Many people who are interested in learning about usability testing have trouble finding an entry point into the literature in the field. This briefly annotated bibliography addresses their needs by identifying recent, reasonably accessible articles and books organized in the following categories: general introduction to usability testing; usability testing of documentation (the process and general methods and tools); print documentation (discussions and examples of tests); and online documentation (discussions and examples of tests); the human-machine interface (the process, general methods and tools, and discussions and examples of tests); and textbooks on research design.< <ETX xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">&gt;</ETX>

A rationale and description are presented for an approach to teaching ethics, as a process rather than a product, in a technical writing course. The students carry out a series of related assignments based on the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI). The intent is that by writing and speaking about SDI technologies, students will develop the ability to form responsible value judgments in addition to doing factual reporting. To develop their sense of ethical reasoning, they are encouraged to use generalizations that evaluate the subject rather than just describe it. It is suggested that this method of raising ethical awareness could easily be adapted for use in professional seminars.< <ETX xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">&gt;</ETX>

The growing use of acronyms in technical and nontechnical communications is addressed. It is shown that acronyms can hinder communication. Their use is analyzed and classified. Suggestions are given on how to use acronyms effectively.< <ETX xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">&gt;</ETX>

An important part of the Certificate in Technical Communication Program at the University of Wisconsin-Madison College of Engineering is the technical communication internship, which integrates on-the-job experience with classroom experience. The certificate program requirements and the internship are described. Students who plan careers both in technical writing and in engineering report that they have found the internship valuable.< <ETX xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">&gt;</ETX>

Usability evaluation and usability testing are defined and distinguished, and the role of expert evaluation in defining audience groups, constructing usage scenarios, and performing task breakdowns is pointed out. Usability evaluation is viewed as comparable to the work of an expert editor, and the background that a usability specialist should have is described. Other methods besides testing that can supplement expert evaluation are briefly discussed.< <ETX xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">&gt;</ETX>

When the professional who teaches technical communication uses quality control techniques that are common in industry, technical reports and presentations show continual improvement. These techniques emphasize participative management, which in the classroom means student involvement in improving the process of writing a technical paper or making a technical presentation. Another effective technique derived from industrial management is applying quality control at checkpoints during the process instead of relying on control points at its end. A third improvement technique used by successful Japanese managers encourages and rewards suggestions to an extent unmatched even by the best US programs. The author describes the application of these industrial management techniques in the technical communication classroom. She reports that these techniques help create a strong classroom culture that helps students improve the quality of their work.< <ETX xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">&gt;</ETX>

The authors argue that while usability testers have drawn on demonstrated practices from a variety of the social and clinical sciences in developing their methods, they have not concerned themselves with the reliability and validity of the data produced. The authors suggest that the concepts of reliability and validity are relevant to usability testing and that a concern for reliability and validity will enhance the credibility and effectiveness of usability testers.< <ETX xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">&gt;</ETX>

The multidimensional nature of usability (including tradeoffs between dimensions) is described, stressing the linkage of the concept to the effective use of documentation by a particular group of readers in performing a certain set of software-related tasks under realistic environmental constraints. Major issues in the evaluation and design of usability are examined. It is argued that the sampling of realistic tasks and target readers is often very difficult, particularly in a laboratory setting, and that additional emphasis must be placed on using multiple observation periods, standardized measures and materials, and multimethod assessments of usability.< <ETX xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">&gt;</ETX>

Six steps that are very much like those used in the planning phase of a software product are listed. It is shown, with the help of an extended illustration, how these same steps apply to the planning of an information product. The result is a set of measurable objectives that actually prescribes the appropriate usability testing for the documentation.< <ETX xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">&gt;</ETX>

A discussion of the real-world environment of usability testing in the computer industry leads into a discussion of how the real world constrains the usability process and how the usability specialist can cope with the constraints. The focus is on two major constraints that result from the need to get information to the interface designers early enough so that they can use it: the need to work with incomplete materials, and the short amount of time usually allotted for a usability test iteration. The design of a new documentation model at Microsoft is considered as an example.< <ETX xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">&gt;</ETX>

It is pointed out that workplace reading primarily involves reading to do or reading that specifies action, as opposed to reading to learn or reading that centers on a topic as in a classroom. The author's development of reading to learn to do materials or tutorials that help users both to use a program and to learn is discussed. Her comparison with other research and her guidelines for developing effective tutorials provide help for the technical communicator's design of tutorials and have implications for the educator's design of assignments.< <ETX xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">&gt;</ETX>

The author points out that construed narrowly, 'usability testing of documentation' can be limited to validating the usability of a nearly completed draft. She explores ways that technical communication can take a broader view of usability and then situate new approaches and studies. She argues that this broader interpretation can given technical communicators ways to talk with others interested in usability and can build a platform for an understanding of usability research that looks beyond the testing of drafts for usability to the tough issues driving usability research.< <ETX xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">&gt;</ETX>

The author argues that the major reason why Robert Pirsig's 'Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance', first published in 1974, continues to attract so much interest lies in the way Pirsig challenges our values. Pirsig shows that we have lost our understanding of quality, and he explores how we can restore a sense of quality to our lives. The author suggests that technical communication could benefit from Pirsig's idea.< <ETX xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">&gt;</ETX>

The author discusses the University of Central Florida's technical writing program, which has unusual ways of presenting technical subjects while emphasizing writing and literature. Students learn about science from the English instructors, and they also learn English from scientists by studying the writings of Lewis Thomas, Isaac Asimov, Michael Faraday, Thomas Henry Huxley, and many others. Because the program is English-oriented, the students get a broader view of science, and they learn how to make art and science work together in technical communication.< <ETX xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">&gt;</ETX>

The evaluation purposes that can be served at various stages in the development of a document are analyzed. Three testing modes-exploring, verifying, and comparing-are discussed, and their use with various forms of evaluation and feedback modes is examined. The generalization of evaluation findings and the need to make evaluation an integral part of document development are discussed.< <ETX xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">&gt;</ETX>

A study that compared the usability of two versions of online help for an Application System/400 (AS/400) product is described. The long-term goal was to develop empirically based guidelines for writing online help, particularly for application-enabling products. A portion of the online help text for one AS/400 product was revised. The revisions included changes in the content, writing style, and presentation of the text. The original version and the revised version of the help were compared in an interactive (online) task environment and in three hardcopy reviews. In the interactive environment, participants who used the revised version made 40% fewer requests and viewed 45% fewer help screens than those who used the original version. There was no significant difference in task performance (quality of work) between those who used the original and the revised versions of the help. The results of the hardcopy reviews showed that participants strongly preferred the revised version.< <ETX xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">&gt;</ETX>

The author describes the procedure used at NCR Corporation to evaluate the data collected during usability tests. He points out that it can be overwhelming to face a mass of data to be compiled, categorized, analyzed, and evaluated at the end of a test, with limited time available for producing a report. This situation is avoided by defining, before a test, the tools that will be used to collect the test data and the process by which the results will be evaluated, and then performing the preliminary evaluation of data in a process parallel with the test itself. At the end of the test, an evaluation meeting is held at which the cumulative results are reviewed and solutions to the problems that have been identified are defined.< <ETX xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">&gt;</ETX>

The problem known as bypassing is explored using a historical example, the medical term 'antiseptics', to show the impact that bypassing can have on communication of technical information. The term antiseptics was in use for over 150 years before Joseph Lister adopted it in the 1860s to describe his system of surgical treatment. A review of published responses of Canadian doctors to Lister's writings indicates that confusion arose because of the fundamentally different perceptions of the term for Lister and his audience.< <ETX xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">&gt;</ETX>

A critical overview is provided of desktop publishing in terms of its particular significance in technical communication. Problems that may be encountered in an organization's move toward desktop publishing are addressed. Guidance is provided to help users and potential users find their way into and through this area.< <ETX xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">&gt;</ETX>

It is argued that technical writing and computer programming are based on similar principles, perhaps because both are mechanisms for efficiently organizing and communicating complex information. Both technical writing and programming are multistep processes involving planning, drafting, and revising. Moreover, six key aspects of computer programming (modularity, modifiability, user interface, failsafe presentation, style, and debugging) have analogs among such technical writing principles and practices as report sectioning, audience analysis and adaptation, and editing. These similarities are discussed and a course that builds on these likenesses to teach technical writing to programming students is described.< <ETX xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">&gt;</ETX>

The author's grading strategy in an upper-division technical writing course is documented. Students taking the course plan technical communication careers. They complete 50 pages of editing exercises and generate more than 75 pages of double-spaced copy for eight assignments. The author responds to students' work in several ways: (1) personalized memos and extended handwritten comments, (2) marginal handwritten comments and questions, (3) internal copyediting of student manuscripts, (4) individual conferences, and (5) assignment of a grade. When editing student assignments, criticism is provided of content, communication effectiveness, and appearance. For content, the accuracy, consistency, logic, and evidence are evaluated. For communication effectiveness, the appropriateness of the narrative and visuals for the audiences, organization, clarity, and conciseness are evaluated, and for appearance, checks are made for spelling, mechanics, stylebook, and format errors.< <ETX xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">&gt;</ETX>

The author discusses her experiences as the student project leader in a manuals class charged with researching, writing, and producing a handbook for the New Mexico Tech technical communication program. She describes the management process of organizing the class into groups of writers, outlining the document into sections, assigning research and writing topics to the groups, and setting deadlines for the project calendar.< <ETX xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">&gt;</ETX>

A recent survey at Clarkson University showed that students consider technical communication the least worthy and the least difficult of the institution's majors. This prejudice is attributed to the student's high regard for technology and its quantitative, problem-solving analysis coupled with conversely low regard for writing. The author describes his experience with the misconceptions and how he came to understand that technical communication is not a contradiction in terms.< <ETX xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">&gt;</ETX>

The technical communication program in the English Department at Oklahoma State University is described. The author describes how teachers can structure course work so the students complete assignments similar to projects they will complete as professionals. To provide experiential learning outside the classroom, it is suggested that educators include internships or cooperative work-study opportunities in their academic programs, encourage students to become active members in professional organizations, and help students complete professional activities such as giving papers at meetings and conferences and publishing articles in newsletters, conference proceedings, and journals.< <ETX xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">&gt;</ETX>

Recent exit interviews of Clarkson University graduates majoring in technical communications revealed that students have a clear hierarchy of worth that places technology at the top because of its supposed objectivity. Further, students opposed technology to creativity, which they took to be the domain of writing. The author asks several pointed questions aimed at probing how technical communication curricula can show students that creativity and reason can be in harmony and help them better understand their own talents and skills.< <ETX xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">&gt;</ETX>

Examination of the public documents available on the Challenger explosion shows that a history of miscommunication contributed to the accident. This miscommunication was caused by several factors, including managers and engineers interpreting data from different perspectives and the difficulty of believing and then sending bad news, especially to superiors or outsiders. An understanding of the dynamics at work in the Challenger case can help engineers and engineering managers elsewhere reduce miscommunication in their own companies.< <ETX xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">&gt;</ETX>

A student perspective is provided on the process of teaching technical writing as a process parallel to computer programming. The idea that each follows a recognizable series of discrete steps is presented, and the steps that parallel each other are contrasted.< <ETX xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">&gt;</ETX>

The author discusses his experience as a graduate student in the Technical Communication Program at Oklahoma State University (OSU). He discusses activities that he found particularly valuable being an intern, namely, participating in the Society for Technical Communication (STC), writing for publication, and giving oral presentations.< <ETX xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">&gt;</ETX>

Communication instruction at the undergraduate, senior level within the mechanical engineering curriculum is discussed. Faculty collaboration across disciplines and departments and the involvement of students as professionals in their field of study are seen as elements in the process of developing technical communication skills. Faculty-student dialog that supports communication skill development is highlighted.< <ETX xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">&gt;</ETX>

It is suggested that students can learn the fundamentals of project leadership, team writing, and production of a major document if the teacher plans and structures the assignments for the project leader so that the project leader and the student writers share the same understanding of the document, know the lines of authority for decisions, and see how individual parts fit into the whole. The principles of cooperation necessary to complete the project also engage the students in issues of professional ethics.< <ETX xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">&gt;</ETX>

Technical writing in English by Japanese authors is examined. It is pointed out that Japanese rhetorical structure addresses an underlying communication goal that is very different from the goal of Aristotle's persuasive discourse; Japanese technical writers also consider elements such as beauty, surprise, and easy flow as desirable measures of good writing. This fundamental difference in approaching the problem of writing often produces confusing results.< <ETX xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">&gt;</ETX>

EDUCATION and training. Scholarly and vocational. Theoretical and practical. These terms describe traditionally divergent points of view that converge in technical communication curricula and courses. The directors of those programs and the teachers of those courses perform often delicate balancing acts to encourage that convergence. Creating and maintaining a balanced point of view is the theme for the two essays in this issue's Education and Training department.

OVER the last few years, the technology of electronic technical publishing has become increasingly powerful and flexible; professional technical communicators, as well as other professionals in technical fields, now can expect as a matter of course to develop documents at computer terminals, incorporate tabular and graphic material, format them using a wide range of visual attributes, store them electronically, and produce them on sophisticated computer-supported printing equipment.

The author suggests that answers to some of the more difficult questions in the readability-formula debate may be found in W. Gibson's book, Tough, Sweet, and Stuffy (1966). Gibson, in his analysis of style, develops a set of quantifiable characteristics of language that will produce tough talkers, sweet talkers, and stuffy talkers. In specifically analyzing these three familiar American voices, he is able to combine two necessary attributes of readability for technical communicators: a set of specific rules and a rationale for applying them, providing another slant on the readability issue.

As more colleges develop technical communication programs, often to boost sagging enrollments, more attention must be paid to the proper balance in such programs. Employers will want high quality in the programs from which they hire their technical writers. Engineers and other professionals may be interested in the training of those people who help them produce the manuals, proposals, and reports by which industry functions. This paper presumes that coursework must be balanced among several disciplines of learning, that theory must be balanced against practice, that course demands must be balanced against teaching innovation, and that the scholarly concerns of the academy must be balanced against the pragmatic concerns of industry.

During the Iran-Contra hearings the following exchange occurred between Lewis A. Tambs, former Ambassador to Costa Rica, and Sen. George J. Mitchell:

The author focuses on criticisms of technical communication education as training that is too narrowly technical. He endorses the implementation of a program of general education that introduces undergraduate students not only to essential knowledge, but also to connections across the disciplines (E.L. Boyer, 1987). This program would include limitations on expansion of the major as a percentage of total credit hours required, and for greater restraint in course development, as well as more focused attention to meeting academic goals and objectives prior to vocational and career ones.

PCS was chartered to serve all members of IEEE, and the engineering profession in general, by sponsoring activities that focus on ways to improve technical communication. Our Society continues to make steady strides in improving our services to members, as reflected by the following status report.

Professional technical communicators and academicians who study and teach technical communication have opposing perspectives on the ethics that should guide the work of communicating technical information. Valuing most the well-being of their profession and the organizations in which they work, the professionals advocate an ethics in which competence is the principle and market success is the purpose that guides good technical communication. The academicians, valuing most the well-being of the larger society in which all technology is situated, advocate an ethics in which responsibility is the guiding principle and the protection of that society's interests is the guiding purpose. The author considers that an alternative perspective founded on rhetoric might be acceptable to both. He makes cooperation the principle and compromise the purpose that should guide technical communication, suggesting an ethic in which open interaction and collaborative judgment become the context in which technical communication functions.

AS a teacher of technical and professional writing, I have in recent years become acutely aware of what practicing technical communicators have always known: all communication has effects both intended and unintended. We communicate in dynamic and multidimensional environments and, no matter how hard we try, we sometimes cannot anticipate the consequences of our communications. Two powerful dimensions that we must try to be aware of are the legal and ethical aspects of our communicative activities.

The work of technical writers in the areas of writing warnings, product safety policies, instructions, and other documents can prevent or expose a firm to an expensive legal liability. To ensure that their communications are legally correct they may have to research legal references and law books. The authors guide writers of technical communications through the procedures necessary to thoroughly research legal thought, court opinions, case law, and statutes. They illustrate their approach with several examples from reference sources.

The syllabus for a course in teaching technical writing is presented. The course is intended for graduate students, who will in turn use the course material to teach technical writing to college undergraduates.

A few years ago I attended the Technical Writing Institute at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (that's TWIRP, unfortunately) which runs concurrently with the Technical Writing Institute for Teachers (TWIT, to double the ignominy). Although the Institutes share a foyer and a few major speakers, they have different directors (one of whom is Lee Odell, co-editor of the anthology above), and for the most part their respective attendees participate in separate sessions. When the coffee break is over, it's TWITs to the left, TWIRPs to the right.

Technical communication may be chiefly informational in intent, but there are persuasive elements in almost all communications. Sometimes, even in technical matters, persuasive communication skills are very important. The author provides arguments for improving these skills, discusses a number of mini-strategies that can be used to persuade the recipients of written communication, and touches on the ethics of using persuasion tools.

The new advances in electronic publishing systems and technology offer opportunities to dramatically cut the time and cost of producing documentation. These innovations ultimately increase the amount of information available. Yet this fact only underscores the critical need for new ways to make that end product information (documentation) more usable, accessible, and effective. The technology must be combined with the tools of information design. Using techniques based on current cognitive research, information design structures and predigests the content to increase end user comprehension, productivity, and effectiveness.

There is a move in technical writing today toward a personalized, `user-friendly' writing style which is strikingly evident in many computer textbooks and instructional manuals. The author presents the results of a study to determine which style of writing people prefer in a computer tutorial, given the choice between formal, moderately friendly, and extremely friendly texts, and whether their level of computer expertise affects their selection.

Producing computer documentation today involves more than just writing. Today's computer documentation specialists must draw on a wide range of multidisciplinary skills to produce an effective documentation package. Beyond knowledge of the underlying computer technology and the necessary writing skills, they must also draw upon pertinent concepts from marketing, user psychology, graphic design, screen design, usability testing, and the product development cycle.

Each of the eighteen PCS members who make up the Administrative Committee (AdCom) extends an invitation for you to actively participate in our common purpose of improving technical communications. Service on one of our committees can be a rewarding experience for both you and our Society.

User-testing of computer documentation is beginning to move into the laboratory. A properly conducted user test offers software producer much more information that cannot be obtained in any other manner. The author discusses the advantages and disadvantages of the previous ways of user testing such as testing in the marketplace, magazine reviews, and prerelease on-site testing (beta tests). In addition, a detailed case study of a laboratory-based usability test is presented.

A telephone survey is a potential effective way to learn the preferences of technical documentation users. The sample must be carefully selected, however, to ensure that it is representative of the customers who will be using a given category of products and manuals. Surveys of two different populations of computer manual users have been shown to yield conflicting results. In one such survey, 84 individuals were interviewed that were drawn at random from the customer list of a manufacturer of computer peripheral controllers. The sample was 96.4% male and primarily included programmers (33.3%), technicians (32.1%), and engineers (22.6%). The author discusses the responses obtained from this sample.