Graphics and Invention in Engineering Writing    

This study reports on the use of graphics by engineers as a method of stimulating the writing process (rhetorical invention). Information presented here comes from working engineers, based on a questionnaire developed after informal conversations and then administered to 15 participants in private industry, with questions about specific writing genres and types of graphics. Results show that graphics have a powerful function in stimulating writing ideas. Although individual writers' preferences in graphics are strong, patterns could be seen in (1) overall number of graphics types used by each writer, (2) specific types of graphics used by each writer based on the writing genre, and (3) the most common types of graphics used overall.

Hutto, David. Technical Communication Online (2007). Articles>Scientific Communication>Engineering>Technical Illustration

Great Consulting Starts with Skills That Matter

Many organizations are looking to communicators for a different set of services than those traditionally delivered. “Teach our managers to communicate better,” leaders say. “Help us make smarter decisions and be more efficient,” they plead. “Help me deliver messages better in front of our audiences,” they implore. At the same time, communicators work tirelessly to get to the leadership table, stay there and have real influence. We’re all working toward the same end: strategic thinking and implementation that truly impacts the business. For some, operating more like a consultant, even while continuing to work inside the organization, makes more sense. But how do you transition to such a model?

Wilson, Stacy. Communication World Bulletin (2005). Careers>Consulting>Business Communication

Greatest Copy Shot Ever Written

Anyone can be a copywriter, but the best copywriters actually think about what they're writing.

Padmore, Nick. List Apart, A (2007). Articles>Writing>Business Communication

The Growing Power of Internet-Driven Public Relations

Many people don't realize the extent to which public relations has increased its influence since the growth of the Internet. This influence continues to grow as does the popularity and utility of the Internet itself. Literally millions of new web sites are added every month, and they represent the most extraordinary way to target your audience. Today's journalists, radio and television news producers and editors all prefer to receive news via e-mail and to instantly access web sites to secure the facts.

Caruba, Alan. Communication World Bulletin (2003). Articles>Business Communication>Public Relations>Online

The Growth of a Business Analyst

What will the industry and companies of today do with the Business Analyst role? I think that we all as Business Analysts have a collective influence in shaping this direction.

Wick, Angela. BA Collective (2007). Articles>Business Communication

Growth of Science and Technology Journals in India    

This paper estimates the growth of Science and Technology (S&T) journals in post-independence India.

Shafi, Muzamil. International Journal for Technical Communication (2007). Articles>Publishing>Scientific Communication>Collaboration

Guidelines: Responsible Conduct Regarding Scientific Communication

Scientific societies exist for many purposes, one of which is to establish guidelines for responsible conduct within the field that they represent. Over the years, the Society for Neuroscience has established many such guidelines, including a general policy on research ethics, as well as specific policies on sharing research materials, publishing DNA sequences, and the use of humans and other animals as subjects in neuroscience research.

Society for Neuroscience. Resources>Scientific Communication>Standards

Guides For Better Science Writing

A bibliography of books in science writing.

Indiana University (2002). Resources>Bibliographies>Scientific Communication

Guild of Natural Science Illustrators

The GNSI is a non-profit organization that sets high professional standards, provides opportunities for professional and scholarly development, encourages and assists member networking, and promotes itself to potential clients and the general public.

GNSI. Organizations>Graphic Design>Technical Illustration>Scientific Communication

Hard Measures are Key to Gauging the Effectiveness of Communication on the Bottom Line

In conducting its landmark 2003 Communication ROI Study, which focuses on the relationship between an organization's internal communication strategy and practices and its shareholder returns, Watson Wyatt made some surprising findings regarding the relationship between effective external and internal communication.

Vogt, Peter. Communication World Bulletin (2003). Articles>Business Communication>Workplace>Assessment

Harnessing Collective Expertise: Delivering Market and Client Intelligence Research Within a Law Firm    

Explains how a leading global law firm manages its market and client research. Outlines the firm's divisions, business activities and client base. Explains in detail how the firm uses business research, covering use of market intelligence on the business issues that an individual client faces, and the gathering of intelligence about the client, to disclose the nature and extent of the firm's ambitions to advise the organization concerned. Discusses the staffing of a law firm's business research capability, pointing out that not only staff expertise but also confidentiality concerns mean that it is not always efficient for lawyers to access internal and external information sources directly. Suggests that defining the minimum business research necessary improves the usefulness of the information delivered and saves the firm time -- and that removing the uncertainty about what is required improves job satisfaction as well.

Blaxland, Diane. Business Information Review (2008). Articles>Business Communication>Legal>Collaboration

Hate Selling? Try Helping!

You cannot succeed in any business without selling. Delegating or ignoring selling skills is one of the worst things you can do. How to develop your sales skills, even if you think you hate it. Wendy Peck explains.

Peck, Wendy. Wise-Women (2004). Careers>Business Communication>Marketing

Hazard Communication 101 for Technical Writers  

Hazard communication should help protect users of products, and by doing so, should help protect manufacturers from litigation. Writers of user documentation need to understand some basic product liability legal concepts, such as: duty to warn, open and obvious doctrine, hidden hazard, andforeseeable misuse. The communication aspect of hazard communication considers issues such as visibility, over-warning, and testing effectiveness. For guidance in writing warnings, there is a current standard which proscribes these elements: safety alert symbol, signal word, hazard, avoidance, and consequence. This paper ends with a list of resources for further study.

Manning, Michael D. STC Proceedings (1997). Presentations>Communication>Risk Communication

Health and Safety Information for Specialized Vocational Audiences  

Using examples from commercial fishing and farming, this article shows how models of health beliefs and risk communication can inform the creation of health and safety materials and campaigns for specialized vocational audiences. These models state that risk communication efforts must balance strong statements of risk with equally strong statements of ways to reduce or avoid risk if they are to motivate change. Audience research can help communicators address attitudes that impair workers’ perceptions of risk, as well as workplace practices, norms, and conditions that the limit the methods that can be used to reduce risk.

Freeman, Krisandra S. STC Proceedings (2001). Articles>Writing>Biomedical>Risk Communication

Health and Safety Information for Specialized Vocational Audiences  

Using examples from commercial fishing and farming, this article shows how models of health beliefs and risk communication can inform the creation of health and safety materials and campaigns for specialized vocational audiences. These models state that risk communication efforts must balance strong statements of risk with equally strong statements of ways to reduce or avoid risk if they are to motivate change. Audience research can help communicators address attitudes that impair workers’ perceptions of risk, as well as workplace practices, norms, and conditions that the limit the methods that can be used to reduce risk.

Freeman, Krisandra S. STC Proceedings (2001). Presentations>Communication>Scientific Communication>Risk Communication

Review: Health and the Rhetoric of Medicine    

Health and the Rhetoric of Medicine is a fine introduction to the burgeoning field of medical rhetoric and an excellent addition to the annals of rhetorical criticism in general. Written by Judy Z. Segal from the University of British Columbia, the work is solidly grounded in the mainstay rhetorical traditions of Burke, Perelman and Olbrects-Tyteca, Booth, and Aristotle. But Health and the Rhetoric of Medicine is hardly conservative in its mission or methodology, and the result is a work that captures the essence of discursive encounters in medicine, especially those between doctors and patients and their families, and yet unabashedly attempts to reform these encounters for the betterment of all parties involved.

Jablonski, Jeffrey and Michael J. Zerbe. Journal of Business and Technical Communication (2007). Articles>Reviews>Scientific Communication>Biomedical

Health Care Institutions, Communication, and Physicians' Experience of Managed Care    

This study uses the institutional theory of organizational communication (ITOC) to explain physicians' reactions to managed care. ITOC posits that enduring beliefs and practices both transcend and shape particular organizations and organizing. The authors find that physicians' institutional beliefs moderated the negative relationship between managed care medical practice and satisfaction. ITOC also posits that the negotiation of institutional, environmental, organizational, and individual factors occurs through communication. Controlling for these factors, communication with managed care representatives remains significantly and positively related to satisfaction. The results provide support for ITOC and macro approaches to organizational communication research and offer insights for the management of professionals in general and physicians in particular.

Barbour, Joshua B. and John C. Lammers. Management Communication Quarterly (2007). Articles>Scientific Communication>Biomedical

Health Risk Communication

With government getting more involved with healthcare and organizations collecting information about the risks of some diseases, there is a plethora of information about heath risk that must be made accessible to the general public.

Albing, Bill. KeyContent.org (2004). Articles>Risk Communication>Biomedical>Civic

Health Risk Communication

A bibliography of 847 citations in health risk communication.

Zorn, Marcia and Scott Ratzan. NIH (2000). Resources>Bibliographies>Risk Communication>Biomedical

A Hegemonic Model of Crisis Communication: Truthfulness and Repercussions for Free Speech in Kasky v. Nike    

This study utilizes the hegemonic model of crisis communication to critically analyze the ideological implications of Nike's sweatshop labor crisis that culminated in the Kasky v. Nike court case. This groundbreaking case merits further examination and, informed by Gramsci's notion of hegemony, reveals the underlying ideological struggle present in the Nike crisis: a struggle for voice, power, and free corporate speech. Activist voices opposing sweatshops, Nike's defenses, and eventually, the legal decisions of the U.S. court system constituted competing voices in these ideological struggles over what is acceptable or right corporate behavior. This hegemonic struggle influenced standards for international labor, public relations efforts that misrepresent facts, and consideration of corporate public relations as free or commercial speech. This hegemonic model of crisis communication, unlike previous theories, recognizes the dynamic struggle between voices with various levels of power and the important ideological implications resulting from competing voices in crisis communication.

McHale, John P., Joseph P. Zompetti and Mary Anne Moffitt. JBC (2007). Articles>Business Communication>Legal>Public Relations

Helping Them Plan for the Future: Communicating about Retirement Benefits

As the Baby Boomer generation, 80 million strong in the U.S. alone, prepares for retirement in the next few years, benefit communication has come to the forefront of employee communication. Given that Americans are personally responsible for their retirement and are using employer-sponsored benefits to achieve their goals, benefit communicators have a terrific opportunity to effect change for millions of people. Communicators can play a pivotal role in helping their organizations offer the most effective retirement benefit program to help employees from every generation achieve their financial goals.

Gallagher, Diane. Communication World Bulletin (2007). Articles>Business Communication>Financial

Hipertexto y Edición en la "Cultura Digital"  

Desarrolla conceptos básicos de Internet para dirimir nuevas posibilidades para la comunicación, la cultura y la investigación. Estudio realizado por Marta Graupera Sanz.

Graupera Sanz, Marta. Revista Latina de Comunicación Social (1999). (Spanish) Articles>Communication>Cyberculture>Hypertext