1. August 9 Usability planning and conferences

2. Evaluations Fill out online eval form Optional: Write a letter to instructor about your experiences in the class, what you learned, etc. These will assist promotion committees for my progress review report.

3. Today’s agenda Course Evaluations Review and revise instruction scripts Chs. 4 and 13 Develop Plans for document Design

4. Script Workshop Instructor reviews scripts Instructor makes recommendations for revision Team revises

5. Usability planning Identify the information that readers will need Organize around readers’ tasks (hiearchically, grouping together items readers will use, giving the bottom line first). See figure 4.1 (p. 103) Identify ways to help readers find what the want Look for a technical writing superstructure you can adapt (figure 4.3) Plan your graphics Outline Determine your readers’ cultural expectations Check plans with readers Investigate stakeholder impacts (ask directly, seek stakeholder views, etc.)

6. Creating Reader- centered graphics Graphics Photographs Drawings Flowcharts Tables Other visual Representations

7. Benefits of Using Graphics Graphics enhance a communicator’s visual appeal, thereby increasing the readers’ concentration on the message. Graphics convey some kinds of info much more efficiently than prose. Graphics enable writers to convey info to readers who don’t share a common language with writers. Graphics communicate info so effectively that they sometimes convey the entire message.

8. REader-centered guidelines for using graphics Look for places where graphics can increase your communication’s usefulness and persuasiveness. Select the type of graphic that will be most effective at achieving your objectives. Make each graphic easy to understand and use. Use color to support your message. Use graphics software and existing graphics effectively. Integrate your graphics with your text. Get permission and cite the sources for your graphics. Adapt your graphics when writing to readers in other cultures Avoid graphics that mislead.

9. look for places where graphics can increase usefulness and persuasiveness Begin by making reader-centered search spots Show readers how something looks show how something is constructed show readers how to do something Explain a process Make particular facts easy to find and use Show trends and other numerical relationships Use graphics to support persuasive points by conveying data in a dramatic way

10. select type of graphic that will be most effective for your objectives Consider the readers’ tasks showing readers how to do something Chart? Picture? Table? Consider the readers’ attitudes reader resistance? reader hostility?

11. Make graphics easy to understand Design graphics to support readers’ task imagine readers in the act of using the graphic Consider readers’ knowledge and expectations Simplify your graphics include only a manageable amount of material eliminate unnecessary details Label important content clearly Provide informative titles (see figure 13.7, p. 342)

12. use color to support the message Highlight a point Tell reader where to look first Make your communication look more polished and attractive Group related items Establish hierarchy of importance Use mainly for clarity and emphasis, not decoration Choose color schemes, not single colors Use bright colors to focus readers’ attention Use contrasting colors to create emphasis and use high contrast between text and background Use warm, intense colors to make items advance toward reader U

13. use graphics software and existing graphics effectively Sometimes have default settings or limitations that produce results that aren’t reader-centered But, most allow you to modify settings See writer’s tutorial on pp. 350-351

14. integrate your graphics with your text Introduce your graphics in your text Place your graphics near your references to them State the conclusions you want readers to draw When appropriate, include explanations in your figures

15. get permission and cite sources for your graphics Copyright laws treat graphics differently from text Under “fair use” you must get permission for EVERY graphic you use if you didn’t create the graphic EXCEPTIONS: public domain docs like those owned by your employer or govt. agencies. Permission is needed for both print and web graphics

16. adapt your graphics when writing to readers of different cultures Western nations read from left to right; Japanese read from right to left Telephones in some nations look different Yellow suggests caution in U.S., but prosperity in Japan Whenever you write for readers in another country, discuss plans and graphics with people familiar with that country’s culture

17. Avoid graphics that mislead Ethical Bar Graphs and Line Graphs: Figure 13.13 Scales may not give accurate impression Can mislead to show that differences are more extreme than they really appear Ethical Pictographs: Figure 13.14 can also make differences seem much larger than they appear Ethical Use of Color: Figure 13.15 bright colors more attractive to eye can mislead

18. graphics and your instruction sets Identify Spot points for where a graphic is appropriate Identify the type of graphic that is appropriate Create divisions of labor Team members to construct the graphics Team members to create titles and labels for the graphics Team members to explain graphics when necessary Team members to place the graphics in appropriate places of instruction scripts

19. Next time Document Testing for User Test Revise Instructional Sets based on testing