Information Architecture for Technical Communicators

Wednesday, November 17, 2004

Presenter: Linda Urban is an award-winning technical writer, help author, and instructor

How is being an "information architect" different from being a
"technical communicator"? Both consider audience needs, identify
information to be included, analyze existing content, determine
information structure and organization, and determine how to make
information "findable" for users. But for information architects, the
work often stops at describing the architecture, rather than developing
the content itself, and the deliverables may have names like site map,
wire frames, taxonomies, metadata, and controlled vocabularies. For
those who are new to IA, this may sound jargony and technical, but there are plenty of parallels in technical communication (think documentation plan, outline, sample topics, terminology list, index entries).

Often, someone with the title Information Architect works on developing intranets or web sites. But the IA role is becoming increasingly important in companies with very large documentation sets, especially ones that use structured documentation or content management systems.

In this presentation, Linda will define much of the "IA jargon" you may
encounter and describe techniques and approaches from information
architecture that you can apply to your technical information projects
(large or small), whether they are online help systems, user manuals,
installation manuals, administrative guides, or whole documentation
sets.

About the Presenter: Linda Urban is an award-winning technical writer, help author, and instructor. She has more than 20 years of experience in designing and developing technical information, including online help, user guides, reference information, and training. She also works with writers and teams to improve the quality of their documentation, focusing on both usefulness and usability. Among the courses that she teaches at UC Berkeley Extension are Principles of Information Architecture, Usability Testing for Technical Communicators, and Developing Online Documentation.

TBA

December 15, 2004

You can purchase a ticket in advance or at the door, as follows:

Advance purchase: members, $10; non-members, $15; students, $8.

At the Door: members, $13; non-members, $18; students, $11. Our first-timers coupon allows free admission for non-members who are attending the San Francisco Chapter for the first time.

If you have any questions, email info@stc-sf.org.

We meet the third Wednesday of every month at the London Wine Bar located at 415 Sansome (between Sacramento and Clay). Directions

6 pm: Networking and Hors d'oeuvres

7 pm: Program and speaker

The San Francisco Chapter STC has two listservs for sending meeting notices and announcements of STC-related events and workshops. Both listservs are broadcast-only (not allowing open discussion), so they generate only minimal email traffic for subscribers.

One listserv is exclusively for chapter members and may be used to conduct elections and other chapter business. All chapter members should be enrolled automatically. If you believe that you are a member of the San Francisco Chapter STC, but have not been receiving meeting notices, contact lists@stc-sf.org.

The other listserv is for non-members of our chapter who are interested in receiving our announcements. To subscribe, send an email to: majordomo@lists.tdl.com. In the body of the message type "subscribe stcsfnon" without the quotes. You should receive an email confirming your subscription within a few days. If you do not, contact lists@stc-sf.org.