91:, or a set of facts regarding the users' values, behaviors, knowledge of the documentation and product and motivation for using said documentation and product. Revealing the tacit knowledge of users' activities, as opposed to the simple operations which a given technology can perform, is often referred to as an unspoken but understood trick of the trade for the
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A good technical communicator will perform a user analysis aimed at finding both what exactly a user needs to do, and what the user would do with the technology in question. Some experts in the field of user analysis have emphasized the importance of understanding the
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User analysis is a process which calls for qualitative research. Because such research usually (though not always) centers around human subjects, the degree of formality and personalness is an issue. In the modern era, users are often reached via
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Besides traditional way to interacting with users, analysis can be done with statistical analysis of the usage of log of users. With artificial techniques like machine learning, tremendous analysis results can be generated in parallel.
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When developing new technology or software, identifying the potential users of a system and their attributes is necessary in order to ensure that said technology or software will be more user friendly.
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systems or other technological products. During the process, developers in technical fields gather information about users of their products through
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During this development, the user analysis is the basic research phase which takes place before actual drafting of the technology's
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Barbara Mirel, "Applied
Constructivism for User Documentation: Alternatives to Conventional Task Orientation."
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will perform while using a given piece of technology. Such analyses are vital to the composition of
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H. Wang. Behavior analysis of low-literate users of a viral speech-based telephone service
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determine the characteristics of users which will influence the development of
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during this process, though the concept itself is a controversial one.
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120:Statistical analysis of usage
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