Advanced Interactive Multimedia

A website from an undergraduate course on designing complex interactive multmedia for technical communicators.

Sauer, Geoffrey. University of Washington-Seattle (2002). Academic>Courses>Undergraduate

As Simple As Possible...And No Simpler  

A PowerPoint presentation about the difficulties of categorizing technical communication. It's not an easy thing to do, if the journals and textbooks in our own field don't consistently agree as to the major and minor categories. This PDF version of a PowerPoint presentation outlines the issues confronted by the EServer TC Library as it attempts to create a system of categories for its index of thousands of works in the fields of technical, scientific and professional communication.

Sauer, Geoffrey. ATTW (2005). Presentations>TC>Taxonomy

Calls for Papers: Technical Communication

The EServer CFP site is a database-driven collection of calls for papers in several fields, including TC.

Sauer, Geoffrey. EServer. Academic>Calls For Papers

Expanding the Scope of Technical Communication: Examples from the Department of Technical Communication at the University of Washington    

Argues that the technical communication field is expanding far beyond traditional areas of writing, editing, and production. Describes research at the University of Washington that helps clarify the expanding scope of our field.

Haselkorn, Mark P., Geoffrey Sauer, Jennifer Turns, Deborah L. Illman, Michio Tsutsui, Carolyn Plumb, Tom Williams, Beth E. Kolko and Jan Spyridakis. Technical Communication Online (2003). Articles>TC

Geoff Sauer on tc.eserver.org, the Largest Tech Comm Index Online

Geoff Sauer is one of the founders of tc.eserver.org--the largest online index for all works related to technical communication. The library indexes works by technical communicators in dozens of categories, and allows users to add new works, rank them, and get RSS feeds of specific titles. There are over 25,000 RSS feeds generated on the site and 15,000 visitors each day.

Sauer, Geoffrey and Tom H. Johnson. Tech Writer Voices (2007). Articles>Interviews>TC>Podcasts

Information Design

This graduate course was taught in the Spring 2001 term in the MS program at the University of Washington. The students published four anthologies of papers resulting from their study of information architecture.

Sauer, Geoffrey. University of Washington-Seattle (2001). Academic>Courses>Graduate

Information Design

This graduate course was taught in the Winter 2001 term in the evening MS program at the University of Washington. The students published five anthologies of papers resulting from their study of information architecture.

Sauer, Geoffrey. University of Washington-Seattle (2001). Academic>Courses>Graduate

Multimedia Design in Professional Communication

This course will focus on the fundamentals of developing digital multimedia using a range of software, hardware, and electronic equipment. Through readings, class discussion and multimedia projects, you'll learn to apply rhetorical principles (audience analysis, invention, organization, style, design) to multimedia authoring; to learn production techniques for multimedia development (including CD-ROM, streaming video, DVD video and Flash interactivity), from storyboarding to nonlinear editing; to plan and manage collaborative multimedia projects; to master software genres commonly used for multimedia training program in education and industry.

Sauer, Geoffrey. Iowa State University (2004). Academic>Courses>Multimedia

The Need for Architect/Construction Worker Dichotomies in Information Architecture as a Profession  

I would suggest that before we adopt the 'information architect' model and concede the construction worker (role of 'other') to many members of our field in order to negotiate management positions for a few, that we look to other professions to see how they have resisted this dichotomy. It may be argued, perhaps, that professions such as medicine and the law have managed to avoid successfully such hierarchical dichotomies -- at least in part. At the least, we should debate the possible implications of such systems more rigorously than we have to date.

Sauer, Geoffrey. CPTSC Proceedings (2002). Presentations>Information Design>Workplace

The Place of the Internet in the History of Publishing

Discusses some critical methodologies we may wish to use in order to make sense of the changes which have occurred in mass media post-1976. It is rather important to understand this history -- the reasons we think the current Internet is confusing is precisely because of the reorganization it represents in the balance of power between ruling interests in our society. In the end, I argue, the Internet is another step in the increasing influence of media and publishing interests, and it is important to read news in online space as part of that history.

Sauer, Geoffrey. EServer (2000). Presentations>Lectures>Publishing>History

Print Production

A spring 2002 tech comm course on offset printing, paper and graphic design for technical communicators.

Sauer, Geoffrey. University of Washington-Seattle (2002). Academic>Courses>Undergraduate

Publishing and Its Implications, 1688-2005

One definition of rhetoric is the study of relationships between writers and readers. This course will review changes in publishing from 1688 to the present, considering implications for writers (particularly professional communicators), publishing, and reading audiences. The course will learn about, then examine in detail, the social impact of key innovations from this period.

Sauer, Geoffrey. Iowa State University (2005). Academic>Courses>Publishing>History

Publishing Futures Within (or Without) the Humanities

Humanities disciplines have attributed enormous importance to scholarly publishing, but have not yet sufficiently examined the changes of circumstance which have re-formed the nature and interests of the publishing industry in recent decades.

Sauer, Geoffrey. Society for Critical Exchange (1999). Articles>Publishing>Assessment>History

Rendezvous with KnowGenesis: Geoffrey Sauer    

An interview with Geoffrey Sauer, a professor of Rhetoric and Professional Communication and the director of the EServer TC Library.

Sauer, Geoffrey and Saurabh Kudesia. International Journal for Technical Communication (2007). Articles>Interviews>TC

Technical Communication

In this course we will explore the various forms and media by which working professionals convey technical information to both expert and novice audiences. As a student in this course, you will learn to write a variety of genres used in technical communication -- resumés and cover letters, memos, proposals, progress reports and final reports.

Sauer, Geoffrey. Iowa State University (2003). Academic>Courses>TC>Technical Writing

Technology, Rhetoric, and Professional Communication

This course offers students in various disciplines a critical view of the technologies now shaping workplace communication and our society as a whole. Using rhetorical theories of technology, we will examine the historical roots of communication technology and explore a number of economic and ethical issues spawned by the computer revolution. Students will gain a deep understanding of how technology impacts the decisions of technical communicators in an increasingly electronic workplace.

Sauer, Geoffrey. Iowa State University (2005). Academic>Courses>Technology>Rhetoric

Theoretical Dimensions of Technical Communication

This graduate course studies theoretical constructs and issues that inform all technical communication. Inherently a multi-disciplinary activity, tech comm draws on theories from fields as different as rhetoric and science, psychology and philosophy, sociology and linguistics. This term we will focus specifically on rhetoric, on the relationships between author, text and reader, and on philosophies of science and language. The purpose of this seminar is to explore relevant theories in sufficient depth and detail to do justice to their complexity, and, at the same time to examine their applicability to technical communication. Students will be expected to comprehend and challenge these theories on their own terms as well as to understand their value for the interpretation and transfer of technical information. Such understanding is crucial to intelligent decisions in professional practice; it allows the technical communicator to look beyond surface issues and see the essential problems and possible solutions. Theoretical knowledge of the field distinguishes the professional from the practitioner.

Sauer, Geoffrey. University of Washington-Seattle (2002). Academic>Courses>Graduate>Rhetoric

Theorizing the Borders of Academic Technical Communication  

As technical communication programs come to accept our field's (emergent) status as a profession, we need to discuss more carefully how to judge the boundaries of technical communication as an academic field. Although many writers have recently called for efforts to span traditional borders between workplace practice and academic study of the field (Carver 1998, Sutcliff 2000, Eaton 2001 and Smith 2002 among others), doing so in practice can be quite difficult. From my experience as a member of the editorial board of the EServer Technical Communication Library (http://tc.eserver.org/), a website of resources in the field (originally founded explicitly to support such interdisciplinarity), I would today suggest that there are numerous practical and theoretical issues still remaining to resolve in how the field delimits and judges the diverse forms of work we perform.

Sauer, Geoffrey. CPTSC Proceedings (2003). Articles>TC>Academic

Theory and Research in Professional Communication

This graduate course will study theoretical constructs and issues that inform workplace professional communication. Inherently a multi-disciplinary activity, professional comm-unication draws on theories from fields as different as rhetoric and science, psychology and philosophy, sociology and linguistics. This term we will focus specifically on rhetoric, on the relationships between author, text and reader, and on philosophies of science and language as they apply to workplace practice.

Sauer, Geoffrey. Iowa State University (2005). Academic>Courses>Rhetoric

Using Web-Based Portfolios to Assist Technical Communication Program Development  

In 1998, the English Department at Carnegie Mellon built an Internet server (english.cmu.edu) to offer free lifetime accounts to English majors and graduate students. We did this (in part) because we had found that students in our professional programs underused campus facilities for web portfolios. Interviews revealed that many Web-savvy students felt alienated from campus Internet publishing options--which serve students while they remain students, but eliminate accounts (and remove alumni websites) soon after graduation. CMU students in professional programs are exceptionally career-oriented, and interviews revealed that they instead planned to postpone website production until they had graduated, when they could create (more) permanent websites--which often did not happen. By encouraging our students --while students--to create online portfolios which they could maintain even after graduation, we removed one of the obstacles to experimentation by our more enthusiastic students, and offered them options to integrate such work into their studies of genre,audience and accessibility. This experiment has been more successful than originally expected; students' websites are among the most popular locations on the entire server, and have led to continuing communications between alumni and faculty. This has led some of us who advised students in Carnegie Mellon's MAPW (Masters in Professional Writing) and CPAD (Masters in Communication Planning and Design) to rethink issues which arise in the creation of web portfolios.

Sauer, Geoffrey. CPTSC Proceedings (2000). Academic>Portfolios

We Neurotic Amateurs: A Commentary on Edmond H. Weiss's "Egoless Writing: Improving Quality by Replacing Artistic Impulse with Engineering Discipline"    

The assertion that technical communicators tend to be 'amateurs'--that is, lovers of our own work--is a claim with little foundation. Arguments toward regimentation and systematization of documentation writing are not calls to professionalize a currently-immature field, but rather attempts to emulate the hierarchy we have seen implemented in microprocessor engineering in the 1970s, software development in the 1980s, and content management in the 1990s. Such 'egoless' methods may offer advantages to employers, but should not necessarily be considered 'progress.'

Sauer, Geoffrey. Journal of Computer Documentation (2002). Articles>Content Management>Documentation

Writing for the World-Wide Web

Teaches how to apply the principles of information architecture to the creation of intuitive navigation systems and a seamless user experience.

Sauer, Geoffrey. Iowa State University (2004). Academic>Courses>Web Design>Writing

Writing for the World-Wide Web

Teaches how to apply the principles of information architecture to the creation of intuitive navigation systems and a seamless user experience.

Sauer, Geoffrey. Iowa State University (2003). Academic>Courses>Web Design>Writing