid copying over others' responses).

HERE'S THE SURVEY

DEMOGRAPHICS
1.      Highest Educational Degree earned:
                HS Diploma/GED
                Certificate
                Associate Degree (2 year)
                BA/BS
                MA/MS
                PhD
2.      Highest Technical Communication Degree earned:
                N/A
                HS Diploma/GED
                Certificate
                Associate Degree (2 year)
                BA/BS
                MA/MS
                PhD
3.      Current Position Title:
4.      Brief Description of Position:
5.      Number of Years in Current Position:
                <2      2-5     5-10    10-15   15+
6.      Total Years of Employment as a Technical Communicator
                <2      2-5     5-10    10-15   15+

OVERVIEW -- INFORMATION DESIGN
Prior research has told us that people in Information Design positions
typically complete some or all of these kinds of activities: Project
Management, Professional Development, Document Design, Writing,
Revision/Editing, Usability and Marketing/Justification.  Please consider your
typical Information Design workweek and the activities you most commonly
perform (whether as a manager, collaborator, subordinate, trainer and/or
learner).

7.      In an average week, how many hours do you spend working on all
Information Design tasks (versus other responsibilities and/or general
administrative tasks)?
                <20     20-29   30-39   40-49   50+

8.      What percentage of the time spent on all Information Design tasks is
spent working on:
        a.      Hard Copy End Products?
                None    1%-25%  26%-50% 51%-75% 76%-100%
        b.      Online Interface End Products (everything online except
help/tutorial tasks)?
                None    1%-25%  26%-50% 51%-75% 76%-100%
        c.      Online Help/Tutorial End Products?
                None    1%-25%  26%-50% 51%-75% 76%-100%
        d.      Other End Products (i.e., audio, video)?
                None    1%-25%  26%-50% 51%-75% 76%-100%
                If applicable, please briefly list these other end products.

TECHNOLOGY
9.      Briefly describe the type(s) of computers and software you use
primarily (at least 25% of the time) for your Information Design projects?

10.     What percentage of the time spent on all Information Design tasks is
spent using a computer (desktop, mainframe, LAN/WAN intranet, and/or
internet)?
        a.      The current employer expectation
                None    1%-25%  26%-50% 51%-75% 76%-100%
        b.      The actual current reality
                None    1%-25%  26%-50% 51%-75% 76%-100%
        c.      In the realistic future (in 5 years)
                None    1%-25%  26%-50% 51%-75% 76%-100%
        d.      In the ideal future (5 years)
                None    1%-25%  26%-50% 51%-75% 76%-100%

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT -- TECHNOLOGY
11.     What percentage of the time spent on all Information Design tasks is
spent on hardware, software and other technological training?
        a.      The current employer expectation
                None    1%-25%  26%-50% 51%-75% 76%-100%
        b.      The actual current reality
                None    1%-25%  26%-50% 51%-75% 76%-100%
        c.      In the realistic future (in 5 years)
                None    1%-25%  26%-50% 51%-75% 76%-100%
        d.      In the ideal future (5 years)
                None    1%-25%  26%-50% 51%-75% 76%-100%

PROJECT MANAGEMENT
12.     What percentage of the time spent on all Information Design tasks is
spent on administrative or management tasks (i.e., meetings, scheduling,
paperwork)?
        a.      The current employer expectation
                None    1%-25%  26%-50% 51%-75% 76%-100%
        b.      The actual current reality
                None    1%-25%  26%-50% 51%-75% 76%-100%
        c.      In the realistic future (in 5 years)
                None    1%-25%  26%-50% 51%-75% 76%-100%
        d.      In the ideal future (5 years)
                None    1%-25%  26%-50% 51%-75% 76%-100%

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT -- RESEARCH
13.     What percentage of the time spent on all Information Design tasks is
spent on obtaining project-related background material designed to level or
enhance the knowledge of the content area of your projects?
        a.      The current employer expectation
                None    1%-25%  26%-50% 51%-75% 76%-100%
        b.      The actual current reality
                None    1%-25%  26%-50% 51%-75% 76%-100%
        c.      In the realistic future (in 5 years)
                None    1%-25%  26%-50% 51%-75% 76%-100%
        d.      In the ideal future (5 years)
                None    1%-25%  26%-50% 51%-75% 76%-100%

DOCUMENT DESIGN
14.     What percentage of the time spent on all Information Design tasks is
spent on document design?
        a.      The current employer expectation
                None    1%-25%  26%-50% 51%-75% 76%-100%
        b.      The actual current reality
                None    1%-25%  26%-50% 51%-75% 76%-100%
        c.      In the realistic future (in 5 years)
                None    1%-25%  26%-50% 51%-75% 76%-100%
        d.      In the ideal future (5 years)
                None    1%-25%  26%-50% 51%-75% 76%-100%

WRITING
15.     What percentage of the time spent on all Information Design tasks is
spent writing all initial drafts of the document (except substantive revision
and surface-level editing, which will be addressed in later questions)?
        a.      The current employer expectation
                None    1%-25%  26%-50% 51%-75% 76%-100%
        b.      The actual current reality
                None    1%-25%  26%-50% 51%-75% 76%-100%
        c.      In the realistic future (in 5 years)
                None    1%-25%  26%-50% 51%-75% 76%-100%
        d.      In the ideal future (5 years)
                None    1%-25%  26%-50% 51%-75% 76%-100%

REVISION -- SUBSTANTIVE
16.     What percentage of the time spent on all Information Design tasks is
spent on performing substantive revision of document content?
        a.      The current employer expectation
                None    1%-25%  26%-50% 51%-75% 76%-100%
        b.      The actual current reality
                None    1%-25%  26%-50% 51%-75% 76%-100%
        c.      In the realistic future (in 5 years)
                None    1%-25%  26%-50% 51%-75% 76%-100%
        d.      In the ideal future (5 years)
                None    1%-25%  26%-50% 51%-75% 76%-100%

EDITING -- SURFACE
17.     What percentage of the time spent on all Information Design tasks is
spent on performing surface-level editing of document grammar, style,
structure and/or format?
        a.      The current employer expectation
                None    1%-25%  26%-50% 51%-75% 76%-100%
        b.      The actual current reality
                None    1%-25%  26%-50% 51%-75% 76%-100%
        c.      In the realistic future (in 5 years)
                None    1%-25%  26%-50% 51%-75% 76%-100%
        d.      In the ideal future (5 years)
                None    1%-25%  26%-50% 51%-75% 76%-100%

USABILITY
18.     What percentage of the time spent on all Information Design tasks is
spent on testing document usability (formal and/or ad-hoc tests)?
        a.      The current employer expectation
                None    1%-25%  26%-50% 51%-75% 76%-100%
        b.      The actual current reality
                None    1%-25%  26%-50% 51%-75% 76%-100%
        c.      In the realistic future (in 5 years)
                None    1%-25%  26%-50% 51%-75% 76%-100%
        d.      In the ideal future (5 years)
                None    1%-25%  26%-50% 51%-75% 76%-100%

MARKETING/JUSTIFICATION
19.     What percentage of the time spent on all Information Design tasks is
spent on marketing/justifying your documents to management and/or end user?
        a.      The current employer expectation
                None    1%-25%  26%-50% 51%-75% 76%-100%
        b.      The actual current reality
                None    1%-25%  26%-50% 51%-75% 76%-100%
        c.      In the realistic future (in 5 years)
                None    1%-25%  26%-50% 51%-75% 76%-100%
        d.      In the ideal future (5 years)
                None    1%-25%  26%-50% 51%-75% 76%-100%

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS
20.     Use this space to add any information which you feel will help the
Information Design SIG and others in our field better understand the current
position and future expectations of the Information Design specialist.

THANK YOU
Your time in completing this survey and the insight you have offered will
prove invaluable to my research project and, ultimately, to our field.  If you
wish copies of the assimilated data (I'll probably send a synopsis to the list), or
if I can be of any other assistance, e-mail me at ngadc -at- ttacs -dot- ttu -dot- edu -dot-