ASIS&T;
Since 1937, ASIS&T; has been the society for information professionals leading the search for new and better theories, techniques, and technologies to improve access to information.
User Assistance: Cognitive Architecture
User Assistance (UA) used to be called "documentation" and was tacked on to products; there was no need to include it in the IA. Today, however, UA needs to be an integral part of the product, designed and embedded into software and web interfaces.
It needs to be part of their content strategy and information architecture, and at its best, leverages concepts from cognitive science that drive its design as well as how it is written. It takes a multidisciplinary team to do this that includes IA's, content strategists, technical communicators and developers, to name just a few.
Ray Gallon
Ray Gallon is owner of Culturecom, a consultantancy specialised in technical information design, content strategy, and usability. He has over 20 years' experience in the technical content industries, including major companies such as IBM, Alcatel, and General Electric Health Care.
Previously, Ray Gallon was an award-winning radio producer and journalist, working with broadcasters such as CBC (Canada), NPR (United States), France Culture, Radio Netherlands International, Deutsche Welle, WDR (Cologne, Germany). In the late 80's, Ray Gallon was program manager of WNYC-FM, New York Public Radio.
Ray Gallon is a member of the international board of directors of the Society for Technical Communication (STC) and past president of STC France. He is a two-time winner of awards in the trans-European technical communication competition, including Best in Show.
He is a frequent speaker on communications topics at conferences and seminars around the world, is a published author, and has taught content strategy, information architecture, and other communications subjects at New York University, The New School (New York City), Université de Toulouse Le Mirail (France), Université Paul Valéry (Montpellier, France) and Université de Paris Diderot. He is currently a researcher at The Transformation Society, in Barcelona, Spain, where he lives in alternation with the Languedoc region of France.
