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A Cognitive Design for User Assistance 1: Users Become Learners
The document discusses the importance of designing user assistance systems that support learning and adaptation in a rapidly changing technological landscape. It emphasizes the need for embedded user assistance that prioritizes user needs, facilitates decision-making, and provides context for tasks to enhance cognitive understanding. The core principles include focusing on processes over products, linking information between users and producers, and incorporating users' contextual needs into assistance design.
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A Cognitive Design for User Assistance 1: Users Become Learners
- 1. A Cognitive Designfor User Assistance Users Become Learners RAY GALLON CULTURECOM Presentation © 2012-‐2013 Ray Gallon all rights reserved
- 2. Once, we neededto learn to make fire… Presentation © 2012-‐2013 Ray Gallon all rights reserved
- 3. Do we teachit today? Our immediate, contingent needs change over time Presentation © 2012-‐2013 Ray Gallon all rights reserved
- 4. The only thingwe know about the future is that it will be different ! ! ! Peter Drucker Our job is to help people use our products well and wisely, which means they learn to adapt, and cope with changes in technology and society. Presentation © 2012-‐2013 Ray Gallon all rights reserved
- 5. Presentation © 2012-‐2013 Ray Gallon all rights reserved
- 6. Complex Communication • Communication • Knowledge Expert Thinking Routine manual tasks Routine Cognitive Tasks Non-routine Manual Tasks OECD: The Future Requires Complex Thinking Presentation © 2012-‐2013 Ray Gallon all rights reserved
- 7. Today’s Software Provides Information-Rich Environments Presentation © 2012-‐2013 Ray Gallon all rights reserved
- 8. Today’s Software Provides Information-Rich Environments ...to a vector of information that actually makes vital decisions for you. Presentation © 2012-‐2013 Ray Gallon all rights reserved
- 9. A Few ofthe Things Software Now Does All these applications put you in a changed relationship with people who are in a different context from your own Presentation © 2012-‐2013 Ray Gallon all rights reserved
- 10. Faced with thisComplexity, I, the User, Have Needs! To solve my immediate problem, I need to… In order to do that, I need to… • Decide • Do • Know • Understand Presentation © 2012-‐2013 Ray Gallon all rights reserved
- 11. Example: Using MSOffice Move Column Send Mail Autofit Save Text File Indent Text Shared Common Understanding Consolidated Expertise Presentation © 2012-‐2013 Ray Gallon all rights reserved Inspired by Prof. Jim Cummins, University of Toronto
- 12. And Learning supportsDecision-Making… Presentation © 2012-‐2013 Ray Gallon all rights reserved
- 13. Decision Support forUsers • Two types of decision support in software: • Automated decision support aids • Information designed to inform the user's judgment, but not formalized into an automated system he t ime of t on, most ati unic tter ty pe. al c omm la nic the In tech w e do Presentation © 2012-‐2013 Ray Gallon all rights reserved
- 14. Core Principles for Decision Support of Any Type • Begin with users’ needs • Give priority to process over products • Link information between producers and users • Build connections across disciplines and organizations • Seek institutional stability • Design processes for learning Source: U.S. National Research Council Presentation © 2012-‐2013 Ray Gallon all rights reserved
- 15. Core Principles ofMinimalism as Restated by JoAnn Hackos • Focus on an action-‐oriented approach (Users’ needs, process) • Ensure you understand the users’ world (Users’ needs, links and connections, institutional stability) • Recognize the importance of troubleshooting information (Users’ needs, links and connections, learning) • Ensure that users can find the information they need (Users’ needs, learning, links and connections) Source: http://www.infomanagementcenter.com/Resources/eNews2012-‐12JHackos.pdf Presentation © 2012-‐2013 Ray Gallon all rights reserved
- 16. The Problem withMinimalism Many of us who espouse these principles don’t know them well enough But John Carroll, w ho create d minima People u lism, said sing pr oducts a : in getting al work d re most intereste “What often goes w information that vio rong with re lates the first People b one. d minimalism principle est learn s is a focus on somethin about pr using a product’s in g rather oduct us terface rather than somethin than read e by doin achieving real goals g. ing abou g and completing t real work. “ -JoAnn H ackos Presentation © 2012-‐2013 Ray Gallon all rights reserved Source: JoAnn Hackos
- 17. It’s Not theSame Thing! • We create assistance for users that tells them how to perform useful, real work. That s an important part of our added value. • With traditional static manuals, we assume that the documentation provides meaning (and learning) to the user about the product. • In reality, it is the product that gives meaning to the docs: Presentation © 2012-‐2013 Ray Gallon all rights reserved
- 18. It’s Not theSame Thing! • We create assistance for users that tells them how to perform useful, real work. That s an important part of our added value. • With traditional static manuals, we assume that the documentation provides meaning (and learning) to the user about the product. • In reality, it is the product that gives meaning to the docs: • Reading about the product remains abstract... • …until the user is confronted with the reality of having to use the product. The activities are separated. Presentation © 2012-‐2013 Ray Gallon all rights reserved
- 19. The Solution Presentation © 2012-‐2013 Ray Gallon all rights reserved
- 20. Embedded UA andOur Role Can you design a proper embedded user assistance system without working on the interface design? Can you write user assistance content without reference to, and involvement in, the non content of the interface, messages, and other operational linguistic material of the software? Do you work in an agile environment? Are you present in design meetings? Do you have a common strategy for all the content delivered in, alongside, and in complement to the software? Presentation © 2012-‐2013 Ray Gallon all rights reserved
- 21. Is memorizing aprocedure by rote necessary for competency? Is it “ STEP 1 minim STEP 2 back al” if to the users STEP 3 help need H repea to go ow do tedly? NOTE: wants es a u or ne ser kn HAT eds to ow if ON’T D OT do th s/he e D is task ven ct us e ? odu ut pr arn abo her than hen ople best le hing rat that w e ason de th Pe omet g. d to re e inclu oing s t somethin t stan g,” w by d g abou Do esn’t i y doin read in rning b lp the user “lea s th at he sks? co ncept to similar ta gener alize Presentation © 2012-‐2013 Ray Gallon all rights reserved
- 22. For many yea rs, in our pro have been sa fession, we ying that pro information cedural must be sepa conceptual in rated from formation. “It is an error to confuse a truth about how to analyse something into its parts with a truth about how that thing should be organised and presented to users.” -‐Mark Baker Presentation © 2012-‐2013 Ray Gallon all rights reserved
- 23. let s teachour users to fish! Presentation © 2012-‐2013 Ray Gallon all rights reserved
- 24. Not Just Minimal– Minimal and Meaningful It’s m inima look a l and t one mean under task ingful stand helps if one It many us ’s min relate quick imal and m d task s. look eanin bothe tells u gful if r with s we d one this ( on’t n roduc t use or tha t we d eed to p rn about aking o). t lea bes m and People something cess. epts doing s in the pro conc by ut the nd ction ng – p seful a conne by doi ll be u earn ey wi L ere th d. wh bere remem Presentation © 2012-‐2013 Ray Gallon all rights reserved
- 25. Kanban Information: Help Users Learn Your Software Fast We want to give the user all the information s/he needs and only the information s/he needs. We want to deliver that information when s/he needs it – which implies, at the moment s/he has real work to do. The logical conclusion is that user assistance needs to be embedded in the software itself, in such a way that: The user can find it immediately, without excessive searching, if s/he needs it. If s/he doesn’t need it, it stays out of the way. Presentation © 2012-‐2013 Ray Gallon all rights reserved
- 26. Kanban Information: Help Users Learn Your Software Fast For the most part, we ve assumed that means procedures. Concepts are out -‐ too long, too messy, too irrelevant. The user wants to meet her or his contingent need. Some users will infer underlying principles and concepts from repeated procedures. Others, however, will not, unless we point them to it in some way. We want the user to understand the information in a way that s/he can apply it to other situations, without needing to call repeatedly on the user assistance. Presentation © 2012-‐2013 Ray Gallon all rights reserved
- 27. Integrated Competency Learning + Cognitive construction and process reasoning +Socio-‐cultural construction (information sharing, mentoring) User Learning Space WHERE IN THIS SPACE DO YOU WANT YOUR USERS? +Code: Mastery of the +Thematic knowledge language, interface, (SME) iconography... ...AND WHEN???? + Individually significant contextualisation (contingency) +Procedural Memorisation Presentation © 2012-‐2013 Ray Gallon all rights reserved Adapted by Dr. Neus Lorenzo from Phil Ball Keith Kelly (2009) Ref: http://ow.ly/dLK8g http://goo.gl/Ul3A2
- 28. Double Embeddedness Embed concep simple ts dir into t ectly User A he ssista n c e Presentation © 2012-‐2013 Ray Gallon all rights reserved
- 29. Cognition and Context Concept topics remain abstract. Their application seems distant to the user. Putting a sentence or two of conceptual information in context (while the user is performing the relevant task) reinforces knowledge acquisition and integration. Context is everything! Tasks should also explain why it is interesting to do them -‐ again, in one or two short sentences: Decision Support Presentation © 2012-‐2013 Ray Gallon all rights reserved
- 30. Cognition and Context Concept topics remain abstract. Their application seems distant to the user. Putting a sentence or two of conceptual information in context (while the user is performing the relevant task) reinforces knowledge acquisition and integration. Context is everything! Tasks should also explain why it is interesting to do them -‐ again, in one Lots of detail does or two short sentences: not necessarily Decision Support mean more knowledge Presentation © 2012-‐2013 Ray Gallon all rights reserved
- 31. Tip of the day is cognitively unusable because the tip is presented out of context. Worth noting: on a web site, it's useful for SEO: daily fresh copy feeds Google page rank, and shares from this do, too. Presentation © 2012-‐2013 Ray Gallon all rights reserved
- 32. Double Embeddedness using Progressive Disclosure • People understand a system better when you help them prioritize features and spend more time on the most important ones. • Progressive disclosure says: 1. Initially, show users only a few of the most important options. 2. Offer a larger set of specialized options upon request. Disclose these secondary features only if a user asks for them, meaning that most users can proceed with their tasks without worrying about this added complexity. Presentation © 2012-‐2013 Ray Gallon all rights reserved Source: http://www.nngroup.com/articles/progressive-‐disclosure/
- 33. DEMO RAY GALLON CULTURECOM Presentation © 2012-‐2013 Ray Gallon all rights reserved
- 34. Tool Tip: aDITA Generic Topic The abbreviated-‐form is resolved but otherwise ignored in the tool tip The shortdesc is what pops up on hover The topic body and link are shown in the tool tip pull-‐down Presentation © 2012-‐2013 Ray Gallon all rights reserved
- 35. Process Query TaskTopic 1/2 The shortdesc is reused from the tool tip …to pop up a keyref that points to a glossary entry This time the abbreviated-‐ form is resolved on hover… Presentation © 2012-‐2013 Ray Gallon all rights reserved
- 36. Process Query TaskTopic 2/2 • This topic groups together Many of the tasks are conrefs to reusable • It makes no sense to related tasks that a user components separate them purely for probably needs to do at taxonomical consistency the same time Presentation © 2012-‐2013 Ray Gallon all rights reserved
- 37. RAY GALLON CULTURECOM Thank You! Please visit my blog, Rant of a Humanist Nerd: http://humanistnerd.culturecom.net Email: infodesign@culturecom.net Google Plus: +Ray Gallon Twitter: @RayGallon LinkedIn: Ray Gallon arch d on reseoup. r t basesearch g ion Re enta ty presion Socie his at s of t m rtionTransfor Po he by t Presentation © 2012-‐2013 Ray Gallon all rights reserved