Key Trends in Software User Assistance: Part 1 of a 2-Part Whitepaper

A very Happy New Year to all readers!

Whitepaper screenshot We are pleased to announce the release of the first part of the whitepaper “Key Trends in Software User Assistance”. This is the first of a two-part series discussing the current and future trends associated with software user assistance.

Joe Welinske of WritersUA (who needs no further introduction) has authored this insightful whitepaper that covers a lot of ground in about six pages. The table of contents for the whitepaper is available below:

What is User Assistance (UA)?
Most Valued User Assistance Skills
Most Valued User Assistance Technologies
Platform Support

The whitepaper has some very useful insights, many of them based on WritersUA surveys. For example, did you know:

“Interviewing” and “Project Planning” are among the Top 5 most valued user assistance skills
Technical communication professionals are branching out to new areas, some even into writing scripts for “YouTube-style videos”
30% of respondents are involved with wikis whereas in 2008 wikis didn’t even figure in the survey categories
Even with the pervasive presence of mobile devices, only 24% respondents are using it right now – implies tremendous potential for growth

Download the PDF version (approx. 2MB) – Happy reading! Joe_Welinske

And once the whitepaper has piqued your interest, do not forget to:

Register yourself for a webinar on the same topic: January 16th 2012, 10AM PST – Join Tom Aldous, Adobe Technical Communication Evangelist and Joe Welinske, President of WritersUA for an interactive webinar as they discuss the findings of an independent research conducted by Joe for the User Assistance professionals of today and tomorrow.
Watch this space for Part 2 of this whitepaper: Part Two of this series will focus on the emerging paradigms in information technology and UA. This includes support for mobile devices, integration with Agile methods, convergence with training, the emergence of HTML 5, instructional video, and SEO.

Best Wishes,

Team TechComm @ Adobe