The article “Writing Support Tools for Making Text Understandable: A Socio-Technical Perspective on Stakeholder-Centered Writing” by Prof. Hendrik Heuer was recently published in i-com – Journal of Interactive Media. Hendrik Heuer leads the CAIS research program “Design of Trustworthy Artificial Intelligence.” The study was conducted in collaboration with Sven Goller and Prof. Daniel Buschek from the University of Bayreuth.
The article addresses the challenge of developing writing support tools, against the background that writing processes can be complex and varied, differing greatly depending on the goals and target audiences. The focus is on how AI-based software can help writers formulate texts that are more understandable, particularly for people with cognitive impairments.
Methodologically, the work is based on a study with 18 German experts in Easy and Plain Language. They revised texts both with and without the use of a writing support tool. Based on this, the authors identify key tasks for improving understandability, such as identifying and clarifying the main message. They also analyze how practitioners perceive and use an AI-based writing tool and highlight areas where support is lacking, including synonym suggestions, explanatory aids, and personalization.
The results suggest that making texts understandable can be understood as text summarization with a focus on specific target audiences. Building on this, the article formulates design guidelines for non-linear writing support and proposes that writing support systems should fundamentally be regarded as socio-technical systems that take into account different actors and contextual conditions.
Heuer, H., Goller, S., & Buschek, D. (2025). Writing Support Tools for Making Text Understandable: A Socio-Technical Perspective on Stakeholder-Centered Writing. i-com – Journal of Interactive Media. https://doi.org/10.1515/icom-2025-0024
The article builds on previous work by the authors, including “Accessible Text Tools for People with Cognitive Impairments and Non-Native Readers: Challenges and Opportunities” and “Writer-Defined AI Personas for On-Demand Feedback Generation”.