#24270
The advent of multimedia technology has made 'visualization' a hot topic in technical communication. This paper classifies visualization into three categories, referring to differences in visualization between Western culture and Japanese culture.
Moriguchi, Minoru. STC Proceedings (1998). Articles>TC>Technical Illustration>International
#13925
The first books and the first technical books published by English women during the 1475-1700 period can be useful in teaching students about the emergence of technical style or 'plain style.' If we examine the style of these women writers, long ignored by canonical studies, we can see that plain English existed before Bacon and received its impetus not from science, but from the utilitarian attitude that pervaded the 1475-1700 period. These women writers provide a microcosm for studying the rise of modern English prose and what we now call technical (or plain) style. They also provide an efficient way to expose students to early published works by women and their contribution to the history of technical writing. Examining style from such a perspective helps students see that technical communication was a prevalent kind of writing before Bacon and the Royal Society. Thus, technical communication--and the style of technical communication--studied from this unique historical perspective deepens students' awareness of the roots of technical communication as it contributed to the history of English discourse.
Tebeaux, Elizabeth. Technical Communication Quarterly (1998). Articles>History>TC>Gender
#19602
We'll Never Get This Past Legal
Looks at usable writing, and convincing the legal department to adopt the tenets of clear writing.
Jarrett, Caroline. Usability News (2003). Articles>Writing>TC
#30320
We currently use a variety of software and hardware tools to do our work. Unfortunately, there isn't one perfect software package that does everything we need.
Peterson, Carol. Boston Broadside (1992). Articles>TC>Software
#28575
Web technologies have changed the whole scenario of information generation, processing, and dissemination. Web resources have become the wave of the future. They have become, in the online world, an attempt to harness the power of the computer. Web resources have opened new vistas and opportunities to extend the reach of messages via novel and exciting channels and modes of communication. Almost all printed documents are now available online.
Gul, Sumeer. International Journal for Technical Communication (2007). Articles>TC>eBooks>Online
#30478
Website Design: A Technical Communication Perspective
A website must do more than just present information; it must be attractive. It is a marketing tool. However, in the drive to make the website look appealing from a visual design perspective, other factors are often ignored, which leads to a poor user experience.
British Computer Society (2007). Articles>Web Design>TC
#25283
What Connection does Rhetorical Theory have to Technical and Professional Communication?
Rhetoric has a connection to almost every type of communication. Technical and professional topics and organizations are only some of the many types of knowledge and social life that rhetoric touches. Rhetorical theory can be applied to any form of knowledge, any genre or form of communication, and any human situation, although sub-fields of rhetoric usually focus on one area or another. There are people who study, teach, and/or perform 'scientific rhetoric' and 'technical rhetoric' as their primary profession.
Smith, Tania S. University of Calgary (2002). Articles>TC>Theory
#22582
What is Technical Communication?
Professional writers, editors and information designers produce documentation that clearly conveys technical concepts or directions for specific readers and/or users. Making sense out of technical information and creating documentation is what technical communication is all about.
Lockwood, Mark. Eastern Michigan University (1998). Articles>TC
#14290
Students think better with “props,” i.e., concrete physical examples to discuss and manipulate. This observation, however, leads to a much broader theoretical insight. Thought, by its nature, equally requires the developing organization of physical objects and the mediating traffic of neuronal impulses in our brains.
Manning, Alan D. IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication (2001). Articles>Education>TC
#24477
What Research Should STC Sponsor? 
This session is an open forum moderated by the STC Research Grants Committee; its goal is to elicit and discuss suggestions from STC members for research areas and topic's the STC should sponsor. The input will help guide the members of the Research Grants Committee as they decide which research proposals to approve during the next year.
Rosenbaum, Stephanie L. STC Proceedings (1996). Articles>TC>Research
#30616
What Technical Communicators Need to Know About Artificial Inteligence and Expert Systems
Controversies characterize the study of artificial intelligence and expert systems. The varying opinions range from differences in defining these terms to arguments about their actual effectiveness when applied to practical problems. Technical communicators need to understand the different views on artificial intelligence, the types of expert systems currently available, and what the future impact of expert systems will be on technical communication in general, As a type of artificial intelligence, expert computer systems provide a technological solution to the problem of communicating specialized information and knowledge within business, technological, and scientific organizations. The computer can not only be a place to store large bodies of information, but it can also be programmed to interact with users as they attempt to apply this stored knowledge to specific problem-solving situations.
Shirk, Henrietta Nickels. STC Proceedings (1993). Articles>TC>Online>Help
#10095
What Technical Communicators Think About Measuring Value Added 
As part of an STC-funded research project on measuring the value added by technical communicators and information products, researchers designed a questionnaire to get a view of current thinking in the profession about the issue of measuring value added.
Ramey, Judith A. Technical Communication Online (1995). Articles>TC>Assessment
#29240
What's Civic About Technical Communication? Technical Communication and the Rhetoric of 'Community'
Although the concept of community has been advanced in technical communication as a moral reference point for civic rhetorical action, this concept is typically used in romantic, redemptive, and essentializing ways. This article argues for a radical and symbolic/rhetorical view of community, regarding it a discursive construct purposefully invoked by technical writers for strategic reasons.
Ornatowski, Cezar M. and Linn K. Bekins. Technical Communication Quarterly (2004). Articles>TC>Community Building>Rhetoric
#15227
Details how managers of technical communication departments can cope with the difficulties generated by a corporate name change.
Lee, Denise D. Intercom (2002). Articles>TC>Branding
#14964
What's the Value of Technical Communication? 
Unlike many other professions, our work products rarely stand by themselves. The work product of an engineering team may be a new pager or PDA; the work product of a development team may be a general-market software application. Data sheets, programmers reference manuals, and microprocessor design guides don't have their own standalone markets. They are designed and produced specifically for supporting standalone products. Their value, therefore, lies in how well they serve as a conduit for transferring and translating knowledge about the product to customers or end users according to their requirements.
Le Vie, Donald S., Jr. GaryConroy.com (2002). Articles>TC>Assessment
#24812
What's Wrong with Today's Technical Communication Tools?
The software tools we use often seem not well suited to the tasks we ask them to perform. Workarounds seem to be the norm at times. We expect to gather your comments in this discussion session and use them to write a ï¿white paperï¿ to be offered to Technical Communication as an article. We hope developers of our tools use our comments to improve the next round of releases.
Elser, Arthur G., JoAnn T. Hackos and Dawn M. Stevens. STC Proceedings (1996). Articles>TC>Software
#29053
Although rhetoricians have studied the discourse practices of engineers, little is known about the production workers who must assemble engineering knowledge into functional products. This case study examines what happens when a production worker tried to improve manufacturing documentation, and how her success depended upon both her craft knowledge and the rhetorical skills she attributes to a Writing Across the Curriculum program she experienced in college.
Vélez, Lili Fox and Susan P. Hall. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication (2001). Articles>TC>Technical Writing>Engineering
#15228
Describes experiences creating documents for a company based in the United Kingdom. Some of the adjustments she had to make included spelling, paper sizes, date formatting, and delivery.
Scott, Julie S. Intercom (2000). Articles>TC>Regional>United Kingdom
#30477
White Papers in Technical Communication: Results of a Survey
With this survey, I sought to address the question, 'To what extent are practicing technical communicators involved in writing white papers?'
Willerton, Russell. Texas Tech University (2005). Articles>TC>White Papers>Surveys
#30617
I'm a firefighter. A user representative. A lobbyist for the little guys. A sort of expert on a fistful of word processing packages, desktop publishers, and graphics software. I can fix printers when they jam. Or hang for no apparent reason. I can change toner cartridges. I can spell words that people can't seem to find in the dictionary. I can rewrite sentences that don't make any sense so that they make more sense. When it comes right down to it, I'm the person people call to solve all sorts of problems. And I do Windows. Who am I? I'm a technical communicator.
Cluff, Susan C. STC Proceedings (1993). Articles>TC
#19107
Why Do Students Entering a Major in Technical Communication Resist the Introductory Course?
I have been teaching HU2600, Introduction to Technical and Scientific Communication, a course in which students are introduced to the major and the profession for the last three years. Students have resisted this course during, and previous teachers report that the resistance preceded my taking over the course. I believe that students' resistance is tied, first, to the nature of technical communication education. Using C. S. Lewis's definitions, I point out that teaching the technical communication curriculum is not technically the same thing as educating the student; nor is it equivalent to offering students the chance to pursue 'learning' for its own sake. Rather, it is training aimed at producing a specialist. As such, the technical communication curriculum is what Lewis calls a composite curriculum chosen for the student by those who understand the profession better than they do. Add to this definition Jacques Ellul's claim that education in the technological society attempts to make people happy doing things they would normally not choose to do (348), and we arrive at an accurate, though unflattering, description of the project of 'educating' majors in technical communication.
Sullivan, Dale L. CPTSC Proceedings (2000). Articles>Education>TC
#31770
Over the last few months as I've settled into my new employment arrangement and my STC administrative duties, I've occasionally reflected on my decision to join STC. I can easily see how much of an impact STC membership has had on my personal and professional life. Further, I can easily see how I will continue reaping the numerous rewards associated with membership in this organization.
Parson, Clyde. Between the Lines (2008). Articles>TC>Community Building>STC
#28549
Why Should STC Publish a Journal?
The Society for Technical Communication has good reason to be proud of its two major publications, Intercom and this journal. Both have garnered significant awards from the annual APEX competitions, and both serve important purposes. But why do we publish both a journal and a magazine? How did they develop? Why should the STC publish a journal at all?
Hayhoe, George F. Technical Communication Online (2007). Articles>TC>Publishing
#22191
Why Should We Be Exploring Accountability?
We probably need to think much more than we have in the past in terms of assessment, external evaluation, and accountability. We are hearing ever more frequently the concerns of administrators, regents, legislators, and departments of education for greater accountability by universities-concerns that will be passed down the administrative levels to program directors and teachers. This may be a blessing in disguise, an opportunity to tell the public who we are and why we are important.
Savage, Gerald J. CPTSC Proceedings (2003). Articles>Education>TC>Assessment
#11801
Why Technical Communicators and Usability?
Why technical communicators and usability? Both writers and software development managers have asked me that question. In both cases, it springs from a narrow view of communicators as 'just writers.' It is a point of view that fails to see the many activities, from learning the subject matter to organizing the information or creating good document design, that are hidden behind that final task of writing the words.
Quesenbery, Whitney. STC Usability SIG (2000). Articles>TC>Document Design>Usability
