TITLE: Communicating Effectively with Interaction

AUTHORS(s) & AFFILIATION(s): Andrea L. Ames, Ucentrics

KEYWORD(s): interaction design, user-centered design, communication,

user-interface design, technical communication

PRESENTER / CONTACT PERSON: Andrea L. Ames

CONTACT EMAIL: andrea@ucentrics.com

ABSTRACT:

As technical communicators, we design and develop information and create information architectures for online information. But do we think about the interactive aspects of our information? The navigation? The way users interact with systems vs. documents? Do we think of our information as systems? Whether you realize it or not, when you develop information for online presentation, you are designing software--software with a user interface and an interactive aspect that requires conscious thought, planning, and design.

Andrea L. Ames will discuss some general user-interface design principles, as well as some general approaches to interaction based on what we know about how users interact with interactive information systems. She will present several interaction techniques and examples of each, showing the various ways they can best be used to communicate. She'll briefly describe the technologies supporting the interaction techniques, provide a select list of print and Web-based resources to help you get started, and tell you what you need to know to develop online information and interaction for help, multimedia, and Web sites using interaction techniques that communicate.

Last modified October 28, 2001 by Scott Tilley.