Color in Motion

An interactive experience of color communication and color symbolism.

Cortés, Claudia. mariaclaudiacortes.com (2003). Design>Graphic Design>Visual Rhetoric>Color

Color: The Newest Tool for Technical Communicators    

Asserts that color must be used to make information clear, lucid, powerful—faster; its logical application must be controlled by the editor. Provides a comprehensive checklist to help editors use color effectively.

White, Jan V. Technical Communication Online (2003). Design>Graphic Design>Visual Rhetoric>Color

Comment Intégrer les Visuels

En matière de visuels, même si la plupart des acquis des médias traditionnels restent valables, tels que les rapports sémiologiques entre le texte et l'image, certaines règles spécifiques devraient pouvoir s'appliquer à Internet.

Hardy, Jean-Marc. Redaction (2004). Design>Web Design>Visual Rhetoric

Communicating Clearly: It Often Pays to Repeat Information

A common observation of clients who're reading first drafts of the work they've ordered is that, 'You said that once already, so we can take this sentence out.' In fact, a certain amount of redundancy helps to get the point across.

Bennaco (2005). Articles>Writing>Rhetoric

Communicating What You Do That's Special  

Designed for technical communicators with one to five years of working experience, this workshop enables participants to successfully demonstrate the value of their work by drawing on personal experiences to describe their capabilities and approaches. Specifically participants will effectively muster facts, figures, and metaphors to convince an employer (supervisor, colleague, project director, or whomever) that he or she can: come into a project “cold”; complete a front-end analysis of needs; develop an appropriate approach; and perform to specified standards, regardless of subject matter. Further, this workshop aims to build self-esteem by highlighting the added value that a technical communicator brings to a project by representing a special perspective.

Huff, Claudia H. STC Proceedings (1994). Careers>TC>Rhetoric

Communication as Participation  

A discussion of the relationship between visual language and participation is important in light of globalization and the homogenization of the visual landscape, forces that breed marginalization and diminish invention.

Bowers, John. University of Alberta (2000). Design>Graphic Design>Community Building>Visual Rhetoric

Communication Currents

Communication Currents is an online web magazine designed to translate current communication scholarship published in scholarly journals of the National Communication Association.

Communication Currents. Journals>Rhetoric>Communication

Competing Conceptions of Risk

Risk issues are unarguably contentious. People evaluate risks in incompatible ways and propose conflicting proposals for mitigating or litigating risk issues. The sources of contention are multiple. Sometimes people differ because they have different information; sometimes they differ because they have incompatible interests. This paper addresses one of the more philosophical and systemic bases for differing opinions and approaches: The possibility that people have fundamentally or substantially different conceptions of risk. The philosophical basis for contention over risk is most evident in the scholarly and scientific literature. Experts who study risk or risk issues are more likely to develop well-defined, internally consistent conceptions of risk than members of the lay public. If distinct philosophical and linguistic presumptions underlie competing conceptions of risk, it should be possible to formulate the contentiousness over alternatives in terms of a principled philosophical debate, with implications for risk analysis, risk evaluation and risk communication.

Thompson, Paul B. and Wesley Dean. Franklin Pierce Law Center (1996). Articles>Risk Communication>Rhetoric

Competitive Analysis: Understanding the Market Context

Effective web design, from the simplest brochure website to the most complex web application, needs to involve an understanding of context. While user-centered design focuses on user needs/tasks, and information architecture focuses on content, these two aspects alone offer an incomplete picture. What is missing is the context: the environment in which the website or web application is used as well as the market in which it exists.

Withrow, Jason. Boxes and Arrows (2006). Articles>Web Design>Audience Analysis>Rhetoric

Composition and Rhetoric Bibliographic Database

Welcome to the home page of the Composition & Rhetoric Bibliographic Database project. Citations from journals and books in composition and rhetoric studies have been archived in both EndNote and Refer/BibIX bibliographic formats.

Honeycutt, Lee. Iowa State University (2001). Resources>Bibliographies>Rhetoric

Compositionality, Rhetoricity, and Electricity: A Partial History of Some Composition and Rhetoric Studies

Since 1949, when the Conference on College Composition and Communication was founded in Chicago, the terms composition and rhetoric have been linked in a social-constructionist move that is now ubiquitous in many United Statesian English departments as well as in many free-standing composition-rhetoric programs.

Welch, Kathleen E. Enculturation (2003). Articles>Education>Writing>Rhetoric

CompPile

An ongoing online index of publications in post-secondary composition, rhetoric, ESL, and technical writing: 1939-1999.

Haswell, Rich. CompPile. Resources>Bibliographies>Rhetoric>Technical Writing

Confronting Doublespeak  

The Doublethink and Newspeak of Orwell's 1984 have counterparts in the Doublespeak that can be identified in many contemporary public documents. As technical editors, we may be confronted with documents that use Doublespeak to misdirect or deceive the reader. What is our role in dealing with such documents?

Bowermaster, Philip. STC Proceedings (1993). Articles>Language>Rhetoric

Confusion in the Classroom: Does Logos Mean Logic?    

The redefinition of logos as an appeal to logic is a mistaken association found all too often in the technical communication classroom. Logic inheres in all three proofs of persuasion; moreover, Aristotle used <em>logos</em> within the context of classical rhetoric to refer to the argument or speech itself. In this light, the proofs of persuasion represent the set of all logical means whereby the speaker can lead a "right-thinking" audience to infer <em>something</em>. If that <em>something</em> is an emotion, the appeal is to <em>pathos</em>; if it is about the character of the speaker, the appeal is to <em>ethos</em>; and if it is about the argument or speech itself, the appeal is to <em>logos</em>. This interpretation reinstates all three proofs of persuasion as legitimate, logical means to different proximate ends and provides a coherent definition of <em>logos</em>, consonant with Aristotle's <em>Rhetoric</em>, to the next generation of technical communicators.

Little, Joseph. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication (1999). Articles>TC>Education>Rhetoric

Content vs. Product: The Effects of Single Sourcing on the Teaching of Technical Communication    

Identifies and discusses the effects of single sourcing on the writing process. Provides suggestions for incorporating the teaching of single sourcing into technical communication courses

Eble, Michelle F. Technical Communication Online (2003). Articles>Content Management>Single Sourcing>Rhetoric

Contexts and Criteria for Evaluating Student Writing

Of all responsibilities you have as a composition instructor, evaluating student writing occupies most of your time and has furthest reaching material effects. Though you may spend lots of hours preparing for class, conferencing with your students, and actually teaching, chances are you'll spend many more grading. Though we instructors often place the highest value on the content and methods of our classrooms--be they critical pedagogy and Marxist interpretations of Clinton's impeachment trials or traditional grammar drills and a New Critical reading of Paradise Lost, the grades that we assign our students are the only concrete, as well as the most valuable, cultural capital that our teaching creates.

Hindman, Jane. Lore (2001). Articles>Education>Writing>Rhetoric

Control the Pace

Control the pace of the story by varying sentence length.

Clark, Roy Peter. Poynter Online (2004). Articles>Writing>Grammar>Rhetoric

Corporate Image and the Establishment of Euro Disney: Mickey Mouse and the French Press      

Drawing upon publications in the French press, this article considers three interweaving themes that characterized the construction of the Euro Disney park. It then offers an analysis of the historical context for and the implications of the park's construction, using the literature of French cultural studies and cross-cultural studies for support. It concludes with a discussion of the possible consequences to the company of Disney's negative image in the French press.

Forman, Janis. Technical Communication Quarterly (1998). Articles>Rhetoric>Branding

Corporatespeak: Deconstructing the New Language of Business

Business has a language all its own that changes almost daily. It is a language that is limiting, that denies possibility, and that excludes creative thinking. It is also the language with which industry players must grapple in their struggle to make money from new technology.

Leiper, Jeff. Writer's Block (2002). Articles>Business Communication>Rhetoric

Creating a Writer's Identity on the Boundaries of Two Communities of Practice

In this case study, we explore the way one student, who aspired to become a professional writer, learned through her writing activity in two communities: academia and public relations. We use activity theory to conceptualize the student's learning as an activity that balances between individual agency in meaning making and the social, historical and cultural forces that shape how individuals make meaning. Perceiving the two settings as communities of practice that provided opportunities for pursuing shared enterprises and engaging in collective learning, we show how the student's simultaneous participation in these contrasting communities challenged and refined her understanding of what it means to be an effective writer . We discuss how the work she engaged in on the boundaries of two writing communities enhanced her developing identity as a professional writer as she became aware of and tested the limitations of writing in these two communities. Our study shows the benefit of providing opportunities for teachers and students to explore how contrasting communities of practice define successful writing activity and how writing activity operates in the cultural and political sphere of each community.

Ketter, Jean and Judy Hunter. WAC Clearinghouse (2002). Articles>Writing>Rhetoric

Creating Appropriate Graphics for Business Situations    

Charts and graphs are ubiquitous in business documents, and most students in my business communication courses are well aware that they need to be able to create many different types of data representation. Most of them have had a great deal of experience working with spreadsheet applications, and they know how to manipulate data and present it in the various forms permitted by their software.

Katz, Susan M. Business Communication Quarterly (2008). Articles>Graphic Design>Visual Rhetoric>Charts and Graphs

Creating Effective Poster Presentations: An Effective Poster

An effective poster is not just a standard research paper stuck to a board. A poster uses a different, visual grammar. It shows, not tells.

Hess, George, Kathryn Tosney and Leon Liegel. North Carolina State University (2006). Design>Presentations>Posters>Visual Rhetoric

Creating the Vision: Developing Graphic Strategies  

Making documentation more visual is a two phase process. First comes the brainstorming, where ideas bubble up: the weird the funny, the wonderful, the breakthrough, the lame brain — no idea discriminated against, all equally enjoying the bright, spring air of the creative process. Once You begin to brainstorm you may find putting concepts into graphics is easier than you thought. Then comes the second phase: the hard realization that even if you throw out all the crazy ideas, you still have to pick and choose. You have to develop a strategy for graphic use, one that goes beyond the basic visual unity a good graphic designer can give a document. You have to see the graphics in light of the user's need.

Malone, Jacquelyn. STC Proceedings (1994). Articles>Documentation>Visual Rhetoric

The Creation of Metaphor: A Case for Figurative Language in Technical Writing Classes  

It may perhaps seem strange to speak of metaphor in the same breath as instruction in technical writing. But based on Professor Mary Rosner's observations about changes in technical writing, as they are reflected historically in textbooks since the 1920s, and on my own perceptions of directions in technical writing today, I could justifiably assert that we have nearly come full circle.1 In the beginning was the word. When technical writing first began to be separated from other advanced writing courses, it retained many of the strategies and approaches of Advanced Exposition courses—the study of rhetoric, logical organization, conventions, formats. Early texts show this connection. Later, as technical writing teachers began to pursue their own directions in research, their teaching approaches and the textbooks they created began to reflect new discoveries and directions: psycholinguistics crept in; more materials on audience analysis began to show up in texts; management psycholoy of Abraham Maslow and others appeared; conventional report formats were reflected; readability formulas became a staple of textbooks. But for a while, rhetorical approaches still held sway. Today, of course, only a few commentators will argue for some return to the older liberal arts traditions, myself among them. But these few are a vocal lot.

Catron, Douglas M. JAC (1983). Articles>Education>Rhetoric>Tropes

Critical Thinking, Community Service, and Participatory Research: Restructuring the American University for a Framework of Learning

If a university follows the learning paradigm, critical thinking is not offered as 'a course' or a selection of courses in the core curriculum, but is incorporated into every college course. If this paradigm were to assume dominance at universities, as I believe it should, not only would the work of university faculty be significantly different, but this shift would also affect the responsibilities of university administrators and students, as well as local community members.

Sapp, David Alan. Inventio (2002). Articles>Education>Rhetoric