Document Design

This course will teach you to * identify and discuss principles of reading comprehension, cognitive psychology, human factors, and graphic design that apply to technical documents * analyze and evaluate the design of existing documents and recommend appropriate revisions * design and test documents for maximum usability

Dragga, Sam. Texas Tech University (2002). Academic>Courses>Document Design>Visual Rhetoric

Ethical Intercultural Technical Communication: Looking through the Lens of Confucian Ethics      

Studies of intercultural communication focus little on the ethical principles that inspire specific communication practices.  The ethics of Confucius (including the virtues of goodness, righteousness, wisdom, faithfulness, reverence, and courage), however, genuinely illuminate communication behaviors within China.  Analysis of a cultural artifact of technical communication reveals the substantial insight offered by the lens of ethics.  A comprehensive understanding of differences in ethical perspectives is necessary to achieve ethical intercultural technical communication.

Dragga, Sam. Technical Communication Quarterly (1999). Articles>Writing>Regional>China

Hiding Humanity: Verbal and Visual Ethics in Accident Reports  

Located at the critical intersection of technology and humanity, technical communicators must always try to avoid human injury and promote sensitivity to the needs of human beings. The reporting of human injuries and fatalities in accident reports, however, often strips victims of their humanity and hides the tragic human consequences of technological failures from individuals trying to devise appropriate public policy, establish effective safety regulations, and modify or abolish dangerous industrial processes—government officials, company executives, labor representatives, community activists, and ordinary citizens. Technical communicators have the rhetorical ability, the requisite editorial and graphic skills, and the moral responsibility to bring humanity to the verbal and visual display of information.

Dragga, Sam and Daniel W. Voss. STC Proceedings (2003). Articles>Writing>Ethics>Reports

Hiding Humanity: Verbal and Visual Ethics in Accident Reports    

The work of technical communicators transcends the purely technical—it has implications for real human beings. Located as they are at the critical intersection of technology and humanity, technical communicators direct traffic to avoid human injury and to promote sensitivity to the needs of human beings. When technology fails human beings, it is the ethical obligation of the technical communicator to sustain the humanity of the victims of that failure—to make those victims visible.

Dragga, Sam and Daniel W. Voss. Technical Communication Online (2003). Articles>Writing>Ethics

Is This Ethical? A Survey of Opinion on Principles and Practices of Document Design    

In a national survey, 500 technical communicators and 500 technical communication teachers were asked to assess the ethics of seven document design cases. According to the 455 respondents, manipulating typography and leading to fit more or less information on a page and using persuasive coloring or spacing are ethical practices, while the manipulation of pictorial illustrations and the distortion of graphics are unethical. Opinion on using typography to decrease readability is divided. In five of the seven cases, women are consistently more lenient or men consistently more strict in their answers: common practices, specifications, reader's responsibility, writer's responsibility, writer's intentions, consequences, judgments, principles, and insufficient information. The explanation most often given was consequences, indicating a 'goal-based' philosophy of ethics.

Dragga, Sam. Technical Communication Online (1996). Careers>TC>Document Design>Graphic Design

Professional Report Writing

This course is designed to teach specialists in a wide variety of disciplines to  write clearly and effectively on their subject for both specialist and non-specialist audiences.  You will work intensively in the study and practice of the communication  activities that will ordinarily be expected of you in your professional career. This will include: * composing letters, memos, proposals, and reports * reviewing and editing the writing of others * researching information in the library, interviewing subject specialists, organizing research, and preparing a formal report * giving oral presentations summarizing research

Dragga, Sam. Texas Tech University (2001). Academic>Courses>Undergraduate>Reports

Teaching Technical and Professional Communication

This course is designed to provide you a theoretical and pedagogical foundation for teaching an introductory undergraduate course in technical communication.

Dragga, Sam. Texas Tech University (1998). Academic>Courses>Business Communication>Technical Writing

Technical Communication in Russia and the Czech Republic: Observations and Opportunities  

In March 1998, twelve technical communicators and technical communication teachers visited Moscow, St. Petersburg, and Prague to investigate the status of the field of technical communication.

Shumate, Chona E., Sam Dragga, Lena Jacobson, Patricia Tegtmeier, Celia Patterson and Patricia K. Cornette. STC Proceedings (1999). Articles>TC>Regional>Eastern Europe

Technical Editing

This course will prepare you for the substantive editing and design of complex documents such as technical manuals, proposals, and research reports.  You will study the practice of editing as it applies to invention, arrangement, style, and delivery.  You will examine strategies for document management and explore the theoretical justifications for your editing decisions.

Dragga, Sam. Texas Tech University (2001). Academic>Courses>Technical Editing

Theoretical Approaches to Technical Communication: Ethics

This course will teach students to: * investigate various definitions and philosophies of ethics pertinent to the field of technical communication. * examine the nature and scope of ethical dilemmas in technical communication. * determine possible solutions to the ethical problems encountered by technical communicators. * explain the applicability of theories of ethics to the field of technical communication.

Dragga, Sam. Texas Tech University (2000). Academic>Courses>Graduate

World Wide Web Publishing of Technical Information

This course will prepare students to: * identify and discuss principles of design and information architecture that apply to web pages and web sites * evaluate the design and architecture of existing web sites and recommend appropriate revisions * design different types of pages and sites * test the usability of pages and sites * use appropriate software to implement effective and ethical decisions regarding the design and architecture of sites

Dragga, Sam. Texas Tech University (1999). Academic>Courses>Web Design>Writing