Transformation, not translation, of complex information Michael J. Albers East Carolina University

Being a technical writer Focus on the button, the screen, the moment Start with File-New and work to Help-about Be correct and complete Ignore the socio-technical issues, and achieve a no-fail at a trivial level. The result is “accurate” documentation that no one wants to use because it doesn't meet their needs. 2/26/2018 SCCI 2018

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Complex information is a dynamic combination of different information elements Communication of complex information requires merging that dynamic combination into a coherent flow . 2/26/2018 SCCI 2018

Textbooks state a technical communicator translates information for an audience. However, complex information requires more than simply translation, but requires a fundamental transformation to form an integrated synthesis of information that fits the situational context. 2/26/2018 SCCI 2018

Correct and complete? 2/26/2018 SCCI 2018

Communication occurs when three factors work together In scenario-based design, all of the possible things that a person might do while interacting with a computer system to accomplish a range of tasks are explored. This includes all of the possible things that a person might do wrong, and all of the paths of recovery. This is not coding. This is thinking about what people do, which is the first principle of human-centered design. 2/26/2018 SCCI 2018

Think of how the three overlap Developing complex information requires considerations of the interactions of audience with the information and the information flow. As such, the complexities of developing the information and ensuring (testing) it communicates effectively is a much bigger problem than the sum of the parts. An interesting question that often does not seem to be explicitly mentioned with regards to information analysis “What should be communicated?” With open-ended, complex texts, this becomes a much deeper question than one of directly moving information from the source to the reader. 2/26/2018 SCCI 2018

Maximal communication with maximal overlap 2/26/2018 SCCI 2018

None of the three can be optimized alone. A fundamental design issues with complex information stems from its dynamic aspects; changing situations means that a good information and decisions today may be bad information and decisions tomorrow. Human psychology and the the socio-technical issues/processes inherent within the situation interact non-linearly with with the information. 2/26/2018 SCCI 2018

Take away points Discussion Understand the strategies of different factions of the audience to use the information All of the information flowing into the content must be reshaped (transformed) into a form that supports those strategies for comprehension and decision making. Discussion 2/26/2018 SCCI 2018