Material culture analysis and technical communication: the artifact approach to evaluating documentation

Usability testing and documentation review are vital components of every documentation release cycle; yet some project timelines and budgets overlook these essentials. The art history process of material culture analysis can help alleviate this oversight. Applied to documentation, material culture analysis can provide insight into the writer´s personal values to expose potentially detrimental mismatches between the values of the writer and of the intended audience.