| Technical communicators and information designers are increasingly being called upon to address information needs which go beyond providing step-by-step instructions and involve assistance in addressing open-ended situations and problems. Situationsand problems that can only be addressed by providing information specific to a situation and presenting it in a way that supports various users' information needs and cognitive processing strategies. Designs that answer these needs require understanding the complexity of the entire contextual situation and providing answers to users real-world questions. The design must assist users in resolving ambiguities inherent in the incomplete information found in complex real-world situations.
The intended audience
This books helps develop a foundation for analysis and design which supports the approaches to providing the complex information which people require to address real-world situations. A foundation which addresses the issues through a lens of primary audiences of this book: technical communicators, human-computer interaction designers, and information designers. However, I tried not to ignore the needs of the secondary audience of system designers and researchers, specifically researchers in adaptive hypertext and related topics. The work of these people is vital to developing the back ends to the informational systems I envision. |
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