Brad Mehlenbacher

Software usability: choosing appropriate methods for evaluating online systems and documentation

The objective of this paper is to bring users to the foreground of on-going system and documentation development effortsbydoing five things(1) outlining existing methods to eliat user reactions to dtware; (2)describinghow todesigninformal usability tests employing each method; (3) discussing the slmngthsand weahessesof each method given the time and resource constraints facing technical communicatorwmdsoftwaredesigners;(4) recommending times during the software development cycle, when certain methods are particularly fruitful in providing valuable design feedback, and; (5) pmVidinganextensivebibliographyonusability testing methods.

Communication design and theories of learning

This paper provides a brief overview of the ill-structured information spaces that communication designers create and inhabit, highlighting the need for a research-based understanding of learning. A sociocognitive approach to learning that benefits from the strengths of cognitive and social perspectives is described. As a complex learning activity, communication design and use demand creative, multidisciplinary approaches to data collection, analysis, and interpretation.

Online support systems

Online support systems can be divided into three classes, online tutorials, online help, and online documentation. Online tutorials have the broadest focus, helping users learn about features and tasks through explanation, example, and hands-on experimentation. Online documentation typically has a narrower focus, providing users with overviews or assistance on specific taskoriented procedures [Horton 1990]. Online help has the narrowest focus, supporting users who must solve particularly pressing problems as quickly as possible and with a minimum of interruption.

Editorial: Exploring User Experience (UX) in virtual learning environments

The idea for the present special issue was born out of our mutual interest in contributing to the limited body of empirical work on User Experience in Virtual Learning Environments. The term, User Experience (UX), delineates a multifaceted and complicated process that embraces analysis, strategic business branding, planning, concept, and participatory design, and change in modern organizational cultures. Because of that, many different approaches have evolved and a universal definition of UX is difficult to identify. Sometimes UX is assumed to be synonymous with usability, interaction experience, and interaction design. Yet UX also seems to involve much more than those approaches. Thus, UX is defined, according to ISO9241210 (2010), as focusing on a person–user’s perceptions and responses that result from the use and/or anticipated use of a product, system, or service. Hassenzahl and Tractinsky (2006) as pioneer researchers in the field describe UX as a consequence of a user’s internal state (predispositions, expectations, needs, motivation, mood, etc.), the characteristics of the designed system (usability, functionality), and the context within which the interaction occurs (such as the organizational and social setting). We might summarize therefore that UX is a dynamic process that changes over time and involves two important qualities: traditional HCI usability and accessibility balanced with hedonic and affective design (Hassenzahl and Tractinsky, 2006). Several areas of research related to UX include educational learning activities in general and virtual world design and evaluation specifically. As well, the collection of user data over time is another area that is gaining momentum (Fenko et al., 2010; Karapanos et al., 2009). Finally research efforts continue to emphasize the interdependent relationship between design and evaluation approaches, including age-old debates on the strengths and weaknesses of quantitative versus qualitative methods and theory versus practice (Obrist et al., 2011). Interestingly, very few UX research efforts have been applied to Virtual Learning Environments (VLEs) (SavinBaden et al., 2011). By VLEs, we mean a wide spectrum of technology-enabled learning environments ranging from typical Learning Management Systems (LMSs), to computer games and Virtual Worlds (VWs). As they became solid technological platforms, LMSs have been the cornerstone for more than a decade and continue to show

Multi-user domains and virtual campuses: implications for computer-mediated collaboration and technical communication

Despite being the focus of 170 articles in the Fall of 1993, few researchers have documented how the Internet, an environment that attracts over 6000 new users per month, will affect the technical communication profession. In particular, researchers have devoted little attention to the rapid emergence of an Internet tool that has the potential to increase collaboration among professional technical communicators. This paper represents one such attempt and describes an electronic tool we are building at NCSU called the TechComm-VC (Virtual Campus), a Multi-User Domain, or MUD.

The rhetorical nature of academic research funding

To better understand the complex relationship between academic researchers and funding agencies, the author interviewed 15 academic researchers regarding their views, suggestions, and difficulties in coordinating the proposal process. Data suggest that academic research funding is highly rhetorical, and that successful researchers have well-developed managerial, organizational, and communication skills. The author concludes by describing the competitiveness and complexity of contemporary research relationships, and by briefly outlining guidelines for improving collaboration between researchers and funders. >

Reviewing the research on distance education and e-learning

This paper will provide insight into the current emphasis of research on distance education and e-learning. The review is organized by three intersecting activities. First, we informally collected and reviewed approximately 300 peer-reviewed journals for articles published on distance education and instruction and technology broadly defined [30]. Second, we read and reviewed the numerous meta-analyses of distance education, multimedia, e-learning, and collaborative computing published over the last fifteen years [1--2, 4--6, 17, 25--27, 31, 33, 35]. Third, we performed our own meta-analysis of the abstracts of articles published in 10 peer-reviewed journals on distance learning and e-learning. Our goal in all these activities was to generate a list of significant topics or themes contained in publications about distance education and e-learning, in part to demonstrate the lack of consistent terminology.

Navigating online information: a characterization of extralinguistic factors that influence user behavior

The paper examines the extralinguistic factors that influence user behavior with online information systems. Extralinguistic factors include any interface features which are “outside” how users understand and comprehend written texts online. Extralinguistic features, therefore, are interface features that support (1) how users formulate their information goals or represent their tasks, (2) how users navigate to new or related topics of interest to them, and (3) how users quickly scan (rather than read) online information. It is argued that text comprehension is only one task that users engage in when using online information systems. A model of online user behavior that includes goal setting, navigating, scanning, and text comprehension is outlined. I argue that a broader definition of online information use is necessary and discuss various design principles for avoiding communication breakdowns beforeusers reach their desired information. Finally, I conclude by suggesting that a Participatory Design Approach to the design of human-computer interfaces is one method of undermining our tendency, as software designers, to apply design advice and guidelines without first accounting for user tasks and information goals.

Multidisciplinarity and 21st century communication design

This paper addresses recent calls for the importance of multidisciplinary research and action in communication design. The impetus for multidisciplinary perspectives toward communication design is technological change, rapid developments in work products and processes, and the perception that emerging issues in the workplace demand additional competencies and knowledge. Terminology related to multidisciplinarity, such as disciplinarity, cross-disciplinarity, interdisciplinarity, and transdisciplinarity, is defined. Since ACM SIGDOC members are distributed across academic and nonacademic fields and institutions, the focus will be on discipline as epistemology and as language with the goal of explicating common frameworks and terminology for better articulating communication design and work.

Triangulating communication design: emerging models for theory and practice

This paper describes the enduring dichotomy between what is defined as science and what is defined as non-science, and shows how this dichotomy serves as a backdrop for current divisions between theory and practice. The canonical concept of invention and contemporary interest in problem setting highlight the similarities between the activities of theoreticians and practitioners and inform the development of a useful definition of rhetorical or communication design. While recent developments in activity-, work-, and ecologically-centered design provide a powerful metaphor for contextualizing communication design work, a tentative argument is made for attending to emerging opportunities and challenges related to distributed space and time.