Reading and Writing in Information Systems

Edited notes from the Writing Across the Curriculum workshop.

Purposes for writing in our field

• To inform
• To record thoughts
• To communicate problems/solutions
• To document ideas/work
• To plan

Genres of writing in our field

• Documentation – technical & user
• Diagrams and mockups 
• Reports
• User manuals
• Meeting minutes
• Message boards
• Blogs
• Email

Audiences for IS writers

• Clients
• Users of a system
• Other IS professionals
• Management
• Self

As an IS professional, what are my reading purposes

• Learning new skills and knowledge
• Integrating ideas from multiple sources
• Conducting literature reviews for research
• To better understand requirements
• Enjoyment

Kinds of documents I read

• Business books
• General IS books
• Technical books
• Research articles
• Web sites
• Blogs
• Trade publications

Strategies I use for reading

• With blogs and message boards, I scan headings to find interesting content to read
• With books, I tend to read in depth
• With articles – depends on context, but often skip to parts of interest.
• An over arching strategy I use is dedicate time slots for reading.  This is done to minimize distractions and allow better focus and comprehension of material.