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Content Design for Action Required Technical Reports : How to communicate personal monitoring data

Eendebak, S.J. (2018) Content Design for Action Required Technical Reports : How to communicate personal monitoring data.

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Abstract:As of September 23, 2018, the directive which states that all organization in the public sector must have an accessible website will be a legal obligation (www.digitoegankelijk.nl). The Accessibility Foundation tests websites and offers municipalities a report with the results. This report is reviewed as too technical for managers. This report does not contain any visuals. Less is known about this positive effect of visuals in a technical report. It could result in higher user acceptance. The acceptance of something could be predicted by the model of Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT). This model was never used before to predict acceptance of technical reports. This study researched in three different studies the effect of visuals and the application of UTAUT for technical reports. A survey was held to test the effect of visuals. Half of the participants received a report without visuals and the other half received one with visuals. Data analysis shows no proof that a report with visuals leads to more acceptance. To better understand this result, interviews were held with ten participants. These interviews do indicate the added value of visuals. In the same interview it was asked what someone's experience is with the report and what the intention is to use it. The interviews were analysed by coding them. Results show that an adapted version of UTAUT2 is usable to predict technical report acceptance. Especially the added factor perceived aesthetics seems to be a strong influencer. The results also show a variety of factors that are mediating between the report experience and actual use. Further research is needed to test the validity. A prototype website was designed based on persona design, content design, and a mock-up design, to understand the relationship between aesthetics, usability and usefulness. Eleven persons were asked to flag positive and negative elements in the design and two persons were interviewed. Results show that aesthetics seem to be a strong influencer for first impressions and is expected to be an indirect influencer on usability and usefulness. Further research with more respondents and a different subject must validate this result. In conclusion the effect of visuals and the influence of aesthetics on user's acceptance is underestimated. Seven practical best practices are formulated to help technical communicators to create reports with higher acceptance.
Item Type:Essay (Master)
Clients:
Stichting Accessibility, Utrecht, Enschede
Faculty:BMS: Behavioural, Management and Social Sciences
Subject:06 documentary information
Programme:Communication Studies MSc (60713)
Link to this item:https://purl.utwente.nl/essays/76155
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