User-centered design (UCD) and technical communication: The inevitable marriage

As teachers of technical communication, we have come to understand and realize the importance of User-Centered Design (UCD) principles required in and applied to technical communication. With the technical communication field changing so rapidly, this particular issue is of crucial importance; this issue is particularly acute within the confines of the self-service society where users are often thrust into learning products and services with no support. Users increasingly demand products and services that they can understand with little outside help; interactions should be intuitive and experiences satisfying rather than frustrating. With this shift, technical communicators are increasingly expected to be true end-user advocates and participate earlier in the product life-cycle development. This workshop will help practitioners understand UCD, rapidly iterate designs, and provide educators with approaches that engage and prepare students (and teachers). Failure to adapt these methods quickly in both the classroom and the profession will invariably lead to the field's further decline and likely extinction as we currently understand it.