SUMMARY OF APPLICATION FOR POSTGRADUATE RESEARCH

TITLE OF PROGRAM : The Design of Effective Interactive On-Line Documentation

Summary of Project
Brief Description
Rationale for Program
Methods

Summary of Project:

This research project will investigate current interactive on-line documentation (IOD) design theory. It will study the effectiveness of available IOD and will research strategies for improving IOD design. The objective of the research is to produce a set of examples and guidelines that will illustrate and describe effective IOD for technical communicators.

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Brief Description:

On-line documentation is computer based documentation that is used to convey scientific, technical, business and other information accurately and clearly. Some examples are operating instructions, reference manuals, product design manuals and business reports.

On-line documentation has traditionally been composed of text with a few diagrams and static pictures but now the accessibility of multimedia introduces 2-D and 3-D images, film, animation, color, and sound to this medium. In this proposal, on-line documentation that includes multimedia is referred to as interactive on-line documentation (IOD).

Technical communicators are interested in using multimedia in on-line documentation as it can provide extremely effective explanations of complex products and processes. However, to successfully integrate multimedia in on-line documentation, technical communicators must learn how to orchestrate the extra audio-visual and computer media to create an integrated and interactive whole. This poses new challenges to the communicator who has been trained to write books and text based on-line documentation and who now "must decide which information goes into what medium and produce it". As Ilana Snyder says, "Communicators must ‘conceive’ of text in new ways."

The purpose of this project is to investigate current interactive on-line documentation (IOD) design theory and actual IOD examples, to determine the structure of effective IOD in order to understand how to design effective IOD.

Aims of the research:

The aim of the research is to develop a set of guidelines and examples for technical communicators who develop IOD.

Research questions, issues and problems:

The main research problem is: What constitutes effectiveness in IOD?

The fundamental issues are:

• What can multimedia contribute to on-line documentation to make it more effective?
• What guidance can be offered to technical communicators to assist them in designing effective IOD?

End product of the research

The objective of the research is to compile the results of current IOD design theory plus the results of my own research, prepare a set of guidelines on effective IOD that includes examples which illustrate the results of the research, and present the results in an appropriate format such as CD-ROM or Internet web site.

Location and resources

The research will be based in my own studio in Caulfield, Melbourne and in the Department of Visual Communication, RMIT.

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Rationale for program:

Why this research is important

Interactive on-line documentation, composed of text, images, film, animation, color, and sound in any combination can provide extremely effective explanations of complex products and processes. However, if poorly designed, the result can confuse and annoy the end-user.

The technical writing community, does not yet have definitive design models that can be applied to IOD. On-line communicators require their own design theories that suit on-line documentation and are not simply theories taken from other areas, such as from games, software and even on-line courses, that may or may not be applicable. On-line documentation is oriented to using and not teaching, and requires information to be explained quickly, concisely and clearly.

It will therefore be useful to analyse current interactive on-line documentation design theory, to investigate available examples of IOD, and to take the knowledge acquired during the course of this project in order to show what constitutes effective IOD design.

 Benefits

• Add to the knowledge-base on effective IOD design theory.
• Provide information for technical communicators so they can understand how to change from developing text-based documentation to developing fully interactive documentation.
• Serve as a summary of current thought in this area as well as provide theories on how it can be further improved.
• Provide actual examples of how multimedia can be effectively used in IOD to benefit technical communicators.

Contribution to existing body of knowledge

From initial investigation, there appears to be much research on the shift from paper to text based on-line documentation. There does not, however, exist a comparable body of knowledge devoted to describing the effective use of audio, movies, images, 2-dimensional and 3-dimensional graphics, in other words, multimedia, in on-line documentation. This research project will add to this body of knowledge.

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Methods:

Research Schedule

This research project will be undertaken as described below and will require 4 years to complete.

1. Feb 1997 to December 1997

• Bibliographic research including overview of IOD design theory and investigation of the RMIT HyperText Project.
• Refinement of scope of research including commencing the definition of effective IOD.

2. Feb 1998 to April 1998

• Analysis of current work in IOD design theory.
• Development of an interim set of guidelines based on the current IOD design theory.

3. February 1998 to January 1999

• Familiarisation with multimedia software.

4. May 1998 to March 1999

• Analysis and documentation of selected IOD:

• Establish criteria for analysis and evaluation.
• Survey available on-line documentation of an interactive nature.
• Analyse and evaluate suitable documentation.

5. June 1998 to May 1999

• Development of IOD examples that demonstrate current IOD design theory.
• For each example: Concept design; Prototype; Preliminary test; Record video/audio; Compile on-line documentation examples; Test; Refine.

6. May 1999 to May 2000

• Test effectiveness of examples. Modify guidelines; modify examples. Retest.

7. May 2000 to July 2000

• Preparation of a final set of guidelines for successful IOD in a format appropriate for technical communicators. This will include the results of the current theory search and the lessons learned during the production of the on-line documentation examples.

8. July 2000 to December 2000

• Preparation of project on media e.g. CD-ROM or Internet, for final presentation.
• Preparation of project submission.

Project Timeline

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