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Advanced Technical Writing 2008

Learn about the concept of genres in web design and how analyzing genres can help improve user experience. Explore the importance of task-oriented and user-centered web writing, as well as the popularity of FAQ lists. Discover how to turn information releases into FAQ lists.

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Advanced Technical Writing 2008

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  1. Advanced Technical Writing2008 Session #10

  2. Today In Class • Analyzing Genres & Tasks (the user perspective) • Content Audit Coming up: Guest speaker Pat Grabill; Read Pat’s article (in Angel)

  3. Today’s focus… Emphasizes the point of view of A Focus on Sees the site as Genre and features a text; or a collection of texts the reader/user Structure & Delivery objects & actions; social space the designers & developers Production Models & Workflows a workplace the admins and “authors”

  4. What is a genre? “…a distinctive profile of regularities across texts, composing processes, and reading practices…” They highlight • recurrent situations • important connections with other texts • the shared expectations of readers • the common practices of writers “Genre as Community Invention” by Graham Smart

  5. What is a Web Genre? Usability.gov Site on Collecting, Writing, and Revising Content http://usability.gov/methods/collecting_writing.html Consider the following advice: “Break the text into manageable pieces Put in many headings Write useful headings” Why is this good advice for web-based writing?

  6. What is a Genre Analysis? A process of identifying the comparative and contrastive features of a given information resource. Viewing the site as a text(s), emphasizing the reader/user point of view.

  7. Genre Analysis Categories Add the five W’s to these and you have a good start on the analysis process: Who What When …and How! Where Why • Authors • Readers/Users • Organization/Format • Style • Use of Visuals • Range of Variation w/in Genres

  8. Genres : recurrent situations, not necessarily reuse Why is the FAQ list so popular? Or we might ask, more broadly… What makes for good writing on the web?

  9. Basic principles of web writing: #1 Task-Oriented • Effective web writing is task-oriented. • While it is not entirely true that people don’t read on the web, it is true that reading IS NOT usually their end goal. • Good web writing aims to support readers’ true goals and tasks.

  10. Basic principles of web writing: #1 Task-Oriented Task-Oriented, cont. • Readers tasks may vary widely from focused to open-ended; from “What is the filing deadline for my return, ” to “I wonder if it is worth it to go ahead and my craft hobby a small business?”

  11. Basic principles of web writing: #2 User-Centered • Effective web writing is User-Centered • All good writing is tailored for its intended audience, but on the web, that “audience” is an active user, not just a passive reader.

  12. Basic principles of web writing: #2 User-Centered User-Centered, cont. • Good web writing focuses on readers’ specific needs, eliminating everything that doesn’t address those needs well. • The best web writing gets tested for its effectiveness in adressing user needs…with real live users!

  13. You’ve probably seen them: lists of FAQ’s. Whether they are “Frequently Asked Questions,” or “Fabricated & Answered Questions,” they represent some of the good habits of successful web writers. What is a FAQ? Just the FAQ’s Ma’am: Good Web Habits • FAQ’s have become popular ways to • Target content to reader’s needs • Guide reader’s to the specific info they need • Chunk information for easy scanning and linking FAQ Features

  14. FAQ’s are well suited for the web because… • They are easy to scan. Readers can quickly skip over what they don’t want to read. Note: redundancy is ok! • They are likely to address the readers’ concerns because they put the writer in the reader’s shoes. This works best if they are real Frequently Asked Questions. • They are nicely broken up into visual chunks with a label – the question – to make everything identifiable • They are short; long answers usually mean that more than one question has been addressed…best to break it into two or more! ODT Categories

  15. Go to the Ohio Dept. of Taxation Site and navigate to • RELEASES>INFORMATION RELEASES>ROUNDING (Sept. 29, 2000) • First, determine who your readers are likely to be; in this case, ours will be “taxpayers.” • Next, determine the questions that taxpayers would ask • Group the questions into categories, if needed, and put them in a logical order to make the list easy to use From Facts to FAQs, 1 How to Turn an Info Release into a FAQ List

  16. 4. Note that the information in the press release is used to answer the questions 5. Additional information may be needed to provide a more complete answer. From Facts to FAQs Turn an Info Release into a FAQ List, part 2

  17. How Did the Buckeyes Do it? Now go to the FAQ page…assuming the role of your target audience members. Can you find the information from the Information Release on Rounding in the FAQ? In how many different categories does it reside?

  18. Try this: 1. Pick any news release issued by MSU lately… http://msutoday.msu.edu 2. Turn it into a FAQ list 3. Propose a format for future press releases that would allow for easy re-purposing into a FAQ list Refer to the genre analysis categories. They’ll be a good guide.

  19. What is a Content Audit? A process of identifying all of the various information types that are important to an organization. The purpose? To determine how content is used, reused and delivered. Often, reuse is done the old fashioned way…

  20. Traditional Methods of Reuse • Author finds a piece of content they want to reuse, usually in an existing document. • Cut and paste old content into a new file or edit an existing file. • Rewrite, add/delete material and re-format to fit with current situation.

  21. Moving toward systematic reuse…the process of a CA • Determine scope of the audit • Gather sample materials • Analyze Content • Top level  identify common pieces of information • In-depth  study elements identified as similar in top-level Two important matrices result…

  22. Top-Level Analysis Matrix • Content Unit • Logo • Contact Info • Course Description • Projects • Ethics Clause Information Products Syllabus Schedule Website

  23. Going in-depth • Content Unit • Logo • Contact Info • Course Description • Projects • Ethics Clause Information Products Syllabus Schedule Website Are all these “projects” the same?

  24. Reuse Map • Content Unit • Logo • Contact Info • Course Description • Projects • Ethics Clause Information Products Syllabus Schedule Website I I D I I I I S/I D I S/I I = identical S= source D= derivative

  25. Next Time… • Some practice doing a Content Audit • Show and tell: FAQ exercise

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