Text, ConText, and HyperText

Text, ConText, and HyperText PDF

Author: Edward Barrett

Publisher: Mit Press

Published: 1988-01-01

Total Pages: 368

ISBN-13: 9780262022750

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

This first synthesis of diverse but related research provides a unique conceptualization of the field of computer writing and documentation.

Text, Context, and Hypertext

Text, Context, and Hypertext PDF

Author: Edward Barrett

Publisher: Mit Press

Published: 1991-10-01

Total Pages: 394

ISBN-13: 9780262521628

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

Text, ConText, and HyperText presents recent developments in three related and important areas of technical communication: the design of effective documentation; the impact of new technology and research on technical writing; and the training and management of technical writers.The contributors are all authorities drawn from universities and industry who are active in defining and analyzing the role of computing in technical documentation and the role of documentation in the development of computing technology. This first synthesis of their diverse but related research provides a unique conceptualization of the field of computers and writing and documentation.The book first examines techniques for writing online documentation and the value of usability testing. It presents new research into the impact of human factors in screen design and designing online help, and looks at the impact of desktop publishing on documentation, and at visual literacy and graphic design.Artificial intelligence and documentation processing are then addressed with discussion of data acquisition, automated formatting in expert systems, and document databases; the uses of HyperText in documentation; and the future of technical writing in this new environment.Text, ConText, and HyperText concludes by examining the training and management of documentation groups: how they "learn to write" in industry, management of large-scale documentation projects and their effect on product development; and the "two cultures" of engineering and documentation.Edward Barrett is a Lecturer in the Writing Program at MIT. Text, ConText, and HyperText is included in the Information Systems series, edited by Michael Lesk.

The New Writing Environment

The New Writing Environment PDF

Author: Mike Sharples

Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media

Published: 2012-12-06

Total Pages: 277

ISBN-13: 1447114825

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

Information technology is changing the way we write. Special features such as outliners, spelling checkers and graphic facilities have transformed word processors into document processors; document processors have, in turn, integrated with other electronic resources such as e-mail and the Internet to provide a complete writing environment. The New Writing Environment examines the knowledge that is needed in order to develop, use and evaluate computer-based writing environments. The emphasis is firmly on practical issues: tasks performed by writers at work, problems they encounter, and documents they actually produce. Writing is defined within a wide social and organisational context, in order to give an accurate assessment of how the new technology affects the social and cooperative aspects of authorship. The result is a wide-ranging and comprehensive assessment of the relationship between writing and computers.

The Society of Text

The Society of Text PDF

Author: Edward Barrett

Publisher: MIT Press

Published: 1989

Total Pages: 484

ISBN-13: 9780262521611

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

This collection of essays continues Barrett's investigations into implementing networked online systems described in his first book Text, ConText, and HyperText, with a more focused emphasis on specific hypermedia systems. In four parts the 22 essays take up designing hypertext and hypermedia systems for the online user; textual intervention and collaboration; new roles for writers; and sensemaking and learning in the online environment.In his introduction, Barrett analyzes the design of networked online systems as part of a collaborative process, asserting that the online environment fosters collaboration by using computer technology to support interaction among those who design, use, and write software. The first five essays present a genealogy of hypertext development, assess various hypertext designs, discuss users' wants and needs, and analyze the "rhetoric" of hypertext applications in light of new models for computer human interaction. Seven essays then take up new, important online systems for information retrieval, document production, and training in the online environment. Included are a first time full scale analysis of the Athena Muse hypermedia system developed at MIT, the hypertext environment Intermedia, developed at Brown, the University of Maryland's Hyperties, and the Educational Online System for document production and training technical writers, now in its second year of use at MIT. New roles for writers and productivity gains provided by online environments are the subject of the next six essays. The final four essays discuss instructional efficiency and the failures of instructional materials. Novel proposals are described for addressing the needs and strategies of learners, for supporting cooperative work in creating, revising, and testing a software program, for evaluating online help systems, and for eliminating ambiguity in online text. The Society of Text is included in the Information Systems series, edited by Michael Lesk.

Effective Documentation

Effective Documentation PDF

Author: Stephen Doheny-Farina

Publisher: MIT Press

Published: 1988

Total Pages: 376

ISBN-13: 9780262040983

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

"Best Collection of Essays", NCTE Awards for Excellence in Technical and Scientific Communication. Effective Documentation is a major sourcebook that offers technical writers, editors, teachers, and students of technical communication a wide variety of practical guidelines based on often hard to find research in the usability of printed and electronic media. The book's eighteen chapters provide a wealth of material on such topics of current interest as the writing of design manuals, research in cognitive psychology as applied to the design of user manuals, and the organizing of manuals for hierarchical software systems. Included are chapters by such well known scholars in the field as Philip Rubens, Robert Krull, Judith Ramey, and John Carroll. Effective Documentation reviews the advice offered by other "how to produce usable documentation" books, describing the different types of usability research and explaining the inherent biases of each type. It goes beyond the actual design of textual and/or electronic media to look at these designs in context, giving advice on effective management ("good management is a requisite of good writing"), on the relationship between document design and product design, and on how to find out who one's readers really are. Advances in the presentation of textual information are explained, with suggestions on how to improve the usability of individual sentences and the design of entire books. The concluding chapters discuss advances in the design and use of online information and offer valuable insights into the use of graphic information and the development and design of information communicated via electronic media. Stephen Doheny Farina is Assistant Professor of Technical Communication at Clarkson University. Effective Documentationis included in the Information Systems series, edited by Michael Lesk.

Rhetoric, Innovation, Technology

Rhetoric, Innovation, Technology PDF

Author: Stephen Doheny-Farina

Publisher: MIT Press

Published: 1992

Total Pages: 312

ISBN-13: 9780262041294

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

Stephen Doheny-Farina shows that the technical and commercial processes of turning technologies into products are, in significant ways, communication processes. Improving the way that technology is transferred from laboratory to marketplace is central to improving American productivity and competitiveness in a global economy. In this provocative analysis, Stephen Doheny-Farina shows that the technical and commercial processes of turning technologies into products are, in significant ways, communication processes. He explores the key role that technical communicators must play in the movement of technology from expert designers and developers to users. Several lengthy case studies illustrate the rhetorical issues involved in technology transfers as well as the rhetorical barriers to their success. Doheny-Farina argues that processes typically called information transfer and technology transfer are not transfers at all but instead are series of personal constructions and reconstructions of knowledge, expertise, and technologies by the participants attempting to adapt technological innovations for social uses.Underscoring the rhetorical nature of any technology transfer, the case studies describe the powerful effect that a startup company's business plan can have on its future (including the many factors that surround the writing of a business plan), the rhetorical barriers to the transfer of an experimental artificial heart from a university research hospital to a biomedical products manufacturer, and two compelling situations that call for the inclusion of technical writers in new product development from its inception. A final chapter focuses on the important elements in the education of technical communicators and an appendix discusses classroom applications and includes a fictional case incorporating issues of intraorganizational barriers to collaboration in the new product development process.

Expert Systems and Related Topics

Expert Systems and Related Topics PDF

Author: Marlene A. Palmer

Publisher: IGI Global

Published: 1990-01-01

Total Pages: 170

ISBN-13: 9781878289032

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

This comprehensive reference to all areas of expert systems and applications, plus advanced related topics, lets you spend your time reading expert systems literature rather than searching for it. It gives you a source of historical perspectives and outlooks on the future of the field. Whether you are a manager, a developer or an end user or researcher, Expert Systems and Related Topics: Selected Bibliography & Guide to Information Sources puts all the sources of expert systems literature at your fingertips.

Multimedia and Hypertext

Multimedia and Hypertext PDF

Author: Jakob Nielsen

Publisher: Morgan Kaufmann

Published: 1995-02-27

Total Pages: 498

ISBN-13: 9780125184083

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

Reflecting the changes in the hypertext/multimedia market, this book includes illustrated examples of a variety of new hypermedia systems, particularly those related to the Internet, plus many examples of the use of Mosaic and the HTML.

Hot Text

Hot Text PDF

Author: Jonathan Price

Publisher: New Riders

Published: 2002

Total Pages: 526

ISBN-13: 9780735711518

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

Attention, Web writers! This book will show you how to craft prose that grabs your guests' attention, changes their attitudes, and convinces them to act. You'll learn how to make your style fast, tight, and scannable. You'll cook up links that people love to click, menus that mean something, and pages of text that search engines rank high. You'll learn how to write great Web help, FAQs, responses to customers, marketing copy, press releases, news articles, e-mail newsletters, Webzine raves, or your own Web resume. Case studies show real-life examples you can follow. No matter what you write on the Web, you'll see how to personalize, build communities, and burst out of the conventional with your own honest style.