#22907
By the time I stopped being President in 1993, the sense of computer documentation as a unified whole had ended. When one has such competent folks as Bill Horton writing entire books just on icons, you know that the days of single book coverage…or single SIG coverage were gone forever. Moreover, when the 20,000 member STC decides that it will focus on computers and writing, then the tiny 1200 member SIGDOC gets lost in the welter of talks, papers, presentations, and conventions. So it goes…
Brockmann, R. John. Journal of Computer Documentation (2001). Articles>Documentation>History
#14364
The Structure of Technical Communications Revolutions
Professions change their ways of doing business when their paradigms -- their ways of seeing -- change. Technical communication went through one such paradigm change when the engineer-as-writer-and-reader became the technical-writer-as-writer and the user-as-reader in the early 1950's. In the 1990's, the technical communication paradigm is again changing, and this change will mean: the form of computer documantation will become more plastic; the concept of readability will become more of a design issue with the rise of document prototyping; audience analysis will become much less haphazard and dependent upon stereotypes; and the role of the technical writer will increase in visibility, responsibilities, and opportunities. John Carroll's new book on minimalist documentation, The Nurnberg Funnel and Edward Tufte's Envisioning Information are harbingers of this new paradigm change.
Brockmann, R. John. ASTC (1995). Articles>History>TC
#23031
Using Emulation to Teach Nonverbal Technical Communication in the Twenty-First Century 
Although nonverbal technical communication played a key role in the nineteenth century introduction of varied technologies, verbal communication has been emphasized in most technical communication textbooks and classes. Recognizing that nonverbal communication is substantively different than verbal communication, this paper offers a heuristic table to be used to teach nonverbal technical communication.
Brockmann, R. John. STC Proceedings (1996). Articles>Rhetoric>TC
