The Influence of Gender on Collaborative Projects in an Engineering Classroom    

Using a qualitative approach to data collection and analysis, this article discusses some of the findings from a larger study on collaboration and the role of gender. Here, we profile three student engineering teams as they participate in processes leading to the submission of a report for a team-based technical communication course. While some theorists suggest that gender can play a significant role in achieving a successful team dynamic, our study only partially supports that claim. A synopsis of two women from two predominantly male teams reveals glimpses of what the literature describes as traditional gender-linked behaviors by both men and women, but the all-female team does not conform to stereotypical patterns and their behaviors call into question the existence of these interactional styles. We suggest that factors other than gender and independent of a team’s gender composition—such as team commitment and a strong work ethic—exert a greater impact on collaboration. Nevertheless, the study does caution against assigning women to predominantly male teams since, when a team’s social structure is mostly male, traditional gender-linked interactional behaviors as well as manifestations of the culture of engineering are more likely to emerge. Overall, the study underlines the importance of examining specific face-to-face interactions to see how behavior is situationally produced in order to more fully understand the interactional strategies open to individuals.

Ingram, Sandra and Anne Parker. IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication (2002). Articles>Collaboration>Writing

Information About Video Conferencing: What You Need To Know

Video conferencing is the technique of meeting in a group over a network employing video and audio transmission technology and equipment. Armed with information about video conferencing businessmen, technologists, scientists and government heads started to explore ways to bring the world closer together and enable meetings of many people located in different parts of the globe. Video conferencing is the process of being able to see and interact with a group of people located at any point of the world at the same time.

Shakir A. Ezine Articles (2007). Articles>Collaboration>Videoconferencing>Online

Information Development at Rockwell Software – Part 1: Organizational Issues and Work Process  

Establishing and maintaining good relationships with internal customers is essential for technical writers. In our case, engineers are our internal customers and managing professional relationships with them can be challenging. At Rockwell Software, writers are matrixed into engineering organizations. This diffuses technical writing’s presence, but it gives us access to information we might not have if we were in a separate department. Given this organization, we have found that establishing personal relationships with engineers before focusing on work helps ensure our success. Finally, usability testing serves as a place where engineers and writers can focus on the success of their product as a whole.

Butler, Scott A., Eric J. Grabowski and Myron M. Shawala III. STC Proceedings (1998). Careers>TC>Collaboration

Information Development Organizations Evolving to Keep Pace with Change: A Collaborative Conversation of Information Development Managers     

This article reports on an online discussion of the Advisory Council for Information Development Management (CIDM), which is composed of directors, managers, and CEOs from corporations and a consulting firm. The conversation, conducted over 3 weeks in January 2000, covered several key themes: The expectation of greater productivity while budgets are flat or decreasing Meeting this expectation means a considerable rethinking, doing more with less, improving processes, and understanding total cost. The need for higher quality and improved usability This important need leads some organizations back to traditional editing, to embracing different development techniques (such as single sourcing, structured documents, and standard English), and to more robust interfaces. Innovative leadership and effective organization Strong leadership in a supportive and flexible organization is ultimately the cornerstone for success.

Rosenquist, Deborah J. Technical Communication Online (2001). Articles>Management>Collaboration

Information Technology and Organizational Change    

The profession of technical communication is in transition. While a few might argue that we are in danger of being swallowed up by large, institutional realignments, it seems more likely that the future workplace (as characterized by Senge, among others) will put communication, culture, and collaboration at the center of work. However, in order for the profession to exploit these opportunities, we must understand the impact of integrated information technology (IT) on organizations. I summarize the interaction of corporate culture, leadership/management, human resources, and advanced networking and web-based applications (more commonly called an Intranet) for the successful integration of new IT products into an established and well-defined organization. Background research for this paper was conducted as part of an Army Summer Faculty Research and Engineering grant.

Carlson, Patricia A. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication (2001). Careers>Business Communication>Technology>Collaboration

Inside Out/Outside In: Transcending the Boundaries That Divide the Academy and Industry

Having lived and worked on both sides of the academe-industry border, I've thought a great deal about the negative attitudes held by so many who live in both of these parts of the larger world of technical communication.

Hayhoe, George F. George Hayhoe Associates (2001). Articles>Collaboration>Industry and Academy

Instant Messaging in the Workplace  

Proposes six guidelines for employee use of instant messaging.

Hoffman, Jeff. Intercom (2004). Articles>Workplace>Collaboration>Instant Messaging

Interact to Produce Better Technical Communicators: Academia and Industry  

Focus groups exploring the possibilities of collaborations between industry and academia took place at annual STC conferences in 1993 and 1994. As a result, the STC Academe-Industry Advisory Committee has developed bibliographies and research tools concerning this subject and in 1996, spearheaded the successful effort to appropriate STC funds for academic internships. This session builds upon those earlier programs and has a specific goal: the findings of the focus groups will direct the next round of the Society’s Academe/Industry Relations Advisory Committee’s efforts to find new ways of increasing industry and academic collaboration.

Teich, Thea, Janice C. 'Ginny' Redish and Kenneth T. Rainey. STC Proceedings (1995). Presentations>Collaboration>Industry and Academy

INTERACTIONARY: Sports for Design Training and Team Building

This is an experiment in design education. The idea is to explode the process of design by forcing insane time constraints, and asking teams of designers to work together in front of a live audience. From what we've seen, it forces the discussion of design process, teamwork, and organization, and asks important questions about how designers do what they do. Below are summaries of previous events, and information about how to organize your own Interactionary.

Berkun, Scott. UIWeb (2001). Articles>Management>Collaboration

Interdisciplinary/Inter-Program Research

Two presentations about collaboration in research between diverse departments and units.

Brady, Ann, Robert R. Johnson, Michael J. Salvo and Tammy S. Conard-Salvo. CPTSC (2005). Presentations>Collaboration>Research

Internationalizing Technical Communication Programs: Teaching and Research Collaborations with the Universidad de la Habana (Cuba)  

Efforts to create joint programs with universities in foreign countries are evidence that internationalization is imperative. One such effort is the professional writing program at Fairfield University that recently established an international partnership with the Universidad de la Habana in Cuba.

Sapp, David Alan. CPTSC Proceedings (2003). Articles>Education>International>Collaboration

Intranet Teams: a Leadership and Coaching Role

The intranet team often becomes viewed as a gatekeeper or bottleneck that does little more than say 'no' to business units. The business then reacts by rebelling against this centralised control, or simply working around the intranet team. There is a better way. Intranet teams should instead look to playing a leadership and coaching role in the organisation. These two approaches provide a range of techniques for encouraging organisational change and supporting staff activities.

Robertson, James. Step Two (2004). Design>Web Design>Collaboration>Project Management

Introducing Engineering Students to Intellectual Teamwork: The Teaching and Practice of Peer Feedback in the Professional Communication Classroom    

A rich discussion of collaboration as integral to writing in academia and the workplace has been on-going for some time among writing instructors and researchers. The outcomes of this discussion have convinced some writing instructors to promote peer feedback as one of the forms of collaborative writing in the classroom. In this paper we report on the preliminary stages of a longitudinal study of the role and place of peer feedback in the development of students' writing.

Artemeva, Natasha and Susan Logie. LLAD (2002). Articles>Education>Engineering>Collaboration

Introduction: Four Carrots and a Stick  

We must understand that if we graduate engineering students who have a full complement of communication skills, we will better prepare them to be more effective professionals as well as highly valued citizens. Clear communcation and clear thinking are mutually reinforcing. Together they are a powerful combination that will serve well the individual, our nation and world in the exciting years ahead.

Dowell, Earl H. LLAD (1999). Careers>Collaboration>Professionalism>Engineering

Is It Safe to Email Editors? Spam Filters Are Causing Unexpected Problems

It wasn't so long ago that freelance writers hesitated to email editors because email queries and other communications might not be the right form. Now comes word that as many as one email in four never gets delivered, even email that the intended recipient wants. This startling number comes from 'More e-mail scandal' an article by Brian Livingston on InfoWorld's web site. Granted, most of the comments and research there is aimed at opt-in email, but it's apparent that other, legitimate emails are also going missing. The problem is twofold: spam and spam filters.

Wayman, Anne. About.com (2001). Articles>Collaboration>Email

Is Open Source is Killing the Lone Coder?

It is probably more true that open source is helping the lone coder find a niche or their own market share. There are plenty of them and more are appearing everyday. With potential clients looking for specialists in content management software like Drupal, Joomla, Mambo, Typo3 and a gang of newcomers finding a niche is becoming increasingly easier.

Hiveminds (2005). Articles>Collaboration>Software>Open Source

Is the Internet a Self-Correcting Mechanism?  

The hype surrounding the hype surrounding the Internet has made it into all kinds of animals. But it's a self-correcting mechanism.

Fleishman, Glenn. Adobe Magazine (1996). Articles>Information Design>Collaboration

Is the Price Right? The Education of the Design Client

Jeff Fisher advises us on how to educate our client base about the cost, value and time investment of design services.

Fisher, Jeffrey P. Graphics.com. Design>Collaboration

Is Wiki Under Your Radar?

Your staff may already be using one of the most productive collaboration tools ever built.

Dickerson, Chad. InfoWorld (2004). Articles>Collaboration>Content Management>Wikis

The Issue of Quality in Professional Documentation: How Can Academia Make More of a Difference?      

This article recommends strategies academics can use to contribute to an issue of great interest in industry: how best to define, measure, and achieve quality documentation.  These strategies include contextualizing quality definitions, advocating the use of multiple quality measures, conducting research to identify specific heuristics for defining and measuring quality in particular workplace contexts, and partnering with industry to educate upper management about those heuristics and the benefits of promoting technical communicators to the strategic role of organizational “gatekeepers of quality.”

Spilka, Rachel. Technical Communication Quarterly (2000). Articles>Documentation>Collaboration>Technical Writing

Issues in the Design of Computer Support for Co-Authoring and Commenting  

This paper reports on a project to develop a “work in preparation” editor, or PREP editor, to study co-authoring and commenting relationships. As part of the project, we have identified three issues in designing computer support for co-authoring and commenting: (1) support for social interaction among co-authors and commenters; (2) support for cognitive aspects of co-authoring and external commenting; and (3) support for practicality in both types of interaction. For each of these issues, the paper describes the approach the PREP editor takes to address them.

Neuwirth, Christine M., David S. Kaufer, Ravinder Chandhok and James H. Morris. ACM SIGGROUP (1990). Design>Software>Collaboration

Issues You Will Confront When Using Third Parties To Build Out Sites

Nearly every ecommerce site revolves around a database to support inventory, listings and transactions. Building out the database can be a challenge. Here is what to expect.

Pires, Halstatt. Ezine Articles (2006). Articles>Web Design>Collaboration>E Commerce

It's about the Community Plumbing: The Social Aspects of Content Management Systems  

In the summer of 2003, we worked on creating a general description of Drupal--an open source content management system (CMS)--for the "About Drupal" page on drupal.org. While Drupal is clearly within the class of applications known as content management systems, we felt that to describe it with that term alone would not present a clear picture of the breadth and range of Drupal's capabilities. Thus, the final description ended up describing Drupal with a total of four characteristics, although notably not distinct content management; weblog; discussion-based community software; and collaboration. Why is it then that the term CMS alone would not suffice? The word "content" places much emphasis on the product over process; it fails to emphasize the social use of CMSes, a mislabeling which places too much emphasis on the content itself at the expense of the communication and collaboration the better of these systems implement. In order to better understand how CMSes are being influenced by the precepts of social software and their role in creating social networks online, this presentation will: explore Drupal's social software features, narrate its genesis as software serving a community; and explain the influence of the community itself on Drupal development and the software's influence on the community that creates and uses it. In composing this text, we draw on the coauthors' unique perspectives. One of us is the founder and lead developer of Drupal, and the other a researcher in Computers and Writing and a participant in the Drupal community.

Lowe, Charles and Dries Buytaert. Kairosnews (2005). Presentations>Content Management>Community Building>Collaboration

It's More Than E-Mail: An Overview Of Inter-Networking  

Although global computer networks have existed for many years, they have grown explosively only in the last few—particularly the one called the Internet. ARPANET, the forerunner of these network, was set up to aid communication between the government and people doing defense research in universities and industry. The network got a major boost in the late 1980s when the National Science Foundation created NSFNET, linking the five NSF supercomputer centers with networks at university campuses and the ARPANET. Continuing advances in reliability, speed, capacity, and ease of access have made the Internet an international medium for information exchange.

Hibbard, Jeffrey L. and Eric J. Ray. STC Proceedings (1994). Articles>Collaboration>Online>Government

It's Not What You Know, It's Who You Know: Work in the Information Age  

We discuss our ethnographic research on personal social networks in the workplace, arguing that traditional institutional resources are being replaced by resources that workers mine from their own networks. Social networks are key sources of labor and information in a rapidly transforming economy characterized by less institutional stability and fewer reliable corporate resources. The personal social network is fast becoming the only sensible alternative to the traditional 'org chart' for many everyday transactions in today's economy.

Nardi, Bonnie A., Steve Whittaker and Heinrich Schwarz. First Monday (2000). Articles>Workplace>Collaboration