Action Research and Wicked Environmental Problems: Exploring Appropriate Roles for Researchers in Professional Communication    

The authors report on a 3-year action-research project designed to facilitate public involvement in the planned dredging of a canal and subsequent disposal of the dredged sediments. Their study reveals ways that community members struggle to define the problem and work together as they gather, share, and understand data relevant to that problem. The authors argue that the primary goal of action research related to environmental risk should be to identify and support the strategies used by community members rather than to educate the public. The authors maintain that this approach must be supported by a thorough investigation of basic rhetorical issues (audience, genre, stases, invention), and they illustrate how they used this approach in their study.

Blythe, Stuart, Jeffrey T. Grabill and Kirk Riley. Journal of Business and Technical Communication (2008). Articles>Risk Communication>Community Building>Environmental

The Art of Risk Communication: Overcoming the Public Fear Surrounding Controversial Projects  

Technical writers and editors in the environmental field can make additional contributions to the document production process by becoming familiar with risk communication principles. These principles can help us communicate more effectively with the public about controversial environmental projects, which are ever increasing. Considering the public's power to delay such projects, our ability to diminish public opposition through good risk communication skills is invaluable.

Barr, Christine R. STC Proceedings (1994). Articles>Risk Communication>Environmental>Writing

A Brief History of the Role of Technical Communication in Developing Environmental Literacy  

This paper introduces a two-part grouping of papers on “Ecological Literacy and Advocacy through Technical Communication.” Both technical communication and environmental rhetoric have historical roots in the professionalization of science and government in the late 1800s. The association of technical communication with “patrons” in industry has limited the roles of technical communicators to purveying ecological literacy within the relatively tight constraints of “risk communication.” But with the blurring of contemporary communication genres and the growth of ecological consciousness, technical communicators may follow science writers into roles more closely associated with environmental advocacy.

Killingsworth, M. Jimmie and Jacqueline S. Palmer. STC Proceedings (1998). Presentations>Scientific Communication>Environmental>Civic

Building a Constituency Through Outreach  

Since government agencies deal with all audiences represented in the population, a variety of communication strategies must be used. One example from work at the National Vehicle and Fuel Emissions Laboratory serves to illustrate this point in reaching out to communicate environmental issues. In this example, interpersonal, community, mass media, and print communication all serve a vital role in building a constituency around one environmental issue.

Carter, Kathy E. STC Proceedings (1994). Careers>TC>Environmental>Government

The Collaborative Construction of a Management Report in a Municipal Community of Practice: Text and Context, Genre and Learning    

Drawing on rhetorical genre studies and recent work in activity system theory, this study focuses on the collaborative development of a new written form, a municipal plan for protecting and managing natural areas. The author advances a twofold claim: (a) that the written plan is developed in the absence of a stable textual model and (b) that the text, as part of the context, functions, in turn, as a mediational tool for solving the rhetorical problem of audience resistance. Findings show that as participants reconfigure the project into successive cycles of activity, they create corresponding zones of proximal development. This study contributes to our understanding of the dynamics of the text-context relationship and to recent elaborations of genre as an activity system that help explain the relationship between genre and learning.

Wegner, Diana. Journal of Business and Technical Communication (2004). Articles>Collaboration>Environmental>Government

Communicating about Environmental Risk with Stakeholders  

To explore the barriers to successful communication about environmental risks, a research project addressed the following questions: what do people understand about the terminology and the graphics used in risk messages? what sorts of communication modes and timing do people prefer? Surveys and focus groups were conducted in two towns to explore the level and types of risk (e.g leaking gas tanks) with which people are uncomfortable. The findings extend the discoveries of other environmental communication researchers: People are confused by regulatory language, they do not trust the government, and they want 'true stories,' credible witnesses, and face-to-face interaction with other stakeholders.

Hart, Hillary. STC Proceedings (2001). Articles>Risk Communication>Environmental>Civic

Communicating Environmental Issues To A Diverse Public  

A wide variety of environmental issues needs to be communicated to diverse groups of audiences. A panel representing government and industry discusses with the audience the impact of government regulations, public perception, and ongoing research findings on environmental writing. Communication strategies and theories for disseminating information and gaining public support are applied and analyzed.

Barr, Christine R., Kathy E. Carter and Margaret E. Durbin. STC Proceedings (1994). Articles>Scientific Communication>Environmental

Ecological Literacy and Advocacy through Technical Communication: From Industrial Communication to Community Activism  

What happens when a technical communicator becomes a volunteer advocate for environmental protection? Professional skills like quickly learning new technical subjects, audience analysis, and recasting technical information for popular consumption are readily transferred to this arena. Team-building skills used both in STC and in industry are important to successful advocacy. New skills are called for in areas like public relations and fund raising. Long-range planning for environmental protection requires the participation of an informed and active citizenry. Technical communicators can be a critical link in that process.

Brock, Cynthia J. STC Proceedings (1998). Articles>Writing>Environmental>Community

The Effects of Information Design on Perception of Environmental Risk  

Communication about environmental risk is important and problematic. A few prior researchers have explored the impact of information design in this area. This paper describes research done involving one common graphic tool, the risk ladder. Risk ladders explain the magnitude of risk from an environmental hazard, often by including comparative information about more familiar risks.

Campbell, Kim Sydow. STC Proceedings (1998). Design>Information Design>Environmental>Rhetoric

Environmental Design Matters  

Each of us has some opportunity to make the environment part of our consideration when designing technical communication. The environment is not something “out there” beyond our concern or our ability to respond. Rather it is a part of our everyday life and can be a part of our everyday decision making process. This paper explores how environmental considerations can and should be a part of design matters in technical communication. The paper elaborates a set of environmental guidelines that can be used by professionals working in the field and made a part of technical communication teaching. Even small changes can make a difference. Environmental design matters!

Gordon, Myra. STC Proceedings (2000). Presentations>Scientific Communication>Environmental

Environmental Impact Statements in The Netherlands  

Composing an Environmental Impact Statement is a complex task, not only in the USA but also in The Netherlands. Responsible for this difficulty are the comprehensive technical nature of the EIS, the diversity of the audience, and the political character of the outcome: the final text is a compromise between all those involved in the environmental debate. These factors may easily lead to voluminous statements. Communication specialists can help in this process: by writing the obliged summary, by editing the final copy, and (for those with management skills) by coordinating the environmental debate.

Bulter, Willem J. STC Proceedings (1995). Articles>Documentation>Environmental>Netherlands

Environmental Problem-Solving in Communication Courses  

Describes how teachers of communication courses can use local environmental controversies to stimulate creative thinking and illustrate proper research methods.

Griggs, Karen. Intercom (2001). Articles>Education>Environmental

Evaluating Environmental Impact Statements as Communicative Action    

An environmental impact statement (EIS) is supposed to ensure that a government agency thoroughly evaluates a project's impacts, studies feasible alternatives, and gives all stakeholders an active role in project-related decisions. Previous rhetorical studies of the EIS describe a failed or subversive genre routinely used to advance the strategic aims of an agency seeking to implement a project despite significant opposition. This article contends that an EIS motivated by a genuinely persuasive purpose can serve as the discursive focus of democratic decision making about major projects and substantially achieve Habermas's norms of communicative action. This may happen, for example, when a local transportation agency develops an EIS for a federal transportation agency. To illustrate this possibility, two EISs involving distinct federal-local relationships in Puerto Rico are evaluated using criteria proposed by John Forester for investigating the degree to which public decision-making processes fulfill Habermas's norms of communicative action.

Dayton, David. STC Proceedings (2002). Articles>Communication>Environmental>Government

Geography of the Blogosphere: Representing the Culture, Ecology and Community of Weblogs

Maps of any aspect of the Internet call for different approaches than traditional cartography for two reasons. First, any attempt to map the Internet using the Internet as a medium changes the thing it sets out to represent. Second, Internet maps are more than pictures of static—or at least relatively slow moving—features but are representations of ever changing systems of relationships. The blogosphere is an example of explosive growth in the number and complexity of interrelationship and community made possible by the Internet.

Packwood, Nicholas. Into the Blogosphere (2004). Articles>Writing>Environmental>Blogging

Green Printing: A Guide to Environmentally Responsible Printing    

Pressure from various green organizations (such as the Forest Stewardship Council and ForestEthics), government agencies, and environmentally aware consumers combined with the development of new vegetable-based materials have resulted in the availability of several alternatives to petroleum-derived chemicals for printing and paper made from wood pulp. These alternatives are increasingly price-competitive and a bargain when all costs to our environment are considered. Whether you print documents from your desktop computer or regularly contract with a printing company to produce 100,000 annual reports, user guides, or newsletters, you now have environmentally responsible printing choices. Such choices offer your company an opportunity to reduce its environmental footprint and favorably position itself in the growing Green Market. As a technical communicator, you can also feel better about your work product. This tutorial describes some of the business benefits of going green and outlines the choices that you can make when you print documents, from choosing an environmentally responsible print company to selecting vegetable-based inks and recycled or alternative paper. Even if your organization rarely produces paper-based documents for its customers, you likely can still reduce your office's paper consumption. This tutorial tells you how.

Munger, Roger. Technical Communication Online (2008). Articles>Publishing>Prepress>Environmental

The Independent Contract: What's In, What's Out

Many years ago I was asked to develop a marketing package for the environmental practice group of a large, Washington-based law firm. When I submitted the draft I got exclamations of delight and a promise to provide quick feedback from all the principals. It never came, and my phone queries went unanswered. So I waited, and waited, and waited—and then waited some more.

Steigman, Daria. Communication World Bulletin (2005). Careers>Freelance>Marketing>Environmental

Interactive Media to Communicate Environmental Research Findings  

An emerging body of research suggests that interactive multimedia presentation technologies offer unique advantages for technology transfer and training programs. A research and development team is evaluating this claim by developing and testing an interactive multimedia tutorial on a complex environmental research topic: in-situ capping of contaminated sediments. A World Wide Web site has been created using text and animations to illustrate basic processes about capping technology. The tutorial’s effectiveness will be tested through evaluations of subject-matter experts and end users. Supplemental technical information will be added before the site is promoted widely.

Hodges, Mark H. and William Evans. STC Proceedings (1996). Presentations>Scientific Communication>Environmental>Multimedia

Is Risk Communication Nothing but Green-Washing?  

Risk-Based Corrective Action (RBCA), a process for cleaning up contaminated sites, is not widely understood. To better communicate with the public about RBCA, a research team sought to measure people’s comfort with the role of risk in decision-making by administering a risk-response survey to inhabitants of two US towns. The survey’s most unusual finding was that people seem more comfortable with environmental risks than with other kinds. Because the survey’s wording probably affected the outcome, the finding raises issues about the responsibility of technical communicators in developing the tools and language of responsible environmental communication.

Hart, Hillary. STC Proceedings (1998). Articles>Risk Communication>Environmental

Key Issues in Conducting and Writing Integrated Assessments  

Integrated assessments of environmental concerns consider the economic and social effects of a change as well as the environmental effects. Topics that should be addressed in such an assessment and the weight given 10 each are thorny problems for the assesment team and writer to deal with. The results of a workshop of experts in public policy, utility management, regulation, political science, government, technical communication and environmental science identified and characterized the key issues in shping and defining this new genre of environmental writing.

O'Hara, Frederick M., Jr. STC Proceedings (1995). Articles>Documentation>Environmental>Assessment

Lessons from Environmental Communication  

The Environmental Careers organization estimates that by 1993, there were over 150,000 environmental educators and communicators in the United States. Environmental communication is the only area specifically cited as a growth area in the STC’s 1994-98 Strategic Plan; by 1995, the Society’s PIG in Environmental, Safety, and Health Communication had grown to approximately 500 members. This presentation examines what environmental communication and other areas of scientific and technical communication might learn from one another and the curricular implications of such lessons.

Waddell, Craig. STC Proceedings (1997). Articles>Communication>Environmental

Recycle These Pixels: Sustainability and the User Experience

Whether we’re designing the user experience for a digital product or a physical one, as UX professionals, we are uniquely positioned to influence the behavior of other people, for good or ill. Our employers or clients charge us with responsibility for not only defining a design problem from multiple perspectives, but also finding solutions that are better than the ones that came before. Increased energy consumption, materials waste, and the resulting climate change are the chief difficulties our generation of designers and thinkers must address—or ignore at our own peril. But for most UX professionals, sustainability—unlike usability, technical feasibility, aesthetic appeal, and even business viability—is not yet a baseline factor that we take into account when designing a product or service.

Follett, Jonathan. UXmatters (2008). Articles>User Experience>Environmental

Risk Communication: Navy Health, Operational And Environmental Issues

ommunicating health and environmental information is often challenging for any number of reasons ranging from a general distrust of the government to a lack of scientific understanding.  NEHC’s Environmental Programs Directorate has been the Navy's subject matter experts for Risk Communication since it's inception in 1991. The purpose of this web site is to provide risk communication resources and guidance.

U.S. Navy (2002). Resources>Directories>Risk Communication>Environmental

Society of Environmental Journalists

The Society of Environmental Journalists is the only U.S.- based membership organization of working journalists dedicated to improvements in environmental reporting. SEJ programs are designed to build a stronger, better-educated, and more closely connected network of professional journalists and editors who cover the environment and environment-related issues. SEJ's primary goal is to advance public understanding of critically important environmental issues through more and better environmental journalism.

Society of Environmental Journalists. Organizations>Scientific Communication>Environmental

What to Expect When Developing an EIS Content Plan  

As federal priorities change, federal agencies perform more or different activities or subcontract activities to the private sector. The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) requires that these agencies analyze the impact of proposed activities on the environment and disclose this analysis in an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS). The EIS discloses to the public and to decisionmakers the environmental gains and loses from the proposed activity. Because the analysis is comprehensive and disclosure requirements are specifically prescribed by NEPA, technical experts from multiple disciplines write the EIS. To assist these specialty authors in producing an effective and successful EIS, an EIS content plan is mandatory.

Daus-Weber, Theresa. STC Proceedings (1998). Articles>Writing>Environmental>Technical Writing

How Environments, Real And Virtual, Influence Us

A person’s home and the way he presents it are physical manifestations of his personality just as the design and content of a corporate website are virtual manifestations of a brand. Environments, both real and virtual, affect human perception and behavior.

Mueller, Kyle. Digital Web Magazine (2008). Articles>Web Design>Environmental