http://tc.eserver.org/dir/Articles/Information-Design/Theory A listing of the most recently indexed works about Articles and Information Design and Theory in the field of technical communication. en-us Copyright (c) 2005-08 by the EServer. All rights reserved. tclib-editorial@eserver.org (TC Library Editorial Board) webmaster@eserver.org (Geoffrey Sauer) http://tc.eserver.org/images/newlogo.gif http://tc.eserver.org/dir/Articles/Information-Design/Theory http://tc.eserver.org/28012.html http://tc.eserver.org/28012.html With training in everything from stage design to Egyptology to hypertext games to web projects, Reiss has had extensive practice in finding out what makes an experience work. Could these be the principles I've been waiting for? I tracked down Reiss in Vancouver to find out. http://tc.eserver.org/22249.html http://tc.eserver.org/22249.html I want to try to explain how I came to think about technology and people ecologically through my interactions with reference librarians. And I want to mention some of the touchstones that led to the concept of information ecologies. In looking at the library, what struck me as an outsider and anthropologist studying the work practices of reference librarians, was first, the very congenial mix of human and technical resources. Second, I was very impressed with the way libraries are run through a very clear application of values. So, for example, values such as service to clients, cost effectiveness, the timely delivery of information, open access to information. And finally, I was really struck by the attention that reference librarians pay to the specifics of clients' situations and needs. http://tc.eserver.org/18881.html http://tc.eserver.org/18881.html The nature of hypertext challenges many underlying assumptions for traditional literary critics. Literary critics frequently like to think that they have objectively looked at the lexias of the work, thoughtfully considered them, and constructed a solid interpretation or analysis of the work based on those lexia. Hypertext, however, presents the possibility that two critics who are reading the same work may have differing sets of lexia from which to work. Thus, even if critics objectively consider the lexia before them, they cannot free themselves from the subjectivity of the reading performance that made those lexia (and not others) appear. This raises the concern that, if hypertext critics can only present subjective views of the text, there may be little or no benefit to reading or writing those critiques. http://tc.eserver.org/18171.html http://tc.eserver.org/18171.html Complexity theory offers a way of understanding our role within the World Wide Web. Postulating a rhetorical object based on object-oriented analysis and design, we can harness a number of ideas from complexity theory to gain a new perspective on the Web. This paper reviews a number of complexity ideas that may help technical communicators grapple with the exponential growth in the volume of inter-related and interacting rhetorical objects on the Web, viewing the rhetorical situation as the result of the law of increasing returns, which has brought us through a phase transition to a new environment, with its own emergent properties, creating new roles for writers, and new work for managers. http://tc.eserver.org/13724.html http://tc.eserver.org/13724.html Since this is going to be a wild ride across a some disciplines that don’t normally talk to each other, let me start with a short, structural overview to get everyone situated. I’m going to begin by defining some terms. They’re all relatively simple, common terms, but I’m going to attempt to bring them together in a particular configuration; in order for that configuration to make sense, I need to settle on some loose definitions and, at the same time, make the terms relevant to our discussion. Next--and this is probably the bulk of the talk--I’ll be outlining a geneaology of work, particularly as it relates to interface design. In this history, I’m interested in understanding, from a critical perspective, what happens to work as it increasingly takes place within the computer interface. I’ll say here that the end of this history is where the terms “postmodernism,” “work,” and “interface” come together. Finally, I’ll offer some suggestions—and examples—of ways that we -- as teachers, researchers, designers, communicators -- can begin to deal productively with some of the problems I see with how interfaces are currently being designed and used.