AIS Applications, Standards

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Developing Content

• More than just technical writing

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Who we are

• Applications, Standards Methods Usability,
  Research, and Tools Team

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Your neighborhood content developers

• Jody Wright
• 18 years as a tech writer in the software
  industry
• Created documentation for Unix, Windows, and Web
  environments
• Created user, administrative, installation, and
  system back-end content
• Led technical writing projects

• Cynthia Berman
• Tech writer, editor, indexer, and project manager
  in the software industry since 1985
• Written system, user, and administrative content
  for mainframe, Unix, Web, and Windows
  environments
• Led workshops in writing, indexing, editing, and
  IA
• Background in COBOL programming and graphic arts

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What we do

• Develop content
• Many types of information
• New applications or existing ones
• Develop the context using metadata, links, and
  location.
• Make it findable
• Organization
• Search and navigation
• Champion usability testing.

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Some content types

• Troubleshooting
• Production support
• How-to
• Administrative
• Database schema
• Data dictionary
• Specifications
• Runtime behavior
• Field descriptions

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For example

• HEPPS Nile website is in development.
• Specifications that described DAPP in terms of
  the user experience.
• DAPP production support documentation
• How-to documents Updating the Earnings Table
  and Updating Pay Scales
• Job Class Table Field Definitions

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Quiz Have your users

• Found yourself arguing with what was written?
• Gotten a shock from reading a set of
  instructions?
• Given up?

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We can help you by

• Assessing the information needs of your users
• Write content that meets your users needs.
• Explaining tasks in language your users
  understand.
• Creating consistent, complete content
• Write content that easy to read and comprehend.
• Simplify the writing process.
• Organizing content to meet the needs of your
  users
• Tell them how to do a given task and what they
  need to know to do it.
• Structure content so that is easily accessible.

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You can help us by

• Tell us who your users are (AIS, CC, business
  partners).
• Understand what you do now and what youd like to
  do in the future.
• Existing Systems
• Do a content inventory
• Determine what content is obsolete and should be
  thrown away
• Tell us your story in your own words.

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How we do it

• We ask a lot of questions and sometimes, we ask
  the same question multiple times in different
  ways.
• We determine the starting and stopping points for
  the topic, i.e., the right amount of information
  to include.
• We combine context and content.
• We write, revise, question, revise, publish,
  revise
• We advocate for the user.

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Care and feeding of writers

• Bring in the writer and usability expert before
  the beginning of the project include our
  services in your project proposal and project
  plan.
• To write clear content, we have to understand the
  topic
• Answer our questions.
• Provide us with background information.
• The best final products are a collaboration
  between the writer, the design team, and the
  users
• We are active and contributing team members.

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And

• Talk to us
• Were friendly.
• Were good listeners.
• Were always curious.
• Dont underestimate the power of dark chocolate!

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Questions about Content Development in AIS?

• Email ais-asm_at_u.washington.edu
• URL https//www.washington.edu/cactools/is/ais/as
  m/mission/urt.html