Simplicity: The Distribution of Complexity

Achieving simplicity is not that simple when you are dealing with complex modern device design. Rob Tannen mused on lazy shortcuts, artificial constraints and Maeda's crusade on the complex.

Tannen, Rob. Boxes and Arrows (2007). Articles>User Interface>Theory>Minimalism

Some Assembly Required: The Latourian Collective and the Banal Work of Technical and Professional Communication    

In this article, the author uses the critical vocabulary developed by Bruno Latour in his recent work Politics of Nature to offer an alternative way for technical and professional communicators to approach and articulate their work. Using the Discovery Channel's Mythbusters to explore Latour's vocabulary, the author argues that positioning technical and professional communication as more than transmitting and translating, but instead as the collecting of articulated propositions about the common world in service of the common good, thoroughly grounds its practice in rhetorical theory. Such a positioning also ascribes value to technical and professional communication without reinscribing the false dichotomy between science and politics.

Rivers, Nathaniel A. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication (2008). Articles>TC>Business Communication>Theory

Spatial and Visual Rhetorics

Both spatial and visual rhetorics attend to issues of boundaries. From the structure of our classroom spaces to the margins of the page, rhetoric and compositionist are investigating the ways spatial and visual experiences are impacting our work as teachers and scholars.

Kimme Hea, Amy C. University of Arizona (2005). Resources>Education>Cultural Theory>Visual Rhetoric

The Stateless State

"State" is a central concern of all sorts of distributed applications, but especially of Web applications, as HTTP and its derivatives are intrinsically stateless. Clear thinking about how data persists across retrievals, sessions, processes, and other boundaries can help you improve your Web applications, both present and future.

Seebach, Peter. IBM (2008). Articles>Web Design>Theory

A Study of Theories on Style in Technical Communication

One of the most frequent questions technical communicators encounter is what style they should write in. Unfortunately it is not an easy question. The answer to this question should come from careful theoretical studies and deliberate analysis of the audience and many other factors, such as social environment. In this paper, I wish to analyze theories, which guide the style in technical communication, from three angles: reader analysis, interpretive communities and whether technical communication is plain, instructional, or rhetorical. In the conclusion section, I will try to analyze the importance of extracting valuable parts from each theory and how the valid points from each theory work together to guide technical communicators to choose the right style in technical communication.

Sun, Lily. Orange Journal, The (2001). Articles>Rhetoric>Theory

A Summary of My Ideas about National Culture Differences

In the uiGarden forum there has been much discussion about cultural differences in the web design, especially in reference to animation and flashy elements. It looks right to offer Professor Hofstede’s ideas to readers here. These ideas were first based on a large research project into national culture differences across subsidiaries of a multinational corporation (IBM) in 64 countries.

Hofstede, Geert. uiGarden (2006). Articles>Web Design>Cultural Theory

Talking with Virginia Postrel

Postrel's new book, The Substance of Style, explores the economic, cultural, social, personal, and political implications of the growing importance of aesthetics in business and society.

MacLaughlin, Steve. Boxes and Arrows (2003). Articles>Graphic Design>Cultural Theory>Visual Rhetoric

Tell It Like It Is: Rehabilitating Positivism in Technical Communication

For over thirty years, “humanistic” theorists in the field of technical communication have attempted to link it to the more established academic disciplines of rhetoric and literary theory. These theorists, such as Carolyn Miller and David Dobrin, have based their attempts on the following (grossly simplified) logic: objectivity, in language as well as reality, is a sham; therefore, those of us in technical communication do not objectively report reality, but rather, persuade readers to accept reality as we see it; furthermore, to claim that we do anything less is to distort the truth. Patrick Moore subscribes to an opposing view termed “positivist,” yet it is so universally panned that no one outside the sciences presently dares embrace it. Moore notes that Miller “expresses her concern that technical communication is ‘coercive’”, and goes on to cite other humanistic theorists, such as Dobrin and Charles Bazerman, who try to make technical communication theory dance to the tune of rhetoric, which is more pleasing to their ears.

deMaagd, Christian. Orange Journal, The (2001). Articles>TC>Theory

Text Models in the USA and The Netherlands  

Text models are handy tools for planning or recognizing the global structure of a text. In this paper we compare a few modern communication handbooks in the USA and The Netherlands as to their treatment of text models. The Dutch “vaste structure” may contribute to the tool kit of American technical writers. After that we present a short discussion of the characteristics of ideal text models and their ideal users. The first text model in history, the classical 'partes orationis,' and the first text models for Environmental Impact Statements from the 1970’s prove to possess a series of deficiencies. We conclude our paper with a proposed procedure for pretesting new text models for new documents.

Bulter, Willem J. STC Proceedings (1996). Articles>Language>Theory>Rhetoric

Textual Performance: Where the Action at a Distance Is  

Rhetoric's concern for individual sense making is expressed in such topics as the nature and role of enthymemes, the character and disposition of audiences, figures of thought, and the psychological underpinnings of arrangement. Persuasion, as a movement of the mind, depends on individual sense-making even though this dependency isn't always made explicit for analytic scrutiny. Rhetoric's attitude toward sense making is shaped by rhetoric's orgins in oral performance which leaves no artifact (except for the occasional script or transcription that Plato has so much fun with in the Phaedrus) but which confronts rhetors with embodied audiences whose minds they have to move, and audiences are confronted with embodied rhetors who appear to be thinking about one thing and then a moment later thinking about something else. The fleeting meaning held in the rhetor's mind communicated to the audience transfigure and unite them both for a moment, then soon dissipates as thought and attention turn to various elsewheres. Such is the flow of life noted by the sophists.

Bazerman, Charles. UCSB. Articles>Rhetoric>Theory

Theoretical Approaches to Designing Experiences with Technology  

This paper examines various theoretical approaches on designing the user experience with technology and argues that a humanistic, conceptual framework augment current design industry practice. Taking into account psychological approaches and traditional narrative theory, this paper presents a theory for the human experience and applies this theory to "experience design," or the design of the human experience with technology. Guiding principles for the experience designer based on the paper's theoretical underpinnings are proposed.

Fukumoto, Dane K.T. STC Proceedings (2005). Articles>Technology>User Experience>Theory

Theory vs. Practice: the Ongoing Battle  

George Hayhoe calls it the 'gulf between classroom and workplace,' Katherine Staples calls it 'the schism between academic theory and workplace practice,' Bonita Selting calls it the 'schizophrenia of the curriculum' and Carolyn Miller calls it the 'virulent praxis/techne and academic/industry polarities.' The debate immediately struck me when I returned from six years as a technical writer, but is it just a difference of teaching methods, or is it also a question of exclusionary politics, a class issue? In her historical summary, Teresa Kynell notes that technical communication has the ''tag' of vocationalism' and Staples dates it from the early 'conflict between career education and the humanities.' What is the distinction between pure academics and practical learning? Is it that college teachers have a higher social status than workers?

Johnson, Carol Siri. CPTSC Proceedings (2003). Articles>Education>Theory

Theory, Pedagogy, and Program Design

Four presentations about the integration of theory and pedagogical innovation into the design of academic programs.

Gibson, Keith, Margaret Hundleby, Alan Chong, Amy Franklin, Robert Irish, Katherine Tiede and Deborah Tihanyi, Kendall Kelly and Katrine Dahl. CPTSC (2005). Presentations>Education>Theory

Thinking and Speaking

This book is a study of one of the most complex problems of psychology, the interrelation of thought and language. As far as we know, it has not yet been investigated experimentally in a systematic fashion. We have attempted at least a first approach to this task by conducting experimental studies of a number of separate aspects of the total problem.

Vygotsky, Lev. Marxists.org (1934). Books>Language>Theory

Toward a Critical Perspective of Culture: Contrast or Compare Rhetorics    

Kaplan's framework of contrastive rhetoric has been widely accepted in the field of cross-cultural technical communication. However, in the last four decades, contextual factors such as economic globalization trend and the advances of communication technologies are changing our ways of interacting with others. As a result our understanding of culture and cultural differences need to be adjusted. In this research, I start by recommending a workable definition of culture in the present context—culture as a process, which establishes a foundation for cross-cultural rhetorical research in the new era when communication across cultures transcends national boundaries. Based on the critical perspective of culture, I continue to point out the limitations of contrastive rhetoric and argue that contrastive rhetoric's view of culture and its research purpose and methodology need to be modified to overcome its constraints and better meet the needs of the present social context.

Wang, Junhua. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication (2008). Articles>Language>Rhetoric>Cultural Theory

Toward a Post-Techne-Or, Inventing Pedagogies for Professional Writing    

This article examines the concept of techne in relation to situatedness. Techne is conceived as techniques for situating bodies in contexts. Although many theorists and practitioners in technical communication are working from ecological and posthuman perspectives with regard to interface designs, this article argues for extending those perspectives to workplace and classroom situations. Starting from a Heideggerian reading of techne, the article moves toward the concept of post-techne, which remakes pedagogical techniques for writing and inventing in institutional contexts.

Hawk, Byron. Technical Communication Quarterly (2004). Articles>Education>Business Communication>Theory

Under, Over and Around the Net: Interrupting the Uptopian Subect of the Internet

I would like to examine the claims that pure subjectivity, free of outside 'political' associations such as gender or nationality, can be achieved in electronic communication.

Palmer, Terri. EServer (1994). Articles>Cyberculture>Theory

Understanding Metaphors for Writing: In Defense of the Conduit Metaphor    

The Conduit Metaphor has been roundly condemned by language scholars, including scholars in rhetoric and composition, but it is time to reevaluate its import and value. Rather than simply asserting a mistaken view of linguistic communication, the Conduit Metaphor combines with the metaphor Language Is Power to form a prudentially applied ethical measure of discourses, genres, and texts.

Eubanks, Philip. CCC (2001). Articles>Rhetoric>Theory>Tropes

Usability Metrics: Drawing Borders Ourselves  

Two borders that are very important in a primarily undergraduate Technical Communication program are the theory/practice borders we face vis-à-vis our students, and vis-à-vis the practitioners who hire our students.

Benninghoff, Steve. CPTSC Proceedings (2003). Articles>TC>Usability>Theory

Use of Narrative in Interactive Design

There will, and should always be, a tension between order and chaos, between standardization and creativity. So how do we invest creativity in our process? How do we reinvest ourselves into our work without starting from scratch every time?

Broden, Nancy, Marisa Gallagher and Jonathan Woytek. Boxes and Arrows (2005). Articles>Web Design>Theory

Weaving in the Cultural Context

If you are reading this you’re probably responsible for preparing print, electronic, or visual materials for a client base that is marketing, selling, informing, and/or teaching in another part of the world. If that doesn't exactly describe you at this moment, it will be part of your job description in the future.

Winters, Elaine. Indus (2002). Articles>Writing>Cultural Theory>Technical Writing

What Connection does Rhetorical Theory have to Technical and Professional Communication?

Rhetoric has a connection to almost every type of communication. Technical and professional topics and organizations are only some of the many types of knowledge and social life that rhetoric touches. Rhetorical theory can be applied to any form of knowledge, any genre or form of communication, and any human situation, although sub-fields of rhetoric usually focus on one area or another. There are people who study, teach, and/or perform 'scientific rhetoric' and 'technical rhetoric' as their primary profession.

Smith, Tania S. University of Calgary (2002). Articles>TC>Theory

What Is a Sign?

This is a most necessary question, since all reasoning is an interpretation of signs of some kind. But it is also a very difficult question, calling for deep reflection.

Peirce, Charles Sanders. Marxists.org (1894). Articles>Communication>Theory

What Is Not Institutionally Visible Does Not Count: The Problem of Making Activity Assessable, Accountable, and Plannable  

This hypertext examines from an activity theory perspective the vexed problem of assessment and its relation to planning, accountability, curriculum, and learning. Assessment although only part of the educational process has implications for almost all of education. Local, state, and federal policies that have put great weight and high stakes on a battery of assessment tools that stand outside the daily life of the classroom but are intended to hold classrooms, teachers, and schools accountable for results. While situated evaluation is an aspect of most human practices, institution-wide testing creates substantial difficulties for the local practices of each class, and particularly creates tensions between student-centered classroom practice and subject-centered expectations. Such tensions have been a continuing puzzle for progressive education. Dewey and his followers regularly preferred to keep evaluation and decision-making local, but for various institutional reasons had to seek larger ways of assessing student achievement without ever being able to develop fully appropriate assessment tools. The teaching of writing has faced a similar dilemma, with standardized forms of writing assessment setting reductionist definitions and expectations of writing, and not directing students towards the highest levels of accomplishment. This study considers genre and activity analysis as the basis for defining and assessing writing tasks through analysis of materials collected from a complex sequence of social studies writing assignments on the Maya from a sixth grade class.

Bazerman, Charles. WAC Clearinghouse (2003). Articles>Education>Assessment>Activity Theory