At the Heart of Information Ecologies: Invisibility and Technical Communication    

The ecological metaphor for technological systems provides a useful supplement to others dealing with the question of human control over technologies. However, it fails to develop adequately its own reliance on communication as the means whereby human values may be embedded in technologies, or to recognize the role of professional communicators in that process.

Ranney, Frances J. Journal of Computer Documentation (2000). Articles>Information Design>TC

Confessions of a Gardener: A Review of Information Ecologies    

This review of Information Ecologies places the text in the mediating tradition that seeks a middle ground between rigid technological determinism and indifferent value neutrality. The biological metaphors for situated technology use make interesting reading,but the stories may not be compelling evidence that users really can shape technological change from the local level.

Hart-Davidson, William. Journal of Computer Documentation (2000). Articles>Information Design>TC

Defining a TC Body of Knowledge  

The Body of Knowledge effort is currently being led by a team of experienced industry and academic STC members. This spring, you will be invited to look at the initial outline of a hierarchy of domains, skills, and knowledge levels. This BoK is yours to develop; the start-up team is simply trying to put together a straw site to start the collaborative effort.

Hart, Hillary. STC Consulting SIG (2008). Articles>TC>Information Design

Finding the Schema That Works  

Schema theory says that humans acquire information by building and holding models of that information in their minds. To facilitate learning of new information, writers essentially define a schema for their audience and present new information within that schema. But how do they know that a given schema will work? Drawing on examples from the computer software field, this workshop shows that developing a schema to effectively deliver knowledge to an audience requires looking beyond the apparent organization of ideas.

Fothergill-Brown, Ann. STC Proceedings (1998). Articles>TC>Information Design

Open Access Digital Repositories: An Indian Scenario  

Open access digital repositories give barrier-free access to literature for study and research to users worldwide. They solve the pricing and permission crises for scholarly materials. This paper deals with open access digital repositories in India. The results of the study reveal that the repositories contain both published and unpublished documents, like seminar proceedings, conference papers, theses, dissertations, research reports, books, and so on. The results also point out that open access digital repositories in India are mostly subject specific and commonly use open source information repository software like DSpace, Greenstone Digital Library Software, and GNU EPrints. It is observed that generally the open access digital repositories use OAI-PMH (protocol for metadata harvesting), so that they can be accessed using search tools such as Web search engines, whereas a few don't use it but provide direct access to their documents through their websites.

Ahmed, Fayaz and Rafiq Rather. International Journal for Technical Communication (2007). Articles>TC>Information Design>International

Participatory Team Process in Information Design  

Information Design often focuses on product over process and ignores the valuable role that technical communicators can play in facilitating a true team design activity. In this paper, authors argue for a definition of information design that focuses on process and offer a proven methodology called Participatory Team Process in recognition of its roots in Participatory Design. Authors discuss tenets of methodology; spell out the technical communicator’s role as facilitator, information manager, writer, and editor; and offer three examples of products created with the process: a computer interface, safety rule book, and curriculum guide.

Racine, Sam J., Carol S. Hoeniges and Christina R. Schulz. STC Proceedings (2003). Articles>Information Design>TC>Participatory Design

Tips and Tricks of Information Management  

Technical communication, when it comes down to basics, is getting the right information across to the right audience, with results. But how do you wade through all that ocean of information? How do you sort them, separate them, store, and retrieve them at your fingertips? In this presentation you will learn tools such as L files and Mailword, and share other tips and tricks of managing information in an open discussion with other participants.

Dijamco, Renato A. STC Proceedings (2001). Articles>TC>Information Design

STC Body of Knowledge Site Map (draft)

A draft site map to attempt to represent the field(s) of technical communication within a hierarchical tree diagram.

STC (2008). Articles>TC>Information Design>Body of Knowledge

Interview with the Creator of the EServer TC Library

Tom Johnson has an interview the site's creator, Geoff Sauer, who explains some of the details behind the site. I found the discussion of their taxonomy particularly interesting, as it's a problem I've struggled with in my own site.

Soltsys, Keith. Core Dump (2008). Articles>TC>Information Design>Databases

Sheep, Chaos, and User Experience

The people who own the creation, collection, and distribution of content may not be the same people in the very near future. I also believe technical communication is part of information architecture and user experience design. While the technical communication community, specifically many STC members, also work in usability or information design, the culture of the user has changed faster than the culture within the tech comm community.

Anderson, M.K. MK Anderson (2009). Articles>TC>Information Design>User Experience

Technical Communication Trends and Ideas

Technical Communication continues to change as we find new ways to meet the needs of our audiences. I have attended several conferences recently and discussed several of the latest trends with other technical communicators. This article provides a quick list of several of these trends and ideas.

Mueller, Paul. Answers for All (2009). Articles>TC>Content Management>Information Design