Social or Philosophical issues related to the Design and Delivery of User Assistance

— Pradipto Das

User assistance is aimed at facilitating the efficient use of an IT product. The design and delivery of user assistance must take into consideration the social and philosophical characteristics of users of the product. This article discusses these social and philosophical characteristics.

Overview

User assistance is defined as a form of assistance provided to users to help them use a product more easily and efficiently. In the IT context, a product is a software product/application that is used to perform specific business functions. Users of these products use them differently, based on their social and philosophical environment, their cultural context, their learnability, and a number of other factors. Although the same user assistance must necessarily be designed and delivered to users of a particular product, the user assistance can be designed and delivered on the basis of users’ social and philosophical environment. This would enable users from diverse social and philosophical backgrounds to use the same product more effectively.

Society—Difference Between Western and Eastern Society

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, society is the aggregate of people living together in a more or less ordered community, sharing customs, laws, and organizations. Therefore, it holds true that each and every society has a distinct culture and philosophy. Western societies have a different philosophy of life as compared to Eastern societies. According to Edward Twitchell Hall, Western societies are low-context, monochronic and individualistic. In contrast, Eastern societies are high-context, polychromic, and collectivist.

Edward T. Hall has argued that in a low-context society, tasks/jobs are made explicit and much importance is placed on what is actually said or written. Monochronic societies value time and orderliness and just perform one task/job at a time. In an individualistic society, individual uniqueness and self-determination is valued. In a high-context society, however, tasks/jobs are not spelled out explicitly and communication/processes/guidelines are assumed to a certain extent. In addition, in a polychronic society, multiple tasks/jobs are performed at the same time taking into consideration the fact that time is plentiful. Collectivist cultures value group activity, loyalty, and social hierarchy.

Society and User Assistance

Owing to cultural differences in societies, there could be a conflict among members of the user assistance authoring community in the design and delivery of user assistance to users belonging to different cultures. User assistance can be designed in the context of the nature, communication styles, and working patterns of users. Past influences and experiences of symbols and dialects of users can be leveraged to tag and name a product and write about it. Even the design and delivery of printed user assistance and online Help files can be based on the social and philosophical background of users. In a low-context society, user assistance can be designed keeping in mind the linearity of tasks performed by users in a synchronous way. In a high-context society, user assistance can be designed keeping in mind that users can perform a plurality of tasks. Based on past experience, different symbols and dialectic processes can be used to design user assistance for users of a high-context versus low-context society.

In a classic example based on a study of the social and philosophical background of UNIX and Microsoft Windows users by Eric S. Raymond, differences were found in the user assistance for UNIX and Windows documentation. UNIX user assistance is written in telegraphic form and seldom repeated. The user assistance is designed for an active reader, who is confident and can deduce obvious unsaid assumptions and trust those deductions. On the other hand, Windows user assistance explains things explicitly and repeatedly and a single topic can be read by itself by an average reader without assuming the reader has knowledge of any other topic.

Page Layout—Low Context Society

According to Edward T. Hall, individuals in a low-context society require more personal space. The opposite is true of individuals in a high-context society. We can use this inference when we design page layout. For users who belong to a low-context society, we should maintain sufficient white space along the margins of the page because users would prefer more personal space as a mark of individualistic attitude and can take notes for future references. For high-context society users, we should design a page with less space along the margin because these users prefer less personal space and as a mark of collectivist attitude may not take down notes for future references and may try to solve the problem collectively by discussion within a group. Even documents that I develop for low-context society users have more space along the margins than for a high-context society. Again for a low-context society, user assistance can be designed using fewer colors in the layout and tasks can be defined step by step. For a high-context society, relatively more colors should be used and features should be described at a very high level, without including a stepwise breakdown of the tasks.

A study of users’ eye movements in the gaming industry by the Middleware Game Creation Tools Group revealed that, “People raised in Asia perceive more detail than those raised in the USA.” It was concluded that users from a high-context society observed more detail from the background in the picture than users from a low-context society. The study revealed that a Japanese or Chinese user had more eye movement and provided 60 percent more information than a North American user. Based on this study, it would be appropriate to design the page layout differently for users from low-context and high-context societies, keeping in mind the Primary Optical area and the Terminal Anchor area of the page. It was concluded in the study that the eye movement of a user from low context society would only move along the main points, whereas, the eye movement of a user from a high context society would search for more detailed information.

For either type of user, minimum detail should be provided in the Fallow Area (the area of the page where the user eye movement is minimum) and the “Rule of 9” (a user task should be broken down to a maximum of nine steps) should be followed to describe user tasks. A factor that is common to users from low-context and high-context societies is that there should be an established visual hierarchy. Place a fixed point in the page from where all the headings and text can be scanned and devote space to content, make important elements bigger and bolder, do not make the text too dense, and ensure continuous flow of the text.

Conclusion

A low-context society emphasizes tasks based on individual achievements. In contrast, a high-context society emphasizes relationship-based tasks, and rewards are based on mutual relationships. Therefore, it can be said that in a low-context society, user assistance should be very explicit because written rules are assumed to produce fair, reasonable procedures and decisions. In a high-context society, user assistance need not be very direct and explicit because more faith is placed on personal relationships than on written rules.

Communication is the vehicle through which meanings are conveyed and feelings are expressed. Methods of communication are quite different in low-context and high-context societies. User assistance can be designed and delivered keeping in mind the target audience’s social and philosophical background.

The following table summarizes the factors that you must keep in mind while designing user assistance for users belonging to low-context and high-context societies.

UA Design Differences between Low Context and High Context Society

S.No. Low Context Society (Western Society) High Context Society (Asian Society)
1.
 User assistance is detailed, and knowledge of a topic is independent of other topics. User assistance is telegraphic, and the active reader has to deduce unsaid assumptions and trust those deductions.
2.
 User assistance has a methodical and linear approach. User assistance has a holistic and circular approach.
3.
 Page layout of user assistance has a lot of white space. Page layout of user assistance has minimum of white space.
4.
 User tasks based on individual achievements. User tasks based on mutual relationship.
5.
 User assistance should be very explicit because written rules are established means of communication. User assistance may not be very explicit because more faith is put in personal relationships than on written rules.
6.
 User tasks are accomplished based on self-reliance. User tasks are accomplished based on individual modesty and group cooperation.

Bibliography

About the Author

Pradipto Das is currently employed with Infosys Technologies Ltd. in the capacity of a Senior Technical Communicator.
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