#24013
Review: A Handful of New Style and Usage Guides 
Style and usage guides seem to have proliferated, and it's not always easy to discriminate between the valuable and the less so at a glance. Here are three that have come to hand recently and deserve mentioning for different reasons.
Taylor, Priscilla S. Editorial Eye, The (1996). Resources>Reviews>Style Guides
#29542
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
#29677
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
#30408
Review: High Performance Web Sites
Implement these techniques and your sites will be faster. They won't be just a little zippier--we're talking orders of magnitude here.
Pennell, Matthew. Digital Web Magazine (2007). Articles>Reviews>Web Design
#22455
Review: Hot Text: Web Writing That Works
This book will help you improve any type of written communication, and it's a fun read to boot. The authors know what they're talking about and have the experience to back up their words. Both have spent many years writing for Web audiences. In addition to Web writing, their combined relevant experience includes journalism, technical communication, art, TV and radio, and teaching.
Frick, Geri. TECHWR-L (2004). Articles>Reviews>Web Design>Writing
#22432
Review: Hot Text: Web Writing That Works
When it comes to mentors in technical communication, Jonathan Price is as good as they get. If he were a novelist, I might describe his stuff with words like salty, earthy, and gut-level. What he provides is different from cold theory, and certainly not the same as statistics. It's street-smart. When Price talks, you know he's been there and done that, and you've got him sitting beside you as you work, helping you through the pitfalls, urging you on.
Sullivan, Bill. Technical Communication Online (2003). Articles>Reviews>Web Design>Writing
#22220
Review: HTML and Web Artistry 2: More Than Code
Recommends to get this book from the library rather than purchase it. Its downfalls (typos, superficial treatment of some topics, and references to quickly outdated technology) will prevent it from becoming a timeless book in my professional collection.
Miller, Tasha. Technical Communication Online (2004). Articles>Reviews>Web Design
#28914
Review: IA Summit 2007: Part I
In 2006, I attended my first Information Architecture (IA) Summit. It was the best of the many conferences I attended that year, making this year's conference a must-attend event.
Gabriel-Petit, Pabini. UXmatters (2007). Articles>Reviews>Information Design
#28814
Review: INDLISH: A Book for Every English-Speaking Indian
At last, a book on what ails English in India! Why do we speak the way we do? Why do we switch to the passive voice in English, though we keep to the active in our mother tongues? Why are our letters long and wordy and yet can't get the point across? Why are our textbooks so wordy, and yet so vacuous?
Srikumari, K.V. Indus (2007). Articles>Reviews>Localization>India
#21467
Review: Information Architecture Library Quick Reference: Special Deliverable
In this column, you'll find an overview of three IA books from a deliverables point of view. The purpose of this article is not to say whether one book is better than another, or even to comment on the overall quality of the books, but to provide a guide to what kind of deliverables information you can find in each book, and where.
Brown, Dan. Boxes and Arrows (2003). Articles>Reviews>Information Design
#22186
Review: Information Architecture With XML: A Management Strategy
Despite the plethora of books positioning Extensible Markup Language (XML) as the next software programming language for IT gurus to master, the XML specification is not a programming language. Instead, it is a set of strategically important data standards that, when implemented from a tactical point of view, can provide organizations with value unsurpassed by many of the technologies that have come before it.
Abel, Scott. STC Hoosier (2003). Articles>Reviews>Information Design>XML
#21353
Review: Information Architecture: Blueprints for the Web
While there are many fine books that go into great depth on various aspects of the information architecture and design process, 'Information Architecture: Blueprints for the Web' is, essentially, a primer on successful website design.
Olshavsky, Ryan. Boxes and Arrows (2002). Articles>Reviews>Information Design
#28916
Review: Information Dashboard Design
Stephen Few's Information Dashboard Design: The Effective Visual Communication of Data defines the state-of-the-art of information dashboard design. Few, who is an expert in data visualization for the communication and analysis of quantitative business information has provided a complete, practical, and illuminating guide to dashboard design. If you are designing front-ends for executive information systems for Business Performance Management (BPM) or for monitoring and analyzing the performance of sales, marketing, or information systems, Information Dashboard Design provides all you need to know to ensure your dashboards communicate efficiently and effectively.
Gabriel-Petit, Pabini. UXmatters (2007). Articles>Reviews>Information Design>Web Design
#21361
Review: Information Ecology: Bayer's Book of Maps
In 1949, Herbert Bayer, the Austrian graphic designer who taught at the famed Bauhaus, embarked on an incredible information design challenge. The 'World Geo-Graphic Atlas' (1953) is a benchmark example of information design, fusing vibrant data-intensive displays with a strong multicultural and environmental message.
Burgos, Nate. Boxes and Arrows (2002). Articles>Reviews>Technical Illustration
#29543
Review: Internet-Based Workplace Communications: Industry and Academic Applications
Internet-Based Workplace Communications: Industry and Academic Applications, edited by Kirk St.Amant and Pavel Zemliansky, is a collection of essays that aims to bridge a gap between academic and industry understandings of the role of digital technologies in business and technical communication. The essays consider the implications of new online communication technologies for classroom and workplace practices. Although the essays are geared toward an academic audience and do not offer a comprehensive look at Internet-based workplace practices, the collection can serve as a starting point for educators who would like to discuss in their technical communication courses the implications of integrating Internet technologies into contemporary communication practices.
Jablonski, Jeffrey and Jessica Reyman. Journal of Business and Technical Communication (2007). Articles>Reviews>Business Communication>Online
#22909
In past issues of JCD, we have employed graduate students in rhetoric and technical communication to provide their point of view on new books in the field. In this issue's book commentary, I have taken this opportunity one more time as students in a graduate seminar at Michigan Tech - Histories and Theories of Technical Communication - read, discussed, and then responded to Bernadette's Longo's Spurious Coin, A History of Science. Management, and Technical Writing.
Johnson, Bob. Journal of Computer Documentation (2001). Articles>Reviews>Documentation
#31070
Review: KnowGenesis Online Library for Technical Communication
What makes KnowGenesis different is, I feel, it has a potential both for the corporate needs and the non-corporate users of knowledge management (KM). On one hand, organizational and corporate knowledge is captured, processed, shared and available in many KM portals are well organized. And, in such a junction, this journal adds value to the existing knowledgebase with its own specialty.
Taher, Mohamed. Blogspot (2006). Articles>Reviews>TC
#22221
Review: Knowledge and Information Technology Management: Human and Social Perspectives
As the information technology sector continues to grow, an understanding of KM practices will become increasingly essential to organizational success. Because technical communicators are creators and managers of content/knowledge, they will need to understand KM practices to anticipate how their jobs may change to meet KM needs. The collection Knowledge and information technology management: Human and social perspectives provides technical communicators with both an overview of KM practices and insights into the future development of KM as a field. For this reason, the book is a valuable resource that technical communicators should read to better prepare themselves for future developments in the field.
St. Amant, Kirk R. Technical Communication Online (2004). Articles>Reviews>Knowledge Management
#27883
Review: Knowledge Management Systems: A Text Mining Perspective
Hsinchun Chen, in his book Knowledge Management Systems: A Text Mining Perspective, has made knowledge management look simple and understandable.
Kirloskar, Mukta. International Journal for Technical Communication (2006). Articles>Reviews>Knowledge Management
#27081
Review: LaTeX: An Introduction
LaTeX is not a word processor. It is a document preparation system for high quality typesetting. It is most often used for scientific documents.
Jayaprakash, Sajitha. Mouthshut.com (2002). Articles>Reviews>TeX>LaTeX
#28827
Review: Law and Internet Cultures
Kathy Bowrey's Law and Internet Cultures critically deconstructs the law in the context of legal culture, and especially looks at how U.S. law, practice, and culture has influenced technology law. Bowrey, a lecturer in the Faculty of Law at the University of New South Wales, writes as an "Australian author" but her analysis clearly contains a global perspective as she looks to global structures and laws in other countries such as the United States. The book's analysis draws upon an incredibly broad range of literature including but not limited to traditional "literature" (e.g., Orwell's 1984), economic analysis, communications theory, and cultural studies. She stretches her analysis, connecting the heretofore disconnected (like Foucault, Coombe, Mandeville's travels, Napster, Grokster, etc.) and makes these horizontal connections in the context of discussions of verticality--like globalization, international standards, international patent norms, and global governance. The reading will be difficult for folks without a solid background in information technologies and law (and is just plain difficult for reasons mentioned below), but Bowrey does provide at least brief definitions and description of acronyms where need be. She tends to begin chapters with details and then brings things together at chapter's end--but this strategy seems to work for the complex subject matter. This is a great book for reading out of order or skipping to particularly relevant sections. Each section of each chapter can hold together on its own. Numerous diagrams and illustrations add to the flavor of this unique and much-needed book.
Rife, Martine Courant. H-Net (2006). Articles>Reviews>Legal>Technical Writing
#23875
Review: Leonardo’s Laptop: Human Needs and the New Computing Technologies
Anyone who knows Ben Shneiderman and the activities of the Human Computer Interface Lab (HCIL) would expect he would produce a book like Leonardo's Laptop. Twenty years ago as founding director of HCIL, Shneiderman was in the avant-garde of bringing together experts in computer science, engineering, psychology, and education to develop computers and their interfaces to better serve human needs.
Rotz, Allen. Usability Interface (2003). Resources>Reviews>Usability
#22456
Review: Life in the New Work Order, or What Was I Doing Reading Death March?
So what is there in this book for the technical writer? There is some obvious advice, such as don't enforce a process that gets in the way of reaching goals; and don't try out radically new tools on this project. There is also good advice that most of us would take years to discover on our own, about the high-level politics that might help the project and some strategies to try during negotiation. If you are managing a group, it also gives some ideas on the different social roles that every team seems to need.
Lizak, Samantha. TECHWR-L (2004). Articles>Reviews>Project Management
#22943
If you are serious about getting your web site accessible, you need to get the right tools for the job. Can Lift for Dreamweaver deliver the goods?
Accessify (2003). Articles>Reviews>Accessibility>Web Design
#29320
Review: MadCap Flare and the RoboHelp Saga
This article is a review of presentations that Mike Hamilton gave at the Berkeley and East Bay STC chapters in December 2006. Hamilton also gave a presentation about MadCap Flare at the San Francisco chapter in August 2006.
Lufkin, Patrick. STC San Francisco (2007). Articles>Reviews>Software>Madcap Flare
