http://tc.eserver.org/dir/Articles/Reviews/TC A listing of the most recently indexed works about Articles and Reviews and TC 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/Reviews/TC http://tc.eserver.org/31070.html http://tc.eserver.org/31070.html What makes KnowGenesis different is, I feel, it has a potential both for the corporate needs and the non-corporate users of knowledge management (KM). On one hand, organizational and corporate knowledge is captured, processed, shared and available in many KM portals are well organized. And, in such a junction, this journal adds value to the existing knowledgebase with its own specialty. http://tc.eserver.org/30296.html http://tc.eserver.org/30296.html Cultural studies is an academic field that focuses on understanding the unchallenged assumptions that constrain and shape communication and related interactions among people. Although the field has made considerable progress in the last half-century, many practitioners have either never encountered the field, or have encountered it only through extremist advocates who do the field a great disservice. As a result, they have lost the ability to benefit from the insights provided by cultural studies. In this paper, I review the recent book Critical Power Tools to provide an update on the current thinking in the field, and to demonstrate how the modern form of the field has much to teach technical communications practitioners who are willing to listen to what the theoreticians have to say. http://tc.eserver.org/29106.html http://tc.eserver.org/29106.html By emphasizing the negative meanings of words, ignoring variations in translations, and quoting out of context, Steven B. Katz has argued in an influential article that an 'ethic of expediencyunderlies technical communication and deliberative rhetoric, and by extension writing pedagogy and practice based on it.' Katz's assertion misrepresents the motive of technical communication and its pedagogy, and it brings discredit to the professions of technical communication and the teaching of technical communication. His attempt to discredit the motive of technical communication is part of a two-millennia-long contest for status between intellectuals and the working classes, and it creates unnecessary mistrust at a time in history when people must focus even more on cooperating socially in order to sustain democratic cultures and our physical environment for future generations. http://tc.eserver.org/28901.html http://tc.eserver.org/28901.html The best part of my experience at the STC Summit was meeting people who, like me, are craving information on the trends of which we are such a large part--such as Web 2.0, user-centered design, and new software tools. For the most part, I got the information I craved. As a technical writer who is professionally heading deep into usability and user interface (UI) design, I actually went to the conference for the usability certificate program. http://tc.eserver.org/22251.html http://tc.eserver.org/22251.html Organized into three parts ('Initiation stories,' 'The process,' and 'Life on and off the job'), the stories cover the gamut of job titles, employers, and years of experience. The book also lists contributors' stories by topic, making it easy to locate subjects such as 'authoring, ethos and identity,' 'collaboration and teamwork,' or 'ethics.' There's a little something for everyone in this readable book, even if you've been in the field for years—and especially if you're ready for something just a little bit different. http://tc.eserver.org/22100.html http://tc.eserver.org/22100.html If one of the savory ironies of reviewing a text on technical communication is the potential for contradiction between discussion of principles and execution of principles, then one of its joys is finding a book that hits the mark. Gurak and Lannon's <i>A Concise Guide to Technical Communication</i> does just that. http://tc.eserver.org/22104.html http://tc.eserver.org/22104.html Ever wonder about the relationship between academia and the corporate world? Or if you are on the corporate side (as I am), have you wondered why academia operates as it does? (And vice versa.) If so, <i>Reshaping Technical Communication: New Directions and Challenges for the 21st Century</i> offers great insights that may help you gain an understanding of how each world operates, why they operate as they do, and how the two worlds influence and can alter the future of technical communication. http://tc.eserver.org/20040.html http://tc.eserver.org/20040.html Ever wonder about the relationship between academia and the corporate world? Or, maybe if you are on the corporate side (as I am), have you wondered why academia operates as it does? (And vice versa.) If so, Reshaping technical communication: New directions and challenges for the 21st century offers great insights that might help you gain an understanding of how each world operates, why they operate as they do, and how the two worlds affect and can alter the future of technical communication. http://tc.eserver.org/14452.html http://tc.eserver.org/14452.html As a species of rhetoric and composition, technical communication studies is wrestling with issues of identity, professionalization, and status that help to define an academic discipline. Recent scholarly work has debated the research methods that might be productive for an applied field in a postmodern age, the theoretical and pedagogical connections between composition and technical communication in an electronic age, and the tensions between training and education in a global age that requires new models of work. http://tc.eserver.org/14023.html http://tc.eserver.org/14023.html Anderson, Brockmann, and Miller have compiled an anthology of essays devoted to research in technical and scientific communication that should be read by any professional writing teacher who hopes to maintain a career in this field and by graduate students who are contemplating applied communication as an area of concentration. While the editors have not dealt with the pragmatic reasons for doing research (preferring to stress the scholarly motives), this anthology could well be subtitled “How to Write for Promotion and Tenure if You Teach Technical Writing in an English Department.” For technical writing teachers facing the publish or perish mandate in English departments, the essays exemplify the kinds of research that will help one survive amid literature-oriented colleagues who often think that technical writing teachers have nothing to publish or teach that has any depth or value. The essays, 12 in all, cover five currently popular main research areas in scientific and technical communication. http://tc.eserver.org/13644.html http://tc.eserver.org/13644.html This page provides links to book reviews related to technical communication. I am looking for book reviews to publish. Please email me if you have a review that you would like to see published here. Note that this is a non-commercial site -- I don't pay for reviews. http://tc.eserver.org/13002.html http://tc.eserver.org/13002.html Reviews of recent books published in the TC field.