Robert Krull

An Information Theory Measure for Television Programming

A content-free measure of television program form is developed. This measure is created from a rigorous general theory construction viewpoint. The basic terms of the theoretical measure are created from iconic aspects of programming. These terms are mapped into variables by considering their human information-processing implications. The definitions of the variables are in information theory entropy terms. The variables are used to score 168 television programs, and the results used to factor analyze the variables, creating two independent dimensions called Dynamics and Unfamiliarity. As a validation, the viewing patterns of 149 adolescents on these two dimensions are compared to two other measures of programming content. The information theory dimensions of form are found to detect nonrandom viewing patterns as well or better than either of the other measures of content.

Usability trends in an online help system: user testing on three releases of help for a visual programming language

This paper reports on the results of three phases of user testing on the online help systems for successive releases of a visual programming language. The help systems changed over time, but never were overwhelmingly successful in enabling users to complete tasks. Two consistent problems we identified were that the organization of help information was not clear to users and that help topics were expressed in product-specific vocabulary rather than user vocabulary.

User information processing strategies and online visual structure

When users approach computers to complete their tasks, they may be faced with a considerable amount of uncatainty. For instance, there is uncertainty about how beat to & a task and about how to use the computer program that suppoxts task completion. Users may be able to reduce their uncertainty by collecting information – information about the task and information about the computer product. But information collection also presents some problems.

Patterns in technical writing guidelines

From an analysis of technical communication and research source materials, it is argued that the field of technical communication does not yet have guidelines supporting an engineered approach to document production. A total of 392 writing guidelines were collected by looking at college texts, writing guidebooks, journal articles, and company standards. The authors have gained several kinds of information from the guidelines: the manner in which guidelines are stated, the number of guidelines about each topic, and the amount of research supporting each guideline. It is concluded that, if technical communicators are to successfully defend their writing suggestions to engineers and scientists, they may need to bolster the basic science on which their guidelines rest.<<ETX>>

Text editing task difficulty and user access of online and printed information

The authors conducted an experiment to see when computer users are willing to consult online and printed information. The results were not encouraging about users reading either printed or online information: almost without exception, they preferred to solve problems with trial and error. One unexpected result was that more experienced users tended not to refer to the manuals, even in the most difficult of tasks. Thus, one might conjecture that these users may be internally guided learners. Or, perhaps through previous experience, they found more success in experimentation than in referring to manuals.<<ETX>>

Electronic automation as an alternative to learning computer tasks

Test subjects performed a mail merge using an integrated software product, Microsoft Works for Windows. Those who learned about the task from automated online help were slightly less successful in completing the task than were subjects who used an online tutorial, or than those who used only printed and online information. The automated help subjects also had comparatively negative evaluations of that help system.

Applying Collaborative Technology to Learning in the Distance Classroom

Distance technologies have been advocated as a means of providing education and training to working professionals. Our data suggest that distance learning can move beyond downstream lectures to more comprehensive, educationally effective activities that enable students to apply instructional content and receive feedback from peers

Writing for bodies in space

People completing tasks in real-world environments deal with the following attributes of three-dimensional space: position, direction, active and passive movement, force, speed, and timing. These attributes need to be handled by technical communicators who produce instructions. The paper suggests how communicators can do that.

Presentation techniques in distance education and training

The melding of television, satellites, computers and the Web make new media available to instructors of engineering communication courses. The paper describes how interactive video and audio can maximize educational impact within current technological constraints.

Documentation for a Physical World.

Documentation can be designed specifically to help people perform physical tasks. Research in computing, motor learning and in music and sports instruction suggests that documentation is more effective when it takes into account how people think about physical tasks.