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UNT College of Arts and Sciences
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Linguistics and Technical Communications
- Decision-Making Strategies in Design Meetings
- This paper is about research on decision-making strategies in design meetings. Abstract: This project aims to further our understanding of the practice of user-centered design (UCD) by observing the argumentation strategies used by designers in face-to-face meetings in the critical periods between usability research and prototype iteration. In order to conduct such an investigation, the author recorded ten meetings of graduate student designers charged with redesigning documents for the United States Postal Service. The author then used discourse analysis techniques to determine how the designers used findings from research phases as evidence to support proposed design decisions in meetings concerning prototype alterations. Results show that these designers overwhelmingly do not support their design decisions with specific evidence from usability studies. This neglect of research-based evidence may indicate that these novice UCD designers may resort to designer-centric design behaviors in decision-making periods. The authors' analysis will focus on the rhetorical reasons why designers may avoid research-based evidence. digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc38899/
- Defending Design Decisions With Usability Evidence: A Case Study
- This paper discusses a case study on defending design decisions with usability evidence. This case study takes a close look at what novice designers discursively use as evidence to support design decisions. User-centered design has suggested that all design decisions should be made with the concern for the user at the forefront, and, ideally, this concern should be represented by findings discovered within user-centered research. However, the data from a 12-month longitudinal study suggests that although these novice designers are well versed with user-centered design theory, in practice they routinely do not use user-centered research findings to defend their design decisions. Instead these novice designers use less definitive and more designer-centered forms of evidence. This move away from the user, though perhaps unintentional, may suggest that design pedagogy may need to be re-evaluated to ensure that novice designers continue to adhere to the implications of user-centered research throughout the design process. digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc38900/
- Discourse Variations Between Usability Tests and Usability Reports
- This article discusses the discourse variations between usability tests and usability reports. Abstract: While usability evaluation and usability testing has become an important tool in artifact assessment, little is known about what happens to usability data as it moves from usability session to usability report. In this ethnographic case study, the author investigates the variations in the language used by usability participants in user-based usability testing sessions as compared to the language used by novice usability testers in their oral reports of that usability testing session. In these comparative discourse analyses, the author assesses the consistency and continuity of the usability testing data within the purview of the individual testers conducting "do-it-yourself" usability testing. This case study of a limited population suggests that findings in oral usability reports may or may not be substantiated in the evaluations themselves, that explicit or latent biases may affect the presentation of the findings in the report, and that broader investigations, both in terms of populations and methodologies, are warranted. digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc38891/
- Examining Error in the Technical Communication Editing Test
- This paper discusses examining errors in technical communication. Abstract: Usage error is a popular topic for technical communicators. However, its anecdotal discussions remain the best source of information on the errors that technical communicators might value over others. In this paper, the author reports the types and frequencies of errors found in 41 editing tests administered to prospective technical writers and editors. Results indicate that misspellings and faulty/missing capitalization were the most frequent and dispersed errors. Eight of the most frequent errors related to style; however, grammar punctuation errors remain the most dispersed. A larger dataset will better determine how technical communicators prioritize specific errors. digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc39326/
- [Review] A Grammar of Mongsen Ao
- This book review discusses 'A Grammar of Mongsen Ao' by Alec R. Coupe. Ao is one of the approximately 20 indigenous languages of Nagaland spoken in around fifty villages in northwestern area of the state. This book reviews discusses each of the eleven chapters in the book. digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc83322/
- [Review] Communications and Management at Work
- This book review discusses 'Communication and Management at Work' by Thomas Klikauer. The book, intended primarily for scholars of management, business, and organizational communication, invokes the theories of Kant, Habermas, Orwell, and Marx to assess at a macro level the historical and contemporary relationships between communication and control in the workplace. digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc38898/
- The Sword of Data: Does Human-Centered Design Fulfill Its Rhetorical Responsibility?
- This article discusses human-centered design. For more than two decades, user-centered design (UCD) has been the guiding philosophy and process in the field of design from both practice and pedagogy perspectives. Although there is no singular agreement on just what constitutes UCD and many different names for and "flavors" of UCD have emerged - human-centered design, just to name a few-nearly every version relies on an early and continual interaction with people who will actually use the product. Designers then use findings from the interactions (e.g. surveys, focus groups, card sorting exercises, document reviews, scenario-based testing, and plus-mining testing) to guide the design solutions. digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc38883/