Today’s Plan:
- Promotional Video Check In
- Remaining Schedule
- Documentation / Screencasting Project
Promotional Video Check In
How goes it? What do folks need? Questions for Rebecca Bolding? Dr. Cornish’s availability?
Here’s the questions I sent Rebecca earlier:
- What do you see as the advantages of graduate school?
- What are your favorite parts of UNC’s graduate program?
- How would you describe the transition from the undergraduate program to the graduate program?
- What has your favorite class in the MA been so far? Why?
- What advice would you give to an undergraduate considering graduate school?
Questions for Dr. Cornish:
- What do you see as the benefits of a 4+1 program?
- What course will you be offering in the 4+1 program next year?
- What was your favorite part of graduate school?
- Who should students talk to in they are interested in the program?
Reminds me: we need more nuts and bolts information about the project.
We need to figure out how to share all this material: Google Drive?
Remaining Schedule
Week 11
Today: Intro to Documentation / Record Promotional Video B-Roll
Wednesday: Documentation Experiment / Record Promotional Video Material
Friday: Documentation Planning / Upload Promotional Video Material to Group Google Drive Folder
Week 12
Monday: Promotional Video Project [review uploaded materials, etc, group work day] / Work on Promotional Video
Wednesday: Documentation / Screen capture tutorial / Work on Promotional Video
Friday: Screen capture project / Complete on Promotional Video
Week 13
Monday: Watch Promotional Videos, Just One Thing Research Synthesis Memo, Pitch Proposal Assignment
Wednesday: Screen Capture projects
Friday: Work Day on Just One Thing Pitch Proposals
Week 14
Monday: Just One Thing Pitch Proposals
Wednesday: Screen Capture Test Day, Feedback Memo
Friday: Work Day, Just One Thing Reshoot
Week 15
Monday: Just One Thing video drafts and feedback
Wednesday: Screen Capture revisions
Friday: Just One Thing Work Day
Week 16
Monday: Just One Thing work day
Wednesday: Just One Thing work day
Friday: Just One Thing Viewing Party
Documentation and Screen Casting Project
Before break I asked if there was anything you hoped this class would cover, and a few of you mentioned screencasting–that is, recording video of your computer screen as you use it. I’ve reached out to the University Help Desk regarding screencasting software. That leaves the question of *what* to screencast. I think it would be useful to make the screencasting project a documentation project. In Technical Writing, documentation can refer to a wide range of materials–from the README file in software, to developer/patch notes, to help manuals and instructions. We are going to focus on the later.
Put simply, I want you to create a screencast that helps someone learn how to do something on their computer. This might include, for instance, editing an audio file in Audacity, searching using a library database, registering for classes (etc) online, navigating a UNC online portal, using a blogging site, properly formatting an email, how to set up wifi for a printer, how to beat a video game level, etc. We can spend some time today brainstorming.
As the schedule above indicates, we will be working on this project almost exclusively in class. I did want to highlight Open Broadcaster Software, an open source project for those who want to be able to do this without relying on the University’s proprietary software.
As most people who have attempted to assemble furniture can tell you, writing clear instructions can be quite difficult. What seems obvious to the writer can feel ambiguous to the user. Documentation often requires rounds of testing to identify potential confusions and/or ambiguities and clarify them. While screen capture instructions help improve usability, they can still leave users feeling a bit disoriented. That’s why we will spend some class time testing the efficacy of your instructions.
I wanted to go over a few basic principles for writing instructions. I’ve taken/adapted material from Mike Markel and Stuart Selber’s 12th edition of Technical Communication
- Make sure you plan out your instructions step by step, ordering them. Think about how you can break them down into a set of larger steps, each composed of smaller steps. Kelly Turner, at the TechSmith.com site, advises making a script, with screen on one side and narration on the other.
- Make sure your instructions include an introduction that details who should/shouldn’t be able to do the tutorial, any prerequisites, all necessary materials/equipment/tools, and an estimate of how long the process should take (perhaps varying according to experience)
- Try to present only ONE action per step. Concision makes it easier for a user to follow along and monitor their progress.
- Use the imperative mood–you don’t need to use the indicative (“you”) and certainly shouldn’t use passive construction
- Do not confuse STEPS and FEEDBACK statements. Markel and Selber: “A step is an action that the reader is to perform. A feedback statement describes an event that occurs in response to a step. For instance, a step might read “Insert the disk in the drive.” that step’s feedback statement might read “The system will now update your user information.” Do not present a feedback statement as a numbered step. Present it as part of the step to which it refers. Some writers might give all feedback statements their own design” (567).
- Do not omit articles (a, an, the) to save space. “Omitting articles can make the instructions unclear and hard to read. In the sentence “Locate midpoint and draw line,” for example, the reader cannot tell if “draw line” is a noun (as in “locate the draw line”) or a verb and its object (as in “draw a line”)” (568).
