Dolly Dahle and the Business of Technical Communication  

Presents a biography of Dorothy ("Dolly") Dahle, a successful businesswoman in the 1950s.

Malone, Edward A. IEEE PCS (2008). Articles>History

Drawing to Learn Science: Legacies of Agassiz    

The use of visual representation to learn science can be traced to Louis Agassiz, Harvard Professor of Zoology, in the mid-19th century. In Agassiz's approach, students were to study nature through carefully observing, drawing and then thinking about what the observations might add up to. However, implementation of Agassiz's student-centered approach has struggled with the conflict between science as a form of developing "mental discipline" in which mastery of scientific facts is the goal and science learning as a socially situated activity with an emphasis on the process of learning, not merely its products. Present-day attempts to have students draw to learn science often succumb to these same conflicts, limiting their full realization.

Lerner, Neal. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication (2007). Articles>Scientific Communication>Technical Illustration>History

Durability of Usability Guidelines

About 90% of usability guidelines from 1986 are still valid, though several guidelines are less important because they relate to design elements that are rarely used today.

Nielsen, Jakob. Alertbox (2004). Articles>Usability>History

Early Home Cinema    

Current developments in high-definition technological systems for home viewing link definitively with early Home Cinema, as practised from the late 1890s, as an alternative to public spectatorship. The traditions of Home Cinema, in encompassing degrees of informality, interaction and control within domestic exhibition, served to lay foundations for a televisual experience which, today, having come full-circle, is defining itself once more as `Home Cinema'.

Chalke, Sheila. Convergence (2008). Articles>Multimedia>Video>History

Echoes from the Past: DITA, Help, Single-Sourcing Tools — Looking from the 60s to Today

The historian of technical communications, R. John Brockmann, researched efforts to document products going back centuries. He finds that some of today’s hottest new documentation ideas were present in the work of those creating, documenting, and selling the technology of manufacturing just after the revolutionary war.

Ng, Daniel. I'd Rather Be Writing (2008). Articles>Content Management>Single Sourcing>History

Editing Sure Has Changed. Or Has It?

It has always been part of the editor's traditional task to search for the mot juste. This was especially true in technical fields: words could not be expected to guide readers if they were not accurate, and the mechanics of production made it costly to change words once they were published. Today, however, particularly in fields where much of what is published can become obsolete within months or weeks, fewer and fewer research organizations employ a full-time copy editor to refine the wording of their texts. Instead, to keep pace with the need for current information, our offices are being equipped with the latest tools for electronic text production.

Bodzin, Gene. Writer's Block (1995). Articles>Editing>History

Editing: An Arcane Strategy for New Millennium Technology?  

This paper discusses the relevance of editing to documentation produced in the new millennium. It also points out the importance of editing, for clarity of communication as well as for intent. Editing is approached first from the historical perspective provided by the history of written communication. This is followed by a brief discussion of the types of editing functions most often used prior to publication.

Block, Anne L. STC Proceedings (2001). Articles>Editing>History

The Effect of Changes in Publishing Technologies on Labor and Documentation

Online publishing technologies is an ever-changing, morphing animal that cannot necessarily be predicted, but perhaps we can work to harness it. As publishing technologies change, so too will the style in which the readability of those documents change as they are shaped and designed to meet new formulas and needs. Likewise, as the readability and accessibility of documents change, so too must the interaction and intervention of the technical communicator change to ensure readable, articulate, navigable documentation, as well as preserve an author-reader relationship and also to preserve the role of the technical communicator.

Comstock, Jeanie. Orange Journal, The (2004). Articles>TC>Publishing>History

The Effects of Print and Other Text Media Developments Upon the Law in America    

The law has long been shaped by the technical aspects of compiling, writing, storing, and accessing textual verbiage. Text media technology affects all areas of the law, from its intellectual basis to its promulgation, dissemination and enforcement. From America's Colonial period, the operative state of the art of printing has accordingly shaped the development of the law in America, and has caused it to grow in a different direction from the law of England. Since the Colonial period, the state of the art of text media technology has made quantum evolutionary leaps forward, impacting American law in the process. Artifacts of these text media technologies are to be found in the statutes, legislative histories, judicial decisions, and other legal materials. Modern technology has accelerated the pace of text media technology development, and has impacted the law accordingly. Current developments continue to impact the law on an ongoing basis, and future developments in text media technology can be expected to leave their impact upon the law.

Ryesky, Kenneth H. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication (1999). Articles>Publishing>Legal>History

The Emergence of a Root Metaphor in Modern Physics: Max Planck's 'Quantum' Metaphor    

The two purposes of this article are: 1) to use metaphorical analysis to determine whether or not Max Planck invented the quantum postulate and 2) to demonstrate how metaphorical analysis can be used to analyze the rhetoric of revolutionary texts in science. Metaphors often serve as the basis of invention for scientific theories. When we identify these metaphors in Planck's original 1900 quantum paper, it is clear that Planck did consider the quantum postulate to be important. However, we also see that he does not consider the quantum postulate to be revolutionary. A New Scientific Truth does not triumph by convincing its opponents and making them see the light, but rather because its opponents eventually die, and a new generation grows up that is familiar with it.

Johnson-Sheehan, Richard D. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication (1997). Articles>Scientific Communication>History>Tropes

Ethics and Technical Communication: The Past Quarter Century    

Ethics as a topic in technical communication has grown in interest in the past quarter century as the field itself has matured. We now understand technical communication as involved in communicating not only technical information but also values, ethics, and tacit assumptions represented in goals. It also is involved in accommodating the values and ethics of its many audiences. This understanding is linked to an awareness of the social nature of all discourse and the root interconnectedness of rhetoric and ethics. This article presents an introduction and annotated bibliography of articles from technical writing and communication journals over this period, arranged in categories of professional, academic, and systematic approaches. Ethics is broadly conceived to include not only particular theories but also systems of values and principles.

Dombrowski, Paul M. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication (2000). Articles>TC>Ethics>History

The Evolution of Multimedia

There is no doubt that the World-Wide Web is a powerful medium for us to communicate with each other, but it also presents possibilities for us to think about ourselves in new ways in relation to time, space, borders, other human beings and machines. The World-Wide Web, however, is part of an ongoing historical movement called 'Multimedia,' a movement that has engaged in questions about our relationship to technology and to one another for well over a century. In this essay, I will introduce a number of concepts in multimedia and some of the pivotal thinkers that contributed its development. From this survey, we will see that there is an underlying theme in this movement that prizes centering the user, cultivating audience interaction, and supporting creative expression. In addition, I will discuss the implications of these themes and the future of multimedia.

Detera, Eydie. Elements of Information Design (2001). Articles>History>Multimedia

'Faces of the Fallen' and the Dematerialization of US War Memorials    

The advent of internet technology has enabled the process of memorialization of those killed in US military conflicts to keep pace with the casualties themselves and, as such, has marked a shift in both the ideology of the war memorial as symbol and the ideology-driven media use of those symbols. This article argues that a process of increasing humanization and specificity enabled by the information architecture of the internet has led to a form of `war memorial', exemplified by www.facesofthefallen.org, that emphasizes decontexualized human loss at the expense of a coherent representation of a military nature for the loss itself.

Grider, Nicholas. Visual Communication (2007). Articles>Web Design>Visual Rhetoric>History

Review: Farewell, Netscape, but I Suppose It's Time

Since it's been a decade since Netscape was relevant, I guess it was overdue. But that doesn't make it any easier to say goodbye to an old friend, no matter how long it's been since you had any fun together.

Connoly, P.J. Software Development Times (2008). Articles>Reviews>History>Web Browsers

Figures of Speech as Persuasive Strategies in Early Commercial Communication: The Use of Dominant Figures in the Raleigh Reports About Virginia in the 1580s    

During the mid-1580s Sir Walter Raleigh, operating under letters patent of Queen Elizabeth, supported two major voyages to establish an initial colony in Virginia. These two voyages produced three major commercial reports that evaluated the economic potential of the region for English colonists and merchants. The reports, written by Arthur Barlowe, Ralph Lane, and Thomas Hariot, represent the beginnings of American commercial communication in English. Using Kenneth Burke's idea of the four major tropes, this article develops the notion of the 'dominant figure'--a figure of speech that serves to focus a report's rhetorical power--to analyze the persuasive effects of these reports.

Moran, Michael G. Technical Communication Quarterly (2005). Articles>History>Reports>Tropes

A Firm Foundation  

This article presents a brief history of the Association of Technical Writers and Editors, one of STC's parent organizations.

Rutkowski, Ed. Intercom (2001). Articles>History>TC

The Founding of ATTW and its Journal    

The founding editor of The Technical Writing Teacher and a founding member of ATTW, recalls key moments in the history of ATTW and its journal, and the people who shaped the organization in its early years.

Cunningham, Donald H. Technical Communication Quarterly (2004). Articles>Research>Publishing>History

From Technical Writing to Technical Communication: Looking to the Future

This paper focuses on the technical communicator’s role as it relates to computer technology.

Fisher, Julie L. TC-FORUM (2000). Articles>TC>Technology>History

General Burnside and His Orders For The Battle Of Fredericksburg: Lessons in How Not To Communicate    

Communicating plans to subordinates is not an easy task. It requires that the writer be adept in accurately using the language of his/her discipline and takes care in considering the unique characteristics of the document's audience and how they are likely to interpret the message. When writers fail in these areas, the consequences can be very serious as demonstrated by General Ambrose Burnside's orders for the Battle of Fredericksburg during the Civil War.

Loges, Max L. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication (2002). Articles>Management>History>Case Studies

Geoffrey Chaucer: Medieval Technical Communicator  

Chaucer's A Treatise on the Astrolabe, published in 1391, may be the first technical manual in the English language.

Intercom (2004). Articles>History

Girl Talk Tales, Causal Models, and the Dissertation: Exploring the Topical Contours of Context in Sociology Talk and Text    

Since the early 1980s, composition studies has arrived at a broad consensus that it is important to understand how social contexts relate to the cognitive processes and individual behaviors involved in writing and reading texts, although within this broad consensus are various notions of context and of how contexts relate to processes and texts. Drawing on both structuralist and everyday accounts of discourse and society, composition theory and research have generally conceptualized the contexts of writing in terms of abstract, unified constructs. Whether defined globally (culture, language, history, discourse community, genre, ideological state apparatus) or locally (institutional setting, communicative situation, task demand), context has typically been construed as a static, unified given, something that both frames and governs literate activity.

Prior, Paul. LLAD (1994). Articles>Rhetoric>History

Golden Hits of STC Conferences... A Potpourri of Titillating Technical Communication Tidbits  

STC's international conferences offer a golden opportunity for professional growth and development. Taking a leaf from the book of Gordon McKenzie, keynote speaker at the 41st STC Conference in Minneapolis in 1994, the presenter has compiled his material from 16 previous presentations and workshops at regional and international STC conferences, as well as notes from many other technical sessions at those conferences, into a simulated 'HyperCard' stack of 32 topics (i.e., signs on the wall) which session participants can 'browse' simply by 'clicking' (read: shouting out a number).

Voss, Daniel W. and Lori A. Allen. STC Proceedings (1997). Articles>TC>History

A Golden Opportunity-Planning for STC's 50th Anniversary  

STC will celebrate its 50th anniversary in 2003 and begins a year-long celebration here in Nashville. The STC 50th Anniversary Committee announces its plans, encourages chapters to participate, and asks members to share their ideas with the Committee. The plans include a special 50th anniversary website, an online STC history timeline, and recognition of pioneers. The committee prepared a Chapter Resource Kit, which includes program and speaker suggestions, news release templates, chapter historian guidelines, and chapter recognition recommendations. Members are asked to contribute anecdotes, as well as provide information on chapter pioneers and history resources.

Cantoni, Georgina C., Ernest D. Mazzatenta, William D. Leavitt, Kenneth J. Cook, Elizabeth Babcock and Marguerite Krupp. STC Proceedings (2002). Articles>History>TC

Grappling with Distributed Usability: A Cultural-Historical Examination of Documentation Genres Over Four Decades    

Traditional models of usability assume that usability is a quality that can be designed into a particular artifact. Yet constructivist theory implies that usability cannot be located in a single artifact; rather, it must be conceived as a quality of the entire activity in which the artifact is used. This article describes a distributed approach to usability, based on activity theory and genre theory. It then illustrates the approach with a four-decade examination of a traffic accident location and analysis system (ALAS). Using the theoretical framework of genre ecologies, the article demonstrates how usability is distributed across the many official and unofficial (ad hoc) genres employed by ALAS users.

Spinuzzi, Clay. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication (2001). Articles>Documentation>Usability>History

The Great Leap Forward: The Birth of the Usability Profession (1988-1993)    

In this editorial, I describe our birth and some personal experiences as I lived through those times. I present these observations, not as a historian, but as a usability professional viewing events of 15 years ago through my personal filter.

Dumas, Joe. Journal of Usability Studies (2007). Articles>Usability>History