SIGDOC’s mission is to advance the state of knowledge, encourage the research, and support the interdisciplinary practice of the design of communication.
The ACM Special Interest Group on Design of Communication provides a forum for researchers and practitioners of the design of communication, including information architecture, information design, user assistance, help, and documentation (traditional and user-contributed) as well as technology that supports and enhances communication, including blogs. The SIG feature publications in its annual conference proceeding and also its official peer-reviewed ACM publication called Communication Design Quarterly (CDQ). CDQ is open to submissions from all scholars, whether you are a SIGDOC member or not.
The SIG fosters the study and publication of processes, methods, and technologies for communicating, designing, developing, and delivering these artifacts. Members include technical communication professionals, content strategists, usability specialists, information architects, software engineers, educators, researchers, web designers, system developers, computer scientists, information technology professionals, and managers responsible for researching, producing, and/or supervising the creation of user interfaces, information architecture, content, websites, and social media.
The mission of SIGDOC includes:
- encouraging interdisciplinary problem solving related to the [user-centered] design, development, and delivery of communication and experiences
- promoting the application of theory to practice by connecting member contributions from research and industry
- studying and encouraging emerging modes of communication across organizations
- promoting the professional development of communication strategists, architects, planners, and designers
- providing avenues for publication of research and exchange of best practices
- supporting the research and development of communication and processes, including applications, networks, and services
SIGDOC emphasizes the following areas of special interest to its members:
- design and evaluation methodologies that improve communication, such as experience architecture, user-centered and activity-centered design, participatory design, contextual design, and usability studies
- types of designed communication, including information design, information architecture, and user assistance
- project management and content strategy as it relates to communication design projects
- mixed, qualitative, and quantitative studies of how communications are designed and used
- practices, research, and theories relevant to any of these areas