User assistance needs to be the result of integrated development, in which the UI, the architecture, and the user assistance are all viewed as content

1. THE HAIRBALL OF
CONTENT
Ray
Gallon
RAY
G ALLON
C U LT U R E C O M
Member, Board of Directors
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2012
Ray
Gallon
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Thursday, 4 October 2012

2. “CONTENT IS A HAIRY,
COMPLICATED BEAST”
-­‐KRISTINA
H ALVORSON,
I NTRODUCING
E RIN
K ISSANE’S
“ THE
E LEMENTS
O F
C ONTENT
S TRATEGY”
Presentation
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2012
Ray
Gallon
all
rights
reserved
Thursday, 4 October 2012

3. How many people get asked for
“just documentation” ?
How
many
people,
in
performing
the
job,
end
up
doing
much
more?
Do
you
think
you
are
also
doing...
Content
Strategy?
Information
Architecture?
User
eXperience
and/or
interface
design?
Marketing?
What
else?
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2012
Ray
Gallon
all
rights
reserved
Thursday, 4 October 2012

4. CONTENT STRATEGY
Combined
definition:
A
repeatable
system
that
defines
the
practice
of
planning
for
content
creation,
delivery,
and
governance,
i.e.,
the
entire
editorial
content
development
process,
in
support
of
meaningful
interactive
experiences.
-­‐K.
Halvorson,
R.
Shefield,
R.
Lovinger
e
de sign
s,
ation
)
es.
W f
location d
info
rm
eb
sit ber
o bedd
e
for
w
a
num
t
just nt
in rfa ces
(e
m
no ar e
inte tems ltips,
T his
is ve
conte Softw e
help
s
ys
a nce
(t
oo
ti
onlin r
guid
in terac ple: Classi
c
m
se
s
of
u .)
syste ws,
etc
for
exam L
d
ayere overvie
t
syste
ms
pups, emen t) po g e
e
mana ,
e xtran
Knowledg ntranet
ublic,
i
sites
(p
Web
...
Presentation
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2012
Ray
Gallon
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Thursday, 4 October 2012

5. INFORMATION ARCHITECTURE
The
te
rm
use
of
a
sy d
to
de
stem,
scribe
groupe i.e.
the the
str
d,
the
way
in ucture
termin naviga format
ology
u tion
m ion
is
sed
wi ethods
thin
th
and
e
syste
m.”
-­‐Ian
Ba
r k er
s ha
and
red nizing e
f
orga ,
onlin
in nce
o anets
scie ,
intr port
for rt
and
sites o
sup
m The
a g
web are
t
ati in d
softw
on labell nities,
an ility. stitut
e
u b
en comm ty
and
usa ture
In
vir ili hitec
on ndab n
Arc
fi matio
m
en -­‐Infor
ts. Presentation
©
2012
Ray
Gallon
all
rights
reserved
Thursday, 4 October 2012

6. IA IS ALSO CONTENT
MANAGEMENT STRATEGY
Content
Management
is
a
method
for
organizing
documentation
and
training
resources
—
text,
media
—
into
an
overarching
knowledge
model. d
e
ain tain
and
m
ated t.
cre nten
d el
is l
co
mo actua
e dge the
owl rom
We
us
e
topic
e
kn ely
f
Th rat that
h -­‐based
elps
u
a
se pa things s
desig uthoring
as
. n
arch
a
tech
itectu
res
to
nique
do
the
se
Allows
us
to
provide
access
to
the
information
based
on
the
model
of
the
knowledge
it
contains.
-­‐Sources:
Joe
Gelb
&
Steve
Newcombe
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2012
Ray
Gallon
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Thursday, 4 October 2012

7. USER EXPERIENCE
The
user
experience
is
the
totality
of
end-­‐users’
perceptions
as
they
interact
with
a
product
or
service.
These
perceptions
include:
Effectiveness
(how
good
is
the
result?)
Efficiency
(how
fast
or
cheap
is
it?)
Emotional
satisfaction
(how
good
does
it
feel?)
The
quality
of
the
relationship
with
the
entity
that
created
the
product
or
service
(what
expectations
does
it
create
for
subsequent
interactions?).
-­‐
Kuniavsky
(2010)
All
aspects
of
the
end-­‐user’s
interaction
with
the
company,
its
services,
and
its
products...
In
order
to
achieve
high-­‐quality
user
experience
in
a
company’s
offerings
there
must
be
a
seamless
merging
of
the
services
of
multiple
disciplines,
including
engineering,
marketing,
graphical
and
industrial
design,
and
interface
design.
-­‐
Nielsen-­‐Norman
Group
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2012
Ray
Gallon
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Thursday, 4 October 2012

8. Content
is
just
stuff
we
write,
isn’t
it?
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2012
Ray
Gallon
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Thursday, 4 October 2012

9. DESIGNING USER ASSISTANCE - EXPERIENCE
IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN TAXONOMY
Engineers
think
functionally
-­‐
users
think
experientially,
i.e.
by
task.
We
create
assistance
for
users
that
tells
them
how
to
perform
tasks.
That’s
an
important
part
of
our
added
value.
With
traditional
“static”
documentation,
the
product
gives
meaning
to
the
docs.
Users’
experience
with
the
product
takes
them
from
the
abstract
realm
of
reading
about
the
product...
to
the
reality
of
performance.
For
software,
the
obvious
next
step
was
to
embed
the
user
assistance
in
the
product
itself.
Minimalism
+
Structured
Authoring
make
this
doable.
Presentation
©
2012
Ray
Gallon
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rights
reserved
Thursday, 4 October 2012

10. DESIGNING USER ASSISTANCE - EXPERIENCE
IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN TAXONOMY
Engineers
think
functionally
-­‐
users
think
experientially,
i.e.
by
task.
We
create
assistance
for
users
that
tells
them
how
to
perform
tasks.
That’s
an
important
part
of
our
added
value.
With
traditional
“static”
documentation,
the
product
gives
meaning
to
the
docs.
Users’
experience
with
the
product
takes
them
from
the
abstract
realm
of
reading
about
the
product...
to
the
reality
of
performance.
For
software,
the
obvious
next
step
was
to
embed
the
user
assistance
in
the
product
itself.
Minimalism
+
Structured
Authoring
make
this
doable.
Presentation
©
2012
Ray
Gallon
all
rights
reserved
Thursday, 4 October 2012

11. QUESTIONS FOR EMBEDDED UA
Can
you
design
a
proper
embedded
user
assistance
system
without
working
on
the
interface
design?
Can
you
write
user
assistance
“content”
without
reference
to,
and
involvement
in,
the
“non
content”
of
the
interface,
messages,
and
other
operational
linguistic
material
of
the
software?
Do
you
work
in
an
agile
environment?
Are
you
present
in
design
meetings?
Do
you
have
a
common
strategy
for
all
the
content
delivered
in,
alongside,
and
in
complement
to
the
software?
Presentation
©
2012
Ray
Gallon
all
rights
reserved
Thursday, 4 October 2012

12. QUESTIONS FOR EMBEDDED UA
Can
you
design
a
proper
embedded
user
assistance
system
without
working
on
the
interface
design?
Can
you
write
user
assistance
“content”
without
reference
to,
and
involvement
in,
the
“non
content”
of
the
interface,
messages,
and
other
operational
linguistic
material
of
the
software?
Do
you
work
in
an
agile
environment?
Are
you
present
in
design
meetings?
Do
you
have
a
common
strategy
for
all
the
content
delivered
in,
alongside,
and
in
complement
to
the
software?
Presentation
©
2012
Ray
Gallon
all
rights
reserved
Thursday, 4 October 2012

13. QUESTIONS FOR EMBEDDED UA
RES WH
PO OI
Can
you
design
a
proper
embedded
user
assistance
system
NSI S
without
working
on
the
interface
design?
THE BLE
Can
you
write
user
assistance
“content”
without
reference
to,
and
ARE SE
involvement
in,
the
“non
content”
of
the
interface,
messages,
and
THI FOR
other
operational
linguistic
material
of
the
software?
THE
YC NG
Do
you
work
in
an
agile
environment?
Are
you
present
in
design
meetings?
ON S?
TEN
Do
you
have
a
common
strategy
for
all
the
content
delivered
in,
T?
alongside,
and
in
complement
to
the
software?
Presentation
©
2012
Ray
Gallon
all
rights
reserved
Thursday, 4 October 2012

14. LET’S LOOK AT MINIMALISM
Two
major
ideas
to
minimalism:
Don’t
waste
user’s
time
with
unnecessary
detail,
especially
concepts
Save
money
in
production
and
localization
If
user
only
learns
by
rote,
s/he
won’t
be
able
to
extrapolate
to
new
situations
-­‐
has
to
come
back
to
the
help
to
find
a
new
procedure.
Does
this
help
the
user?
Presentation
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2012
Ray
Gallon
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rights
reserved
Thursday, 4 October 2012

15. IS MEMORIZING A PROCEDURE BY
ROTE NECESSARY FOR COMPETENCY?
STEP 1 Is
it
“
DO minim
TH STEP 2
back
al”
if
IS STEP 3 to
the users
help
need
ING
! repea
to
go
N How
tedly?
W AR NOTE: does
wants a
user
THAT
or
ne
know
N’T D
O eds
to
if
s/h
D O
do
th e
eve
is
task n
?
do
we
t,
how users’
ortan sting
imp “wa
ncep ts
are hout
If
co
them
wit
inc lude
t ime?” Presentation
©
2012
Ray
Gallon
all
rights
reserved
Thursday, 4 October 2012

16. LET’S TEACH OUR USERS TO FISH!
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2012
Ray
Gallon
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Thursday, 4 October 2012

17. DOUBLE EMBEDDEDNESS
So
here’s
the
problem:
We
want
to
give
the
user
all
the
information
s/he
needs
and
only
the
information
s/he
needs.
For
the
most
part,
we’ve
assumed
that
means
procedures.
Concepts
are
out
-­‐
too
long,
too
messy,
too
irrelevant.
The
user
wants
to
meet
her
or
his
contingent
need.
Some
users
will
infer
underlying
principles
and
concepts
from
repeated
procedures.
Others,
however,
will
not,
unless
we
point
them
to
it
in
some
way.
Why
not
embed
conceptual
information
in
procedures?
Presentation
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2012
Ray
Gallon
all
rights
reserved
Thursday, 4 October 2012

18. DOUBLE EMBEDDEDNESS
TS!”
NEVER
mix
is
NU
Didn’t
anyone
tell
procedures
and
guy
you
that’s
a
basic
concepts!
That’s
tech
comm
101
this
ing,
“
what
amateurs
do!
no-­‐no?
ably
say
u
are
prob
w,
yo
Get
a
haircut!
Right
no Get
a
job!
A
REAL
job!
Why
do
you
think
we
have
different
DITA
topics
for
them?
Give
them
a
bit
of
The
DITA
Step
decision
support
element
includes
and
they’ll
do
the
stepresult
and
rest!
info
subelements
DITA
actually
does
have
mixed
topics
Presentation
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2012
Ray
Gallon
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rights
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Thursday, 4 October 2012

19. GOING BEYOND: EMPOWERING
THE USER
’t
isn
ed
UA ter
ials
e dd :
ma
mb r
can t nce swers urced
our
e
use e guida
an
so
n
the n y
TH
he h,
ter nit
In u et owd
g cr
IS
LE
W g e
th omm orks e
to to
AD
ou
S
ch r
c TO
en e ar S tw bu
fo al
ne ntri
t
ok ci Intens
Lo
so
co ify
kno
e nd interes w le d g
Us sult
a t e
level
s
for
p
on Pursue ersona
C
relate l
Extend d
infor
profes mation
ALS
O...
indepe sional
as
a
h
HE C
AN
ndentl compe obby
SIO
N,S /
Look
t y tency
XTE
N o
past
BY E what
s
exper
/he
ma iences
y
have
to
find
forgot
out
ten
Presentation
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2012
Ray
Gallon
all
rights
reserved
Thursday, 4 October 2012

20. GOING BEYOND: EMPOWERING
THE USER
led ge
now .
nd
k ation
ng
a anis
hari
org
tion
s
the The
ma tside
use
nfor
ou
of
i
and
as
t r
o
re
decode
re
ultu
inside
reco
des
con
stru s
inform
A
c ng, it
in
to
n
ct
it
.
S/h ation
s
bu ildi ew
k e
the
now n
o
le dge
This
changes
how
we
react
t .
o
our
environment,
and
has
social
and
ethical
implica
tions
own
as
ent
What
I
do
can
is
k n lopm
do
has
an
effec
be
usef
ul
for
o This ive
deve
gnit
UTube
p t
on
wh thers,
a
nd
wha
ost
has
good
t
at
I
can
ags
or
n
use
-­‐
fo t
others
r
examp
co
ot. le,
if
a
Presentation
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2012
Ray
Gallon
all
rights
reserved
Thursday, 4 October 2012

21. COGNITION AND CONTEXT
Cultural
Context:
This
is
a
typical
Chinese
home
page
-­‐
built
to
be
scanned,
not
read.
Presentation
©
2012
Ray
Gallon
all
rights
reserved
Thursday, 4 October 2012

22. COGNITION AND CONTEXT
Concept
topics
remain
abstract.
Their
application
seems
distant
to
the
user.
Putting
a
sentence
or
two
of
conceptual
information
in
context
(while
the
user
is
performing
the
relevant
task)
reinforces
knowledge
acquisition
and
integration.
Context
is
everything!
Tasks
should
also
explain
why
it
is
interesting
to
do
them
-­‐
again,
in
one
or
two
short
sentences:
Decision
Support
Presentation
©
2012
Ray
Gallon
all
rights
reserved
Thursday, 4 October 2012

23. COGNITION AND CONTEXT
Concept
topics
remain
abstract.
Their
application
seems
distant
to
the
user.
Putting
a
sentence
or
two
of
conceptual
information
in
context
(while
the
user
is
performing
the
relevant
task)
reinforces
knowledge
acquisition
and
integration.
Context
is
everything!
Tasks
should
also
explain
why
it
is
Lots
of
detail
does
interesting
to
do
them
-­‐
again,
in
not
necessarily
one
or
two
short
sentences:
mean
more
Decision
Support
knowledge
Presentation
©
2012
Ray
Gallon
all
rights
reserved
Thursday, 4 October 2012

24. Integrated Competency Learning
+
Cognitive
construction
and
process
reasoning +Socio-­‐cultural
construction
(information
sharing,
mentoring)
WHERE IN THIS
SPACE DO YOU WANT
YOUR USERS?
+Code:
Mastery
of
the
+Thematic
knowledge
language,
interface,
(SME)
iconography...
...AND WHEN????
+
Individually
significant
contextualisation
(contingency)
+Procedural
Memorisation
Presentation
©
2012
Ray
Gallon
all
rights
reserved
Adapted
by
Dr.
Neus
Lorenzo
from
Phil
Ball
&
Keith
Kelly
(2009)
Ref:
http://ow.ly/dLK8g
&
http://goo.gl/Ul3A2
Thursday, 4 October 2012

25. Ex
tra
it
d
IF THE USER GETS
e
l
137 ’atla
5
B s
ca
ibl tal
iot an
hè ,
éc
qu
e
N ole
m
LOST, DOES S/HE
ati
on ajorq
ale uin
de e,
Fr
ca.
an
ce
HAVE A MAP TO FIND
THE WAY BACK? ?
Presentation
©
2012
Ray
Gallon
all
rights
reserved
Thursday, 4 October 2012

26. HAVING LOTS OF RESOURCES
IS NOT ALWAYS A SOLUTION...
Hidden
User
Assistance
is
no
Help
at
all!
… IF YOU DON’T HAVE ADEQUATE KNOWLEDGE OF THEM
Presentation
©
2012
Ray
Gallon
all
rights
reserved
Thursday, 4 October 2012

27. TO ENCOURAGE LEARNING WE
MUST STIMULATE COGNITIVE DEMAND
+
REFLECT
ON
AND
EVALUATE
THE
CE
FORM
OF
THE
MESSAGE
TI
RICHNESS
OF
THE
CONTENT
AC
PR REFLECT
ON
AND
Y,
EVALUATE
THE
CONTENT
IT
N
TU
APPLY
AND
USE
THE
INFORMATION
R
PO
OP
INTERPRET
IMPLICIT
INFORMATION Bloom’s
Pyramid
RETRIEVE
EXPLICIT
INFORMATION
-
COGNITIVE-­‐SYMBOLIC
COMPLEXITY
+
Presentation
©
2012
Ray
Gallon
all
rights
reserved
Adapted from a scheme by Dr. Neus Lorenzo
Thursday, 4 October 2012

28. DIMENSIONS OF COMPETENCY
Interfaces,
hardware,
software,
user
assistance,
hands-­‐on
and
conceptual
combined
Integrated
Learning When
quantity
of
Mastery
Criteria
Selection information
surpasses
the
Quantity
individual’s
contingent
Functional Complexity needs,
the
learner
experiences
confusion,
a
Advanced Community
sense
of
chaos,
because
Threshold Cognition s/he
cannot
keep
track
of
Quality
it
all.
Basic Communication
Beginner Literal
Content
In
moving
from
contingent
need
to
confusion,
we
still
learn
more.
COMPLEXITY
≠
CHAOS! Presentation
©
2012
Ray
Gallon
all
rights
reserved
Thursday, 4 October 2012

29. IN SHORT...
...a
re
al
Technical
communication l
e
xa
mp
Content
strategy CO les
of
NT
Information
Architecture W EN
OR T
User
Experience The
key
is K
Integrated
t
to
Interface
Design se en
ll
u opm ible
Localization
Development y
a vel
e e
th
d ss T!
po TEN
nd ive e
im N
...a nit
th F
CO
And
many
more... og ngle L
O
c a
nt BAL
u IR
HA Presentation
©
2012
Ray
Gallon
all
rights
reserved
Thursday, 4 October 2012

30. GOOD CONTENT WORK
YIELDS GOOD RESULTS
CONTENT
Concepts Procedures
New
Knowledge
and
Cognitive
Development
Integrated
procedures
and
user
experience
Embedded
user
assistance
High
added
Value
Presentation
©
2012
Ray
Gallon
all
rights
reserved
Ref: http://www.iaie.org/download/turin_paper_casal.pdf
Thursday, 4 October 2012

31. RAY
G ALLON
C U LT U R E C O M
THANK
YOU!
NOW
GO
OUT
AND
KEEP
MAKING
GOOD
CONTENT!
email:
infodesign@culturecom.net
Twitter:
@RayGallon
LinkedIn
and
Google+:
Ray
Gallon
Please
check
out
my
blog,
«
Rant
of
a
Humanist
Nerd:
»
ed
http://humanistnerd.culturecom.net n
bason
tatio i
resen nsformat
is
p
Tra
of
th e
tions rch
by
thgroup.
Por sea ing
on
reety
work
Soci
Member, Board of Directors
Presentation
©
2012
Ray
Gallon
all
rights
reserved
Thursday, 4 October 2012