#10348
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
#29050
This study suggests that documentation is a complex technical communication genre, encompassing all the texts that mediate between complex human activities and computer processes. Drawing on a historical study, it demonstrates that the varied forms given to documentation have a long history, extending back at least to the early days of commercial mainframe computing. The data suggest that (1) early forms of documentation were borrowed from existing genres, and (2) official and unofficial documentation existed concurrently, despite efforts to consolidate these divergent texts. The study thus provides a glimpse into the early experimental nature of documentation as writers struggled to find a meaningful way to communicate information about their organization s developing computer technology.
Zachry, Mark. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication (2001). Articles>Documentation>History
#22910
Review: Counterfeit Capital: Searching for a Silver Lining in Bernadette Longo's Spurious Coin
Dr. Bernadette Longo, Ph.D., uses the metaphor of devalued currency to trace some of the roots in technological history for technical writing's lack of intellectual and cultural capital. She ingeniously incorporates early threads of management and industrial technology, like the formation of the railroad, in an attempt to contextualize her research. Academics must view Longo's text, Spurious Coin, as just one branch of what must be a webbed tree of intersecting social attitudes towards knowledge definition and science. In understanding the gaps in Longo's narrative, people interested in technical writing might find her book to act as a launch pad for better defining the questions guiding their own research. In this review, I will focus on some of the important gaps I see in Longo's research methodology as she historically situates the emergence of engineering as a discipline and then as the determining factor in technical communication's subjugated position within the academy and industry.
Trim, Michelle. Journal of Computer Documentation (2001). Articles>Reviews>Documentation>History
#29049
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
#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
#22908
In the few short years that I have been connected with SIGDOC, the world of the technical communicator has changed quite a bit. These changes are visible in several major areas: in the work itself, in the technology and tools that the communicator uses, in the technologies about which they create information, in the work environment, and in the culture in which they operate.
Haramundanis, Kathy. Journal of Computer Documentation (2001). Articles>Documentation>History
#22905
In the mid 1970's, technical writers documented weapons of mass destruction for the military and its contractors. There were few computer-related jobs outside IBM and the other manufacturers. Corporate systems development managers did not know that people existed who were interested in such work.
Rigo, Joe. Journal of Computer Documentation (2001). Articles>Documentation>Collaboration>History
#22906
Back in these ancient days SIGDOC was a very relaxed organisation full of personal opinion, and hominess. To give you the flavour of that far off time, I shall present this report as a personal anecdote rather than a proper technical document. Please forgive me, those of you with more formal and well balanced notions of history.
Patterson, Diana. Journal of Computer Documentation (2001). Articles>Documentation>History
#29163
The Steel Bible: A Case Study of 20th Century Technical Communication
The "steel bible" emerged in 1919 and went through 11 editions in 80 years. In its evolution we can see the shift from individual to group authorship, an increasing use of visual elements, and a physical change from a small, hand-held volume to a weighty desktop reference. In a textual analysis, we can see that it was essentially static, changing only by additions and deletions, as the industry evolved. The eventual closing of hundreds of plants and the migration of the industry to other countries can be seen in the change of publisher, the sudden absence of photography, and the international references. Originally, the steel bible came from the factory floor and the words of the plant managers, but by the 1990s, it was a highly-abstracted representation of knowledge. In the steel bible, we can see the history of the industry and the maturing of technical communication in the 20th century.
Johnson, Carol Siri. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication (2007). Articles>Documentation>History>Engineering
#33155
A Photo Essay of Classic Instruction Manuals
How do you run the A/C on a spy plane? Where's the Start button on a nuclear power plant? Don't try to wing it—read the directions! A portfolio of classic instruction manuals.
Honan, Mathew. Wired (2008). Articles>Documentation>Technical Illustration>History
#33854
What’s Causing the Popularity of Policies and Procedures?
What’s causing the buzz of interest in P&P? Here are five trends that contribute to the growing popularity.
Urgo, Raymond E. Policies and Procedures Authority, The (2008). Articles>Documentation>Policies and Procedures>History
#34880
Seeing and Listening: A Visual and Social Analysis of Optometric Record-Keeping Practices
This article investigates the contribution visual rhetoric and rhetorical genre studies (RGS) can make to health care education and communication genres. Through a visual rhetorical analysis of a patient record used in an optometry teaching clinic, this article illustrates that a genre's visual representations provide significant insights into the social action of that genre. These insights are deepened by an insider analysis of the patient record that highlights how content analyses of visual designs need to be elaborated by contextual considerations. A combined visual rhetoric and RGS analysis shows that clinical novices learn to interpret the record's visual cues to safely traverse the complex requirements of this apprenticeship genre. The article demonstrates that visual rhetoric research can meaningfully contribute to the understanding of genres by presenting an enriched contextual analysis achieved by consulting with context insiders.
Varpio, Lara, Marlee M. Spafford, Catherine F. Schryer and Lorelei Lingard. Journal of Business and Technical Communication (2007). Articles>Documentation>Biomedical>History
