TC 310 The Computer in Technical Communication Dr. Jennifer Turns Week 3, Day 1 (10/14)

Admin Volunteers – board scribe, electronic scribe Opportunities –Lori Fisher – IBM recruiter –C&C – software training PowerPoint references of possible interest –David Byrne’s “Alternate PowerPoint universe”Alternate PowerPoint universe –Tufte – The cognitive style of PowerPointThe cognitive style of PowerPoint Interesting website on visual impairmentswebsite on visual impairments

Retracing our path… Week 1, PowerPoint –Day 1: Designing presentations introducing peers –Day 2: Team formation, PowerPoint/E-portfolio tutorial Week 2, Word –Day 3: Debrief design decisions and prof activities –Day 4: Feedback on assignment 1, Word tutorials on formatting and editing Week 3, Photoshop…

Day 5 By the end of class, students should be able to: –Identify lessons acquired from Word assignment –Discuss strategies for deciding among alternatives –Describe assignment 3, including the concept of a storyboard –Use Photoshop to construct a rudimentary storyboard What we’ll do… –Debrief from assignment 2 –Discuss assignment 3 –Introduce/explore Photoshop

Debriefing Sessions What is the value of a debriefing session? The debriefing session is an opportunity to See other potential solutions Learn technology tricks Hear about design strategies Gain feedback from peers Recognize/identify features of effective solutions Get to know your colleagues

Debriefing: Formatting alternatives Management is very excited by the ideas you have collected for formatting the help information. As a next step, they would like for you to: –Identify a preferred alternative * based on an analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of each alternative. –Describe the tasks * you would have people do, and the information * you would collect, if there was $ available to conduct an evaluation study with users. * Please prepare to share this information with the class

Debriefing: Editing alternatives Possible dimensions of editing decisions –Tone –Quantity –Suggest solution or explain problem –Electronic or paper –… In a group w/ those who had the same editing challenge –Explore the similarities & differences in your approaches to the task –Identify strategies used to ensure “educative” editing

Foreshadowing Assignment 3 What is a storyboard? –A series of images suggesting/illustrating how an interactive experience will transpire. Where are storyboards used? –Marketing –Interface design –…

Assignment 3 - Graphics Each student –Creates a two “page” storyboard, showing how a profile feature could be added to the organization’s website. Within teams –Storyboards share text –Storyboards differ dramatically in other respects

Graphics and Photoshop Tutorial 2 (Thursday) –More thorough overview of Photoshop –Discussion of graphics concepts –Additional resources

Tutorial 1 Assignment-specific use of Photoshop Explore the following in Adobe Photoshop: Interface Layers Selecting / Copying / Cutting / Moving Items Creating Text These activities have the following goals: Provide you with ideas for next assignment Raise your awareness of possibilities Engender questions that will promote broader, deeper, and richer learning Increase your effectiveness with using the help system

Tutorial 1 – A Challenge The university has asked you to help them visualize the impact of a couple of change to their website: (a) modifications to the background for all pages and (b) adding a label to the “utility links” area. One way to explore changes to a website is by copying website images into Photoshop and then using Photoshop selection, layers, text, and graphic features to implement the changes. In this exercise, we will use Photoshop to create a storyboard illustrating such a modified site.

Tutorial 1 – Explore End Product Open the photoshop file “UW-Storyboard.psd” Explore the file –Quick orientation to Layers –Experiment with “turning the layers off and on” Discuss –How does this file constitute a storyboard? –Why is it useful to have the utility links and background on separate layers?

Tutorial 1 - Demo 1.Getting started 2.One layer per page 3.Background layer modifications 4.Utility link modifications 5.Exploring final storyboard

Tutorial 1 – Your turn Create the revised UW storyboard –Use Photoshop –Follow the tutorial instructions Suggestions –Work with a partner –Explore –Help others –Identify questions…

Day 5 By the end of class, students should be able to: –Identify lessons acquired from Word assignment –Discuss strategies for deciding among alternatives –Describe assignment 3, including the concept of a storyboard –Use Photoshop to construct a rudimentary storyboard What we’ll do… –Debrief from assignment 2 –Discuss assignment 3 –Introduce/explore Photoshop

Looking Ahead Due Dates –Assignment 3 Tuesday (10/21) By class –Includes: Solution Annotations Next Class –Focus on Photoshop Selection tools Filters Sizes