An Approach for Applying Cultural Study Theory to Technical Writing Research      

When the idea of culture is expanded to include institutional relationships extending beyond the walls of one organization, technical writing researchers can address relationships between our power/knowledge system and multiculturalism, postmodernism, gender, conflict, and ethics within professional communication. This article contrasts ideas of culture in social constructionist and cultural study research designs, addressing how each type of design impacts issues that can be analyzed in research studies. Implications for objectivity and validity in speculative cultural study research are also explored. Finally, since articulation of a coherent theoretical foundation is crucial to limiting a cultural study, this article suggests how technical writing can be constituted as an object of study according to five (of many possible) poststructural concepts: the object of inquiry as discursive, the object as practice within a cultural context, the object as practice within a historical context, the object as ordered by language, and the object in relationship with the one who studies it.

Longo, Bernadette. Technical Communication Quarterly (1998). Academic>Research>Cultural Theory>Technical Writing

Avoiding Wrong Turns in the Shrinking Global Village

With the global village growing smaller every year, more and more communication professionals are taking on assignments that span a wide range of countries and cultures. Cross-border responsibilities require that you constantly expand your horizons and learn about new places and people. At the same time, it can be more than a little daunting to get up to speed on each country’s business and social conventions—and when the two do and don’t mix.

Bird, Shelley. Communication World Bulletin (2005). Articles>Business Communication>International>Cultural Theory

Can Designers Save the World (and Should They Try?)

Designers are clearly more self-conscious about their social role today than they have been at any time in the last 20 years, yet the lack of substance of the critics who have come to the fore, and the issues on which it is chosen to take a stand, reflect a political agenda that is set elsewhere. There are many areas of life in which designers can make a real difference, but we need to look first at why they are taking themselves so seriously in the noughties.

Macdonald, Nico. uiGarden (2006). Articles>Graphic Design>Cultural Theory>Politics

Center for Information Society Studies: Call for Papers

A current list of CFP's from a variety of disciplines and professional groups.

CISS. Academic>Calls For Papers>Cultural Theory

Communicating Across Cultures  

In today's global village, you will work with people whose cultural backgrounds differ from yours. Culture refers to the beliefs, customs, and assumptions that determine perception and behaviour. For example, residents of small towns and rural areas have different notions of friendliness than do people from big cities. Montrealers and Cape Bretoners talk and dress differently, as do people who live in Vancouver, Regina, Halifax, and Toronto. The cultural icons that resonate for baby boomers mean little to members of Generation X and Y. And gender culture often creates conversational incongruence between men and women. All human beings conform to a culturally predetermined reality. Part of Canadian cultural identity, for example, has been formed by our dual linguistic heritage and by the economic and military might of our southern neighbour. Geography, weather, population density, and natural resources also contribute to cultural reality. For example, the Canadian values of courtesy, community, and cooperation may have evolved as survival strategies in a vast, sparsely populated land. Perceptions about gender, age, and social class are culturally based, as are our ideas about race, ethnicity, religious practices, sexual orientation, physical appearance and ability, and regional and national characteristics. Regardless of your own cultural biases, however, your organizational productivity and individual professional success depend on your ability to communicate sensitively and flexibly with others.

Locker, Kitty O., Steven Kyo Kaczmarek and Kathryn Braun. McGraw-Hill (2002). Academic>Course Materials>Cultural Theory

Communication, Culture and Surveys  

Interest in corporate culture has been on the increase ever since studies over a decade ago found a link between certain cultural aspects and successful business outcomes. Buthow can you measure the bottom-link impacts of culture in your own organization?

Sinickas, Angela D. Sinickas Communications (2000). Articles>Business Communication>Cultural Theory>Surveys

Critical Inquiry and the Internet: The Urban Legends Assignment  

The Internet is quickly becoming the dominant communications medium in this country. As such, it warrants the same type of critical examination as television and the news media. This paper explores integrating urban legends as a critical thinking component in communication courses that focus on electronic media.

Dyrud, Marilyn A. Association for Business Communication (2004). Articles>Education>Cultural Theory

Cultural Barriers to Internal Communication

Twenty years ago, I sat in the London offices of an American oil services company taking the conference brief for a CEO’s script. He was an oilman of the old school—no nonsense and pretty brutal in his management style. When his personal assistant came in with the coffee, she all but threw it over the guy and left the room with her nose in the air. “The natives are revolting,” he explained. “I made some redundancies this morning: everyone who arrived more than five minutes late.” It was my first experience of culture shock. For the Texan it was the most natural behavior; for the Brits, he represented a form of barbarism not seen since the Dark Ages. So how does a multinational firm communicate to audiences who have fundamentally different cultural values?

Wright, Marc. Communication World Bulletin (2008). Articles>Business Communication>Cultural Theory

Cultural Colonialism - Is It Real?

I believe technical writers and translators should focus on the real needs of their customers. Any attempt to control language by force of law, internal regulations, or nationalistic feelings that do not reflect reality would be as damaging as adopting foreign, synthetic words for fashion.

Destro, Delio. TC-FORUM (1999). Articles>Language>Cultural Theory

Cultural Differences And Research  

Before conducting research beyond your own country’s borders, it’s important to consider a number of cultural differences that have significant implications for the success of the research. Angela Sinickas outlines some potential issues to consider.

Sinickas, Angela D. Sinickas Communications (2005). Articles>Research>International>Cultural Theory

Cultural Differences in the Appreciation of Introductions of Presentations    

On the basis of both established theories of the differences between cultures and recommendations in advice literature from different cultures, we believe that it is likely that cultures will differ in what they consider to be an effective introduction to a presentation. In this article, we report on an exploratory experimental study with 300 respondents in the Netherlands, France, and Senegal regarding their appreciation of and response to three introductions to a presentation about a mobile phone. The results show that the cultures differ with respect to the introduction they prefer. The Dutch respondents appreciated the overview most, while the French respondents preferred the ethical appeal, and research participants from Senegal preferred the anecdote. It is likely that the introduction that gains greatest attention and that best increases the ability to listen in a culture will be most appreciated in that culture.

Gerritsen, Marinel and Evelyn Wannet. Technical Communication Online (2005). Articles>Presentations>Cultural Theory>Rhetoric

Cultural Implications of International Web Development

Much like the linguistic challenges, culture and law are important considerations for the international Web author. What is accepted as entertainment in one country might be considered blasphemous in another. Standards in content organization which are expected in one country might be ignored in another. Considering the diversity of cultures and their legal systems, the potential for troublesome scenarios is virtually endless. Therefore, when a medium crosses so many borders so quickly and with relative ease, cultural and legal clashes are imminent.

Arnold, Mitchell D. MitchArnold.com (2001). Design>Web Design>Cultural Theory

Cultural Influences on Technical Manuals    

Budget and time constraints often force technical communicators to produce manuals that are less than effective. One reason is the time they take to analyze their document's users. Normally, user analysis involves demographic, or organizational, or psychological approaches or combinations. Rarely will they evaluate the culture of the user and determine what that means for developing the document. Typically, localization will edit the document for cultural elements, but that is an expensive and time-consuming process. This article discusses the cultural elements in developing a document and shows, through a comparison of two mythical cultures, how the document will differ when organized for those two cultures.

Warren, Thomas L. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication (2002). Articles>Documentation>Cultural Theory

A Cultural Theory of Everyday Usability: Listening to the Ghosts of Consumption  

Posits that although some usability scholars in technical communication have forged fruitful connections between usability and user-centered design and human-centered interaction (HCI), these alliances have not improved usability studies writ large to the extent that it is able to account for culturally-specific complex information systems and how 'users' should, can, and do shape culturally-relevant information before delivery, from the invention to the arrangement, style, and memory of knowledge systems, structures, performances, and products.

Haas, Angela. Michigan State University (2006). Articles>Usability>Cultural Theory

Culture and Usability Evaluation: The Effects of Culture in Structured Interviews  

A major impediment in global user interface development is that there is inadequate empirical evidence for the effects of culture in the usability engineering methods used for developing these global user interfaces. This paper presents a controlled study investigating the effects of culture on the effectiveness of structured interviews in international usability evaluation. The experiment consisted of a usability evaluation of a website with two independent groups of Indian participants. Each group had a different interviewer; one belonging to the Indian culture and the other to the Anglo-American culture. The results show that participants found more usability problems and made more suggestions to an interviewer who was a member of the same (Indian) culture than to the foreign (Anglo-American) interviewer. The results of the study empirically establish that culture significantly affects the efficacy of structured interviews during international user testing. The implications of this work for usability engineering are discussed.

Vatrapu, Ravi and Manuel A. Pérez-Quiñones. Journal of Usability Studies (2006). Articles>Usability>Interviewing>Cultural Theory

Culture in the Further Development of Universal Design

By now most readers of Design for All India have a healthy grasp of Universal Design. Many, perhaps most, have become highly competent in its application as is evident from the articles appearing in past volumes and today. Beyond technical mastery of the Seven Principles, knowledge of best-of-breed solutions, and familiarity with allied concepts such as Visitability, Adaptive Technology, or anthropometrics there is a cultural component to this design approach that is unquantifiably – but undeniably – transforming Universal Design. By systematically and thoroughly examining this cultural component in the coming decade we will discover the true nature of Universal Design to be social sustainability.

Rains, Scott. uiGarden (2008). Articles>Usability>Cultural Theory>Universal Usability

Culture: Wanted? Alive or Dead?    

Is culture dead as a topic of interest to usability and user-interface usability and design professionals? One European anthropologist/ethnographer wrote recently that 'culture is dead' and only of interest to people in the USA (who seemingly have little or no understanding of other cultures around the world). On the other hand, another (USA) usability/design professional recently stated that she thought cross-cultural issues were one of the most important and potent trends in product/service development. Who is right?

Marcus, Aaron. Journal of Usability Studies (2006). Articles>Usability>Cultural Theory

Deep Context

Most IA tools and methods focus on the users and the content being developed for websites. Jorge Arango uses the ideas from anthropologist Edward Hall as a starting point to dig deep into the idea of context, its variations, and the impacts on how people interpret information.

Arango, Jorge. Boxes and Arrows (2007). Articles>Web Design>Cultural Theory

Design of Digital Media: A Multidisciplinary Approach  

This article discusses the use of activity theory, visual literacy, and sound theory in the design of digital media. It defines each of these in the context of literacy and how literacy is viewed and changing in today's culture. It then goes on to describe two phases of a case study underway that shows the lifecycle of content development for literacy purposes. It begins with phase one which is development and testing of the content information model and continues with an overview of phase two, currently underway, which is a description of the testing and evaluation of the mediating artifacts that were created in phase one. It ends with a brief explanation of how this research can help technical communications in expanding multidisciplinary efforts and instructional support within the field of education.

D'Ammasso Tarbox, Judy. STC Proceedings (2004). Design>Multimedia>Cultural Theory

Enkele Problemen Bij Experimenteel Onderzoek Naar De Relevantie Van Kultuurverschillen Voor Tekstontwerp

Experimenteel onderzoek naar de relevantie van cultuurverschillen voor tekstontwerp brengt specifieke problemen met zich mee. In dit artikel worden drie van dergelijke problemen besproken. Het eerste probleem ontstaat doordat cultuurverschil vaak wordt geoperationaliseerd door middel van de nationaliteit van de proefpersoon. Nationaliteit is een parapluvariabele voor een groot aantal verschillen tussen proefpersonen. Elk van die verschillen zou een eventueel effect kunnen verklaren. Een tweede probleem betreft de equivalentie van document en meetinstrument. Hoe kan men controleren dat de documenten in de verschillende talen hetzelfde betekenen en de meetinstrumenten hetzelfde bevragen? Een derde probleem ontstaat doordat leden uit bepaalde culturen eerder geneigd zijn de extremen van een schaal te mijden terwijl dat voor leden uit andere culturen veel minder geldt. Naast een beschrijving van de problemen worden ook suggesties voor oplossingen gedaan.

Hoeken, Hans and Hubert Korzilius. Universiteit Stellenbosch Taalsentrum (2002). (Afrikaans) Articles>Writing>Cultural Theory

Enterprise Agility - Culture, Language and Requirements Analysis  

A culture of change proficiency is an enabling element of response ability, one of the three cornerstones of enterprise agility. Change proficiency is a competency that is facilitated or impeded by an organization's culture; and is fostered, nurtured, and developed in organizations by people who recognize it as a worthwhile pursuit. It is practiced, refined, talked about, debated, valued, and taught; and seeps into the culture through this frequent exercise of language.

Dove, Rick. Paradigm Shift International (2005). Articles>Knowledge Management>Cultural Theory

The Ethical Plight of the International Technical Communicator: A Search for Universals and Hypernorms  

Postmodernism is the recommended posture for technical writers working in international contexts. But should professional writers, adapting to local cultures, automatically adjust their most firmly held communication principles? O, are there technical or ethical criteria higher than the obligation to adapt.

Weiss, Edmond H. STC Proceedings (1998). Articles>TC>Cultural Theory

¿Existe el Color?

Tendemos a considerar al color como un hecho objetivo: rojo es rojo y no puede ser visto de otra forma. Pero eso no es así. El color que percibimos depende de cosas como las palabras de que disponemos en nuestro lenguaje (nuestra cultura) para describirlos, los otros colores que lo rodean y lo que el cerebro espera ver.

Dursteler, Juan Carlos. InfoVis (2003). (Spanish) Design>Graphic Design>Cultural Theory>Color