RAY GALLONC U L T U R E C O M
Presentation © 2013 Ray Gallon all rights reserved
Applying Cognitive Science to User Assistance
Member, Board of Directors
Presentation © 2013 Ray Gallon all rights reserved
Who Is This Guy?Ray Gallon - The Humanist Nerd
Owner/Consultant, Culturecom – specialist in usability, content strategy, and user assistance for software
Research collaborator and principal, The Transformation Society, a new research and training institute in Barcelona, Spain
■ 20+ years in technical communication with major companies such as G.E. Healthcare, Alcatel, IBM, etc.
■ Member, board of directors, Society for Technical Communication (STC)
■ Past president, STC France
■ Award-‐winning radio producer and journalist – CBC, NPR, France Culture, etc. and former programme manager, WNYC-‐FM, New York Public Radio
RAY GALLONCULTURECOM
Presentation © 2013 Ray Gallon all rights reserved
The only thing we know about the futureis 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.
“Learners” focuses on the human
development and appropriating new
knowledge and skill, which I think is
really more the essence of!
what’s going on. !
– John Carroll
Presentation © 2013 Ray Gallon all rights reserved
Procedures Aren’t Enough
Two common ideas about minimalism: Don’t waste user’s time with unnecessary detail, especially concepts Save money in production and localization with reduced content
STEP 1 STEP 2 STEP 3
DO THIS
DON’T DO THAT
NOTE:WARNING!
Is memorizing a procedure by rote
necessary for competency?If concepts ar
e important, how
do we include the
m without
“wasting users’
time?”How do I know if I need to do this?
Presentation © 2013 Ray Gallon all rights reserved
Not Just Minimal – Minimal and Meaningful
Minimal and meaningful: one task helps us
understand many related tasks.Minimal and meaningful: one quick look tells
us we don’t need to bother with this (or that
we do).
People best learn about product us
e
by doing something and making
connections in the process.
Learn by doi
ng – put the
concepts where th
ey will be
useful and re
membered.
RAY GALLONC U L T U R E C O M
Presentation © 2013 Ray Gallon all rights reservedPresentation © 2013 Ray Gallon all rights reserved
Provide Decision Support
Modern software’s complexity, features, & power can leave users perplexed – often just when they
have some immediate, contingent need: !
“I need to get this done, and NOW!.”
User assistance that is limited to procedures cannot help people with contingent needs.
People with contingent needs are not going to wade through long conceptual texts.
RAY GALLONC U L T U R E C O M
Presentation © 2013 Ray Gallon all rights reservedPresentation © 2013 Ray Gallon all rights reserved
Help Troubleshoot
Seen this before?
Is it help
ful?
What impression does a user get of your company when s/he sees this on the screen?
Presentation © 2013 Ray Gallon all rights reserved
Experience is More Important than Taxonomy
In traditional “static” documentation, the product gives meaning to the docs.
Users’ experience with the product takes them from the abstract realm of reading about the product...
Presentation © 2013 Ray Gallon all rights reserved
Experience is More Important than Taxonomy
In traditional “static” documentation, the product gives meaning to the docs.
Users’ experience with the product takes them from the abstract realm of reading about the product...
to the reality of performance.
!
!
!
!
For software, we can go straight to performance-‐based meaning if we embed the user assistance in the product itself.
Presentation © 2013 Ray Gallon all rights reserved
Everything We Know…
Get straight to procedures
Don’t waste user’s time with unnecessary detail, especially concepts
Procedural information must be separated from conceptual information.IS WRONG!..
Presentation © 2013 Ray Gallon all rights reserved
Double Embeddedness
Embed pr
ocedural
User Ass
istance
directly
into the
Interfa
ceEmbed simple concepts directly into the User AssistanceCognitive Science (and John Carroll) backs this up
RAY GALLONC U L T U R E C O M
Presentation © 2013 Ray Gallon all rights reservedPresentation © 2013 Ray Gallon all rights reserved
What Happens When We Learn by Doing?
Roger C. Schank’s Schema -‐ We remember independent, self-‐contained scripts, or Memory Organization Packets (MOP’s)
Restaurant Airplane Clothing Shop
PayBeing seated Eat
Choose
Romantic Conversation
PayBeing seated Eat
Choose
Pay
Choose
Fasten Seatbelt
Try on
MOP’s are composed of scenes, which can be generalized from one MOP to another
Serve wine
REF: http://cogprints.org/637/1/LearnbyDoing_Schank.html
RAY GALLONC U L T U R E C O M
Presentation © 2013 Ray Gallon all rights reservedPresentation © 2013 Ray Gallon all rights reserved
Active Learning: Learning by Doing
Networks of Scenes
Restaurant Airplane Clothing Shop
PayBeing seated Eat
Choose
PayBeing seated Eat
Choose
Pay
Choose
Fasten Seatbelt
Try on
MOP’s are composed of be one MOP to another
Serve wine
REF: http://cogprints.org/637/1/LearnbyDoing_Schank.html
Pay Network
Eat Network
Choose Network
Presentation © 2013 Ray Gallon all rights reserved
Cognitive Bases: Gestalt Psychology
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gestalt_psychology
Gestalt psychology tries to understand the laws of our ability to acquire and maintain stable percepts in a noisy world.
We fill in blank spaces to complete images.
John Carroll favours this kind of inferential learning in minimalism.
Presentation © 2013 Ray Gallon all rights reserved
Cognitive Bases: Two Learning TheoriesConstructivism:
Experience Act Self-‐directed, creative, and innovative The context in which the learning occurs is central Learning is active, social, collaborative
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constructivism_(learning_theory)
Connectivism: Knowledge exists in systems accessed through participation in activities. Learning = creating connections and elaborating a network. Currency (accurate, up-‐to-‐date knowledge) is the intent of learning activities.
Presentation © 2013 Ray Gallon all rights reserved
Gestalt Psychology Constructivism (Learning Theory)
Connectivism (Learning Theory)
Basic Precept
The brain is holistic, parallel, and analog, with self-‐organizing tendencies.
Experience an environment first-‐hand to get reliable, trust-‐worthy knowledge.
Learning is more critical than knowing. Learning = creating connections and elaborating a network. !
Implications
The human eye sees objects in their entirety before perceiving their individual parts, suggesting the whole is “other” than the sum of its parts.
Learning is an active, social process, leading to collaboration and shared understanding.
Knowledge is activated in the world as much as in the head of an individual.
Most Important Activity Inferential Learning
Act on the environment – acquire and test. Be self-‐directed, creative, and innovative.
Perceiving, maintaining and nurturing connections between fields, ideas and concepts
Role of Instructor (or User
Assistance)
Present just enough information to facilitate inference
Facilitator -‐ point out where user can act on the environment
Constructivist facilitator plus networker -‐ make connections where they don’t seem to exist.
Cognitive Theories Compared
Presentation © 2013 Ray Gallon all rights reserved
The Underpinning for KANBAN INFORMATION:
• +Know where • Know how • Know what • +Know when Implied:
• +Know how to be • +Know how to be with others
Constructive Connectivism
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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 © 2013 Ray Gallon all rights reserved
As richness of content increases, our knowledge becomes more and more complex, cognit ive ly speaking. We return regularly to the same place, but on a higher cognitive level
COGNITIVE-‐SYMBOLIC COMPLEXITY
RICH
NES
S OF TH
E CO
NTE
NT
+
+-
The Cognitive Spiral:Generating Cognitive Demand
Bloom’s Pyramid
Adapted from a scheme by Dr. Neus Lorenzo
OPPORTUNIT
Y, PRACTIC
E
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“EDIBLE!”
-Guide Michelin
What if a Restaurant Advertised itself like this?
Diners don’t want edible They want delicious!
WE ARE ALL RESPONSIBLE
FOR THE ENTIRE CUSTOM
ER
EXPERIENCE - WHEREVER
WE MAY BE IN THE ORG C
HART
Customers don’t want usable
They want a great experience!
Presentation © 2013 Ray Gallon all rights reservedPresentation © 2013 Ray Gallon all rights reserved
...AND WHEN????
Integrated Competency Learning
Adapted by Dr. Neus Lorenzo from Phil Ball & Keith Kelly (2009) Ref: http://ow.ly/dLK8g & http://goo.gl/Ul3A2
+ Individually significantcontextualisation (contingency)
+Socio-‐cultural construction(information sharing, mentoring)
+Procedural Memorisation
+ Cognitive construction and process reasoning
+Code: Mastery of the language, interface, iconography...
+Thematic knowledge (SME)
User Learning Space
WHERE IN THIS SPACE DO YOU WANT YOUR
USERS?
The architecture of the scenes we design for our user/learners are determinant
factors
Presentation © 2013 Ray Gallon all rights reserved
Blending Concepts and Tasks: Kanban Information meets DITA
We often use concepts to introduce & lead into multiple tasks:
• We don't know how else to do it, but this is an inappropriate use of conceptual information:
• Not good cognitive development • Not good Kanban
Concept: This concept explains what this element of the interface is all about. It is used in the following tasks:
Task 1
Task 2
Task 3
Task 4
Presentation © 2013 Ray Gallon all rights reserved
<task> Topic !
!
General conceptual information using the <context> element Include decision support
(Reusable for related tasks)
Blending Concepts and Tasks: Kanban Information meets DITA
Why not use the DITA Task topic structure to deliver conceptual information where it will do the most good and be best remembered?
Step 1 <cmd> <stepresult> – What happens after execution – can include why
Step 2 <cmd> <info> – Use when there is no result to embed concepts pertinent to the step. Make sure it relates to the task, but is also generalisable to other similar tasks, if appropriate
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!
Example<shortdesc> (from tool tip)
<context> The first <p> comes
from tool tip
oXygen Author
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Use <choice> lists to include conceptual information
<cmd>
<choices>
<info>
FrameMaker 11
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<choicetable> offers another option
<cmd>
<choicetable>
All these elements are available after a <cmd>. Use the one that works best, semantically.
Presentation © 2013 Ray Gallon all rights reserved
DITA Composite Topic – One Size Fits All
The composite topic begins, simply, with a <dita> tag. You can then insert any type of DITA topic, nested within it. !Use with great caution!
Presentation © 2013 Ray Gallon all rights reserved
User A
ssista
nce ha
s
to be
able!
And needs to come up first…
A Group is not a Community
“Finding is the new Doing” –Ian Barker
Create your own stakeholder communities- including user/learners as full collaborators
RAY GALLONC U L T U R E C O M
Presentation © 2013 Ray Gallon all rights reservedPresentation © 2013 Ray Gallon all rights reserved
Integrated Learning Communities
Make you
r cookie
s PublicLet people know what you
are tracking.
Attribute ma
terial you r
euse in
your UA – fr
om both
Treat
inside
stake
holder
s and
custom
ers th
e same
way
Turn users’
tips and tri
cks
into trainin
g materials
Presentation © 2013 Ray Gallon all rights reserved
RAY GALLONC U L T U R E C O M
Email: [email protected]
Thank You!
Google Plus: +Ray Gallon Twitter: @RayGallon LinkedIn: Ray Gallon
Check out my blog, Rant of a Humanist Nerd:http://humanistnerd.culturecom.net
Portions of this presentation based on research by
the Transformation Society Research group.
Link to related Adobe webinars here: http://blogs.adobe.com/techcomm/2013/02/cognitive_design_user_assistance.html
Two white papers published on Adobe site: •Changing Paradigms in Technology and Communication •Crossing Boundaries: Implications for the Content Industries Link: http://www.adobe.com/cfusion/entitlement/index.cfm?event=custom&sku=FS0003673&e=tcs_whitepaper