Electronic Writing & Publishing
Fall 2007
Other Mini-Media Choice Projects:
Mini-Media Choice Projects: Online Help Analysis & Critique
Due 10/23 (your choice 1 of 4 projects: Online Communities, Podcasting, Online Help, or E-Journals)
Worth 5% of your final grade.
Turn in on paper, single spaced.
Purpose: To become familiar with online help and to analyze and critique online help as a method of electronic publishing and writing.
Recommended for: This Mini-Media Choice Project is recommend those who plan to work as writing professionals (technical communicators, technical writers and so on) or anyone planning a job in the software industry.
For this project you will first need to chose an online help system to analyze. It is recommended you focus on online help, but as part of the analysis and critique can look at the embedded help and wizards that are part of the online help system. There is a list of possible online help systems to choose from below. Spend a fair amount of time (~1.5-2 hours) using the online help system. Try using it to complete a few tasks, including tasks you know how to perform in the software and those you don't. Then analyze and critique the online help. First provide a brief description of the online help you chose and the tasks you attempted using it. Also in your analysis & critique discuss:
- Who do you think wrote the help? Technical Communicators or others trained in writing and user-friendly design, the software programmers, or someone else? Why do you think this?
- Who do you think uses the help and why? Is the help designed for the full range of users—novices to experts? How?
- How well does it incorporate Pratt's checklist (see the Pratt reading 34-36): task-focused procedures, feedback, access to additional information, practice, philosophical/conceptual explanations?
- Is it simply online help or are their also wizards and embedded help? Discuss all that are applicable.
- Does it include full blown tutorials? For what? Why are these tutorials?
- Does it provide access to help when and where the user needs it?
- Does it provide a direct route to the help? Does it provide information the users can really actually use?
- Does it require users to leave or stop their task?
- Is it contextual?
- How long does it take to find what you need? Is it really what you need?
- How easy is it to figure out what you need? For example, do you have to know certain terms for things?
- How well does it follow Lancaster 's 10 design principles (see the Lancaster reading)?
- How does online help compare to other methods/genres of electronic writing and publishing?
- What things do you think web design and methods other electronic writing and publishing could learn from online help? What could online help learn from other electronic writing and publishing genres/methods?
You may find it helpful to include screen shots of the online help. You are welcome to do so, just make sure you correctly label any figures and refer to them in your writing. These do not count towards page length.
Online Help Options:
You may use the online help of any major software program, such as any of the Microsoft Programs (Outlook, FrontPage, PowerPoint, Work, and so on), or other major software applications like Dreamweaver, QuarkXpress, any Adobe program, and so on. Please make sure the program does have an extensive help system or you may find doing your project difficult. If you would like to use another online help system please contact me for approval by 10/16.