Presented at DocTrain East 2007 Conference by Sowmini Sampath & Richard Ellis, MathWorks -- What roles do technical writers play when designing and implementing the user assistance for complex applications? In this session we discuss the development of an integrated system of user assistance for an application used by computational systems biologists. We found that the process required the technical writer to assume roles that ranged from Information Architect to Interaction Designer to Usability Specialist. What You Will Learn in this Session In this session, we share: * An information architecture that delivers information in the context of the user’s task, even as users escalate their quest for information beyond context sensitive help * An interaction model in which help responds to user action by providing a clear set of steps to follow from one state to another * A process that technical writers can use to design integrated help solutions for their applications.

1. Optimizing the User Experience Through Integrated Information Design Sowmini Sampath and Richard Ellis

14. The On Ramp – Provided by Help Button Purpose High-level workflow Information gateway

19. The CSH model integrates all help CSH becomes an entry point into our knowledge base User tasks Product workflow

22. Interface Description

30. Research Workflow

31. SimBiology User Workflow