#22433
Review: What's the Matter with the Internet? 
You should not read this book if you're looking for the final answer to what's the matter with the Internet. Poster points us toward the issues that he thinks will affect the Internet's ultimate shape—politics, authorship, ethnicity, citizenship, identity—but he leaves us with more questions than answers. By questioning and observing, and by applying key technological theories, he suggests a way of approaching a critique of the Internet.
Kitalong, Karla Saari. Technical Communication Online (2003). Articles>Reviews>Technology>Theory
#23376
Working in the Liberal Arts/Technology Borderlands
One border that technical and professional communication (TPC) programs straddle constantly is that between the liberal arts and technology. We struggle to find ways to do justice to both as we prepare our students to enter these professions.
Allen, Nancy J. CPTSC Proceedings (2003). Articles>Education>Technology
#30647
The Writing Process and Writing Technology: A Pre-Study for the Scribani Project 
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.
Rossitto, Chiara. Royal Institute of Technology (2004). Articles>Writing>Technology>Scandinavia
#13064
The notes below apply to technical papers in computer science and electrical engineering, with emphasis on papers in systems and networks. Papers can be divided roughly into two categories, namely original research papers and survey papers. There are papers that combine the two elements, but most publication venues either only accept one or the other type or require the author to identify whether the paper should be evaluated as a research contribution or a survey paper.
Kaiser, Gail, Craig Partridge, Sumit Roy, Eric Siegel, Sal Stolfo, Luca Trevisan, Yechiam Yemini and Erez Zadok. Columbia University (2001). Articles>Writing>Technology
#14021
Writing, Literacy and Technology: Toward a Cyborg Writing 
Like Jacques Derrida, Luce Irigaray, Lyotard, and others, Haraway calls for a conception of writing (“cyborg writing,” in her terms) that resists authoritative, phallogocentric writing practices, that foregrounds the writer’s own situatedness in history and in his or her writing practice, and that makes visible the very “apparatus of the production of authority” that all writers tend to submerge in their discourse. This is not to say that writers must “eschew” authority, but that in a truly ethical and postmodern stance they must reveal how authority is implicated in discourse. And because writing is inseparable both from its own embodied situatedness and from systems of liberation and domination, “literacy” should be a central concern of us all.
Olson, Gary A. JAC (1996). Articles>Rhetoric>Technology
#24543
"You Will": Technology, Magic, and the Cultural Contexts of Technical Communication
Technology is commonly described in magical terms, not only in advertising but also in journalism and technical communication. This article provides some background on the use of magical language in technical contexts, gives examples of magical discourse in technology advertisements and newsmagazine articles, and proposes a technical communication pedagogy of media analysis. The proposed pedagogy involves students in conducting diagnostic critiques of media texts and affords them the opportunity to examine critically their own unwitting use of magical language in technical discourse.
Kitalong, Karla Saari. Journal of Business and Technical Communication (2000). Articles>Technology
#32092
A Curmudgeon's Guide to Computer Documentation
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.
West, Mike. MBWest.com. Articles>Documentation>Technology>Technical Writing
#32340
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.
Räsänen, Pekka. New Media and Society (2008). Articles>Technology>Regional>Scandinavia
#32345
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.
Zhou, Yuqiong. New Media and Society (2008). Articles>Technology>Organizational Communication>Usability
#32617
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.
Swarts, Jason. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication (2008). Articles>Technology>Research>Contextual Inquiry
#32645
The Education of Geeks and Freaks
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.
Green, Tom. Digital Web Magazine (2008). Articles>Education>Technology>Multimedia
#32777
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.
Pogue, David. New York Times, The (2008). Articles>Technology>Writing
#32779
First Fictions and the Parable of the Palace
this column will take the form of a journey through a wide range of topics at the intersection of user experience design and everyware.
Lamantia, Joe. UXmatters (2008). Articles>Technology>Ubiquitous Computing>User Experience
#32782
A Tale of Installation Frustration
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.
Pogue, David. New York Times, The (2006). Articles>Technology>Usability>User Experience
#32790
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?
Surowiecki, James. New Yorker, The (2007). Articles>Project Management>Technology>Collaboration
#32872
The Market for Accessible Technology
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.
Microsoft (2003). Articles>Accessibility>Technology
#32873
Accessible Technology in Computing: Examining Awareness, Use, and Future Potential
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.
Microsoft (2004). Articles>Accessibility>Technology
#33247
The Ethics of Computers that Persuade
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.
Fogg, B.J. Stanford University (1998). Articles>Technology>Persuasive Design>Ethics
#33259
Avoid Santa Claus Approach to Content Management
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.
McGovern, Gerry. New Thinking (2004). Articles>Content Management>Web Design>Technology
#33282
Information Technology: Trojan Horse of Information Overload
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.
McGovern, Gerry. New Thinking (2002). Articles>Technology>Information Design>Content Management
#33447
Hardware and Usability, Part 1
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.
Seebach, Peter. IBM (2004). Articles>Usability>Technology
#33536
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.
Wardyga, Ed. Event DV (2008). Articles>Technology>Wireless Web
#33559
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.
Stephens, Keri K., Jan Oddvar Sørnes, Ronald E. Rice, Larry D. Browning and Alf Steiner Sætre. Management Communication Quarterly (2008). Articles>Communication>Technology
#33567
Critical Engagement with Technology in the Computer Classroom
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.
Salvo, Michael J. Technical Communication Quarterly (2002). Articles>Education>Technology
#33569
A Technology Transfer Model for Program Assessment in Technical Communication
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.
Coppola, Nancy W. and Norbert Elliot. Technical Communication Online (2007). Articles>Education>Assessment>Technology Transfer
