Human Centered Design & Engineering
University of Washington
Software User Assistance (HCDE 407) Spring 2012
Professor David K. Farkas
Welcome
Software User Assistance (SUA) is a part of HCI. SUA specialists create content that enables users to better understand and better use digital technology. SUA is the largest area of technical communication (see STC.org and WritersUA.com), and there are many thousands of SUA professionals.SUA is also an excellent skillset for people who want to work in UX or who want to broaden their usefulness within software development teams. Community managers in support forums also draw heavily on SUA skills.
In HCDE 407, you will learn to write procedures that are clear, useful procedures screen text, and technical explanations (including white paper and marketing content). You will also learn how to deploy this content in a wide range of media—in particular, manuals, help systems, wizards, online demos/tutorials, videos, and forums. Other topics include SDK and troubleshooting content, usability testing of SUA, and the use of content management systems to create and manage information objects that can be re-used in many forms.