WRTG 3306, Spring 2014, CRN 27753

Dr. Kyle Mattson; Contact Info.: Thompson 313; kmattson@uca.edu; (501) 450-3338
* Though this schedule may change if circumstances require, I will notify you in class or by email of any material
changes.
Project 3: Designing for Usability & Accessibility of a Digital Experience
20% of Course Grade
For Project 3, first locate a variety of 3rd-party digital materials that giver readers a singular impression across the
various digital media. These media could include websites, YouTube channels, online presentation materials,
navigable PDFs, etc. There are many free applications in the cloud that you could use to develop this genre ecology.
Whatever you create, the key is those users who visit your designed materials perceive some thread that brings these
materials together, whether through a common identity (perhaps an organizational identity or brand), a memorable
metaphor, or cause or theme you care about.
Keep yourself in the vicinity of thought leadership by determining what you want to do with this opportunity. While
there is much flexibility with this project, there is plenty of room for you to make disastrous choices as well. You
know as well as I do that such are the stakes facing any aspiring professional communicator (i.e., professional
writer).
Note: As with Project 2, this project is an opportunity for you to connect with a local or regional NPO that may be
interested in your work on this project. Though not required, I encourage you think of ways to make your work on
this project relevant to the needs of a Non-profit Organization in the area. Again, many NPOs lack funding and
struggle for hands on deck. Perhaps you would be able to develop genre ecology of materials that would do
something new for one of these entities. Taking this path in the project would mean doing a bit of quick footwork.
Asking the right questions and listening would be very importantas is protecting at-risk populations by not filming
them or including them directly in your research. To do so, you would have get Institutional Review Board approval.
Rather, keep such ideas simple by interviewing key administrative individuals who can share their general
administrative knowledge about needed work without putting protected populations at risk of unintended
consequences or even exploitation.
An Example?
Take the example of an airline and its online presence. A look at multiple branding campaigns across industry might
guide your thinking about the kind of "genre ecology" (Spinuzzi, 2001, 2003) one could produce for such an
airlineeven a fictional but seemingly real airline. One of the most unique approaches to passenger safety is
viewable on Cebu Pacific's Official YouTube channel:
http://www.youtube.com/user/Cebupacificair?feature=watch
There, flight attendants (male and female) dance their way through the flight safety presentation in order to make the
airline's safety measures more memorable in passengers' minds:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IUROFhkpVbM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JjapY4U0-HY
Notably, a YouTube channel with a well-designed organizational masthead or page banner and but a few
effective videos combine with an airline's online presence elsewhere:
http://www.cebupacificair.com/Pages/default.aspx
Readers might learn about, say, Cebu Pacific's vision of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), resulting in an
overall impression of an airline whose concern about the environment, if true, works alongside Cebu Pacific's
concern for passengers (recall the YouTube Channel's), giving an impression of an organization that cares. While
you would be perfectly within your right to suspect such corporate claims, such practiceswhether the good, the
bad, or the uglyare hardly limited to corporations. They take place in the non-profit world as well. As a
professional communicator interested in acting ethically in this world, you can put your mind to work in developing
such materials for somethinga common identity or brand, a metaphor, or cause or theme you care about. That goal
emerges as your Project 3 challenge.

WRTG 3306, Spring 2014, CRN 27753

Dr. Kyle Mattson; Contact Info.: Thompson 313; kmattson@uca.edu; (501) 450-3338
* Though this schedule may change if circumstances require, I will notify you in class or by email of any material
changes.
Iterative Usability and Accessibility Testing
As you proceed, remember to revise your usability testing and accessibility assessment protocols for usability testing
and accessibility assessment of your Project 3 work.
Our "In-House Style Guide" for Project 3
As may be needed, consult APA when citing any primary or secondary sources for this project.
Items Required for Project 3
1.) Two Revised Protocols: Both Project 1 usability testing and accessibility assessment protocols now
localized to your Project 3 genre ecology. (Both protocols should reflect project-specific changes.)
2.) Paper Prototype: Wireframes (i.e., paper-and-pencil or digital mock-ups) of the 3 genres you will complete
for this project.
3.) Thorough Notes from Paper Prototypes: Notes from each rotation.
4.) Thorough Notes from Usability Testing Results: Notes from each rotation.
5.) Thorough Notes from Accessibility Assessment Results: Notes from each rotation.
6.) First Draft: At this stage, your project should be about 50% complete and ready for initial iterative usability
testing and accessibility assessment. Iterative usability testing and accessibility assessment should result in
subsequent changes to your project.
7.) Second Draft: At this stage, your project should be about 75% complete and ready for secondary iterative
usability testing and accessibility assessment. Iterative usability testing and accessibility assessment should
result in subsequent changes to your project.
8.) Final Draft: Following application of findings from 2nd-draft usability testing and accessibility assessment,
this draft should be 100% complete by Project 3 grading. When citing primary and secondary sources for
this final draft, apply APA style in an accompanying reference list.
9.) Send Email of Link to Final Draft (along with attachments of revised usability and assessment protocols):
Please make sure that the email address (kmattson@uca.edu) is correct; dont forget the attached
documents in Word format. No other format will do! If I have to request a corrected format or an
attachment that you forgot to add, I may mark your project late.
10.) Printout of 3306 Regular Grading Rubric: Place this printed rubric atop all required drafts in manila file
jacket. To be handed in by project deadline.
11.) Printouts of Previous Drafts: Place these printed out drafts below 3306 Regular Grading Rubric in manila
file jacket. To be handed in by project deadline.
A Required Word Count?
Try not to think of word count for this project. Instead, think about rhetorical appropriateness for the 3 chosen
genres you have created. How have design and words converged to establish the brand of the fictional
organization? Are you communicating to readers what they need to know when they need to know it? If not,
these users may see your project as a failure. Again, I do understand that design matters; getting the design right
can take as much timeeven more timethan composing the right words. Use wordsyesbut attend to
design.
References
Spinuzzi, C. (2001). Light green doesnt mean hydrology!: Toward a visual-rhetorical framework for interface
design. Computers and Composition, 18(1), 39-53.
Spinuzzi, C. (2003). Tracing genre through organizations: A sociocultural approach to information design.
Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.
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