Stories and Maps: Postmodernism and Professional Communication  

Communication used to be about telling stories, about listening to narratives of discovery, learning, redemption, and war. Not just little stories, but big stories: heaven, hell, utopia. Relatively recently, though, the map has started to replace the story as our fundamental way of knowing. The new emphasis on spatial rather than temporal or historical concerns goes by a number of titles -- postcapitalism, networked workplaces, nonhierarchical management -- but the most popular (and often misunderstood) is postmodernism. In this text, I sketch out some of the ways that postmodernist tendencies affect the careers and possibilities for business and technical communicators. Briefly, I see the potential for increased responsibility, prestige, and influence for business and technical communicators, but only if we are able to reconceive what we think of as the value of our work; that is, we must reposition ourselves as mapmakers rather than authors.

Johnson-Eilola, Johndan. Kairos (1995). Articles>TC>Rhetoric

Storytelling in a Central Bank: The Role of Narrative in the Creation and Use of Specialized Economic Knowledge    

Drawing on an extended ethnographic study of the textual practices of economists at the Bank of Canada, this article looks at narrative construction as a communal process of corporate knowledge making. Employing theories of narrative, genre, and distributed cognition as a conceptual frame, the article traces three stages in the development of a narrative known in the bank as the monetary policy story. Evolving across a number of written genres, this symbolic representation functions as an important site of intersubjectivity among the institution's economists. In its final form, the narrative serves the bank's executives as a shared cognitive and rhetorical resource for making decisions about monetary policy and communicating these decisions to the Canadian public. This account of knowledge making at the Bank of Canada may be useful as a heuristic for researchers studying the dynamics of discourse in other professional settings.

Smart, Graham. Journal of Business and Technical Communication (1999). Articles>TC>Business Communication

Strategic Planning: Creating a Vision of the Future  

Strategic planning, the process of determining where you intend to be and how you’re going to get there, is absolutely essential to the success of any organization. But our assessment of the information development community indicates that the majority of organizations, whether operating as standalone businesses or as internal functions within larger companies, do little or no strategic planning. One of the main reasons is that they don’t know what strategic planning is, why it’s important, or how to do it.

Hackos, JoAnn T. STC Proceedings (1998). Articles>TC>Planning

Strategic Plans: Focusing Chapter Energy

If your chapter has never created a strategic plan, or if it has been a long time since plans were updated, it's a good idea to develop one now. Those first plans can require one or two years to create, but don't be intimidated by the commitment. The phases of the plan are easily broken down into small, manageable sessions for which you can set reasonable or flexible completion dates.

Silvi, Deborah H. and Jamie H. Diamandopoulos. Tieline (2005). Articles>TC>Community Building>STC

Strategies for Research in Technical Communication  

The purpose of research in technical communication is to determine effective methods of communicating information to target audiences. This two-part workshop will provide hands-on activities for the participants. One leader will define strategies for locating sources and evaluating the literature; another will offer guidelines for the study design, collecting and analyzing data; another will help participants learn how to report results accurately for a given audience; and one leader will help participants learn how to write effective grant proposals. From this workshop, we should develop model strategies from which we can obtain evidence of effective methods for communicating information.

Applewhite, Lottie B., Kenneth Rainey Sherry G. Southard, Katherine E. Staples and Christopher Velotta. STC Proceedings (1995). Articles>TC>Research

Strategies for Research in Technical Communication  

This is a repeat of a workshop at the 42nd annual conference sponsored by the Education and Research PIC. The workshop provides consultation for participants interested in conducting research projects. It provides hands-on activities for participants in designing research projects, methods for data collection, methods of data analysis, conducting literature reviews, preparing grant proposals, and reporting research results.

Rainey, Kenneth T., Lottie B. Applewhite, Sherry G. Southard, Christopher E. Velotta and Thomas R. Williams. STC Proceedings (1996). Articles>Research>TC

Strategies in Technical Communication Research  

The annual offering of this workshop sponsored by the Education and Research PIC provides consultation for participants interested in conducting research projects. It provides hands-on activities for participants in conducting literature reviews, designing research projects, preparing grant proposals, methods for data collection, methods of data analysis, and reporting research results.

Rainey, Kenneth T., Lottie B. Applewhite, Katherine E. Staples, Christopher E. Velotta and Jan H. Spyridakis. STC Proceedings (1997). Articles>Research>TC

Strength In Numbers: Forging Bonds with Nearby Communities

Although the economy in Northern California has improved, people are not clamoring to become technical communicators the way they were in the boom days of the late 1990s. Finding volunteers for chapter positions is difficult, and those who do volunteer often have to do more with less. An organization of local chapters can facilitate inter-chapter communication and sharing of resources.

Maki, Victoria J. Tieline (2005). Articles>TC>Community Building>STC

Strength in the Technical Communication Journals and Diversity in the Serials Cited    

More than 1,600 serials from across the disciplines were identified as sources for technical communication scholars. The 99 most frequently cited serials are described. This citation analysis is distinguished from others by the size of the database (25,000+ citations), the 10-year review of articles published in five technical communication journals between 1988 and 1997, the number of serials cited and reviewed, and the focus on technical communication as a discipline. The analysis yielded two observations. First, five technical communication journals have grown in strength as forums for discussions of technical communication. Second, the serials cited illustrate the diversity of resources referred to from business, education, psychology, science, and technology-related sources. As a discipline, technical communication has developed depth and rigor through building the base of its research and theory while integrating the research and theory gathered from a number of disciplines.

Smith, Elizabeth Overman 'Betsy'. Journal of Business and Technical Communication (2000). Articles>Research>TC

The Structure of Technical Communications Revolutions

Professions change their ways of doing business when their paradigms -- their ways of seeing -- change. Technical communication went through one such paradigm change when the engineer-as-writer-and-reader became the technical-writer-as-writer and the user-as-reader in the early 1950's. In the 1990's, the technical communication paradigm is again changing, and this change will mean: the form of computer documantation will become more plastic; the concept of readability will become more of a design issue with the rise of document prototyping; audience analysis will become much less haphazard and dependent upon stereotypes; and the role of the technical writer will increase in visibility, responsibilities, and opportunities. John Carroll's new book on minimalist documentation, The Nurnberg Funnel and Edward Tufte's Envisioning Information are harbingers of this new paradigm change.

Brockmann, R. John. ASTC (1995). Articles>History>TC

Structuring and Evaluating Scitech Communications    

The basis for effective scitech communications is formed by: focusing on the needs of the audience; structuring the substantive and language content accordingly; concentrating on accuracy, clarity and brevity; meeting logical requirements; and presenting in a communicative style and layout, including the use of visuals. In many scitech communications, the Appendix is the right place for detail not of immediate interest to most readers; this option is grossly under-utilized.

Mandersloot, Wim G. B. and Clive G. Bruckmann. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication (2000). Articles>Scientific Communication>TC>Assessment

Susan Burton Provides an Inside, In-Depth Look at STC's Most Pressing Issues

In this special presentation podcast, Susan Burton, executive director of the STC, provides an inside, in-depth look at the most pressing issues and challenges the STC faces. She also explains the initiatives underway to reshape the STC and provide more value to members.

Burton, Susan and Tom H. Johnson. Tech Writer Voices (2007). Articles>Interviews>TC>STC

The Synergy between Human Factors and Technical Communication

The human factors specialist and the technical communicator find themselves making similar decisions or weighing similar issues. For example, often it is difficult to decide when to use symbols versus words. Sometimes you cannot shortcut and use pictures because pictures do not convey enough information.

Blackwelder, Meredith. Carolina Communique (2003). Articles>TC>Human Computer Interaction

Tactics and the Quotidian: Resistance and Professional Discourse  

The research I discuss in this essay addresses what I take to be an unfortunate imbalance in current research on professional writing. Research reports in journals and in edited collections describe different professional discourses, how they are formed, how they operate, how organizational structure and discourse are related, and how writers learn to participate productively in institutional discourse. With some notable exceptions, very little of the research being reported concerns the ideologically coercive effects of institutional and professional discourse—what my students and I have come to call 'the dark side of the force.' If Foucault had to argue that cultural theorists should think of power as productive rather than merely repressive, I argue that rhetoric needs to recognize that the opposite is also true of discourse. That is, research in professional and nonacademic writing should begin to investigate not only the ways in which discourse produces knowledge, but also the ways in which it extends the grid of discipline and the ways in which writers resist the mute processes to which de Certeau refers in the epigraph above.

Herndl, Carl G. JAC (1996). Articles>Writing>TC

Taking a Political Turn: The Critical Perspective and Research in Professional Communication      

This article examines the critical perspective as an alternative to our current descriptive, explanatory research focus. The critical perspective aims at empowerment and emancipation. It reinterprets the relationship between researcher and participants as one of collaboration, where participants define research questions that matter to them and where social action is the desired goal. Examples of critical research include feminist, radical educational, and participatory action research. Adopting the critical perspective would require that scholars in professional communication rethink their choices of research questions and sites, their views of the ownership of research results, and the types of funding they seek for research initiatives.

Blyler, Nancy. Technical Communication Quarterly (1998). Articles>TC>Writing>Rhetoric

Taming The Sticky GUI: New Roles for Technical Communicators in Graphical User Interface Design  

As technology is changing rapidly, new roles for technical communicators are evolving. Sometimes by design, sometimes by default, technical communicators are finding themselves working in a new area, that of Graphical User Interface (GUI) design. This paper will explore 5 different roles which are being done by people with technical communication skills, and will discuss ways to develop the needed new skills to make these roles effective and productive.

Dray, Susan. STC Proceedings (1994). Articles>TC>User Interface

TCeurope: A European Umbrella for Technical Communicators    

This paper presents TCeurope, the European umbrella organization for technical communicators and its activities in the past, including lobbying for technical communication at the European Parliament, formulating a European guideline for usable and safe operating manuals for consumer goods, and formulating a European guidelines for professional education and training of technical communicators in Europe.

Fritz, Michael, Michael F. Steehouder and Ursula Wirtz. IEEE PCS (2005). Articles>TC>Community Building>Europe

A Teacher's Perspective: An Interview with George Hayhoe

A lot of faculty feel threatened by distance learning because they think that it’s going to displace them. If a University’s view of courses is 'canned courses', then the instructor is no longer needed. In theory, the University can capture a professor’s intellectual property once and offer the course as often as the University wants to without any further compensation to the professor. To me, canned courses are not graduate education anyway. I guess watching a tape lecture is better than nothing at all. Of course, you can read books and get the ideas if that’s all you want, but to me graduate education is more than just reading books. The major experience is the exchange of ideas between instructor and students. I don’t think videotaping or HTML-izing lectures gives you that.

Hayhoe, George F. STC Online Information SIG (1998). Articles>Education>TC

Teaching a Distance Education Version of the Technical Communication Service Course: Timesaving Strategies    

The author has taught a distance education version of the undergraduate technical communication service course at Boise State University since 1997 and shares the strategies he has found to decrease the time instructors spend teaching online, thereby enabling them to use the time they do have to enhance their students' online experience. These strategies are distributed among four areas: management of collaboration, presentation of course material, grading, and interaction with students. For each one, the author presents the problems that may occur and approaches to resolving them. The article addresses a number of concerns expressed in the scholarly literature on distance education and is informed by surveys given to five sections of the author's course taught between 2001 and 2003. Interspersed through the article is an overview of some of the current research and commentary on distance education of particular interest to those teaching the technical communication service course via the Internet.

Battalio, John T. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication (2006). Articles>TC>Education>Online

Teaching Effective Feedback Skills  

Offers practical suggestions for teaching students of technical communication how to provide effective feedback on documents.

Willen, Matt. Intercom (2004). Articles>Education>TC

Teaching Professionalism in the Classroom    

Looks at what it means to be professional as a technical writer, as a teacher, and as a student and explains how to teach professionalism in the classroom.

Campbell, Alexa. Intercom (2008). Articles>Education>TC>Professionalism

Teaching Technical Communication

In the early 1900s, technical communication was a burgeoning professional field, represented in academe by service courses taught primarily at engineering institutions. By the 1980's, however, it had become a significant professional and academic discipline in its own right. James Souther (1990) offers the following as evidence to support this assertion: the expansion of professional organizations, in particular, the Society for Technical Communication; the growth of academic organizations like the Association of Teachers of Technical Writing and the Council for Programs in Technical and Scientific Communication; the quality of research, for business through the Document Design Center, and from academe, particularly at Carnegie Mellon; representation on the programs of conventions of major academic groups like the Modern Language Association and the National Council of Teachers of English; an increase in the number of offerings, both in terms of classes and degree programs, at colleges and universities. Often colleges and universities that are just beginning to include technical communication in their curricula do so using faculty trained in traditional English doctoral programs. This ERIC Digest examines several areas of concern for such institutions and discusses 1) characteristics of technical communication; 2) issues in teaching technical communication; and 3) resources in teaching technical communication.

Kelley, Rebecca. ERIC Digest (1991). Articles>Education>TC

Teaching the History of Technical Communication: A Lesson With Franklin and Hoover    

The first part of this article shows that research in the history of technical communication has increased in quantity and sophistication over the last 20 years. Scholarship that describes how to teach with that information, however, has not followed, even though teaching the history of the field is a need recognized by several scholars. The article provides and defends four guidelines as a foundation to study ways to incorporate history into classroom lessons: 1) maintain a continued research interest in teaching history; 2) limit to technical rather than scientific discourse; 3) focus on English-language texts; and 4) focus on American texts, authors, and practices. The second part of the essay works within the guidelines to show a lesson that contrasts technical texts by Benjamin Franklin and Herbert Hoover. The lesson can help students see the difference in technical writing before and after the Industrial Revolution, a difference that mirrors their own transition from the university to the workforce.

Todd, Jeff. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication (2003). Articles>TC>History>Education

Tech Writers Need a Manifesto

Today, when technology and technical products are flooding the world, good tech writers and good documentation are more important than ever--and that importance is growing every day. Yet, tech writers generally aren't understood, appreciated or fully utilized, even within their own companies. Face it. Tech writers have a bad reputation. I was actually introduced to someone at a party, who said, 'You write computer manuals? I've always wanted to kill one you guys.' The problem is, for the most part, this reputation is undeserved.

UnTechnical Press. Articles>TC