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Association for Computing Machinery's Special Interest Group on Design of Communication
Society for Technical Communication's Special Interest Groups
Society
for Technical Communication Forum
The Future of Information Design (by
Dr. Karen Schriver)
“There
are a number of areas that look quite promising for the future. Here are ten
(in no particular order):
The creation of effective hybrid information designs. Writing and design that must serve multiple rhetorical functions such as informing and persuading, selling and explaining, instructing and entertaining.
The rhetoric of content management. Moving beyond the how-to mechanics of single sourcing to developing planning strategies for designing visual and verbal content so that it will be rhetorically effective when deployed in various genres over a variety of media.
The impact of visual and verbal design strategies on how people engage with various media: If one wants to develop quality e-learning about a product or service, what visual and verbal strategies work best to promote learning and engagement with the material?
The development of expertise in information design: What knowledge, skills, sensitivities, intuitions, and experiences shape the development of writers and designers?
The content needs and preferences of specific stakeholder groups: The elderly, the blind, teenagers, subject-matter experts, low-literates, or domain experts.
The role of emotion in why people use or don't use online or print communications: What visual or verbal moves turn people off? How can we tap into people's emotions to engage them more fully?
Effective techniques for writing and design for the web: What planning, drafting, and revising strategies make the writing and design processes easier and more effective?
Writing and design for multicultural audiences: What do people from various cultures need and expect from particular communications?
Theories about the cultures and politics of design: What is involved in making a dramatic impact on an organization's perception of design?
Strategies for increasing organizational awareness of the value of good writing and design: Well-designed empirical studies of value added, ROI, or customer satisfaction.”