Ethics in Technical Communication: A Consensus?  

Ethics within Technical Communication, as found in the literature, is discussed to determine whether a meaningful code of ethics exists or can exist within STC. Authorities are cited to support a tentative conclusion to this question.

LaBara, Ann Marie and Russell B. Stoner. STC Proceedings (1993). Articles>TC>Ethics

The Ethics Triple Threat: Proprietary Information in the Technical Communications Class and Practitioners' Workshop  

The use of corporate proprietary information is a major ethics issue in technical communication classrooms and practitionersâ*™ workshops. Some students and practitioners treat these settings as safe and sterile bubbles in which all present will honor confidences. Their actions cause ethical and legal dilemmas for fellow students, colleagues, and professors. Methods of preventing such dilemmas include student-employeesâ*™ following the codes of conduct established by their employers, practitionersâ*™ observing the behavioral codes set out by their professional organizations, and professorsâ*™ stressing ethical behavior in the classroom.

Jennings, Ann S. STC Proceedings (1998). Articles>TC>Ethics

Evolution of a Disclaimer  

What if a disclaimer seems to be more than just a disclaimer? Readers are invited to consider the fictitious case presented and to share their thoughts for publication in an upcoming issue of Intercom.

Bryan, John G. Intercom (2006). Articles>TC>Ethics>Case Studies

The Evolving Roles of Technical Communicators within a Government Project: The Hanford Site  

This presentation describes the present-day workplace for technical communicators at the United States Department of Energy's Hanford Site. Factors that are significantly affecting the Hanford Site workplace are identified, with emphasis on the effects of these factors on the workplace activities of Hanford Site technical communication professionals.

Forbes, Christopher J. STC Proceedings (1993). Articles>TC>Government

Expanding Beyond a Cognitivist Framework: A Commentary on Martinez’s “Intentional Learning in an Intentional World”    

One of the looming challenges educators face today is understanding how student diversity and uniqueness impacts the complex process of learning. Affective and conative factors are increasingly examined as we seek to understand how to teach and support the whole learner. The goal is to build theory that informs practice so that we may, as Martinez argues, move beyond “fuzzy, one-size-fi tsall [instructional] solutions” to instruction that is designed to match individual learning needs. Factors such as motivation, self-effi cacy, learning styles, and emotional intelligence have become increasingly common terms in educational research as we seek to defi ne affective and conative variables that impact the learning process as well as design of instruction. However, as with much of educational research, there are a vast number of complex, interrelated variables to consider and no one easy solution.

Kirkley, Jamie and Thomas Duffy. Journal of Computer Documentation (2000). Articles>Education>TC>Cognitive Psychology

Expanding Our Borders to New Sites of Practice  

Vital academic programs have a component in practice and an obvious connection of research and theory to the undergraduate classroom. This position (not a truth) could explain, in part, the growth of technical communication as an academic discipline over the past two decades while the study of literature, often in the same department, has declined.

Rude, Carolyn D. CPTSC Proceedings (2003). Articles>Education>TC

Expanding the Borders of Our Curriculum to Include Communities of Practice  

What does the profession look like today? We see writers who specialize in running usability tests; writers who work with XML and database tools to manage single content sources for multiple delivery vehicles; writers who develop content and then design the layout of that content for every kind of print and electronic media, writers who grab the latest hot authoring tool and produce Web-based customer support. And the list could go on and on. The common denominator is writing skills.

Harner, Sandi. CPTSC Proceedings (2003). Articles>Education>TC

Expanding the Scope of Technical Communication: Examples from the Department of Technical Communication at the University of Washington    

Argues that the technical communication field is expanding far beyond traditional areas of writing, editing, and production. Describes research at the University of Washington that helps clarify the expanding scope of our field.

Haselkorn, Mark P., Geoffrey Sauer, Jennifer Turns, Deborah L. Illman, Michio Tsutsui, Carolyn Plumb, Tom Williams, Beth E. Kolko and Jan Spyridakis. Technical Communication Online (2003). Articles>TC

Exploring Paths Toward Quality Information Products  

Information product quality has long been considered undefinable, but that must change if we are ever to improve the quality of our work beyond present levels. Information product quality can usefully be defined as measurable conformance to requirements. Requirements come from three sources: customers, clients, and professional standards. By determining our customers' and clients' critical needs, we can devise conformance metrics. This formulation can be applied in the context of many organizational quality improvement programs, such as benchmarking, continuous improvement, ISO 9000, and (with reservations) Six Sigma.

Jong, Steven F. STC Proceedings (1994). Articles>TC>Quality>Methods

Exploring the Blind Spot: Audience, Purpose, and Context in "Product, Process, and Profit"

Technical communicators have longed turned to audience, purpose, and context as they analyze situations. But Mirel's article demonstrates that audience-purpose-context is too weak a framework to handle the job of detailed sociopolitical analysis: not only is it inadequate for analyzing the needs of end users, it is also inadequate for analyzing situations within the writer's organization. In this response, this paper explores the weakness of audience-purpose-context and points to alternative sociopolitical frameworks.

Spinuzzi, Clay. Journal of Computer Documentation (2000). Articles>Rhetoric>TC

Facing the Frontiers of Advanced Technology, Global Integration, and Communication  

Poetic phrases emerge from the root word techne, such as pyrotechnics, advanced technology, and technical communicator. Your role is likely to expand. You might become involved with international standards or the computer network. You might create interactive multimedia information.

Geary, Carol C. STC Proceedings (1995). Articles>Technology>TC

Fanning the Creative Spark  

Creativity is critical to every aspect of our lives. Without it, we're susceptible to burnout, boredom, and (gasp!) bad writing. Creativity leads to improved productivity and innovation, superior problem-solving, and a more enjoyable life. We can enhance our creativity by giving ourselves permission to be creative, by not being judgemental, and by practicing.

Brenneman, Judy Fort. STC Proceedings (1997). Articles>TC>Quality

Feminist Theory in Technical Communication: Making Knowledge Claims Visible    

This study extends the corpus of an earlier qualitative content analysis about women and feminism and identifies the knowledge claims and themes in the 20 articles that discuss gender differences. Knowledge claims are reflected in expressions such as androgyny; natural collaborators; hierarchical, dialogic, and asymmetrical modes; web; connected knowers; different voice; ethic of care; ethic of objectivity; continuous with others; connected to the world; the cultural divide; visual metaphor; and gender-free science. Built from knowledge claims, the themes in the 20 articles include gender differences in language use, learning, and knowledge construction; gender differences in collaboration; and reviews of research about gender differences and political calls for action. Although the 20 articles provide little support for the existence of gender differences, by introducing, discussing, testing, and revising new ideas about women and feminism, they serve as an example of the process of knowledge accumulation and remodeling in technical communication.

Smith, Elizabeth Overman 'Betsy' and Isabelle Thompson. STC Proceedings (2002). Articles>TC>Theory>Gender

Finding "A Winning Community" at the STC 53rd Annual Conference

An STC conference is a unique type of education that supplements the formal theory and ideology one can learn in school. It is a place to interact with and learn from people with a range of professions, viewpoints, and expertise. It is a place to experience passion and vision for the field as a part of an international community. But most of all, it is a place filled with resources just waiting to be used by the next eager technical communicator.

Rothwell, Kimberly M. Carolina Communique (2006). Articles>TC>Community Building

Finding Solutions For Your Challenges: All Canadian Multidisciplinary Progression  

Learn lessons from this all-Canadian cast of contributors:

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

Finding What You Want on the Web  

Fugate reviews a number of Web sites, search engines, and databases that self-employed technical communicators could use to track down information.

Fugate, Alice E. Intercom (2002). Articles>TC>Online

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

Five Books to Add to Your Technical Communication Library

Heidi Hansen takes 15 minutes to discuss five books that she read over the past year and published book reviews for.

Hansen, Heidi. Tech Writer Voices (2008). Articles>TC>Policies and Procedures>Podcasts

Focused Sharing of Information for Multi-disciplinary Decision Making by Project Teams  

Today's electronic and paper-based approaches to the sharing of project information do not scale to the information sharing and interaction challenges of multi-disciplinary project team meetings. The inability to share and interact with information easily and effectively is one of the biggest bottlenecks in using electronic (online) information for collaborative decision-making. Through scenarios from recent construction projects, this paper summarizes existing approaches to the sharing of information and assesses their effectiveness in supporting multi-disciplinary decision-making by project teams. It then discusses recent research into interactive information workspaces where, with minimal software overhead, participants can share information that is relevant to a particular context to establish a common focus. We believe that the construction community can make significant progress quickly in leveraging existing and future investments in information infrastructure if it not only pursues information sharing through the use of product models but also formalizes the focused sharing of information and separates information interaction and view control from software services and underlying data as outlined in this paper.

Liston, Kathleen, Martin Fischer and Terry Winograd. Stanford University (2001). Articles>Collaboration>TC

Free or Open-Source Tools for Technical Communicators, Part 1: The Software  

This article takes a look at some of the most successful free and open-source products available for technical communicators and their clients.

Curley, Charles. Intercom (2006). Articles>TC>Software>Open Source

Free Professional Development: Starting a Journal Club

Have you ever wished that someone would offer advanced training for technical communicators in your community? In Winnipeg, we certainly did. However, we found that most training is expensive. Our chapter would bring in workshop leaders, but have difficulty getting enough people to sign up. Those of us who wanted training often had to leave the city, but not all of us could get our companies to pay to send us for training, or even to annual conferences. About four years ago, the Manitoba chapter stumbled upon an easy, cheap solution: We started a journal club. Four times a year, several chapter members meet to discuss the contents of the latest issue of Technical Communication.

Campbell, Alexa. Tieline (2003). Articles>TC>Community Building

From Individualism to Holism: Paradigm Shift on the Indian Technical Writing Scene    

We are witnessing a paradigm shift towards establishing ourselves as a dynamic, progressive society, which knows its place and responsibilities within the international arena. While growing independently, we are not only paving the path for the creation of a new social order in which fresh and diverse values coexist, but are also constantly in the process of developing a harmonious relationship with each other through collaboration, rising above vested interests and conflicts.

Kudesia, Saurabh. International Journal for Technical Communication (2007). Articles>TC>Editorials>India

From Monologue to Dialog to Chorus: The Place of Instrumental Discourse in English Studies and Technical Communication    

One way to resolve some of the conflict in English studies and technical communication over their diminishing cultural capital is to recognize the place of instrumental discourse in communication studies. Instrumental discourse is individually verified social agreements to coordinate and control physical actions. One purpose of literary works is to voice new concerns about social inequities. A purpose of rhetoric is to persuade others of the validity of those concerns. Instrumental discourse registers agreements about those concerns and brings them to temporary closure in laws, instructions, contracts, and constitutions. Instrumental discourse is the culmination of a process that often begins with a literary monolog, is continued in many rhetorical dialogs, and ends, for a while, in a chorus of approval. Each phase of this communication process--monolog, dialog, and chorus--has a place in English studies. If more English studies faculty would recognize the need to study the communications that promote dissensus and consensus, then they might contribute more to global discussions about social justice, cooperation, and sustainability, and they might gain more cultural capital and social influence.

Moore, Patrick. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication (2006). Articles>Education>TC>Workplace

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