Barker – Chapter 14: Designing Indexes

The index is one of the most valuable—and most popular—features of software documentation because it can lead users to exactly the right information. This chapter covers index methodology: how to decide what to index, levels of detail, phrasing, building, and proofreading.

Plan Your Indexing Strategy
There are two methods for creating an index: manual, in which you make notes as you read through a document, or electronic, in which a software indexing feature identifies terms.

Manual Indexes
To create a manual index, the document must be essentially complete so that page numbers are correct. The steps are as follows:
¨ Review the user analysis to remind yourself of how the software will be used
¨ Read or scan the page for index entries (main topics, concepts, and tasks; tables, figures, captions, examples, definitions, acronyms, and abbreviations; or menu names, tool buttons, and keyboard shortcuts)
¨ Record all index entry locations in a word processing file
¨ Alphabetize, edit, and format the index for consistency and usefulness

Electronic Indexes
An embedded indexing function is part of most word processing software programs.
These allow you to highlight terms and assign them to categories. It’s possible to index as you create the document, and then compile the index when it’s finished. Advantages to this method include automatic alphabetizing, automatic formatting, and easy revisions. The process is similar in some ways to manual indexing:
¨ Review the user analysis, keeping this in mind as you create the document
¨ Mark index entries as you write or edit
¨ Build the index: select the location and use the software to create the index
¨ Edit the index to eliminate inconsistencies, double entries, missing entries, etc. (Note: corrections must be made in the text, not the index.) Format, if necessary.

Decide What to Index
Try to make your index “support the activities and actions the user will undertake in applying the program to workplace needs.” Have developers, users, and other writers review the index specifications. Consider commands and functions (menu terms), concepts related to subject matter, user synonyms for program terms and proper names, user questions, glossary terms, and tasks and procedures.

Identify the Level of Detail
A very simple one-level index organizes the table of contents alphabetically. A standard two-level index includes main headings (categories), subheadings, and locator numbers. Three or more levels are very complex. An index may also be described by the number of “indexable” items per page of the document: a light index has 2-3 items, a medium one has 5-7, and a heavy index has 8-9 items per page.

Decide on Phrasing and Format
Writers need to plan the phrasing and formatting of index entries. Cue the primary locator numbers by bolding, capitalize terms consistently, make entries sound like sentences, and cue special terms.

Edit and Proofread
Carefully edit and proofread the completed index for mistakes such as indentation errors or inaccurate page numbers. Ask a user to review and test the index, if possible. Consider what content to emphasize and how to group information.

Discussion
Because indexing is often left until the end of a project, indexers may feel pressured to finish quickly because of publication deadlines. However, an index accesses the document from the user’s point of view and directs the user to the information they need. It is useful to beginners and advanced users alike.

A print index, located at the back of a manual, contains terms printed alphabetically in a two- or three-column format. An online index lists terms alphabetically and allows users to either scroll through the list or click on a letter from an alphabet display. A keyword search allows users to select a word from a list or enter one manually; a search engine then matches it to related topics. The writer is responsible for creating the electronic links. This type of search is often more limited than other types of indexes.

Microsoft Word, Adobe Framemaker, and other software programs have indexing capabilities. Some programs also work with HTML files. Problems occur when search engines retrieve too much irrelevant information to be useful, because they examine the entire text or web page. “Meta” tags can be used to locate certain responses identified by the web designer. However, information retrieval is complicated by partial words or misspellings.

Indexers rely on reference resources such as dictionaries, thesauri, encyclopedias, fact books, phone directories, organizational listings, geographical maps, and other collections of information (for example, science, medicine, business, law, agriculture, or computer terminology). As Barker notes, “These kinds of resources can help the indexer make the crucial matches between the vocabularies of a software program (represented by the words that make up the interface) and the terminology used by and familiar to the user.”

Beyond Skill Building: Challenges Facing Technical Communication Teachers in the Computer Age

(By Stuart A. Selber, Originally printed in 1994)

Teachers of technical communication often focus on teaching their students computer technologies to help prepare students for future employment responsibilities. However, this focus on technical skills may be at the expense of “critical political and ethical understanding.” Critical and rhetorical skills and other humanistic issues should not be neglected.

Selber researched course descriptions from 39 colleges and universities offering technical communication programs to determine why and how computers were used in the classroom. His purpose was to identify areas of instruction that were “under-represented as well as identify concerns important to productive teaching about and with computers.”

As might be expected, there was a large variance in what was considered appropriate to include in the programs. While most basic tech comm classes had expectations that students would use word processing programs and print on laser printers, others were teaching “hypertext and hypermedia, (asking) students to work collaboratively online, (or requiring) them to join electronic conversations in their specialty areas for interaction with professional writers and editors in business and industry.”

Selber categorized the instructional goals of the technical communication courses and found that most courses focused on one of three objectives: “production; computer literacy; and situating technology in historical, political, and social contexts.”

Production Courses

Many of the courses focused on skill building and learning computer processes that would be of value in the workplace. They were further categorized as follows:

· Computer Applications Courses: hardware and software skills

· Document and Graphic Design Courses: skill-building in desktop publishing and graphic design programs

· Publications Management Courses: the nuts and bolts of producing technical publications, such as editing, layout and visual design principles, as well as scheduling and budgeting

· Specialized Writing Courses: focusing on a specific genre in technical communication such as proposal or report writing

· Introductory Writing Courses: introductory technical writing

Computer Literacy Classes

These courses attempted to teach about computer technologies as related to broader theories such as reading, writing, or even psychology. For example, a class dealing with visual design might incorporate topics such as the “human visual system” or “theories of perception and attention.”

Courses Situating Technology in Historical, Political, and Social Contexts

The purpose of this type of instruction was to transcend the “skill-based approach” in order to help students understand how technology shapes societal, historical, or political issues and how “implementing and using computer technologies are fundamentally ideological acts.”

Selber felt that teachers might be “reluctant to engage in a critical examination of our culture’s technological foundation.” Many explanations were given as to why computers were being incorporated into the curricula. Besides the common rationale that teaching technological skills would increase students’ marketability, other reasons given included the necessity of building required skills necessary for technical communication activities, improving students’ writing, and promoting collaboration.

By examining how computers were being used in the classroom, Selber hoped teachers would prepare students who were “literate and responsible users of computer technology.” He discussed three main challenges that teachers might consider when answering the question, “Why are computers used in our curricula?”

Challenge #1: Balancing Technological with Literacy and Humanistic Concerns

Although the most common reason cited for teaching technology was to help to prepare students for their future employment, Selber felt that if this was the main focus, teachers would lose sight of the literacy and humanistic issues that are also important. When planning programs and course offerings, he stressed the importance of balancing the different types of classes that are outlined above.

Challenge #2: Re-Envisioning our Computer-Related Curricula

He also felt that current programs and classes needed to be examined to determine if enough emphasis was being given to humanistic and literacy issues in teaching technology. Selber said that “too often we integrate computers in our classrooms without a critical rethinking of how they might inhibit our instructional goals.”

Challenge #3: Educating Teachers who Use Computers in Their Classrooms

He also encouraged faculty, staff, and graduate assistants to learn how to incorporate computers into the classroom. Selber found very little guidance for doing so, and he called this “shortsighted.” Because of the rapid changes in technology, he cautioned instructors to not only keep pace with the change, but to function as “technology critics and reformers” and to understand how to responsibly teach technology to their students.

Barker Chapter 12: Getting the Language Right

An important method in writing software manuals is to do so in a way that is performance-oriented.

Guidelines

There are five guidelines Barker writes about regarding user-oriented style:

1. Write about actions rather than functions.
   Structure the language to support the resulting actions of functions. Identify the function and then explain what the user can do with it. The more you focus on usefulness rather than on functions, the more the user will realize that usefulness.


2. Revise for the active voice.
   Revise statements to include active voice. See Table 12.1 on page 386 for examples.


3. Revise to keep writing simple
   Simplicity helps every aspect of manual writing. Avoid extra filler and similar unnecessary information. Keep the subject and verb together.


4. Revise to build parallel structures
   Consider parallelism (for example, consistently using the same grammatical structure such as verb ending ing in headings) as consistency keeps a document's content from becoming confusing. Check Table 12.2 on page 388 for examples.


5. Add operational overviews
   Providing overviews cuts down on confusion for users who may not be completely familiar with the material. Tell them how the program benefits them. "Your manual is like a bathroom key: People want to get their hands on it not because of its intrinsic properties but because it lets them do what they need to do" (389). Writers primarily use three ways to emphasize explanations of abstract concepts: "the theoretical (emphasizing the theories behind the working of the program), the technical (emphasizing the technical functioning of the program), and the operational (empasizing the application of the program)" (389). Check Table 12.3 on page 390 for more details.

Discussion

"In software documentation, you will often use different writing styles and different tones to support different user tasks" (390). So,

How Do We Process Language?

First, you need to write words in a way that connects with the user. Information needs to be significant to them.

Users have specific searching behavior or problem-solving strategies, so the document information should appropriate the energy the user puts into specific tasks. The amount of meaning a text has depends on the user's task.

Performance-Oriented Language

Slow read-through rarely pays off. To avoid this problem, the software manual writer should use

• active voice.
• the pronoun you to make the text interactive.
• imperative verbs to trigger actions.
• real language (language that the reader can actually understand and learn from rather than formal language).

How Do We Remember and Learn

Users need to remember ideas they read in order to learn. Try to make connections with the user's memory; this will trigger those memories and will make learning easier.

Structured Sentences

Thorough knowledge of how to structure information clearly in sentences is essential for retention. Sentences should be simple and short.

Style Problems in Software Documentation

Styles issues such as too many abstractions, little performance support, and overly complex syntax will make your information difficult to use (See Table 12.4 on page 393 for more details).

Acronyms

Acronyms can make complex systems easier to define; however, overusing them is not recommended. They will show up, though as software systems often contain hundreds of them. They also can save a lot of time.

Synonyms

Synonyms should be used consistently but carefully as they may be similar, but can evoke different meanings. One option to consider regarding this is indexing.

Paragraphs and Sentences Too Long

Paragraphs should focus on explanations, not performance, and not on steps telling the reader what to do. They work best when they support a simple concept. "They help explain what happens after a step, and, because the user will not usually tackle paragraphs unless he or she must, they shuld read as quickly and easily as possible" (395).

Emphasizing the Computer Instead of the Program

Since the user interacts with the program rather than the computer, you should create information that focuses on working with the software.

No Connection Between the Heading and the Topic

Headings must be meaningful, and the topic following should support that information. Specific explanations are usually all that's needed.

Too Formal Tone

Make software documentation conversational, not too formal. Sentences are meant to connect with another real person. Speaking in an informal tone makes contact more quickly and evokes the user's desire to do well on the job.

When to Use Humor

Avoid it. That's the impression I got from the reading.

Ambiguous Task Names

Avoid making vague references. "In task-oriented documentation you should name tasks clearly, with a sense of planning for the user's new vocabulary" (398). The name of the task should appear frequently in the text of the manual.

Step Not a Step

Examine youre steps to make sure they contain a clearly stated action, often using an imperative verb.

Thanks! Team 3 (Carlson and Hood)

Barker, Chapter 13: Using Graphics Effectively

Graphics are an important part of technical documentation.

1. Identify Needs for Graphics by Your Users
Graphics in technical documentation assist the user in using the program and working with it.

Use graphics to support the questions you believe your users may have:

Where is it?
Graphics can support users in locating menus and buttons they will be using. Screen shots are great images to assist in locating these menus and buttons, so the user can see exactly what it is being discussed in the writing. It is very important that graphics are clear and understandable to the user.

What is it?
Use graphics to help users understand concepts. This includes examples and metaphors. Examples include printouts, reports, and documents and should be clearly explained. Metaphors explain something to the user in a way that they already understand. Most metaphors are language-based, but images increase the understanding of the metaphor. For example, users understand that the word and image of a mailbox stands for email.

How do I do it?
Users appreciate step-by-step instructions when learning something for the first time, and graphics really help in their understanding. Flowcharts are effective graphics to achieve this.

Where am I?
Access indicators and progress indicators are appropriate graphics to show users where they are at in a manual or help system.

What's the big picture?
Some graphics you can use to show overviews of programs include overall program diagrams, menu maps, conceptual overviews, and a page showing how to use the manual.

2. Set Graphics Styles
Your graphic styles should be consistent throughout the entire document. In some cases, it may be best to reduce the complexity in some graphics to allow the user to focus on what is most important in the image. Having a thorough knowledge of your graphics preparation tools will help you when it comes time to select which styles you will use.

3. Revise and Edit
When revising graphics, consider these guidelines:

- Give your graphics a clear purpose;
- Titles: complex images often require titles for clarity;
- Callouts: use callouts judiciously; they are most effective when not overused;
- Placement: place graphics consistently and as near to the text that refers to them as possible;
- Rules: rules and lines should be used sparingly to help give the page structure;
- Size: not too big, not too little; crop to show pertinent details; surround with white space;
- Colors: colors should reflect the patterns of information in the text.

4. Revise for Typography
Arrange images according to the logical structure of the information they contain. Make important things larger, darker, more central, and sharper. Align related things--first things to the left, later things to the right.

Discussion
Describe operations in a way that helps the user do meaningful work. You can do this by:

- Showing how tools apply to the workplace;
- Showing the results of software operations: most commonly these show the screen that appears after the keyboard/mouse has been used;
- Presenting overviews to integrate software with workplace activities: this helps user understand how the manual has been designed to work;
- Suggesting functions and uses: this can give the users ideas about how the software can benefit them;
- Using metaphors to make the abstract concrete; people love metaphors because they help them relate something new to something they already understand.

Chapter 12, Campbell, “We’re Thinking about Going On-Line”

What is means to Go On-Line There are advantages and disadvantages of going on-line with policies and procedures; going on-line should be a deliberative decision. It is not a magic solution; rather, it is a different method to delivering your final product to your users.

What Means to Go On-Line: What Does Not Change

• the content of policies and procedures
• development process
• writing, review, editing, or content revision process
• challenges of decision making,
• and careful planning and writing

What Means to Go On-Line: What Does Change

• Method of communication of final product-there is no physical product
• Different delivery system

Advantages and Disadvantages of Going Online

Advantages (also see the table on pg 374)

• faster and more efficient than a paper system
• messages delivered instantly and simultaneously to many users
• online system may be less costly to maintain
• saves storage space
• fewer deadlines pressures for writer (do not have to wait on the printing process)
• users can find related documents and information faster through searches or hypertext
• users may be less intimidated to turn to the machine

Disadvantages (also see the table on pg 375)

• users who aren’t comfortable with computers may be intimidated
• requires major commitment from organization to supply time, training, and even empathy for users
• may require significant budget (software, hardware, etc)
• readability is less in comparison to paper document
  -may have visual problems
  -may be hard for users to distinguish between a “page” and a “screen”
• may not always be available (such as if the system crashes)

The Case of External Users
On-line systems for external users (like customers) also present special challenges. Such as, potential users will need to know how to operate a computer and feel comfortable with it. The problem lies is wherein that you cannot train all external users. You will need to investigate and analyze external factors. Analyze whether external users will have the software needed, and if their surroundings are conducive to use (lighting, physical proximity, etc).

Designing an On-Line System
The limited readability and computer screen create certain design conditions. The format and design of your documents will be much different on-line from on paper. These are the four design factors to keep in mind:
1. visual simplicity
2. ease of use
3. clear operating instructions
4. adequate conversion of elements such as acknowledgement and revisions

See the On-Line Tip Sheet for a full explanation of these factors (12-1).

Thanks! Team 2: Jennifer & Gary

Central Works Essay 31

Cross-Cultural Collaboration: Whose Culture Is It, Anyway?

Deborah S. Bosley wrote this essay in 1993. She had previously written many articles about collaborative work and considered herself very knowledgeable about all aspects of the subject. Then two of her international students taught her something new when they discussed some cross-cultural issues on their evaluation forms after working on a collaborative project. Cross-cultural collaboration is something she had never even thought about. At the time, there wasn't much research done on it. This article was written after this introduction to cross-cultural issues in collaboration. She believes it is still valid today.

Definitions and Caveats

The common belief is that everyone learns the same, no matter what their race or backgrounds. Research in multicultural communication shows that differences do exist.

Without taking into account the context of a person's culture, it is impossible to understand the problems they might face in a collaborative group.

Cultural Differences in Behavior

Euro-North American culture places emphasis on individuality. Competitiveness is taught to children rather than collaboration, like in many other cultures. The success and achievements of Euro-North Americans are measured individually, even in group settings. The idea is that this competitiveness increases the productivity of the group. Other cultures believe this causes problems and could decrease productivity. Euro-North Americans praise those who make their own decisions, while those in communalistic cultures, such as many Asian cultures, believe that it is disrespectful to put your decisions above those of the group.

There are differences in oral and written communication for members of different cultures. Examples of oral differences lie in the use of context, comfortableness with silence, and exaggeration. Written differences include the organization and structure of texts.

Strategies for Internationalizing Collaborative Groups

Groups should recognize and take into consideration any cross-cultural differences that lie within their group right from the beginning. Group members can learn from one another and learn to appreciate each member's strengths and differences. Every member can gain positive effects from cross-cultural communication.

The Shape of Text to Come: The Texture of Print on Screens

In 1993, when author Stephen A. Berhnardt wrote this article, the World Wide Web was in its infancy and computer use was just starting to become common in the workplace. The author describes it as a “speculative piece” that tried to describe the transition from paper text to on-screen text.

Bernhardt considers what constitutes a well-formed text, how readers interact with text, and how text differs in print and on screen. He notes that paper documents have provided a starting point for both rhetoric and structure of on-screen text. In this paper, Bernhardt examines a number of features that are unique to electronic text.

Situationally Embedded Text

Books and other paper texts have different attributes than on-screen text. These documents are portable. Their use is typically independent of the reader’s physical environment; in fact, they allow the reader to escape by portraying a completely different situation.

Screen-based text, on the other hand, is integrated with other actions. It is typically task-based: readers use the text for researching, writing, editing, tracking information, sharing and collaboration. “Reading,” Bernhardt says, “is not the primary goal.”

Interactive Text

On-screen text allows readers to physically interact with the text, manipulating and transforming it through the use of a mouse, and controlling the outcomes. Research shows that this type of participatory learning leads to better retention of text material. Unlike writers of print materials, “writers of on-screen text can force interaction, making it necessary for the reader to do something in order to get to the next step.”

Functionally Mapped Text

Text of any kind functions to inform, direct, question or pose situations for readers. The rhetorical purpose is apparent through the use of signals such as visual cues (layout, typography) and syntactic cues (grammatical structure, certain phrases). In addition to these signals, electronic text can incorporate buttons, icons, hyperlinks and menus that provide specific functions. Writers of on-screen text, in addition to creating content, must map these cues to their actions.

Layout conventions help readers locate information. For example, the periphery of the screen contains the most action. Bernhardt says, “It is on the edge that we recognize where we are, what we can do, where we can go, or how we can get out.”

Modular Text

Texts are composed of other texts: books have chapters; magazines have articles, sidebars, and tables of contents; and encyclopedias have individual modules. Because of the limitations of computer screen dimensions, electronic text requires screen-sized chunks of highly localized text. There are problems with cohesion due to screen boundaries; “the break from one screen to next presents a larger gap than that from one page to the next.” If scrolling is required, readers may choose to skip text below the screen view. Long sections of text cause readers to lose their place or become disoriented.

Readers pay more attention to idea groupings, or modules (no bigger than a computer screen). Information modules provide an advantage to writers as well, making it easy to rearrange information for different purposes or audiences.

Hierarchically Embedded Text

In addition to encapsulating information in easy-to-read chunks, modularity helps readers identify importance of text. Semantic cues tell reader that information is mainline, peripheral, supportive, or explanatory. Supporting information is present but not necessarily visible unless the reader follows links or help topics to additional information.

This hierarchy allows users to choose what to read. Unlike books, which must be read in a linear fashion, on-screen text allows readers to jump back and forth between multiple open files. The use of a cascading design displays high-level information but allows access to more detail for each topic

Navigable Text

All text must be navigated by readers. Paper text “signposts” include the table of contents, index, headings, headers, and page numbers. Features such as these give readers a sense of control. These navigation strategies do not work well for electronic text, however.

On-screen text does not allow readers to “size up” the whole document to assess how much information it contains, or how much they have already read. This is complicated by multiple layers of embedded text. Book-like options such as menus, indexes, pagination, and back/forward arrows can be combined with links, buttons, and icons, as well as graphical browsers with an explodable index. Electronic navigation cues and landmarks are becoming more standardized.

Spacious Text

Print text is limited by physical factors such as space, size and weight of the document. Writers must conform to these limitations when composing text. On-screen text, on the other hand, allows unlimited information and unconstrained design, and writers gain freedom from “economic constraints of inscription.”

Graphically Rich Text

Many graphical features are common to print and on-screen text: white space, space breaks, margins; bulleted or numbered lists; fonts, headings, boldface, and italics. Electronic text has more graphic potential, such as zooming, animation, video, sound, and three-dimensional views; and text-graphic display and integration.

Customizable, Publishable Text

On-screen text is easy to create and produce. Software editing/collaboration programs offer in-text markup with accept/reject features, “sound bites” for verbal commentary, and user profiles for customizable displays. Traditional document production costs have shifted from paper, printing, and binding, to authoring software and specialized hardware. The “fluidity” of on-screen text makes multiple versions and updates easier than ever

Conclusion

On-screen text is real-time and interactive, a fluid, changeable medium that allows users to control the final product more easily than with print text. Readers are developing new strategies for reading and writing, and have increasing comfort with on-screen navigation. The computer has become the dominant medium for presenting and working with texts.

Campbell, Chapter 10, But That’s Not the Way We’ve Always Done It.

Writers of policies and procedures will always face resistance and negative reactions to the finished product. Change can be difficult and can cause fear in employees. This chapter offers suggestions on how to lessen the resistance you undoubtedly will experience.

Campbell states, “The single most important thing you can do to combat negativity is to involve users upfront. Don’t end with involvement. Start with it.” One of the steps included in the original planning process was to talk to people and to get their input. Cooperation can be increased by involving people in the process from the beginning, even though it can be time-consuming. Even for those who still remain negative, by communicating with them early in the process, at least you will know who they are. “Forewarned is forearmed.”

As the writing process evolves, continue to gather input. Update potential users on the status, ask for opinions, and keep talking. Take the time to truly listen and to explain. Avoid portraying the message, “Trust us; we know best.” It will help to improve the final product and may also help to convert some of the resisters.

Final implementation will be less of a shock to users who have been included and educated throughout the process. For those who are unhappy, it is helpful listen to and acknowledge their feelings in a respectful way. Encourage questions. Let people vent. Enlist the help of those who are supportive of the changes. They can help to explain their positive reaction to those who are not happy. Some people will never be accepting of the change. It will be necessary to let them know that they are still expected to follow the change or to accept the consequences of non-compliance.

Grace periods can help to quell some resistance. The gradual transition period gives people time to adjust to the initial notice and allows them to ease in to the changes required. Reinforcing the message by repetition—in email, by posting it on a message board, by discussing it in staff meetings—will help to transition employees to the changes.

When the policy or procedure will be unpopular, “preempting” and “taking the heat” are two steps that will help you to deliver the bad news. “Preempting” involves anticipating objections and presenting them to the group before they have a chance to do so. By doing this, you can then follow up with a rebuttal response that addresses the objection and “steal(s) the objector’s thunder.” Patiently listening to objections and negative reactions, or “taking the heat,” can diffuse resistance as well by convincing users that you are willing to acknowledge negative reactions and to accept responsibility for them.

The chapter discusses common resistance factors towards policies and procedures and provides suggestions for dealing with them. For example, a policy might come across as being negative, unfair, pointless, or restrictive. It can be helpful to avoid negative words and to try to present things with a more positive spin. “Don’t take extended breaks” could also be written as “you must observe the scheduled break times.” Trying to see things from the users’ point of view, making sure that the organizations words and actions are consistent, and helping users to see how the policy might benefit them are ways to counteract some of the resistance factors.

And what if you strongly disagree with a policy or procedure that you have been asked to write? It can be valuable to acknowledge your own concerns, to even write them down. Then focus on the circumstances that are being addressed by the policy and the reasons behind them. Write these down as well. But ultimately, as a professional, you will need to abide by the policy, as others will. When writing the policy, give it your best effort and when implemented, help others to overcome their resistance.

When the process is over, take some time to review the policy or procedure. Is it working? Has anything changed? The process is not static, but is ongoing; things will eventually change, sooner, sometimes, rather than later.

(Team 5: Karen and Keeley)

Barker, Chapter 11, "Laying Out Pages and Screens"

Document layouts basically fall into two kinds of activities: designing page layout and designing type.

Designing page layout is determining the best arrangement of words and images on a page or screen to achieve maximum usability.

Designing type is determining the proper font, size, and style of characters as well as determining the format for tables, lists, and paragraphs.

Constraints compare the design process: constraints of user types and experience, of the user’s problem-solving techniques, and of the documenter’s resources. Account for these constraints in any intelligent design of page and screen layout to achieve the design goals.

The Goals of Page and Screen Layout
The goals of layout are to allow the user to overcome the design problem. First, the layout should meet the dynamic needs with a static document. The document should support task orientation by helping the user perform information-related tasks efficiently and productively. Secondly, good page and screen layout should support overall task orientation. Finally, the layout should accommodate the visual needs of the user, the need to learn, and do it through images rather than words.

Create Page Grids
The user analysis creates a kind of model, telling the characteristics of the users in a way that allows you to design documents to help the user perform meaningful, automated work. The model of your page design first emerges as a page grid. Page grids define communication space by drawing invisible “fences” around the areas of a page. A page grid acts like a scaffold onto which you put text and graphics.

To design a page well, you need to know the following about grid lines and the other parts of a page grid:
• Grid lines: Lines drawn where the page and column margins would fall.
• Margins: Areas of actual space between the text and paper’s edge.
• Columns: Spaces between the grid lines marking columns.
• Gutters: Space between columns.
• White space: Space, inside the margins, where no text or pictures may go.
• Baseline: Grid line at the bottom of the text and graphics area that defines the bottom margin.

Define the Page Grid Using Styles
When you have identified a grid for your pages and screens, you’ve identified the basic pattern you will follow throughout your manuals and online help systems. Some pages will look different from the grid pages (e.g., table of contents and indexes). Once you’ve decided on the grid for your pages, you should identify the styles you want to use to set up the pages. Table 11.1 on page 355 of Barker shows many different rules of styles for page and screen components.

Two important things to note about the guidelines are that the screen presentations don’t identify margins in a one-column format because the margins are automatically set by the variable-sized window in which the help screen appears. Also, the font for the body text is a serif font for printed documentation and a non-serif font for screen presentation because serif is more easily read on a screen.

Draw Thumbnail Sketches
Use a thumbnail sketch as part of your planning effort for your publications department or to experiment with different plans for the style manual. Barker suggests picking a page that you think exhibits good page design. Barker then lists an exercise beginning on page 356 to sketch out an example page and compare them.

Barker also lists the following guidelines for sketching the thumbnail:
• Text: Draw straight lines for all body text lines. Use a ruler, or learn to draw sketch-straight lines (where you put your pencil at a starting point and draw short, straight strokes to the ending point).
• Graphics: Draw all the graphics using shadows, abstract sketches, and circles and lines.
• Headings: Headings usually appear in larger fonts than body text, so draw them as shaded rectangles, again using their relative size in the original as your guide.
• Rules, boxes, other features: You may need to draw rectangles around rules to give them the same value on your sketch as they have on the page. Make sure to include all the graphics and text in the headers and footers.

Tips for Drawing Thumbnail Sketches
1. Drawing a thumbnail sketch may take 10-20 minutes. Take your time and make it accurate.
2. Keep the page items in proportion while trying to include everything that is in the original.
3. Keep the values of darkness, density, lightness, and spaciousness the same in your sketch as in the original.

Set Up Pages and Styles in Your Word Processor
Once you have identified your styles, set them up in your word processor or desktop publishing program. You handle the specifications for page in two ways: styles for the text and page setup. Depending on what you use, you could do these together or separately.

Setting styles saves you time for two reasons:
• You can change the styles later, and you don’t have to change each instance of a certain text.
• Setting up styles ensures consistency.

Determine the Layout of Help Documents
The number of fonts that work on screen is different than the number of fonts that work on paper. There are many different elements to consider when selecting layout elements. See Table 11.2 on page 360 for a list of layout elements for page and screen consideration.

Discussion
Designing Communication Spaces
The documenter needs to decide two important things: the degree of modularity pages need, and the degree of structure they need. These two elements are what determines the overall look of the communication space, regardless of the pattern of columns and words you chose.

Degree of Modularity
Modularity means breaking information into chunks of text and graphic units and fitting them onto a one- or two-page spread. Using this format, you would use the one-task-per-page idea, and include at least one image per task.

Modularity and Pages
Ask yourself if the communication space contains all the information the user needs to perform the task and understand the concepts in the task to determining the degree of modularity for a page or screen. Keeping tasks self-contained increase modularity. Follow these steps to ensure modularity:
• Repeat background information where necessary.
• Repeat screens when necessary.
• Include orienting information about the relationship of a task to other tasks.
• Keep all relevant steps on the same page.
• Minimize cross-references.

Modularity and Screens
Note that modularity has less and less to do with online help systems. Because of the physical restraints of a page, you have to put all the necessary information in one space. Use expandable text and rollovers to assist in getting the important information to your users.

Degree of Structure
Structure in page design means that we place the information on the page according to patterns, with certain kinds of information only in certain places. This process reserves certin areas of the page or screen for certain kinds of information. The structured page has areas for headings, certain areas for overviews, and others for screens. Highly structured pages use bulleted lists, tables of commands, and indented margins for steps.

Elements to consider when looking at a structured approach:
• Rules: Various lengths and thicknesses help the user tell the reading area from the heading or scanning area.
• White space: Helps the user focus on elements of the page such as graphics without having to process impinging information.
• Bullets: Help the user identify the kind and organization of information at a glance.
• Chunks: Help the user identify reading information in overviews and elaborations.

How to Look at Pages and Screens
Try to develop an eye for the following elements of page design:
• Page density: Comparing the pages of one manual to another.
• Balance: Compare how one manual balances white space and text space with one another.
• Legibility: Compare the ease of reading of the type font and style among manuals which you think read clearly.

Common Page Designs
Many designs used in software manuals incorporate the concepts of modularity and structure to varying degrees. There are two common formats that are used, the two-column and the one-column.

Two-Column Format
Most of today’s software manuals display a two-column format (example on page 366). This format allows the reader to distinguish readily between guidance information and support information. The two-column format works best with guidance-level documentation: procedures, step-by-step, installation, getting started. The two-column format uses more space per information unit than dense one-column format.

One-Column Format
The one-column formatted page (example on page 368) arranges both graphics and text in the middle of the page. In some ways, the one-column format helps a writer modularize a document because it makes it easy to keep task information together in a linear form. Writers have used the one-column, full-page format for tutorials, which tend to have longer passages of prose, because they think it is easier to cram a lot of information on one page. This, unfortunately, leads to this page not being read because there is too much information on the page and readers skip over it.

The Elements of Page Design
Pages consist of the arrangement of many complex elements. By understanding the following elements, you will understand the building blocks of pages.

The Left Margin
Text and graphics align according to the left margin.

Columns
Columns can be easily created using many different kinds of software. There are two kinds of columns, newspaper and table. Newspaper columns continue text from the bottom of one column to the top of the next column on the same page. Table columns continue text from the bottom of one column to the top of the the same column on the next page. This is the best column format for manuals, particularly when one column contains graphics and the other text.

Headers and Footers
Headers and footers orients users through sections, pages, and topics without taking up a lot of space. Consider users' needs when selecting header and footer styles and content.

Icons and Diagrams
Icons, diagrams, and pictures are some of the visual elements that make paper or online texts easier to use. They help users to easily locate critical information or to navigate different sections. A well-designed page uses ample icons and diagrams that are emphasized with appropriate white space.

Screen Shots
Screen shots provide users with useful visual references. There are three kinds: full screen, partial screen (emphasizing only part of a screen), and menus. Selecting the appropriate size and labels is important for designing a useful screen shot.

Rules
Rules help designers line up columns, emphasize sections of information, and define headers and footers. They vary in width, length, thickness, tone, color, and style depending upon users' needs.

Pagination
There are two kinds of pagination: sequential and modular. Sequential pagination uses the same sequence of numbers from the beginning to the end of the entire manual. This is especially useful when users refer to a series of books, such as a supervisor's guide and a user's guide. Modular pagination involves starting each chapter in the same book with page one. This may be useful for guides that contain distinct contents in different chapters so that individual chapters can be reprinted while maintaining pagination. Whatever pagination is used, designers must ensure that pagination for special sections, such as the header, or special chapters, such as the index, helps orient the user.

Common Screen Design

Windows Screen Format
This format includes a non-scrolling section and a one-column design with links to related topics (or two-column design that places the related topics on the right). Designers can also add links that open pop-up windows to explain functions.

Man(ual) Pages Format
Man pages format is simpler, containing a heading, a title at the top, and a navigation area with a prompt.

The Elements of Screen Design

A Changeable Space
Designing screens can be a challenge because users can change how content is viewed. Because users can resize and scroll through screens, designers should keep several things in mind. Forget line length: only left and indent margins usually need to be configured because users can resize screens. Avoid lots of scrolling: shorten text length to no more than two screens or users may lose their place. Indicate the extent of the topic: if text continues from one screen to another, use a "More" button or pagination to help orient users.

Multiple Window Management
If designers include help windows in their design, they should follow several guidelines. Don't obliterate the users's work: configure the help window to cover only part of the screen so user's can still find the original window. Avoid window clutter: minimize the number of help windows that open or place help windows above the application window so it is easy to refer to. Give the user control over frames: make it obvious to users whether help windows will close automatically with a click or keystroke, or whether windows will close automatically after a set amount of time.

Color
Designers should use appropriate color to highlight important sections, information, or tools.

Graphics
Graphics should be simple for easy on-screen viewing and printing.

Screen Grids
Grids on computer screens different from grids on paper in several ways. Narrower margins are used on computer screens because the monitor helps define the viewing space. Less indentation is needed on screen to save space and because fonts are usually larger on screen. Define the grid for single pages only: binding and two-page layouts aren't a concern with computer screens. Use rules sparingly: topics tend to be better defined, so rules are less necessary.

Line Spacing
In general, single space lines and use large font size in headings.

Designing Type
Designers should understand the tools available (such as software) and the way users recognize words to design the appropriate type for manuals.

Helping People Recognize Words
Besides users' technical proficiency and subject knowledge, it's important to understand that users are visually oriented. This means that the shape of words and the letters they contain can influence readability. Serif fonts have letters with end strokes that almost connect to the letters that follow, while sans serif fonts don't have those connectors. Serif fonts look more like cursive writing while sans serif fonts look more like printed writing. Serifs can encourage eye movement across the page, especially with smaller letter sizes.

Design Advice
Choose a font the user knows well for the body text.
With smaller-sized type, choose font styles with well-defined ascenders and descenders.
Avoid using italics or all caps for long strings of text because letters can be harder to distinguish and understand.
Keep heading short.
Use serif for body text (where comprehension is most important) and sans serif for headings (where larger sizes make comprehension easier).

Building Patterns with Type
Create a consistent pattern using cuing techniques, headings, and rules when designing manuals. This helps users locate important information and navigate through sections more easily.

More Design Advice
If designers want to change fonts, sizes, styles, they should do it in this order: style, size, then font. Change only what is necessary to emphasize the text. Limit the levels of information to two (three at the most) so if you need to make changes, you'll have to do it fewer times. Limit cuing devices to three or four for a cleaner look. Use a consistent design in the manual and related documents. Use software to establish a consistent paragraph style that will carry throughout the document.

The Idea of Body Text
The body text is the dominant feature of the document, and size and style can be varied, but not font. The most common body text fonts are 10- or 12-point serif. Still, it is important to consider the page size (which should correspond to the font size), media (screens may limit the font options or some programs may offer special fonts), and user expectations (such as what may be viewed in other manuals).

Non-Body Text
Body text can be modified in style, font, or size to create headings, warnings, or notes.

Headings
Headings should direct users to important information through special spacing or size. Heading design, however, should be consistent across levels. Headings should generally be larger, sans serif, and bold for emphasis. Alternately, headings can be differentiated using small, medium, and large sizes of the same font.

Hints, Notes, and Cautions
Hints, notes, and cautions are special "aides" that draw the user's eye through color, icons, and spacing. Because they are generally included in the body, they are the same style, size, and font as the body text. However, they can be emphasized by changing the size or style of the heading preceding the information.

User Input, Computer Output
When it is necessary for users to type in text and for that text to be displayed, this text usually appears different from the body text. Courier has been commonly used for input because it looks like typewriter text, which may serve as a prompt to users. For output, Helvetica is a common font because it may look like the body text but is still distinguishable by its smaller size.

Tables and Lists
While the text of tables and lists is generally the same as body text, the heading styles may be changed for emphasis. Other ways to distinguish tables and lists are indentation, column layout, and rules.

See pages 380 to 381 for the Glossary and Checklist.

Submitted by Team 1

Summary of Chapter 11: We Haven’t Used that Procedure in Years

This chapter is devoted to answer the questions that arise when procedures need to be revised. Companies are expected (and legally held accountable) to keep their organizational records up-to-date; specifically, when a company holds ISO 9000 standard certification, it is a requirement to have all policies, procedures and manuals up-to-date and to have only the active copy “active” i.e. being used.

Additionally, the unusable state of a procedure makes it useless and redundant as well as obsolete. Usually, the writer can receive best feedback about the use of a procedure from the end-user. The writer should also keep in mind that policies and procedures require a regular update and maintenance to remain usable and accurate.

When should a procedure be revised?
According to Campbell, there are two methods:
1. Regular review and revision
2. As-needed review and revision

A company should evaluate, which method would be more appropriate and beneficial. Often, ISO certifications require a regularly scheduled review and revision, but this can be difficult for companies that have limited resources and overwhelming if all documentation is updated all at once. A solution to this can be a rolling review that staggers documents in groups. As-needed reviews are risky, because they are more vulnerable to procrastination and justification: after all, how can you measure need? Campbell provides some pointers on how to implement as-needed reviews: the company can revise a procedure after accumulated changes, significant content changes or after observing some clues (such as: complaints, questions, errors etc.) that reveal the procedure’s complacency.

Of course, there are times when a revision is not required; before rushing into the next revision, the company should evaluate whether there are other factors that contribute to the lack of following a procedure. This could be lack of training or lack of management support to enforce that process, or people may simply take time to accept change.

Once the decision has been made that the procedure needs to be revised, there are several factors to consider:
· How much should be revised? Revision Content
· How should the writer revise? Revision Process
· How to communicate and clarify the changes? Revision Awareness

The revised content can be communicated by highlighting the added/revised content, using clear wording in the transmittal document and finally, summarizing the changes that were made. This is also important when maintaining ISO certification.

After the document has been revised and all changes are highlighted and summarized, the revised procedure can be published. In order to ensure that all users take responsibility in application of all changes, a system should be in place that prevents user excuses, such as “I never knew about these changes.” A simple sign-off roster/revision index/action memo for all employees works well. That way, each user can be held accountable for having read the changes and knowing about them.

Finally, Campbell provides some helpful templates and tip sheets in the Appendix for Chapter 11.

Thanks for reading our summary: Lance and Vanda

Barker Chapter 10: Designing for Task Orientation

This chapter presents tools and techniques for responding to characteristics of software users.

Guidelines for designing documentation

Create a table of contents

Match the user analysis with information design strategies

Acknowledge production constraints in document design

Test and review the design

Follow a design process for online help

1. Create a Table of Contents

Think in the sequence of stages that begin with goals and end with solutions. The prior user analysis with suggest overall goals. The outline embodies your most innovative and user oriented ideas. Decide on the overall organization of the manual and how to design so the user can easily find information.

2. Match the user analysis with information design strategies

When designing for different groups consider the following:

· Navigational aids- Navigational aids make sure the user groups get to the information pertinent to their needs. These could include special statements, directing users to the sections of the documents, list of figures and tables, headers and footers.

· Scenarios- Scenarios give each group a role model.

· Icons- Icons identify information for each group.

· Metaphors-Metaphors make implicit relationships to the workplace so users can see and feel the document is familiar to them.

Design for a specific program issues:

· Job performance aids cover technically or repetitive tasks.

· Background information to meet special needs.

· Special forms can help users collect information in the field for later inclusion in the document.

Meet the user’s task needs

Illustrations, layout design, examples of usage, special document sections, and tips.

Meet the user’s information needs:

This requires you to understand how users manage information within a job setting. There are several strategies you can use:

· Explanation so the user understands their use and importance.

· Provide examples that illustrate workplace uses.

· Meet efficiency goals/command summaries for efficiency by providing things like shortcuts, macros, etc.

· Identify functions that relate to information management and communication work

Match the user’s computer experience –

There are different types of users like: novice, experienced, and expert.

Enhance the user’s subject-matter background:

Take advantage of the user’s knowledge of the subjects by doing the following:

· Special glossary of background terms

· Index entries linking background terminology to program functions

· Special booklets/sections describing background concepts

· Elaborate examples with explanations of key concepts

Leverage the user’s workplace

Try to incorporate the following to help new users:

Getting help from coworkers

Suggestions for support groups

Descriptions of network use

Meet the user’s learning preferences

Learning preferences are connected to the choice of media as well as design.

Instructor learning – For instructors use lesson plans, overheads, etc. For the learners use workbook, note pages, diskette.

Manual learning – Tutorial manual, list of learning objectives, samples files

Computer-based learning – Programmed computer-based training modules, etc.

Meet the user’s usage pattern

First determine which category is most appropriate: Regular usage, or Intermittent usage, or Casual usage.

3. Acknowledge production constraints in document design

Decide on what design features you would like to have and what you can afford to have. You need to know you limitations before planning. Some constraints are: Writing tools, Production tools, Human resources, Budget, and External considerations. See table 10.3 for further explanation of the constraints.

4. Test and review the design

In this phase you evaluate through reviews by clients and sponsors and test problematic areas in a lab or field test. To test your design you can follow these steps:

a. Mock up pages with access elements on them and field test them.

b. Consult the chapter on testing for was to do quick usability tests.

c. Decide on a design based on logic and experimentation.

5. Follow a design process for online help

The design of online help should parallel the process of designing for print; however the process must be adjusted to accommodate: technical differences between print documentation and online documentation, and the different features of online document versus pages.

Identify and list the online help topics

Topic is an identifiable body of usable information associated with a user activity.

The 7setps program identifies the following kinds of topics.

About – offers introductory information of the program

Module – describes the modules of an interface

Action – describes situation in which a user would use a part of the interface to achieve a workplace end

Problem – describes solutions to problems/bugs/errors

Questions – describe questions the user might ask

Task – identifies the workplace activities the program supports

Update – describe new features of a program or application to the users

User group – describe the types of users with similar ways of using the program.

The two types of automatic topics are:

“Best practices” – when the user has performed an operation that is potentially complicated and would need more guidance

Corrective – topics open when a user has reached a dead end

Determine the interconnected elements

Those interconnections among topics based on user activities make up the heart of a help system because they allow the users to follow familiar patters of activity.

Decide what design features to use

Design features are the software capabilities you can build into a help system and the electronic interface elements of a help system. Some features of the help systems are: Hypertext links, buttons, hot areas, browse controller, pop-ups, context sensitivity, and system affordances. See table 10.4 for detailed description of each.

Here are several areas to consider when designing for task orientation:

Accommodating groups of users

You must constantly consider the degrees of experience among the groups of users. You may have to write more than one manual to accommodate the different needs and expectations of the users.

Pay attention to users psychological differences as experienced users may have more patience and confidence with the program .Novices have less experience with manuals and online help and do not know the conventions of documentation thus can get lost looking for things in the wrong section. As a documents designer use a variety of features (glossaries, cuing, graphics etc) to help novices and get them on track.

Consider the roles based on computer experience and professional activities such as installers, operators, evaluators, decision makers and so on. Each of categories of users needs to use different functions of the program and need different level of support. Writer needs to use different cuing to make sure each user’s type can find appropriate section easily.

Matching the user’s problem-solving methods

There are several issues to consider:

• No one carefully reads more then 2 sentences at a time.
• Solution: Make paragraphs short. Include tables and lists whenever possible.
• Most users begin using the table of contents before they ready the manual.
• Solution: Make table of contents complete. Use abbreviated, complete and chapter-by-chapter table of contents.
• Most users go to the manual or help only after they have failed to perform tasks.
• Solution: Describe error recovery clearly and completely.
• Most readers do not read instruction first.
• Solution: Replace introduction with information about users needs, special documents features, or helpful routing information.
• Most readers do not read any sections in its entirety.
• Solution: Tell users which section to go for particular tasks/problems. Make sure all descriptions of tasks are complete for performing task. Repeat important information.

The Design Guide for Printed Documentation

Navigation

Navigational aids are elements of a document that tell the reader where to go next for what kind of information. Make sure you include navigating as organizing feature only after you have examined your user’s tasks carefully.

Cross-reference points to other sections of the chapters containing related information. Try to include the cross references and information that the users need at the point they need it.

Running header and footers - This may include: chapter and section names and numbers, book title, graphic cues and icons, task names, and color to indicate sections.

Layering – refers to having two versions of information on the page at once to satisfy more then one type of reader. Things like keyboard shortcuts on the side, use of columns for instructions, etc. You might have elaborate steps for novice user and abbreviated version of the steps for the experienced user.

Headings – All manual use heading, and all users expect them. Use short phrases to indicate contents of the section such as “Setting Margins” or “Saving a file”. Avoid making headings too short- “Margins”/”Save”. Headings also create visual part of the pages.

Advance organizers – tell the users the structure and organization of the information that will follow. Remember to put advance organizers in front of the information they reflect, use them consistently, make sure they relate to user’s work/tasks, and keep them short.

Document overview – Users need to be introduced to document’s setup and how to use it to find information. You can include things like: audience, content, organization, scope, and navigational information.

Parallel structures – There are two benefits of parallelism in software manuals. First parallelism reassures the user that the writer has sorted out the important information. Second, it creates pattern of expectations so the reader learns how to use the document.

Cuing – This refers to the technique of including visual patterns to make a certain kind of information memorable. You can cue with icons or rules, fonts, and caps.

Indexing and tables of contents – The two most important navigational and tracking devices in any manual. The table of contents describes the content of the document from a task perspective. The index provides a meeting place of all users of a program.

List of figures and tables – They make up the main element in the usability of a document and help users see quickly if they can find an example of a screen in a figure.

List of screens – This list works when you have program with easily recognizable screens. This list of screens should appear early in the manual or in the primary index screen of a help system.

Interrelated examples – These are examples when you follow the same example from one procedure to another. Doing so builds continuity into you document design.

Solutions to the design problem for online documentation

Here you face the same objectives as you do with the print document which is getting the user the right information.

Non-scrolling regions – regions that appear at the top of the screen and stay there while the user scrolls through the procedure or topic. This feature has advantage over the print document because user does not loose sight of the document.

Expanded text – Sometimes called “stretch text” allows you to embed more details into a topic so the user can click on the expanded text link to view details.

Keyword and whole text search – refer to the ability of a help system to electronically find topics and the user types into a keyword search box.

Indexes – shows an alphabetical view of all the important topics and terminology used in a help system. The author has to identify some terms for index to ignore when presenting the list to the user.

Links and Jumps – in a help system allow users to go directly from one topic to related topic. Here online system has definite advantage because user does not have to turn pages and can link topics and get back and forth between topics.

Pop-ups – provide a way to handle glossaries in an online system. User can click on the term in the topic window to see the definition.

Context sensitivity – With a print manual, the user goes through a chain of events between identifying a problem and finding the solution. With the online help system, user goes directly from a problem with a screen or a field to an appropriate help topic containing a solution. However the limitation is that you can’t guarantee that the user will get right information.

Histories – allow the users to trace their steps, save histories and refer back to them. This is advantage over using print material.

Browse Sequences – When you identify a series of related topics you cab easily include the relationship in the form of browse sequence. The system displays forward and backward arrows when moving from topic to topic using browse sequence which cannot be done as easily with the print material

Bookmarks/Annotation – With a book the user can easily mark a place in the book and then return to it as well as mark on the pages. Newer help systems also have incorporated bookmark options as well as annotation features.

The Politics of the Interface: Power and its Exercise in Electronic Contact Zones

We need to be technology critics as well as technology users…

Selfe, C.L., & Selfe, R.J. (1994). The politics of the interface: Power and its exercise in electronic contact zones. College Composition and Communication, 45(4), 480-504.

The borders of social power are so commonplace in society that they often remain invisible. Selfe and Selfe explore computer interfaces as a border that represents dominant tendencies in American culture, proposing that consumers should not only be technology users but also technology critics. They wrote this article in order to identify some of the effects of domination and colonialism associated with computer use to “establish a new discursive territory within which to understand the relationships between technology and education” (p. 482).

Computers have been used in the hopes to democratize the classroom and may be less systematically oppressive. However, this is a dangerous assumption—the belief that computers and networks are “the same for all players.” Rather, Selfe and Selfe evaluate and present that computer interfaces value “monoculturalism, capitalism, and phallologic thinking” (p. 486). Interfaces include icons orientated to the ideals of the white, male, middle- and upper-class professional (i.e. white pointer hand). English is also the default language of interfaces and many commercial items only come in English.

These primary interfaces do not provide evidence of different cultures, races, linguistic groups, or economic statuses. Interfaces exclude and marginalize Other perspectives, and in doing so, enact a gesture of colonialism. Interfaces, therefore, operate as a grand narrative where users must abandon their “own culture or gender to acknowledge the dominance of other groups” (p. 494).

The authors propose that users need to recognize these cultural and linguistic borders to reveal power differentials. Interfaces must also be revised to reflect a range of cultural, linguistic, and ideological perspectives to represent the “underrepresented”—non-white cultures, non-English speakers, and women. Users cannot be mere objective observers of these barriers.

Overall, Selfe and Selfe illustrate the computer as a gendered, classed, and racist technology in this critical essay.

Group #2: Jennifer and Gary

Essay 27 - Who "Owns" Electronic Texts?

Who “Owns” Electronic Texts? By Tharon W. Howard

In 1996, if you violated someone’s copyright you could be sued in civil court. Today, because of the “Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998” you may face up to a $500,000 fine or five years’ imprisonment for your first offense. Sonny Bono’s “Copyright Term Extension Act” in 1998 extended the length of an author’s copyright another twenty years and copyright is granted for seventy years after the death of an author and, in the case of “works for hire,” ninety-five years from publication or 120 years from creation.

Today, corporations like Disney, MGM, and A&M Records can force the public to pay for images of Mickey Mouse, video clips of King Kong, songs like “Happy Birthday,” and other cultural icons for up to 120 years. Remember the lawsuit against Napster in 2000? Lawsuits are continuing to define the limits of the peer-to-peer technologies and copyright laws.

Most writers, including practicing professionals and teachers don’t consider the issue of intellectual property as particularly problematic. Writers today do expect some sort of remuneration for their writing and control over how their texts will be used.

Recent trends toward more collaborative writing projects in the workplace, along with the use of online computer conferences, electronic discussion groups, hypertexts, multimedia presentations, groupware, and other computer technologies aimed at enhancing and promoting collaboration, are all seriously challenging the popular, romantic view that an author owns his or her text. With an increase of reliance of computers in the workplace, writers are finding themselves confronted with intellectual property and copyright issues.
Five scenarios were given with questions about workplace issues.

Scenario 1
While working for a large corporation in the document design department, which prides itself with producing dramatic covers for the company’s annual reports, your co-worker finds a photo that would be perfect for the cover. With a little cutting, pasting and a few other modifications the photo will work. The photo is famous and since only part of the photo is going to be used and the image will be modified and essentially new should you go ahead and scan it? Or do you first have to have permission from the magazine which first reproduced it, the publishing house which sells reproductions of it, or the photographer who originally took the photograph?

Scenario 2
You’ve just been hired by a desktop publishing company and have received a new computer with software that isn’t compatible with other employees’ software. Your boss tells to load your computer with the old software that the office has because they have already purchased the disks. Should you go ahead and copy the software since the office has already paid for it?


Scenario 3
You’re doing research on an article about usability testing for Technical Communication and, as part of your research you join an online discussion group where others are doing human-factors research exchange e-mail messages about their works-in-progress. Someone posts an e-mail that changes your way of thinking about your own thesis. These are unpublished results and you want to quote from the e-mail message in your article.

Can you legally and ethically quote from an e-mail message? Are you obligated to cite the message since it has had such a profound impact on your own thinking? If so, does anyone own the copyright on the message? Do you need to seek the author’s permission? Or, since the message was electronically published by an electronic discussion group, do you need to have the permission of the person(s) who created and operate the discussion group or the university or company which owns the computer that hosts the group?

Scenario 4
You work for a large corporation that uses e-mail throughout the company in lieu of paper correspondence. You have been keeping correspondence with another co-worker, who happens to be of the opposite sex, and keep this correspondence to breaks and lunch periods so that it does not interfere with business hours. Your supervisor is aware of this and agrees with the situation. However, you have found out that your e-mails have been monitored and the butt of jokes. You are furious and you report this to your supervisor. Your supervisor tells you that the company owns the computers and therefore, has the right to monitor their use.

Can you stop this monitoring of your e-mail? Who actually owns the messages you’ve been sending? Do you, as the author, own the messages? Does the addressee who received them? Or does the owner of the system on which the messages were produced? What rights does ownership of the messages entail?

Scenario 5
You are a placement director at a large university in the professional writing program. To help graduates find information about companies that hire writer you set up a HyperCard stack which allows students to click on a state on the U.S. map. This stack is located on computers at the university and from a book which provides an alphabetical list of national corporation, you select data on companies which you think might routinely hire technical writers. The hypertext is so popular that several publishers learn about it and want to publish it.

Can you publish your hypertext? Have you infringed on any copyrights by providing your students with your hypertext in the first place? If you can publish your text, are you legally obligated to pay any royalties to your university or to the publisher or author of the book from which you selected your data?

To understand the problems of ownership in the electronic workplace Howard offers a brief historical examination of the origins of U.S. copyright law. He explores why electronic publishing, electronic discussion groups, computer conferences, and other new information technologies represent such a challenge to current copyright law. A historical examination of the printing press will show that then, as now, the introduction of new technologies challenged existing systems for owning and controlling texts. The examination will show current copyright law reflects an interesting struggle among at least three historically distinct and competing theories of textual ownership. First, of course, the romantic and commonplace notion that authors have a “natural right” to the fruits of their intellectual labors. Second, there is the assertion that the public has a right to all knowledge since “Laws of Nature” and absolute truths cannot be the property of any one individual. And third, there is the view that all knowledge is socially constructed, that a text is a product of the community the writer inhabits, and that the text must therefore be communal, rather than individual, property.

A Historical Overview
Copyright can be defined as the “right to reproduce copies of a particular text” (400). It was not and still is not a “natural unlimited property right” (Beard). It is a limited privilege granted by the state, in that the government gives writers the license to “operate” texts in the public domain.

In the 15th and 16th centuries, before the invention of the printing press, the creation of books depended on the patronage of the Church or the Crown, who then were able to control the kinds of texts both produced and consumed. The printing press led to a radical reduction in production costs, but the limited number of popular and lucrative texts available for publication increased competition. This led to the creation of the Stationers’ Company, which was a voluntarily enforced form of copyright. Thus, the Church and Crown lost their control over the production and consumption of texts, which in turn led to the creation of “subversive” texts.

In 1566 Mary Tudor and Philip of Spain granted the Stationers a royal charter, and it became a firmly established principle that a copyright is not the natural, unlimited, or absolute property of any individual or company. It made it clear that to own a copyright is essentially to own limited license or privilege granted by the state to promote intellectual activities deemed by the government to be in the best interest of the state and its citizens.

In 1709 Parliament’s Statute of Anne provided the basis for Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution, which recognizes the rights of authors.
Major Principles of U.S. Copyright Law “Copyright law in the U.S. recognizes that in order to encourage authors to produce the texts which will lead to the artistic, scientific, and technological discoveries that drive business and industry, it is essential that authors be allowed to realize a profit from their texts” (402). Copyright law does not give authors and publishers the legal right to prevent the public from “fair use” of texts, according to Statute 17, Section 107 of the U.S. Code. It grants the public a right to copy a work “for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship, or research” (402).
Factors to be considered to determine if the use of a work is fair include:
• The purpose and character of the use (is it of a commercial nature or for nonprofit educational purposes?)
• The nature of the copyrighted work
• The portion used in relation to the whole work, both in amount and substantiality
• The effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the work (17 U.S. Code, Sec. 107) (403)
Only the tangible expression of ideas belongs to the copyright holder, not the ideas themselves.
Copyrights in the Electronic Environment

Actual legal status of textual ownership does not match commonly held beliefs about
the copyright and “who own what” question. Authors own the text rights after text is produced and they are protected by copyright law with limited privileges granted by the State.

The professional communication fields in general and technical writers in particular need to understand the general principles of current copyright law. In addition it’s important to realize that some copyright principles do not always apply to electronic texts. Many professional writers are aware of “fair use” principle, and protection of form of expression but are unsure about copyright laws for particular electronic documents “since technological changes have historically, represented challenges for existing forms of copy protection” (Howard, 1996, p.404).

Nature of copyright laws makes it difficult to say if certain situation is or is not copyright infringement. However, copyright principles can serve as guidelines for professional communicators when dealing with copyright questions. For that let’s return to scenarios presented at the beginning of the chapter.

Scenario 1
Central Questions presented earlier were (1) does such a reproduction fall under the doctrine of fair use and (2) who owns the copyright on the image?
Answer: This case is not a case of ‘fair use” of the original work because reproduction is not being made and used for educational, news reporting, or critical purposes. Even thou original image was manipulated, it’s still be “legally considered a derivation of an original work”. The member of the documents design team should receive permission before reproducing and manipulating the photograph. He/she should contact publishing house which owns the copyright of the original rather than using the magazine’s reproduction.

Scenario 2
Central Question presented earlier was (1) should technical writer go ahead and copy the software since office has paid for the software?

Answer: There is twofold answer in this case:
A. If company has only limited license to copy (usually for purpose of creating backup copies during installation process) the program, copying the software would be a violation of the law. It’s a good idea to check exact terms of licensing agreement to avoid such violation.
B. If company owns “site license” rights to copy software on to several machines or install software on their networks, then software can be copied on to the second system. The exact number of copies that are allowed to be copied should be specified in the licensing agreement and followed accordingly.

Further explanation: Often there is misconception that if company or individual own a copy or software they can use them as they wish. However, according to the copyright principles “owning” a text is not the same as the right to copy the text. We may own an actual physical copy of a book, photograph, computer, disc etc but that does not give us right to copy unless we have purchased license to copy the item.

Scenario 3
Central Questions posed earlier were (1) whether use of quote passage from the e-mail message is protected by the fair use clause and (2) whether the author of the message, the owner of the discussion group or the university that hosts computer groups is the copyright holder for the message?

Answer: Quoting from the e-mail message would probably be fair use regardless of the type of group. If group has ISSN, the fair use conditions would apply. If group does not have ISSN then most secure and ethical would be obtain the permission of the e-mail author before quoting the message. Also it would be beneficial to contact discussion group owner in regards to the quoting practices.

Further explanation: Principle of fair use allows reproduction of short passages for new reporting or in the texts of academic journals such as Technical Communication. Situation here is complicated by the technology involved. According to fair use clause in addition to purpose and amount of work to be copied, “the effects of use” need to be taken into consideration. By using the e-mail message, the author might feel that she was not given the opportunity to publish the work through more traditional means where possibility of remuneration is much greater. On the other hand, sending an e-mail to an electronic discussion is also a form of publishing.
There is no clarity in copyright laws in regards to text sent and distributed in electronic format and it varies from case to case. If the discussion group has received ISSN number it has copyright status. Often, the discussion group’s owner states that copyright belongs to author of the postings or messages sent or group members might have agreement not to cite each other’s messages outside the discussion board.

Scenario 4
Central Questions presented earlier were (1) who “owns” the messages that employer sent? And (2) and what rights does ownership of the messages entail?

Answer: This is not a copy right violation because copyright law principle does not give author “…unlimited property right” to their texts (Beard, 1974, p.382)” (Howard, 1996, p.406). Usually company has sole copyright to the texts that employee produces while being employed by the organization. In this case, if the company’s resources were used to produce emails, the company has rights to use those messages. The above case addresses more issues of privacy than copyright infringement.

Further explanation: In some cases (particularly in university setting), an institution may only receive portion of the remuneration. This is due to the fact that work of the writer was done partly using institution’s resources and partly done on employees own time.

Scenario 5
Central Questions presented earlier were (1) whether the university is entitle to some royalties received for the stack’s publication and (2) whether using the data but not the organization or expression from another work constitutes a copyright infringement?

Answer: If university’s resources were used to develop the stack, the university should get remuneration for use of its facilities. The faculty member should agreed to share percentage of profit with the university. Answer to the question of whether reorganization of data complied in another source constitutes a copyright infringement is no. Faculty member’s use of information is not a copyright infringement because the original expression of data has been avoided. Copyright law also indicates that data are part of public domain. The safest way for the faculty member, however, would be to negotiate some kind of financial arrangement with the persons holding copyright to the reference materials.

Further explanation: Two fundamental principles of copyright law come into conflict in this scenario. One of the principles is that authors and publishers are expected to make profit from their publications, on the other hand there is principle that “ideas and knowledge cannot be the property of any one individual and that only the expression of the ideas belongs to the author or copyright holder” (Howard, 1996 p. 407).

As in many cases that involve electronic texts today there is ambiguity on how Congress and court will deal with changes to the current copyright law. It’s possible that due to hypertext and electronic databases it will allow users rather than authors to determine the ultimate organization and shape of these electronic texts This is fundamentally different from the present copyright law.

Conclusion
As the scenario showed, the new electronic environment in which writing professional must function makes intellectual property and copyright issues more a part of their everyday experience in the workplace. Writers must know the basis of the copyright laws better than ever. The scenarios do not offer how one might turn out in a court of law, but it should offer writers how to avoid copyright infringements.