The Emergence of a Root Metaphor in Modern Physics: Max Planck's 'Quantum' Metaphor    

The two purposes of this article are: 1) to use metaphorical analysis to determine whether or not Max Planck invented the quantum postulate and 2) to demonstrate how metaphorical analysis can be used to analyze the rhetoric of revolutionary texts in science. Metaphors often serve as the basis of invention for scientific theories. When we identify these metaphors in Planck's original 1900 quantum paper, it is clear that Planck did consider the quantum postulate to be important. However, we also see that he does not consider the quantum postulate to be revolutionary. A New Scientific Truth does not triumph by convincing its opponents and making them see the light, but rather because its opponents eventually die, and a new generation grows up that is familiar with it.

Johnson-Sheehan, Richard D. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication (1997). Articles>Scientific Communication>History>Tropes

Ethics and Technical Communication: The Past Quarter Century    

Ethics as a topic in technical communication has grown in interest in the past quarter century as the field itself has matured. We now understand technical communication as involved in communicating not only technical information but also values, ethics, and tacit assumptions represented in goals. It also is involved in accommodating the values and ethics of its many audiences. This understanding is linked to an awareness of the social nature of all discourse and the root interconnectedness of rhetoric and ethics. This article presents an introduction and annotated bibliography of articles from technical writing and communication journals over this period, arranged in categories of professional, academic, and systematic approaches. Ethics is broadly conceived to include not only particular theories but also systems of values and principles.

Dombrowski, Paul M. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication (2000). Articles>TC>Ethics>History

The Evolution of Multimedia

There is no doubt that the World-Wide Web is a powerful medium for us to communicate with each other, but it also presents possibilities for us to think about ourselves in new ways in relation to time, space, borders, other human beings and machines. The World-Wide Web, however, is part of an ongoing historical movement called 'Multimedia,' a movement that has engaged in questions about our relationship to technology and to one another for well over a century. In this essay, I will introduce a number of concepts in multimedia and some of the pivotal thinkers that contributed its development. From this survey, we will see that there is an underlying theme in this movement that prizes centering the user, cultivating audience interaction, and supporting creative expression. In addition, I will discuss the implications of these themes and the future of multimedia.

Detera, Eydie. Elements of Information Design (2001). Articles>History>Multimedia

'Faces of the Fallen' and the Dematerialization of US War Memorials    

The advent of internet technology has enabled the process of memorialization of those killed in US military conflicts to keep pace with the casualties themselves and, as such, has marked a shift in both the ideology of the war memorial as symbol and the ideology-driven media use of those symbols. This article argues that a process of increasing humanization and specificity enabled by the information architecture of the internet has led to a form of `war memorial', exemplified by www.facesofthefallen.org, that emphasizes decontexualized human loss at the expense of a coherent representation of a military nature for the loss itself.

Grider, Nicholas. Visual Communication (2007). Articles>Web Design>Visual Rhetoric>History

Review: Farewell, Netscape, but I Suppose It's Time

Since it's been a decade since Netscape was relevant, I guess it was overdue. But that doesn't make it any easier to say goodbye to an old friend, no matter how long it's been since you had any fun together.

Connoly, P.J. Software Development Times (2008). Articles>Reviews>History>Web Browsers

Figures of Speech as Persuasive Strategies in Early Commercial Communication: The Use of Dominant Figures in the Raleigh Reports About Virginia in the 1580s    

During the mid-1580s Sir Walter Raleigh, operating under letters patent of Queen Elizabeth, supported two major voyages to establish an initial colony in Virginia. These two voyages produced three major commercial reports that evaluated the economic potential of the region for English colonists and merchants. The reports, written by Arthur Barlowe, Ralph Lane, and Thomas Hariot, represent the beginnings of American commercial communication in English. Using Kenneth Burke's idea of the four major tropes, this article develops the notion of the 'dominant figure'--a figure of speech that serves to focus a report's rhetorical power--to analyze the persuasive effects of these reports.

Moran, Michael G. Technical Communication Quarterly (2005). Articles>History>Reports>Tropes

A Firm Foundation  

This article presents a brief history of the Association of Technical Writers and Editors, one of STC's parent organizations.

Rutkowski, Ed. Intercom (2001). Articles>History>TC

For the Masses  

Throughout the 20th Century—the age of mass media—traditional serifed typefaces dominated the advertisements and editorial pages of mass circulation magazines.

Shinn, Nick. ShinnType (2001). Design>Typography>History

The Founding of ATTW and its Journal    

The founding editor of The Technical Writing Teacher and a founding member of ATTW, recalls key moments in the history of ATTW and its journal, and the people who shaped the organization in its early years.

Cunningham, Donald H. Technical Communication Quarterly (2004). Articles>Research>Publishing>History

From Technical Writing to Technical Communication: Looking to the Future

This paper focuses on the technical communicator’s role as it relates to computer technology.

Fisher, Julie L. TC-FORUM (2000). Articles>TC>Technology>History

General Burnside and His Orders For The Battle Of Fredericksburg: Lessons in How Not To Communicate    

Communicating plans to subordinates is not an easy task. It requires that the writer be adept in accurately using the language of his/her discipline and takes care in considering the unique characteristics of the document's audience and how they are likely to interpret the message. When writers fail in these areas, the consequences can be very serious as demonstrated by General Ambrose Burnside's orders for the Battle of Fredericksburg during the Civil War.

Loges, Max L. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication (2002). Articles>Management>History>Case Studies

Geoffrey Chaucer: Medieval Technical Communicator  

Chaucer's A Treatise on the Astrolabe, published in 1391, may be the first technical manual in the English language.

Intercom (2004). Articles>History

Girl Talk Tales, Causal Models, and the Dissertation: Exploring the Topical Contours of Context in Sociology Talk and Text    

Since the early 1980s, composition studies has arrived at a broad consensus that it is important to understand how social contexts relate to the cognitive processes and individual behaviors involved in writing and reading texts, although within this broad consensus are various notions of context and of how contexts relate to processes and texts. Drawing on both structuralist and everyday accounts of discourse and society, composition theory and research have generally conceptualized the contexts of writing in terms of abstract, unified constructs. Whether defined globally (culture, language, history, discourse community, genre, ideological state apparatus) or locally (institutional setting, communicative situation, task demand), context has typically been construed as a static, unified given, something that both frames and governs literate activity.

Prior, Paul. LLAD (1994). Articles>Rhetoric>History

Golden Hits of STC Conferences... A Potpourri of Titillating Technical Communication Tidbits  

STC's international conferences offer a golden opportunity for professional growth and development. Taking a leaf from the book of Gordon McKenzie, keynote speaker at the 41st STC Conference in Minneapolis in 1994, the presenter has compiled his material from 16 previous presentations and workshops at regional and international STC conferences, as well as notes from many other technical sessions at those conferences, into a simulated 'HyperCard' stack of 32 topics (i.e., signs on the wall) which session participants can 'browse' simply by 'clicking' (read: shouting out a number).

Voss, Daniel W. and Lori A. Allen. STC Proceedings (1997). Articles>TC>History

A Golden Opportunity-Planning for STC's 50th Anniversary  

STC will celebrate its 50th anniversary in 2003 and begins a year-long celebration here in Nashville. The STC 50th Anniversary Committee announces its plans, encourages chapters to participate, and asks members to share their ideas with the Committee. The plans include a special 50th anniversary website, an online STC history timeline, and recognition of pioneers. The committee prepared a Chapter Resource Kit, which includes program and speaker suggestions, news release templates, chapter historian guidelines, and chapter recognition recommendations. Members are asked to contribute anecdotes, as well as provide information on chapter pioneers and history resources.

Cantoni, Georgina C., Ernest D. Mazzatenta, William D. Leavitt, Kenneth J. Cook, Elizabeth Babcock and Marguerite Krupp. STC Proceedings (2002). Articles>History>TC

Grappling with Distributed Usability: A Cultural-Historical Examination of Documentation Genres Over Four Decades    

Traditional models of usability assume that usability is a quality that can be designed into a particular artifact. Yet constructivist theory implies that usability cannot be located in a single artifact; rather, it must be conceived as a quality of the entire activity in which the artifact is used. This article describes a distributed approach to usability, based on activity theory and genre theory. It then illustrates the approach with a four-decade examination of a traffic accident location and analysis system (ALAS). Using the theoretical framework of genre ecologies, the article demonstrates how usability is distributed across the many official and unofficial (ad hoc) genres employed by ALAS users.

Spinuzzi, Clay. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication (2001). Articles>Documentation>Usability>History

The Great Leap Forward: The Birth of the Usability Profession (1988-1993)    

In this editorial, I describe our birth and some personal experiences as I lived through those times. I present these observations, not as a historian, but as a usability professional viewing events of 15 years ago through my personal filter.

Dumas, Joe. Journal of Usability Studies (2007). Articles>Usability>History

Growth of the Technical Writing Profession  

This article, reprinted from the January 1958 issue of the STWE Review (the quarterly journal of the Society of Technical Writers and Editors, one of STC's parent organizations), examines the state of the technical communication profession in the late 1950s.

Rathbone, Robert R. Intercom (2002). Articles>TC>History

Herbert Spencer's Philosophy of Style: Conserving Mental Energy    

My article traces the development, chronicles the impact, and explains the essence of Herbert Spencer's "The Philosophy of Style" (1852). Spencer's essay has had a significant influence on stylistics, especially in scientific and technical communication. Although in our generation Spencer's contribution to stylistics is not widely remembered, it ought to be. His single essay on this subject was seminal to modern theories about effective communication, not because it introduced new knowledge but because it was such a rhetorically astute synthesis of stylistic lore, designed to connect traditional rhetorical theory with 19th-century ideas about science, technology, and evolution. It was also influential because it was part of Spencer's grand "synthetic philosophy," a prodigious body of books and essays that made him one of the most prominent thinkers of his time. Spencer's "Philosophy of Style" carried the day, and many following decades, with its description of the human mind as a symbol-processing machine, with its description of cognitive and affective dimensions of communication, and with its scientifically considered distillation of the fundamental components of effective style. We should read Spencer's essay and understand its impact not so much because we expect it to teach us new things about good style, but precisely because: 1) it's at the root of some very important concepts now familiar to us; 2) it synthesizes these concepts so impressively; 3) we can use it heuristically as we continue thinking about style; and 4) it provides a compact, accessible touchstone for exploring--with students, clients, and colleagues--the techniques of effective style for scientific and technical communication. Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler [1, p. 314]. . . . the fewer the words are, provided neither propriety nor perspicuity be violated, the expression is always the more vivid [2, p. 333]. However influential the precepts thus dogmatically expressed, they would be much more influential if reduced to something like scientific ordination. In this as in other cases, conviction is strengthened when we understand the why [3, pp. 2-3]. The psychology of language reception is still very imperfectly understood [4, p. 77].

Hirst, Russel. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication (2004). Articles>TC>Theory>History

The Heritage of American Heritage

The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition, 2000, is a massive, 2074-page volume with fascinating articles on the roots of the language and current usage. The First Edition appeared in 1969, only eight years after the Merriam-Webster Third New International Dictionary  aroused a storm of protest that resounds to this day. Philip Gove, Webster’s editor, had reduced the number of entries from 600,000 to 450,000, but included 100,000 new definitions, many attached to words like beatnik. He had also used sources like Art Linkletter and TWA timetables, maintaining that not all language is formal. He had decreased use of the 'slang' label and banished 'colloquial' entirely, relying instead on quotations that gave a feel for words in context. Gove was denounced as 'permissive.' He had even included ain’t in the dictionary (with a note 'disapproved by many'). A New Yorker cartoon depicted a Merriam-Webster receptionist responding, 'Dr. Gove ain’t in.'

Bush, Donald W. Lore (2002). Articles>Language>History

The Heritage of the American Heritage Dictionary  

Bush explains the history of the American Heritage Dictionary and discusses how the dictionary has evolved from its first edition, published in 1969, to its fourth, published in 2000.

Bush, Donald W. Intercom (2002). Articles>Language>History

Review: The Hidden History of Information Management

What strategies has society employed to collect, manage, and store information, even with the constant threat of oversupply, and still make this information accessible and meaningful to people over time?

Goodman, Bob. Boxes and Arrows (2007). Articles>Reviews>Information Design>History

His Master's Voice: Tiro and the Rise of the Roman Secretarial Class    

The foundation for Rome's imperial bureaucracy was laid during the first century B.C., when functional and administrative writing played an increasingly dominant role in the Late Republic. During the First and Second Triumvirates, Roman society, once primarily oral, relied more and more on documentation to get its official business done. By the reign of Augustus, the orator had ceded power to the secretary, usually a slave trained as a scribe or librarian. This cultural and political transformation can be traced in the career of Marcus Tullius Tiro (94 B.C. to 4 A.D.), Cicero's confidant and amanuensis. A freedman credited with the invention of Latin shorthand (the <em>notae Tironianae</em>), Tiro transcribed and edited Cicero's speeches, composed, collected, and eventually published his voluminous correspondence, and organized and managed his archives and library. As his former master s fortune sank with the dying Republic, Tiro s began to rise. After Cicero's assassination, he became the orator's literary executor and biographer. His talents were always in demand under the new bureaucratic regime, and he prospered by producing popular grammars and secretarial manuals. He died a wealthy centenarian and a full Roman citizen.

Di Renzo, Anthony. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication (2000). Articles>TC>Government>History