Readings
The textbook for TC426 is Developing Quality Technical Information. DQTI was written by editors and tech writers at IBM's Silicon Valley Lab. It provides lots of practical advice and tangible examples, focusing on software documentation.I highly recommend this book to all tech writers, not just those in this class. I keep a copy at my desk for reference, and have shared it with many appreciative co-workers. We'll use it to guide our class discussions, answer style questions, and to inform the questions on the test. We'll also read some short articles, which you can find right here:
- Beck, et al.: "Manifesto for Agile Software Development" and "Principles Behind the Agile Manifesto"
- Bhavani, et al.: "Towards Active User Assistance"
- Bollaert: "Crafting a Wizard"
- Bollaert: "More Web-based wizard tips and tricks"
- Brooks: "Online Theater: Making Software Demonstration Videos"
- Center for Technology in Government: "A Survey of System Development Process Models"
- Farkas: "The Logical and Rhetorical Construction of Procedural Discourse"
- Gallagher: "Yesterday API Was Just Another Acronym; Today I Have to Document One!"
- GNOME Documentation Library: "How to Write for Translation"
- Grayling: "If We Build It, Will They Come?"
- Kantner, et al.: "Organizing Qualitative Data from Lab and Field: Challenges and Methods"
- Plaisant, et al. "Show Me! Guidelines for Producing Recorded Demonstrations"
- Rosenbaum: "Stalking the User: Practical Field Research"
- Sarr: "Creating an SDK: Writing on the Edge"