http://tc.eserver.org/dir/Articles/Technology A listing of the most recently indexed works about Articles and Technology 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/Technology http://tc.eserver.org/35783.html http://tc.eserver.org/35783.html A short article that discusses how to use the bulk export feature of Google Docs to back your work up to your computer. http://tc.eserver.org/35758.html http://tc.eserver.org/35758.html We go from one moment being very proficient with our current tool or technology to being pretty stupid with a new one. So the basic question every user ends up answering is Was the improvement labeled "B" worth the pain and humiliation labeled "A?" http://tc.eserver.org/35531.html http://tc.eserver.org/35531.html What is going on with DVDs? The industry states that discs should last 50 to 100 years, but on-line reports claim significant problems with both pressed and recordable discs. Can movie discs wear out and fail from "DVD rot?" Is recordable DVD a trustworthy archival media, or is there evidence that discs can wear out from extended play? And what is the situation with the compatibility of recordable media? Is there a way to guarantee reasonable compatibility, some magic combination of formats and brands, software and burners, content and players? http://tc.eserver.org/35277.html http://tc.eserver.org/35277.html Changes are so massive, so fast, and coming from so many directions that it is impossible to keep up. Still, it’s important to try. For anything that applies to IT applies to tech writing. Writers must be know something about everything and be ready for it. We’re going to have to specialize and collaborate more than ever before. http://tc.eserver.org/35242.html http://tc.eserver.org/35242.html This article aims to promote awareness of the environmental impact of IT. It illustrates the impact of extensive use of IT in homes and organizations, and considers the ways in which a business could address IT efficiency and at the same time benefit from Green IT. It looks at the organizational, process, cultural and ICT efficiencies which Green IT offers. It sets out a best practice framework of five steps for a programme that will after the first stage become part of the standard processes of IT operations. The author draws attention to the responsibility of organizations to audit their information and look at information lifecycle management as a key element of greening IT. http://tc.eserver.org/35130.html http://tc.eserver.org/35130.html This article discusses public policy writing as a genre of technical communication and, specifically, public policy development as a technological process. It cites DeGregori’s theory of technology to demonstrate the shared invention processes of technology and public policy, the work of public policy scholars to describe the policy-development process, and the work of human—computer interaction scholars to identify cognitive models of public policy development as a technological process. The article concludes with a discussion of e-rulemaking Web sites and the role of technical communicators in creating these blended spaces. http://tc.eserver.org/35049.html http://tc.eserver.org/35049.html We need context in order to live, and if the environment of electronic communication has stopped providing it, we shouldn't search online for a solution but turn back to the real world and slow down. To do this, we need to uncouple our idea of progress from speed, separate the idea of speed from effi­ciency, pause and step back enough to realize that efficiency may be good for business and governments but does not always lead to mindfulness and sustainable, rewarding relationships. http://tc.eserver.org/35029.html http://tc.eserver.org/35029.html The Flip's success stunned the industry, but it shouldn't have. It's just the latest triumph of what might be called Good Enough tech. Cheap, fast, simple tools are suddenly everywhere. http://tc.eserver.org/34989.html http://tc.eserver.org/34989.html Work activities that are mediated by information rely on the production of discourse-based objects of work. Designs, evaluations, and conditions are all objects that originate and materialize in discourse. They are created and maintained through the coordinated efforts of human and non-human agents. Genres help foster such coordination from the top down, by providing guidance to create and recreate discourse objects of recurring social value. From where, however, does coordination emerge in more ad hoc discursive activities, where the work objects are novel, unknown, or unstable? In these situations, coordination emerges from simple discursive operations, reliably mediated by information and communication technologies (ICTs) that appear to act as discursive agents. This article theorizes the discursive agency of ICTs, explores the discursive operations they mediate, and the coordination that emerges. The article also offers and models a study methodology for the empirical observation of such interactions. http://tc.eserver.org/34921.html http://tc.eserver.org/34921.html Borrowing from the ethnographic genre that Van Maanen (1988) called the confessional tale, this commentary reflects on the political, ethical, and professional concerns that arise when critical intellectuals work in a government installation that maintains the nation’s nuclear stockpile. The authors suggest that the future is, as Haraway (1997) argued, ineluctably technological and that the best way to engage this cultural formation is from within, eschewing the easy politics of the science wars and articulating critical projects with the hard work of science. The modernist ideal of unconflicted ideological positions and research—stories of good guys and bad guys—is a disabling illusion. Practicing rhetoricians face a kind of "worldliness" that Hall (1989) described as a necessary counterpart to the "clean air" of theory. The authors invite their colleagues to join them in grappling with political and ethical analyses in a world of impure identity in which knowledge and power circulate promiscuously. http://tc.eserver.org/34877.html http://tc.eserver.org/34877.html The number of IT projects that end in failure is staggering. According to a 2007 study by researcher Market Dynamics, 62% of all IT projects miss their deadlines, 49% go over budget and 41% fail to deliver the benefits that were expected. That is worrying enough for IT departments. But for consultants and software vendors, keenly aware that project failure could well result in litigation, it is a constant concern. http://tc.eserver.org/34858.html http://tc.eserver.org/34858.html Meetings serve an important function in organizational communication. Information and communication technologies (ICTs) have infiltrated meetings and allowed a new range of communicative behaviors to emerge. This cross-organizational study relies on key elements in the social influence model to predict variables that influence engagement in electronic meeting multitasking behaviors. The observation of organizational norms and the perceptions of others' thoughts concerning the use of ICTs for multitasking during a meeting explain a considerable amount of variance in how individuals use ICTs to multitask electronically in meetings. Implications for workplace ICT use in meetings and contributions to the social influence model are also discussed. http://tc.eserver.org/34745.html http://tc.eserver.org/34745.html Far too many writers have been in a situation where something goes wrong with their computer and their work is wiped out. They have to scramble to recover or (usually) redo that work, all for want of a good backup strategy. http://tc.eserver.org/34713.html http://tc.eserver.org/34713.html Technical writing is a cost activity, not a revenue or a profit activity. http://tc.eserver.org/34572.html http://tc.eserver.org/34572.html Wikis aren’t just tools for techies. They're also also for writers. In this article, one writer describes how he uses a wiki for his work. http://tc.eserver.org/34574.html http://tc.eserver.org/34574.html Some advice on writing articles about technology (and other topics) for a mass audience. http://tc.eserver.org/34395.html http://tc.eserver.org/34395.html Research on risk communication relates basic risk perception studies to the formulation of policies, the currently evolving legislation dealing with hazards, the key issues of public involvement, the risk and environmental management. Risk communication is a relatively new field based on a sociological approach. The discipline comes from risk perception studies (psychological approach), which try to investigate how the public is influenced by certain variables in perceiving risk as "acceptable" or not. Risk communication involves some aspects of risk analysis methodology, since it results that also the technical analysis is influenced by the co-operation between the actors involved. http://tc.eserver.org/34165.html http://tc.eserver.org/34165.html If there once was an implicit social contract in this area, it has arguably broken down on a personal, day‑to‑day level in much the same way that it did during the prohibition of the 1920s. Enforcement of copyright laws remains nearly impossible under existing Internet architecture for the type of private copying that takes place in cyberspace on a daily basis. http://tc.eserver.org/34142.html http://tc.eserver.org/34142.html A while ago, I queried the techrhet mailing list for suggestions. I asked: Which five technical/technological skills (beyond the basics of e-mailing and word processing) would you make absolutely sure you had under control at the start or the end of the PhD process? Here are the responses. http://tc.eserver.org/34073.html http://tc.eserver.org/34073.html New York Times gadget guy David Pogue, a former Broadway orchestra conductor and MacWorld back-page columnist, is probably the world's most widely read and watched tech product reviewer. As a fellow contributor to the Times, I can confirm that anything Pogue writes pulls down several times as many page views as my most popular work. How does he do it? http://tc.eserver.org/34045.html http://tc.eserver.org/34045.html Realizing that technology adoption is as much a sociological phenomenon as a technological one is key to identifing which technologies are appropriate for use in your shop. The "publicity velocity" a new technology attains is based on sociological factors: it is not a technical judgement. The self-interest of the industry trade press, industry analysts, vendors, and computer science researchers all intersect to create an intense publicity vector for a technology at a certain time in its life cycle. While ultimately any technology faces the test of its usefulness, this does not usually occur until sometime after the hype phase dies down, and real-world IS gains experience with the technology. Knowing when a technology has passed from the hype phase into real IS usage is essential to judging the viability of the technology for your installation. As technologists, those of us in IS are sometimes prone to overly-simple technology assessments, ignoring the sociological context of our decision-making. Being aware of the sociological nature of the technology acceptance is crucial to understanding which technologies succeed in the marketplace, and why. http://tc.eserver.org/33927.html http://tc.eserver.org/33927.html Tech newbies, and often these are people from an older generation than us techies, are easily overwhelmed by technology. Why do we expect them to get it? It's not their business to get it, it's our business to get it and then translate it to them. Do we think we are impressing them with all our knowledge? Chances are we are intimidating them. We need to stop, slow down and listen, ask questions, understand where they are coming from and then meet them where they are at. It isn't condescending or patronizing to slow things down and start with the basics. http://tc.eserver.org/33684.html http://tc.eserver.org/33684.html Communication technologies, especially those that are participatory, clearly do both, determine and enable communication. They determine communication by function of display possibilities, editing capabilities, information-chunk size allowances, access affordances, cost implications, communicative capabilities (one-to-one, one-to-many, etc.). Clearly, however, these communication technologies enable communication that otherwise would not be possible. http://tc.eserver.org/33625.html http://tc.eserver.org/33625.html I'm seeing is a change in the software ecosystem which, for the moment, I'm calling situated software. This is software designed in and for a particular social situation or context. This way of making software is in contrast with what I'll call the Web School (the paradigm I learned to program in), where scalability, generality, and completeness were the key virtues. http://tc.eserver.org/33559.html http://tc.eserver.org/33559.html Most prior media use research has assumed that people use information and communication technologies (ICTs) independently of other ICTs, that is, as discrete media. This study uses cross-organizational, in-depth interview data to uncover the important role that ICT sequences play in persuasion, information exchange, and documentation. The primary occasions for sequential ICT use were (a) preparing for meetings, (b) performing daily tasks, and (c) following up to persuade. When people need to follow up initial communication episodes, the overall groupings of ICTs represent two underlying attributes: degree of connection with others and extent of synchroneity. These findings support an expanded perspective on media richness theory and information theory by illustrating that ICT sequences can expand cues and channels and provide error-reducing redundancy for equivocal and uncertain tasks. http://tc.eserver.org/33567.html http://tc.eserver.org/33567.html This article proposes a model for critically engaging technology in technical communication graduate curricula. While computers and writing studies concentrates on academic writing, the development of the field provides a model for engaging technological issues in professional and classroom contexts. Technical communicators have an ethical as well as intellectual responsibility to engage the interface between technology and culture. This article describes one example, a graduate class in information architecture, as a model for engaging the nexus of literacy, technology, and culture. http://tc.eserver.org/33569.html http://tc.eserver.org/33569.html In this article we seek to reframe accountability by means of an emphasis not on auditing but on student performance, not on the development of databases but on the creation of reflective practice. We attempt to demonstrate one model of program assessment that focuses on student performance as the center of a reflective assessment framework that can act as a technology transfer model for the diffusion of program assessment knowledge. http://tc.eserver.org/33570.html http://tc.eserver.org/33570.html This nation does not effectively transfer expensively acquired knowledge into cost-effective, labor-saving tools and processes. http://tc.eserver.org/33536.html http://tc.eserver.org/33536.html Now that I have had the chance to upgrade my wireless link in my studio network, I can report to you on how I did it and why. http://tc.eserver.org/33447.html http://tc.eserver.org/33447.html Usability studies tend to focus entirely on software, ignoring the impact of hardware design and features on a system's usability. In this first installment of a two-part miniseries, Peter takes a look at the interactions between hardware and usability. http://tc.eserver.org/33259.html http://tc.eserver.org/33259.html The Santa Claus approach to content management creates a content management software wish list. It believes in the magic of technology to sweep away any and every problem. Typically, those who believe in Santa don't believe in defining their processes, or figuring out just why they need a website in the first place. http://tc.eserver.org/33282.html http://tc.eserver.org/33282.html Information technology has become the Trojan Horse of information overload. It has been invited into the organization as some magical gift that will bring greater efficiency and reduced cost. Once inside, it feeds on resources and spews out unimaginable quantities of low quality data. Information technology has become the problem. The solution is to invest in people again. http://tc.eserver.org/33247.html http://tc.eserver.org/33247.html Ethics is an important perspective from which to view computers as persuasive technologies. Adopting an ethical perspective on this domain is vital because the topic of computers and the topic of persuasion both raise important issues about ethics and values. http://tc.eserver.org/32872.html http://tc.eserver.org/32872.html This report presents findings about individuals who are likely to benefit from the use of accessible technology. It also includes findings about working-age adults and computer users and presents data about the aging population in the US and its impact on computer use. This report concludes with statements about how these findings affect the information technology (IT) industry. http://tc.eserver.org/32873.html http://tc.eserver.org/32873.html Presents new findings about the use of computers among individuals with difficulties/impairments. It also discusses factors that influence the use of computers and accessible technology and includes data about the current awareness and use of accessible technology. This report concludes with a forecast of growth in the demand for accessible technology and an overview of the opportunities for the IT industry to make accessible technology easier to discover and use. http://tc.eserver.org/32790.html http://tc.eserver.org/32790.html A spiral of complexity, often called “feature creep,” costs consumers time, but it also costs businesses money. Product returns in the U.S. cost a hundred billion dollars a year, and a recent study by Elke den Ouden, of Philips Electronics, found that at least half of returned products have nothing wrong with them. Consumers just couldn’t figure out how to use them. Companies now know a great deal about problems of usability and consumer behavior, so why is it that feature creep proves unstoppable? http://tc.eserver.org/32777.html http://tc.eserver.org/32777.html Why tech writers use so much jargon, I don't know. Maybe it's self-aggrandizement; they want to lord their knowledge over everybody else. Maybe it's laziness; they can't be bothered to fish for a plain-English word. Maybe it's just habit; they spend all day talking shop with other nerds, so they slip into technospeak when they write for larger audiences. In any case, I'm making available to all, for the first time, my list of pretentious pet-peeve words to avoid. http://tc.eserver.org/32779.html http://tc.eserver.org/32779.html this column will take the form of a journey through a wide range of topics at the intersection of user experience design and everyware. http://tc.eserver.org/32782.html http://tc.eserver.org/32782.html The technology business is filled with frustration. Trying to hook something up, troubleshoot something, make it do something–on a deadline–is a weekly occurrence for me. But last week, I just about blew my stack. http://tc.eserver.org/32645.html http://tc.eserver.org/32645.html if Post Secondary Educators don’t change their attitude towards you—and soon—you are going to find it really hard to find trained staff for your businesses. http://tc.eserver.org/32617.html http://tc.eserver.org/32617.html Work activities that are mediated by information rely on the production of discourse-based objects of work. Designs, evaluations, and conditions are all objects that originate and materialize in discourse. They are created and maintained through the coordinated efforts of human and non-human agents. Genres help foster such coordination from the top down, by providing guidance to create and recreate discourse objects of recurring social value. From where, however, does coordination emerge in more ad hoc discursive activities, where the work objects are novel, unknown, or unstable? In these situations, coordination emerges from simple discursive operations, reliably mediated by information and communication technologies (ICTs) that appear to act as discursive agents. This article theorizes the discursive agency of ICTs, explores the discursive operations they mediate, and the coordination that emerges. The article also offers and models a study methodology for the empirical observation of such interactions. http://tc.eserver.org/32340.html http://tc.eserver.org/32340.html It has been predicted that new information and communication technologies (ICTs) will be adopted for increasingly diversified purposes. In general, it has been argued that earlier forms of communication and mass media are being replaced by new ones. Before the early 1990s, however, neither mobile phones nor the internet were widely available to consumers. It is reasonable to ask whether the relatively recent implementation of ICT has shaped our daily practices already as much as many social scientists believe. Is it true that the new forms of technology are considered to be more important than the older ones? What differences can be observed between population groups? This article examines the perceptions of different mass media forms and communication technologies in Finland before and after the turn of the millennium. The data consist of two nationally representative postal surveys conducted in 1999 and 2004. http://tc.eserver.org/32345.html http://tc.eserver.org/32345.html This study extends diffusion research to the intra-organizational level and integrates the classic diffusion of innovation theory (DIT) with the relatively new technology acceptance model (TAM) to empirically explore Chinese journalists' adoption of the internet. It makes a theoretical contribution by proposing four adoption categories — voluntary adopters, forced adopters, resistant non-adopters, and dormant non-adopters — according to the voluntariness of organizational members' innovation decision-making. Based on data from a nationwide survey of 813 journalists in China, this study demonstrates that the DIT and TAM are respectively related to voluntary and forced adoption of the internet.Young, male journalists who perceive the internet positively (i.e., relative advantage and ease of use) and think it to be popular in society are most likely to be voluntary adopters. High-ranking journalists who believe the internet can enhance their job performance and who work in large and technologically sophisticated organizations are most likely to be forced adopters. http://tc.eserver.org/32092.html http://tc.eserver.org/32092.html Is documentation a bad word? It is if you’re the Curmudgeon, a character I invented, who some say bears an amazing resemblance to … me. http://tc.eserver.org/32050.html http://tc.eserver.org/32050.html As our tools become better-developed, the mastery of the tool becomes less important, while the ability to communicate and to come up with creative solutions will become even more crucial. It may be years before we can see any significant development in how we manipulate our creative visions, but I’m confident that focusing on developing your communication and creativity are extremely useful activities, even now. After all, it’s not really about what you have, but what you can do with it. http://tc.eserver.org/31978.html http://tc.eserver.org/31978.html Rhetorical analysis provides a means through which a political perspective on technological change can be developed at a micro-discursive level. Through the analysis of managers' arguments and counterarguments, this article identifies three rhetorical strategies that negotiate the relationship between the technical and the social: attributing the effects of technology; claiming convergent and divergent interests; and constructing identities for self, groups, and the technology. It argues that a rhetorical approach maintains space for agency on the behalf of employees (through the witcraft of argument) and analytical skepticism concerning the reality of technology properties and effects (through counterargument). In addition, it proposes the concept of the argumentative context as a means of bridging the gap between individual and organizational rhetoric. http://tc.eserver.org/31794.html http://tc.eserver.org/31794.html This blog post ponders whether or not technical communicators are sometimes too enamoured with the tools, and because of that lose sight of what's best for the reader. http://tc.eserver.org/31757.html http://tc.eserver.org/31757.html After living through more than a few technology acquisitions, variously as perpetrator, victim, and bystander, I’ve come across a few tips that can make the process a little easier. http://tc.eserver.org/31541.html http://tc.eserver.org/31541.html It seems almost daily, as we search the Net; we come across clever new tools, useful resources and information. As a part of the open information and collaboration network, known as the Internet, here are a few fun, simple technology tools/utilities, that you might want incorporate into your communication efforts. http://tc.eserver.org/31447.html http://tc.eserver.org/31447.html I used to believe that if you knew a subject well enough and were passionate about it, you could pen a masterpiece. But it was two years of working as an IT journalist (and never really understanding or liking it!) that actually taught me how to write. http://tc.eserver.org/30709.html http://tc.eserver.org/30709.html This study analyzed individual perceptions of various situations involving actions likely to be considered unethical by most people. It explored perceptions of the acceptability of parallel technology-based and non-technology-based vignettes, self-rated behavior regarding the survey scenarios and consistency between self-rated behavior and the level of acceptance of the vignettes. The responses from 453 participants were analyzed by age, gender, ethnicity and amount of weekly access to computers at home.The participants were more accepting of the technology-based survey items and were also more likely to engage in those behaviors than the non-technology items; however, the participant responses indicated a low level of acceptance for the scenarios and only a minimal likelihood that they would participate in them. Additional findings across the comparison groups are reported and discussed. http://tc.eserver.org/30647.html http://tc.eserver.org/30647.html One of the most common interdisciplinary feature in modern education seems to be an increasing interest in writing. While studies on this topic have already been carried out for a long time, only in the last decades the continuous technological changes have provided the means to develop more and more advanced tools to support writing (word processors are just a small example of such tools). Therefore, many research efforts have been made in order to design and develop computer writing environments. http://tc.eserver.org/30595.html http://tc.eserver.org/30595.html There is a perception that off-the-shelf automated conversion software will accurately transfer documents from one system to another. In the author's experience pre-packaged software does not work well on any significant, large project. Large documentation libraries are developed over time by a variety of people to meet wide-ranging needs. The documentation set is never as structured as one would hope, and the costs of do-it-yourself solutions are underestimated. http://tc.eserver.org/30563.html http://tc.eserver.org/30563.html It's always interesting looking back at the evolution of a profession. By reviewing the past, you can gain new and important insight for the future. how to plan for multinational considerations, from document translation to user interfaces. http://tc.eserver.org/30496.html http://tc.eserver.org/30496.html Today's information developers are often confused by rapidly evolving technology and overwhelmed by the volumes of information they face each day. Although they might well feel that their mental faculties are taxed to the limit, research in cognitive psychology provides new strategies for coping in today's intellectually demanding environment. The purpose of this workshop is to give information developers insight into their intellectual strengths and to introduce strategies that can help them improve their intellectual performance. http://tc.eserver.org/30511.html http://tc.eserver.org/30511.html In creating computer software manuals, international users have become an important factor in design decisions. This paper discusses several issues and strategies useful in creating documentation with an international audience in mind. http://tc.eserver.org/30519.html http://tc.eserver.org/30519.html This workshop helps managers explore key issues involved in successfully adopting new technologies--identifying potential barriers, generating approaches to overcoming them, and developing implementation strategies using case study materials. http://tc.eserver.org/30387.html http://tc.eserver.org/30387.html Technical writers are justifiably concerned with the health risks that their work entails. Although the dangers of poor ergonomics, stress and repetitive motion are well known, the effects of Extremely Low Frequency radiation may also present a hazard. This presentation looks at what research is telling us about this risk. http://tc.eserver.org/30317.html http://tc.eserver.org/30317.html As a technical writer with above average organizational skill, you likely already keep your files in nice little subdirectories in logical little groups -- User's Guide illustrations here, research notes there, stuff for the service manual over yonder. But what if, in an instant, your files were all taken out of their subdirectories and put in one big directory? Could you distinguish one file from the other without opening them up? You can only assume that files with identical names disappeared. http://tc.eserver.org/30316.html http://tc.eserver.org/30316.html Technical communicators will take on increasingly important roles as technology becomes ever more sophisticated. After all, we must be able to use this equipment once it is installed. http://tc.eserver.org/30150.html http://tc.eserver.org/30150.html An increasing number of articles are appearing in communications journals calling for the need for instruction in new technology in the classroom. However, there are several obstacles in integrating new technology, such as Iack of teacher experience, lack of equipment, and adjusting the curriculum. To successfully integrate new technology into the curriculum, technical communication educators need to cooperate with other departments, make themselves available for training, and decide on which courses will integrate which technologies. http://tc.eserver.org/30106.html http://tc.eserver.org/30106.html When it comes to working on distributed teams or one with global development partners spread around the world, you need to use every tool you can to make interaction easier. http://tc.eserver.org/30093.html http://tc.eserver.org/30093.html This study looks at how an information and communication technologies (ICT) rich environment impacts team conflict and conflict management strategies. A case study research method was used. Three teams, part of a graduate class in instructional design, participated in the study. Data were collected through observations of team meetings, interviews with individual members, plus analysis of electronic documents exchanged among team members. Findings indicate that all teams experienced conflict at some level and that conflict management strategies evolved over time. ICT played a dual role in the conflict management of teams. These technologies seemed to facilitate conflict management by offering a formal means of communication, making communication more effective, with minimal wasted or unnecessary efforts; and creating opportunities for more thoughtful reactions, with chances for reflection on the content. However, ICT also aggravated conflict, specifically when strategies for use were imposed, when team members became blunt and forthright, and when misinterpretations occurred because of differing sense of urgency in replying to emails. http://tc.eserver.org/29942.html http://tc.eserver.org/29942.html As much we think we are multitaskers, there's a limit to what we can process. How has technology's enabling of communication anywhere and everywhere affected us in the context of traditional activities? How do they interplay with each other? http://tc.eserver.org/29943.html http://tc.eserver.org/29943.html Microsoft's crown strategic jewel, the Windows API, is lost. The cornerstone of Microsoft's monopoly power and incredibly profitable Windows and Office franchises, which account for virtually all of Microsoft's income and covers up a huge array of unprofitable or marginally profitable product lines, the Windows API is no longer of much interest to developers. The goose that lays the golden eggs is not quite dead, but it does have a terminal disease, one that nobody noticed yet. http://tc.eserver.org/29924.html http://tc.eserver.org/29924.html This paper reports on a study of new software implementation at a university. Seven emails distributed by a central Office of Information Technology were examined for semantic (content) meaning and syntactic (grammatical) function. Semantic findings show a high degree of topical shift. Syntactic findings show a high number of clauses and complements. The analysis also shows how determiners were used to construct 'new' information as 'given' (presupposition). The paper argues that discursive stability was created by technologizing the rhetoric of implementation. The study concludes by suggesting that a heavy reliance on dependent clauses, along with other features, may be indicative of technologized discourse. http://tc.eserver.org/29697.html http://tc.eserver.org/29697.html This paper examines various theoretical approaches on designing the user experience with technology and argues that a humanistic, conceptual framework augment current design industry practice. Taking into account psychological approaches and traditional narrative theory, this paper presents a theory for the human experience and applies this theory to "experience design," or the design of the human experience with technology. Guiding principles for the experience designer based on the paper's theoretical underpinnings are proposed. http://tc.eserver.org/29431.html http://tc.eserver.org/29431.html It's obvious that almost all the changes you make will affect your user community, but considerably less obvious how helpful that community can be about providing feedback before you make the changes. http://tc.eserver.org/29412.html http://tc.eserver.org/29412.html The purpose of this article is to clarify some common misperceptions as to what science is, what science does, how science relates to technology, and how the activities of science and technology differ from the areas of informed and uninformed speculation, and how the three areas complement each other. http://tc.eserver.org/29344.html http://tc.eserver.org/29344.html Users often become committed to certain versions and features of technology, making them leery when upgrades roll around. You can make the transition easier with these communication techniques. http://tc.eserver.org/29305.html http://tc.eserver.org/29305.html Innovation is more often than not the result of many pieces of valuable information such as general observations both conscious and subconscious, media influences, interactions, discussions as well as a mix of intuition and common sense. http://tc.eserver.org/29282.html http://tc.eserver.org/29282.html The exponential growth of the Internet has been phenomenal. Or has it? Perhaps it is only to be expected when the cumulative acts of creation culminate in the proliferation of Mankind's greatest achievement: the ability to communicate... Some 45 years ago the search for knowledge was no less insatiable but the storage, collation, selection and retrieval technologies were rudimentary and the expense enormous by today's standards.... http://tc.eserver.org/29075.html http://tc.eserver.org/29075.html This article begins with an overview of cognitive psychology research on the effects of aging on literacy and suggests the additional complications facing older adults who consume and produce text within the frame of technology, particularly on-line usage. From an overview, the text moves to patterns corporations are using to target older adults, namely as consumers and as producers. The text then explores the use of philanthropy in the corporate literacy initiatives and suggests that there are complicated issues at hand in attempting to integrate the knowledge of aging and corporate strategies into our technical writing classrooms because we enter this discussion concerned about non-traditional students, older adults who are challenged to participate in contemporary literacy initiatives, and ourselves as aging participants as well. The article ends with suggestions of possible ways of addressing concerns regarding aging. Half the people in the world, one half the people in the world don't have electricity. How are you going to get a computer in their hands, Bubba? They gotta have a little electricity first. You know, you can't go to the bathroom unless you got a toilet. You know, I mean, over a billion people don't have access to clean drinking water. Forget about the digital divide. They, they got to have food, water, clothing, shelter, and a chance for education. I mean, you know, digital divide, you know. Ted Turner cited in [1]. http://tc.eserver.org/29079.html http://tc.eserver.org/29079.html XML is a recent Web design language that will enable technical communicators to produce documentation that can reuse information and present it across multiple types of media for diverse audiences. However, little is understood about how XML will impact technical communication in terms of theory, academic research, and pedagogy. In this article, I argue that XML requires more interdisciplinary approaches toward the teaching and research of technical communication, particularly with respect to the integration of technical and rhetorical knowledge. http://tc.eserver.org/29027.html http://tc.eserver.org/29027.html This philosophical article explores individuality and innovation (creating new technology) as they relate to the communication approaches of scientists, engineers, and technologists. I suggest that effective communication between technical and non-technical people is difficult because technical communication lacks humanity, a personal dimension. I also suggest that dimension is lacking because technical people give up their identity to be considered competent and I argue that a different approach to communication education for scientists, engineers, and technologists is required to equip them with requisite communication skills to make their personal contribution to successful innovation. http://tc.eserver.org/29134.html http://tc.eserver.org/29134.html Electronic mail (email) has rapidly become one of the most prominent communication media, and a substantial amount of information is processed by it in the contemporary workplace. It is well known that digital technology produces a "digital divide." In addition, it is well examined that the digital divide produces cognitive differences (e.g., knowledge gaps) among users. Yet, little is known about affective disparities. In addition, few studies on the digital divide were undertaken in organizational setting. This study considers the human side of the digital divide in an organizational setting and investigates if the digital divide exists in the workplace by examining multiple dimensions of communication satisfaction. The data from 303 university employees indicates that email experience differentiates communication satisfaction with amount of email and email use for equivocal tasks. http://tc.eserver.org/29131.html http://tc.eserver.org/29131.html The propagation and mainstream acceptance of the Internet has become a hot topic addressed in media, business, and scholarly environments. The gender implications of technology are studied in various ways across the disciplines of communications, gender studies, and technology and society. This study overviews and summarizes articles dealing with gender implications of the Internet in journals in these fields. The analysis identified 132 articles during the period of 1995-2003 in 28 publications in which frequencies, trends, and potential gaps were assessed using quantitative and qualitative meta-analysis. Most of the research in this area is being done in technology publications (59.7% of articles). Women's usage of the Internet is the most frequently studied level of participation. Results indicates that the survey method was the most predominant, but various qualitative methods are often employed. Notable themes included those of equal access yet unequal participation, the existence of both negative and positive aspects of the Internet, and the dichotomy of online/offline activities. The purpose of this study was to encourage interest in performing continued research on this topic as women's Internet access meets and exceeds that of men. http://tc.eserver.org/29110.html http://tc.eserver.org/29110.html Intellectual Quotient (IQ) has long been considered in education as the deciding factor in a person's success but have we overlooked emotional intelligence (EI) in determining one's success in life? In my attempt to reexamine the acceptance of EI, I studied the difference in EI between different groups of undergraduates in Singapore in terms of their field of study, gender and university. The sample comprised undergraduates from Nanyang Technological University (NTU) and National University of Singapore (NUS), with a fair mix of gender and field of study. From their responses to an EI questionnaire, it was found that there was no significant difference in EI between undergraduates who study technical and nontechnical courses, as well as between undergraduates of NTU and NUS, although male undergraduates achieved higher EI scores than female undergraduates. http://tc.eserver.org/28698.html http://tc.eserver.org/28698.html Schools should teach deep, strategic computer insights that can't be learned from reading a manual. http://tc.eserver.org/28649.html http://tc.eserver.org/28649.html All about automating, managing and aligning business decisions in a modern, digital, agile enterprise. http://tc.eserver.org/28418.html http://tc.eserver.org/28418.html Provides an introduction to our field’s connections with technology transfer and diffusion. Technology transfer, the complex social process that moves technology from bench to market, drives global economic growth; technology diffusion, the market-driven process by which innovations are adopted and implemented, follows similar patterns. Indeed, technology transfer and diffusion may be considered synonymous with the phenomenon of growth in a global economy. http://tc.eserver.org/28183.html http://tc.eserver.org/28183.html Baumol would never have expected in 1967 that a technological innovation like the internet would make it possible to create a sealed-off labor force in a third-world country. http://tc.eserver.org/28122.html http://tc.eserver.org/28122.html Microsoft's offer to open the code to key protocols is probably not as revolutionary as it sounds. http://tc.eserver.org/28109.html http://tc.eserver.org/28109.html The Hewlett-Packard CapShare 920 is designed to copy blocks of print and graphics as you pass it over the hardcopy document. If the size of the block to be scanned exceeds the 51/4-inch width of the scanner's surface, the HP Capshare 920 automatically pieces the output of successive swaths into one document. Stored documents can be transmitted to a computer as a graphics file, and text images can be converted to text files using ScanSoft's TextBridge optical character recognition (OCR) software included with the package. You can view demonstrations of the scanner at www. capshare.hp.com. in five to fifteen seconds to devices equipped with fast infrared (FIR) and in fifteen to thirty seconds to devices equipped with serial infrared (SIR). The scanner uses Scan Soft's Pagis Pro 2.0 software to organize files, clean up documents, and send both to other applications. http://tc.eserver.org/28123.html http://tc.eserver.org/28123.html How can I read the documentation when there is no documentation? http://tc.eserver.org/28068.html http://tc.eserver.org/28068.html We demand more and more from the stuff in our lives--more features, more function, more power--and yet we also increasingly demand that it be easy to use. In an Escher-like twist, the technology that's simplest to use is also, often, the most difficult to create. http://tc.eserver.org/28032.html http://tc.eserver.org/28032.html Christina Li interviewd Nico Macdonald on aspects of design, technology and society. Nico offered his insights from his own experience of working in political compaign and design consultancies. http://tc.eserver.org/27995.html http://tc.eserver.org/27995.html We know a product has a lifecycle, but does the language we use for that product also have a lifecycle? From TiVo to the Internet Superhighway, Rice shows us how the metaphors we use have an evoluation all their own. http://tc.eserver.org/27971.html http://tc.eserver.org/27971.html We've all lost work to file overwrites and other minor disasters. There are remedies--and as Mike West explains, you don't have to have awe-inspiring technical skills to take advantage of them. http://tc.eserver.org/27452.html http://tc.eserver.org/27452.html Therefore, the major difference in worldview between open source advocates and proprietary software license advocates is explainable as a differing opinion on the correct value of the volatility of maintenance and upgrade pricing. People who believe that the pricing on maintenance is stable and unlikely to change see greater intrinsic value in the software. People who fear that the pricing is subject to large fluctuations see no intrinsic value in the up-front license; stripped of the options, the license value approaches $0. http://tc.eserver.org/27137.html http://tc.eserver.org/27137.html Many professors are using the Internet and the Web in connection with teaching traditional classes. Even if you don't want to use the Internet or the Web extensively, you may want to consider using them for some communication functions (see below) or for some information technology topics you might choose to include in a traditional course. Civil procedure professors, for example, may find it useful to visit websites linking to caselaw and commentary about the criteria for obtaining personal jurisdiction over those who maintain websites or on cyberspace as its own jurisdiction. Torts professors may find of interest Web-based materials on the potential liability of online service providers for torts committed by users. A panoply of materials about the Communications Decency Act and the Reno v. ACLU case are available on various websites for constitutional law courses. At the very least, law professors may want to treat the Internet and the Web as useful sources of information when preparing their classes. http://tc.eserver.org/27114.html http://tc.eserver.org/27114.html As someone who has been working as a writer in the high-technology field for better than a dozen years now, I have been watching with interest and enthusiasm the slow convergence of the disciplines of writing, interface design, and engineering. In the design of integrated help systems particularly, the traditional boundaries for developing content, interfaces, and features have blurred—resulting in a collaborative enterprise that I refer to as infoneering. http://tc.eserver.org/27008.html http://tc.eserver.org/27008.html I lost my address book recently. It was one of those near-death computer experiences where you see your data pass before your eyes and start searching through the trash, then the Web, hoping to find the information you need right now. The experience made me think about blame--and trust. http://tc.eserver.org/26930.html http://tc.eserver.org/26930.html Are there good websites and evil websites? Rarely. Most things we know and use fall in between: tools are amoral. They don’t prevent someone from using them for bad or work better when used for good. Great software performs just as well when you’re drafting praise for homeless shelter volunteers as when you’re writing recipes for orphan stew. If we want to claim that the things we make are good or bad, we have to go beyond their function. Goodness, in the moral sense, means something very different from good in the engineering sense. http://tc.eserver.org/26862.html http://tc.eserver.org/26862.html Is everyware overwriting what we know as everyday? On the heels of finishing his first book, Adam Greenfield talks with Boxes and Arrows about Everyware: The Dawning Age of Ubiquitous Computing and how the concepts are reshaping our lives. http://tc.eserver.org/26745.html http://tc.eserver.org/26745.html Recently, several friends and colleagues have lost important files as a result of viruses, power failures, computer crashes, and miscellaneous other disasters that accompany working with computers. Each person could have minimized the consequences if they had developed and rigorously followed a simple backup strategy for their data. The fact that this happened to experienced computer users in each case leads me to believe that data loss is symptomatic of a broader problem: As technical communicators, our tight focus on documenting how to use a product sometimes makes us forget to document the consequences of using the product. http://tc.eserver.org/26740.html http://tc.eserver.org/26740.html Open source software is big news right now. We've heard from big-name corporations who support it and oppose it. A number of high-profile intellectual property battles concern it. You probably know an open source zealot who's spent some time extolling its virtues. Open source software is a good thing, and has an important place in the tech sector. Closed source software also has its place, and the industry will benefit most from cooperation between the two. http://tc.eserver.org/26680.html http://tc.eserver.org/26680.html We seem to be constantly chasing the latest and greatest technology, eternally one step behind. Our continual struggle to establish the field of technical communication yet assert dominance over new technological domains seem to be in direct conflict with each other. How can we possibly establish our dominance over a moving target? Instead of trying to peer into future, perhaps we need to look toward the past. http://tc.eserver.org/26685.html http://tc.eserver.org/26685.html Gives a brief overview about how RFID tags work and examines the threat RFID tags pose to consumers and privacy in general. http://tc.eserver.org/26689.html http://tc.eserver.org/26689.html Argues that technical communicators need to evaluate our dependence on electricity so that we are prepared for the possibility of a future without traditional sources of electricity. In order to evaluate our energy dependence, we need to consider the sustainability of new technologies before introducing them to our society. http://tc.eserver.org/26417.html http://tc.eserver.org/26417.html In this article, we will address the question 'How can computer science methods help us to better understand ethics?' http://tc.eserver.org/26422.html http://tc.eserver.org/26422.html Building larger networks implies higher infrastructure and maintenance costs, and increased sophistication. Any additions or modifications to a large operational network necessitate a plan, which should be devised after understanding existing weaknesses and vulnerabilities, and identifying current and future needs. This article will introduce the fundamental concepts of network resource planning (NRP), a methodology used to design, upgrade, and expand computer communication networks, and will focus on how such a methodology can be applied in enterprise networks. http://tc.eserver.org/26416.html http://tc.eserver.org/26416.html Programming is an art. As with any other art, it is important to use the right medium. In programming, this translates to the choice of programming language. But why should one pay so much attention to one's first programming language? http://tc.eserver.org/26403.html http://tc.eserver.org/26403.html Are you frustrated by a computer that slows your productivity? Do you ever get the urge to kick it or throw it out the window? Before you hurt your toe or strain your back, there are a few simple things you can try to tune-up your computer and make it run faster. http://tc.eserver.org/26289.html http://tc.eserver.org/26289.html With a little bit of effort and a microphone, you can use podcasting to talk with millions of people. They key is creating something that is worth listening to. http://tc.eserver.org/26288.html http://tc.eserver.org/26288.html Web hosting companies are the ‘silent partner’ of every online business. A good partner makes going online a natural extension of your business. A bad one costs you time, money, and customers. http://tc.eserver.org/26042.html http://tc.eserver.org/26042.html Technical communicators have often defined their relationship with technology using a metaphor of 'technology as tool,' an outlook that reinforces perceptions of practitioners as 'tool jockeys,' threatens the sustainability of the field, and isolates academics and practitioners alike from design and business decision-making and from better intellectual connections with other fields. We suggest that one potential solution is a new approach to training; if technical communicators can conduct technology training in ways that shift this metaphorical focus, they can not only better connect academics with practitioners but also create new connections with other fields, outlooks, and theories, becoming the sort of profession that survives global economic shifts and succeeds in both academic departments and industry. http://tc.eserver.org/25648.html http://tc.eserver.org/25648.html It's impossible to have the answers to all the problems you encounter on a PC, but Bass touches on a bit of everything. http://tc.eserver.org/25609.html http://tc.eserver.org/25609.html Essay on the threat and promise of ubicomp: It should be clear that ubicomp represents a substantial raising of stakes; that its field of operation is by definition total; and that its potential for harm is such that the user experience is too important to leave to chance. http://tc.eserver.org/25596.html http://tc.eserver.org/25596.html Jurgen Habermas's theory of the public sphere provides a model of idealised democratic debate. Three major features of this model can be identified - universal access, rational debate, and a disregard for rank. This essay analyses the Slashdot model, and use it to examine Slashdot, a popular Web site, as an actualisation of public space. http://tc.eserver.org/25456.html http://tc.eserver.org/25456.html Content Management is starting to wrestle with what Clayton Christensen calls The Innovator's Dilemma: the inability of successful companies to adapt to a new, disruptive technology. http://tc.eserver.org/25380.html http://tc.eserver.org/25380.html The implications for transforming communication due to the development of nanotechnology is summarized. http://tc.eserver.org/25367.html http://tc.eserver.org/25367.html Educating your boss and co-workers about what we do for them on the company Intranet can be a major headache or it can be a fun-filled, creative exercise. It is our choice. http://tc.eserver.org/25111.html http://tc.eserver.org/25111.html Despite what some consider evidence to the contrary, the U.S.A. remains largely a nation of readers and writers. http://tc.eserver.org/25110.html http://tc.eserver.org/25110.html In any popular cultural innovation one cares to name, there is an explicit or implicit claim about the way that the innovation will 'change' or 'transform' life, its quality, or its effect. http://tc.eserver.org/25079.html http://tc.eserver.org/25079.html It is almost impossible to do business without using information technology (IT) systems, whether or not they are developed in-house. Evaluating the quality of these systems is critical to an organization’s ability to do business using resources in an optimal way. http://tc.eserver.org/25042.html http://tc.eserver.org/25042.html Without hardware and software, there would be nothing for digital media to be created on, or used with. And yet the content industry attempts to tell the far larger IT industry what it can and cannot do. The content industries have conspicuously failed to create a business model based on paid content over public IP networks, but still cling to the idea that those networks were created for just that use. Any software or system which might interfere with this theoretical paid content business is considered not just heretical, but probably criminal. The music and movie consortia have turned the transition to network distribution into a “with us or against us” battleground, with most of their customers fighting for the wrong side. http://tc.eserver.org/24948.html http://tc.eserver.org/24948.html We are at a crucial point, where technology developments have achieved their peak, but have left users behind. Why? And what should we do about it? http://tc.eserver.org/24915.html http://tc.eserver.org/24915.html Our new stem, Tools and Technology, offers 36 sessions that cover developing online information, tools for online development, usability, designing user interfaces, CD-ROM, surfing the Internet, methodologies as tools, and translation issues. We’ve attempted to stream topics to assist those attendees who want to focus on a theme. http://tc.eserver.org/24880.html http://tc.eserver.org/24880.html Considers the current state of webcam technology. http://tc.eserver.org/24788.html http://tc.eserver.org/24788.html 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. http://tc.eserver.org/24823.html http://tc.eserver.org/24823.html This year's conference theme, 'evolution/revolution' is perhaps more evident in the Tools and Technology stem than anywhere else. What changes we have seen in this area! And what presentations and events we have planned for you. http://tc.eserver.org/24667.html http://tc.eserver.org/24667.html Techno-Experiential Design Assessment (TEDA) is a method for systematically studying the effects of a specific technology or service on user experience and identify the opportunities and constraints for design. http://tc.eserver.org/24604.html http://tc.eserver.org/24604.html This paper discusses the evolution of the Author's Toolkit project. Pioneered in 1994, this educational effort was originally designed by SEMATECH's Technology Transfer department to create a paradigm shift in the way that SEMATECH's engineer-authors perceive the technology transfer process. http://tc.eserver.org/24576.html http://tc.eserver.org/24576.html A recent Earthlink TV commercial demonstrates how a company can use humor, sci fi, innovation, and benefit oriented brand marketing to please and inform customers. Plus, a great web site and high quality ethical core beliefs and values. Very user-centered. http://tc.eserver.org/24560.html http://tc.eserver.org/24560.html Often, new technologies are seen as artifacts whose use is obvious. This study, which builds on Weick's notion that all technologies are equivocal, challenges that assumption. Using a case approach, this research examines how various groups at Far West, a professional school, interpret the implementation of a two-way video and audio videoteleducation (VTE) distance learning system and analyzes why different groups interpreted the technology in fundamentally different ways. From this case data, a model is created that examines the effects that dominant organizational groups' interpretation and thus conceptualization of VTE have on its system design, support, training, and rewards; measures of effectiveness; and rule generation. http://tc.eserver.org/24569.html http://tc.eserver.org/24569.html Although scarcely explored to date, US patent records provide numerous opportunities for research in technical and scientific communication. This article reviews disciplinary research that taps this rich archive of information, describes ways in which patents act as moral and social barometers to technological change, and provides readers with a brief guide to basic information needed to initiate research using patent records. http://tc.eserver.org/24545.html http://tc.eserver.org/24545.html This article looks at how two offices changed their informal work relationships and patterns in response to a major technological innovation in their field. This inductive study involves a cross-case analysis with field studies covering a two-year period. The research applies the models suggested by social action theory to help explain outcomes. By the end of this study, one office had lost its funding and was eliminated, while the other has survived and grown. The article examines whether the differing organizational responses to new core technology were related to each office's ability to survive.