Social Documentation-The Era of
Interaction
Monalisa Sen
STC India Chapter, 2012
© 2012, Cognizant Technology Solutions
Objectives
Understand the features of social documentation
Explore the reasons for increased popularity of
social documentation
Understand the types of social documentation
Understand the role of a technical writer in social
documentation
Explore a case study
Identify the limitations of social documentation
1
What is Social Documentation?
• Based on Web 2.0 approaches to capture user-generated
content
• Uses social networking sites, social media sites and wikibased sites
• Identifies and offers real-time solutions to queries of the
audience
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Why Social Documentation?
• Social documentation uses cumulative knowledge to fill
information gaps and address user-specific issues
• Social documentation leads to human interaction and
collaboration
• Content is user-centric since it is created and owned by
users
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Types of Social Documentation
The recent trend is to merge social media, social networking,
and Web 2.0 into a general category called the ‘Social Web’.
Enables users to edit
pages and leave
comments
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Encourages interaction
between audience and
author, offering an
opportunity to include the
user’s perspective
Enables creation of a
knowledge
community through
real-time discussions
Role of a Technical Writer
• Moderator: Being a language expert,
responsible for monitoring information
being shared, conducting peer review and
acting as a community manager
• Content Curator: Being a subject matter
expert wearing the user’s shoes,
responsible for contextualization and
organization of information
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Case Study
• Cognizant’s proprietary project management and delivery
engagement application used for tracking projects
• A project is considered a community
• Interactive Help enables optimization of the tool’s usage
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2010
Requirement:
Align the Help with features of social media/networking to provide easy
access to information
Solution:
• How do I…section based on web site Help like Gmail with pages like “What
would you like to do”
• First-time User? section designed to provide a high-level understanding of
the application and assistance to the first-time users
• What’s New? section designed for quick access to the latest updates and
features in the application, inspired by web sites like Gmail
• Flow Diagrams linked to the relevant tasks, inspired by visual Wiki
• Post your Queries section provided a link to the communities where the
user can post the queries
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Snapshots
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2011-12
Requirement:
Apps-based Help, improving social interactivity and providing a Help system
for individual applications
Solution:
After research across various web sites such as Amazon, Gmail, Facebook,
Google Apps store and other web-based services, the upcoming trends and
practices were identified and are being implemented in the form of a Help
Centre
• Video-based Assistance: app-specific interactive training videos and
Online Help
• Minimalizing Content on the Help: screenshot-intensive and task-oriented
guidance handbook
• Getting Started: for first-time users
• FAQ
• Link to Community Forum: within the Help to raise a query
• Rating: enable users to rate comments
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Snapshots
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Limitations of Social Documentation
•
•
•
•
•
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Maintaining accuracy
Formatting content and avoiding repetition
Implementing standardization and consistency
Motivating contribution from users
Archiving
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Conclusion
•
•
•
•
•
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Transition from a didactic to a conversational tone
Shift from information to interaction
Content is increasingly user-driven
Use of social media to get closer to the users
Less writing and more curating
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Questions
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Thank you
© 2012, Cognizant Technology Solutions