Social Documentation-The Era of Interaction

1. Social Documentation-The Era of Interaction Monalisa Sen STC India Chapter, 2012

2. Objectives Understand the features of social documentation Explore the reasons for increased popularity of social documentation Understand the types of social documentation Understand the role of a technical writer in social documentation Explore a case study Identify the limitations of social documentation

3. Based on Web 2.0 approaches to capture user-generated content Uses social networking sites, social media sites and wiki-based sites Identifies and offers real-time solutions to queries of the audience What is Social Documentation?

4. Why Social Documentation? • Social documentation uses cumulative knowledge to fill information gaps and address user-specific issues • Social documentation leads to human interaction and collaboration • Content is user-centric since it is created and owned by users

5. Types of Social Documentation The recent trend is to merge social media, social networking, and Web 2.0 into a general category called the ‘Social Web’. Enables users to edit pages and leave comments Encourages interaction between audience and author, offering an opportunity to include the user’s perspective Enables creation of a knowledge community through real-time discussions

6. Role of a Technical Writer • Moderator: Being a language expert, responsible for monitoring information being shared, conducting peer review and acting as a community manager • Content Curator: Being a subject matter expert wearing the user’s shoes, responsible for contextualization and organization of information

7. Case Study • Cognizant’s proprietary project management and delivery engagement application used for tracking projects • A project is considered a community • Interactive Help enables optimization of the tool’s usage

8. 2010 • Requirement: • Align the Help with features of social media/networking to provide easy access to information • Solution: • How do I…section based on web site Help like Gmail with pages like “What would you like to do” • First-time User? section designed to provide a high-level understanding of the application and assistance to the first-time users • What’s New? section designed for quick access to the latest updates and features in the application, inspired by web sites like Gmail • Flow Diagrams linked to the relevant tasks, inspired by visual Wiki • Post your Queries section provided a link to the communities where the user can post the queries

9. Snapshots

10. 2011-12 • Requirement: • Apps-based Help, improving social interactivity and providing a Help system for individual applications • Solution: • After research across various web sites such as Amazon, Gmail, Facebook, Google Apps store and other web-based services, the upcoming trends and practices were identified and are being implemented in the form of a Help Centre • Video-based Assistance: app-specific interactive training videos and Online Help • Minimalizing Content on the Help: screenshot-intensive and task-oriented guidance handbook • Getting Started: for first-time users • FAQ • Link to Community Forum: within the Help to raise a query • Rating: enable users to rate comments

11. Snapshots

12. Limitationsof Social Documentation • Maintaining accuracy • Formatting content and avoiding repetition • Implementing standardization and consistency • Motivating contribution from users • Archiving

13. Conclusion • Transition from a didactic to a conversational tone • Shift from information to interaction • Content is increasingly user-driven • Use of social media to get closer to the users • Less writing and more curating

14. Questions

15. Thank you