Boundary of content ecology: chatbots, user experience, heuristics, and pedagogy

Abstract

The increasing use of AI-powered chatbots has been transforming how technical communicators interact with users, content, and technologies. Menu-based, rule-based, or AI-powered, chatbots help automate customer service and technical support while moving away from more traditional web- or app-based frameworks. This panel explores how technical communicators design, teach, and evaluate chatbots before discussing lessons about user research, usability testing, information architecture, and new competencies that have to be introduced to prepare technical communication students to work toward/with useful and usable automated content.