Lela V. Nelson
(lnelson3 at emich)

(un)Fortunately, the End is Here -- Now for Connections.
In this class I have learned more than I can say and I knew more than I thought. It was just a matter of applying what I already knew to ways that would be beneficial to me in this class. According to Thomas T. Barker, the author of our textbook, software documentation is a form of writing for both print and online media that supports the efficient and effective use of software in its intended environment. And that’s all fine and good. In 428, we have paid attention to that as well as recognizing how important the user is and what task oriented software is. It’s a plus if the software you are working with has cool features. However, if it’s not user centered where your user can comfortably work with the software and understand the concepts you are working with, the software hasn’t achieved what its goals should be. The user should be able to learn the objective and also know why they are learning this.

Coming into this course, I was somewhat discouraged. The phrase, "software documentation", can scare people off just by the sound of the title. I was willing to face what others may fret going into and see for myself. And, believe me, I saw. Was it what I thought, no, but that’s a good thing. Because I recently decided to major in Technical Writing, the technological side of writing was somewhat new to me. This, along with English 424(Technical Communication) is my first classes in the Tech Comm. major. I had worked with online software approximately 3% of my college career. Any of the computer work I did was using Microsoft Word, Power Point and I also used the internet for email and searches.

Setting up my people.emich.edu account was a challenge at first. Now, I can and have shown someone else how to activate their account. That’s a step up for me. I was able to show someone else what I had learned; therefore, it didn’t just come off as a step by step training thing. It was more like I was taught what and why, and not just what. Unfortunately, it’s not always like that. I remember trying to set up my Universal Remote for my DVD player. The documentation was poorly written, lacking explanations. I couldn’t get my remote to work once I lost the directions that came with the remote. I didn’t know why I was pressing the buttons I was to set it up. I just knew that without that sheet, I couldn’t watch Mona Lisa Smile or Meet Joe Black or any other DVD without that subtitle on because I needed the remote to take the feature off.

The goal of this course has been to confront the common assumption that most instruction manuals “train” rather than “teach”. In 428, we have worked at going against this assumption. Anything we did, we worked at being able to have our user conceptualize what they have learned rather than just doing. Our projects had our users knowing and doing. For those that are familiar with G.I. Joe, they’d understand that knowing is only half the battle.

The Team Print Tutorial: Bullets and Numbering

Contextualizing the Print Tutorial Project

The Advantages & Drawbacks of Print
The print Tutorial was a team project done by me and my partner Kate. It was quite the learning experience. When I say learning experience, I mean learning experience. Not only did we learn more about the feature of Microsoft Word that we chose, Bullets and Numbering, but also when and why they are used. The goal of our tutorial was to teach other users the same thing we had the opportunity to learn. The tutorial was designed and then printed to allow users to recognize the advantages and disadvantages of a print tutorial. One advantage in particular was the fact that the user is in control of where they want to go as opposed to an online tutorial with links that carry you to one place which may or may not be where you need to go. Our tutorial placed the use of Bullets and Numbering into the format of a Table of Contents. Within the different steps of creating the Table of Contents, we also provided user tasks explaining what concept is learned in each step and why it is helpful. Some of the user tasks mentioned were scanning, skimming and searching. Another reason was the ability to look at the big picture by sectioning off the information, making it stand out.

Reflecting on the Print Tutorial Project

Tutorial Layout Design
The Print Tutorial was a team project, however, the concepts that I can now apply to my road to learning are mine to keep. Before doing this tutorial, I used bullets for listing things, but never thought about how listing the things would be helpful to my reader. Now I can thing about why I am using the feature and know whether the feature will be beneficial in the situation. Sometimes when bullets or numbers are used, they are not necessarily needed. Being able to distinguish between these cases is going to be helpful in future documents of mine.

Word not the Best Page Layout Program
During the process of getting together our print tutorial, Kate and I went through a number of drafts to see what would work best for our user. Our first draft was designed in Microsoft Word. With more time we could have made it work, however Kate found a more efficient way of designing our layout by using Power Point. With Power Point, we were able to focus on one step in the tutorial at a time. Also, it was easier to add graphics images to the corresponding steps to assist our users.

The Individual Online Tutorial: Project Title

Contextualizing the Online Tutorial Project

Issues of Online Tutorial Design
It is true that there can be issues found in doing Online Tutorial Design, however, there are many ways that online tutorials are useful. I put together an online tutorial on the use of anchors. Anchors are links within a webpage that allow the user to click and be guided to a separate section of the same page. This is usually used when there is a lot of text on a single webpage. This also aids in grouping together related information for reading purposes.

Reflecting on the Online Tutorial Project

Finding TC Online Tasks
The technical writing team that I made up for my user scenario lets the reader know that Tech Comm students use features like anchors all the time, and if they dont, they should start. Anchors along with a bunch of other features are there to make things easier on the reader, writer, and anyone else involved in the great circle of Tech Comm.

HTML & Online Design
Coming into this course, as stated before, I was not very familiar with HTML or any online design. This course taught me a lot of things that I will be able to take with me on my journey throughout Technical Communications. I have become aware of the fact that with HTML, you need to try it before complaining. Once you are into what you are doing, it gets a bit easier. It may look a bit foreign, but its only a funny way of writing everything.

The Focused Usability Test Project: Project Title

Contextualizing the Focused Usability Test Project

Usability vs. Usefulness
Usability, the ability to be used. Used effectively that is. This project was a study of a focused usability comparison that tested how effective the undergraduate Tech Comm. program websites are for a specific class of potential users. When administering these tests to my subjects, I watched to see how they maneuvered through each site. Whether each click led them to something they needed or if it simply exercised their pointer finger. That’s where the usefulness comes in. When clicking the different links on each Tech Comm. site, did the information help the user at all? It may have been easy to find the information, however if it’s written strictly for Tech Comm. aware students, the totally new, undecided, out of the water students may not find the information as useful as those with familiarity with Tech Comm.


Reflecting on the Focused Usability Project:

Be Careful What You Ask For
As a Tech Comm. major, I want to know what my user needs, whatever it may be that I am working on. Since, that is not always possible, I have to work with what I got. If I had a team of Tech Comm. students working on a program website, I would now know to make it not just focused on students with Tech Comm. majors but also for students that my be coming from all areas of study trying to decide of Tech Comm. is right for them. To do this, I would avoid using anything that can be considered jargon. Than might run them away. Now, since doing this study, I find myself paying attention to websites and their usability and usefulness. I look at the layout of each page, as well as the colors, and the information that stands out as apposed to what should stand out.