Advanced Technical Writing 2008 Session #1

Welcome to the Class! Notes, news, etc. available at Readings in PDF available on ANGEL

Contact Info Office: Suite 7 Olds Hall (TR 3;5 pm) Phone: AIM: billhd30 Bill Hart-Davidson And you are…?

Textbooks, etc. 1. Rockley, Ann Managing Enterprise Content: A Unified Content Strategy. Indianapolis: New Riders. 2. Readings in PDF from the course ANGEL site

What is Web Content? Content is the combination of information and interactions that comprise the user experience. Content is synonomous with value on the web, comprising what users see and interact with.

Which of these qualify as content? ► A news item on the CNN website ► A movie trailer in Quicktime ► A recipe search tool on Epicurious ► A flash version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire on the ABC site ► A threaded discussion about Tech Support for Red Hat Linux ► A ‘blog’s syndicated RSS feed

Qualities of web content ► Web content is dynamic ► Web content is linked & distributed ► Web content is customized ► Web content is granular ► Web content is interactive When I say “is,” I allude to users’ expectations

Web Content is Dynamic What we see on the web, we expect to change soon…or to have changed recently. We talk of “stale” or “stagnant” pages. Pages the don’t recognize us, or recognize what day it is are less easy to trust as sources of information. Note how different this is from the medium of print.

Web Content is Linked & Distributed Users experience content in a localized way when it shows up on their screens. But we know that it may reside on servers that are remote and widely dispersed. The ability to link content with other content means that, often, the information IS the interface!

Web Content is Customized As “the primary location of value” of a website, the content that is most prized is content that the user experiences as tailored to their individual needs. This creates an interesting dilemma: when should we customize to the point of personalization? Is there a point where delivering value by personalizing yields diminishing returns?

Web Content is Granular, 1 Web content is far less likely to stay neatly tucked into the boundaries we associate with traditional print genres. As we develop better ways to attach meta-data to content, we increase its granularity. Familiar units from the print world like the page or the paragraph, give way to new ones…

Web Content is Granular, 2 “Granularizing” content simply means identifying and placing boundaries around smaller and smaller chunks of information so it can be referenced, styled, and re-used. Can you think of a situation where we’d want word or character level granularity?

Web Content is Interactive If we truly accept the idea that content comprises both interactions and information, then web “content” can conceivably take the place of applications as we know them. Let’s have a look at Ebay, for example…

The Changing Role of Technical Communication Old school technical communicators operated with a clear mandate defined by the difference between the product and information about the product. The web effectively erases this distinction. Developer roles merge as what used to be clear distinctions among job responsibilities become more difficult to make.

The Changing Role of Technical Communication, 2 This class aims to explore the new responsibilities information developers, technical communicators, HCI or UCD specialists…and a host of other titles…can expect to have. Call it Tech Comm 2.0, or maybe Tech Comm XP…

How will you fit in? How many of you envision a career in which you will be somehow responsible for web site content? How do you see the tasks of managing information, interaction, and value as interrelated?

ATW Mission… ► To add to the working definition and list of characteristics presented here ► To deepen our understanding of content production/management ► To further define the role of the content developer in the context of TC ► To think about these things but also to actively experiment and try out techniques – reflection-in-action

About ATW Projects… Typical practices a content person uses  Know available technologies and how they intersect with your knowledge & skills  Analyze an organization’s overall content strategy; implement this strategy via content modeling  Help those around you to better develop and manage content

Turning Your Projects in… Set up a personal project page. A website where you’ll post your projects, big and small. A template is provided on the class web site. Go grab it now.

Web Space? You have access to an account provided by MSU– your AFS Space. To put stuff there, FTP to ftp.msu.edu and store files in the directory called public_html; Or, in a networked lab, map the drive and navigate to your public_html directory ftp.msu.edu Did that last bit of jargon confuse you?

For next time… Post your project page in your AFS space. You can use the template provided, modify it, or replace it if you like. We’ll troubleshoot and calm fears today and next time…

Project 1: Ergonomics Poster For the first project, we’ll be building a poster that helps folks working in Bessey 317 to work in egonomically appropriate ways. Individually, your job will be to develop content for the poster & play an editorial role in its production. You should also document your participation carefully.

Project 1, Continued Information will come from… But we will… OSHA online site + MSU Ergonomic Info Center Customize the information for the specific users and specific ergonomic challenges of EBH 317 We will also Test the poster with real users to be sure that it is a useful and usable resource

Project 1, Continued We will consider four key topics, each of which will be assigned to an editorial team:  Workstations (chairs, tables, computers)  Non-Workstation areas (tables, laptops)  Lighting & displays (monitors, projector, overhead lights, resolutions)  Work Processes (timing, group dynamics) We will negotiate issues of design, sequence, real estate, etc. for each of these areas on the poster.

Project 1, continued In addition to reviewing key TC concepts & skills, we’ll learn other valuable things: ► We’ll explore the complexities of managing multiple content-providers, including managing format & content consistency ► You’ll learn important content management concepts …and there might be a few twists thrown in along the way…

Project 1, Requirements ► A poster, suitable for hanging up in 317, is our final deliverable; you will produce all the digital assets needed for the final production of the poster ► A portfolio, compiled by each person, of work contributed to the poster project ► Your portfolio will be a section of your project page that makes your contributions to the project visible

Next Time… ► We’ll talk more about P1; think about the key topics and which team you’d like to be on ► Get your project page up ► Order textbook ► Review syllabus and schedule ► Read articles by Applen, Geisler et. al., & Crowley (all are PDFs you can get from ANGEL)