Authority and Audience-Centered Writing Strategies: Sexism in 19th-century Sewing Machine Manuals    

This article examines audience-centered writing strategies in two very early sewing machine manuals and considers the interplay between such strategies and sexism in technical writing. It considers the difference between non-sexist and gender-neutral writing, and concludes that avoiding sexism in technical writing is difficult at best—and perhaps impossible—in any society that assigns work (and correspondingly, technologies) for use according to the gender of the user.

Durack, Katherine T. Technical Communication Online (1998). Articles>History>Documentation

From the Moon to the Microchip: Fifty Years of Technical Communication    

Explores technologies and technical writing discussed in this journal over the past 50 years. Describes how computer technologies were applied to gain efficiency in production. Notes that single sourcing and content management focus on text creation.

Durack, Katherine T. Technical Communication Online (2003). Articles>Technology>TC

Observations on Entrepreneurship, Instructional Texts, and Personal Interaction    

This article explores the complexity in Rohan's observation that "although texts in progress create community, this function hasn't value; in the world of business works in progress must be free" [1, p. 130]. To do so, the article describes the history of the development of the paper sewing pattern, discusses the role personal communications with consumers played as the genre evolved, and offers observations on the kinds of instruction provided by sewing machine and pattern companies. The extent to which gender and authority are connected in communications between consumers and corporate authors is explored. The article concludes by observing that once a genre is sufficiently established to become a standard, two changes occur: industries adopt authority for only certain types of necessary information, and women's authorship becomes anonymous, corporate, and personal exchanges with consumers are curtailed to save the expense.

Durack, Katherine T. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication (2003). Articles>Collaboration>Instructional Design>Gender

Patterns for Success: A Lesson in Usable Design from U.S. Patent Records    

This article investigates the design history of certain published artifacts—women's household sewing patterns—as that history is recorded in U.S. Patent Records. When a patented item is a published artifact, the U.S. Patent Record may contain valuable information on the author's perception of users and analysis of solutions for usability problems. This case illustrates the evolution toward a single standard despite early proprietary design solutions.

Durack, Katherine T. Technical Communication Online (1997). Articles>Intellectual Property>Patents>History

Publishing on the Cheap: One Idea That Worked

For computer centers to eliminate paper documentation is cutting off one’s nose to spite one’s face.

Durack, Katherine T. ACM SIGDOC (1992). Academic>Computing>Publishing

Research Opportunities in the US Patent Record    

Although scarcely explored to date, US patent records provide numerous opportunities for research in technical and scientific communication. This article reviews disciplinary research that taps this rich archive of information, describes ways in which patents act as moral and social barometers to technological change, and provides readers with a brief guide to basic information needed to initiate research using patent records.

Durack, Katherine T. Journal of Business and Technical Communication (2001). Articles>Research>Technology