Typography is the study and process of typefaces; how to select, size, arrange, and use them in general. Traditionally, typography was the use of metal types with raised letterforms that were inked and then pressed onto paper. In modern terms, typography today also includes computer display and output.
#25493
Bridging the Gap: A Genre Analysis of Weblogs 
Weblogs (blogs)--frequently modified web pages in which dated entries are listed in reverse chronological sequence--are the latest genre of Internet communication to attain widespread popularity, yet their characteristics have not been systematically described. This paper presents the results of a content analysis of 203 randomly-selected weblogs, comparing the empirically observable features of the corpus with popular claims about the nature of weblogs, and finding them to differ in a number of respects. Notably, blog authors, journalists and scholars alike exaggerate the extent to which blogs are interlinked, interactive, and oriented towards external events, and under-estimate the importance of blogs as individualistic, intimate forms of self-expression. Based on the profile generated by the empirical analysis, we consider the likely antecedents of the blog genre, situate it with respect to the dominant forms of digital communication on the Internet today, and advance predictions about its long-term impacts.
Herring, Susan C., Lois Ann Scheidt, Sabrina Bonus and Elijah Wright. (We)blog Research on Genre Project, The (2004). Articles>Web Design>Writing>Blogging
#21223
Bridging the Gap: Developing a Technical Communication Outreach Program for Students and Educators 
Establishing an Education Outreach Project on the local chapter level benefits not only teachers and students in area schools but also the chapter and individual members who participate. Such a project can be as large or as small as your chapter would like; it can range from one-time presentations to an on-going program with a school that can include job-shadowing for teachers or students.
Fisher, Ellen M. STC Proceedings (1996). Articles>Education>TC
#28267
Bridging the Gap: From Raw Usability Testing Data to Design Implementation
Learn practical ways to influence members of your company’s product engineering group with usability testing data. Putting the authors’ tips into practice will help you improve the design of your company’s products.
Leritz-Higgins, Sarah E. and Catherine J. Yaspo. Intercom (2006). Articles>Usability>Information Design
#20972
A Brief Guide to Communication Products Used in Online Learning
An overview of the various genres of information about online learning products.
Carliner, Saul. Saul Carliner Studio (2003). Articles>Editing>Online
#18470
This article has two purposes. A number of people have asked me what has been involved in producing the current version of JAC Online, and so the electronic archive’s history and technical development is presented here for them. In the process of working with JAC Online, I have come to some tentative conclusions about the role electronic research plays in scholarship, the significance electronic publications hold for paper publications, the question of e-publication and tenure, and how much technical knowledge is relevant to current and future scholarship in the humanities. I present these tentative conclusions in the context of my experience as an online editor. It is important to emphasize that my experience is limited to a single journal and my role with that journal is limited to that journal’s needs, and thus what I say is local knowledge. But like a lot of people I see all knowledge as local, even in cyberspace. To create the context for what I will suggest about the current state of online scholarship, I will first recount the history of JAC Online.
Pullman, George. Kairos (2002). Articles>Publishing>Online
#25681
A Brief History of Human Computer Interaction Technology
This article summarizes the historical development of major advances in human-computer interaction technology, emphasizing the pivotal role of university research in the advancement of the field.
Myers, Brad A. Carnegie Mellon University (1996). Articles>Human Computer Interaction>History
#19386
Nielan summarizes fifty years of Society history and identifies key events that influenced the development of technical communication.
Nielan, Cate. Intercom (2003). Articles>TC>History
#13525
A Brief History of Technical Communication 
Civilization is a cumulative enterprise, and communication has always been a vital component of that cumulation process. From the fourteenth century on, the social system of science has depended on technical communication to describe, disseminate, criticize, use, and improve innovations and advances in science, medicine, and technology. Rapid change in technical communication has been obvious during the past few decades with the advent of computers, laser printers, the Internet, and other developments. Viewed from a historical perspective, those changes can be seen as but a portion of the evolution that technical communication has undergone. It has undergone vast changes in the means and methods that it employs and in the audience to which it is addressed, the purposes to which it is put, the roles it fulfills, and the social forces that drive and support it.
O'Hara, Frederick M., Jr. STC Proceedings (2001). Articles>History>TC
#21923
A Brief History Of Technical Illustration
A history of technical illustration, from the classics to the present.
Hulsey, Kevin. Kevin Hulsey Illustration. Articles>Graphic Design>Technical Illustration>History
#27095
A Brief History of US Fair Use
In our role as writing teachers, we’ve been asked to adopt 'post-modern practice' by releasing old-fashioned notions of single authorship and obsolete pedagogy that forbids plagiarism under a 'detect-and-punish' regime. Instead, we are to teach 'digital ethics' and Fair Use. But what exactly is 'Fair Use'? This is a doctrine we as writing teachers need to understand because while public figures such as Lawrence Lessig, Jessica Litman, and Siva Vaidhyanathan argue that the law needs to be changed, in the meantime we have classes to teach. Writing teachers increasingly teach writing on networked computers, and therefore our need to understand the basic doctrine of Fair Use is as great as our need to understand the rules of anti-plagiarism. This paper first reviews current US Copyright Law, and then briefly traces the concept of 'Fair Use' from its inception as 'fair abridgment' in 1700’s England to its current interpretation in US case law. US Copyright policy, the regime legally defining invention, imitation, compilation, and appropriation, is set through complex interactions between a variety of players. These influential interactions include the habits of writers. The tension between stakeholders who wish to share, and stakeholders who wish to contain and control information is viewed as a 'battle,' 'war,' and 'fight'. In this fight, the writing student and teacher thus become actors, willingly or not, determining how copyright operates. Because we as teachers are key players in the continual remediation of copyright policy, we should have a basic critical understanding of US Copyright Law and how Fair Use is situated within our copyright regime.
Rife, Martine Courant. Social Science Research Network (2006). Articles>Intellectual Property>Copyright>History
#24384
A Bright Idea: Online Financial Transaction Services
Looking for a quick, simple way for your members to register and pay for chapter events? Many chapters are turning to online services that facilitate financial transactions over the Internet (also called P2P, or person-to-person transactions).
Tieline (2003). Articles>TC>Community Building
#24386
A Bright Idea: Technical Communication Week
If you’re looking for ways to boost your chapter’s profile, consider having your state declare a technical communication week. Currently, about a dozen states celebrate the event. One of the first was Arizona, where Thomas P. Barnett, a senior member with the Phoenix Chapter STC, has been manager of Arizona’s Technical Communication Week for several years. Last October marked the thirteenth year that technical communicators in Arizona have celebrated their profession.
Barnett, Thomas P. Tieline (2001). Articles>TC>Community Building
#24381
A Bright Idea: Web-Based Surveys
If you’re looking for a quick, simple, and cost-efficient way to survey your members, you may want to try a Web-based survey service such as Zoomerang. Zoomerang offers users the ability to create and design their own surveys, send the surveys to targeted groups, and download the results, which Zoomerang tabulates.
McEwen, Kathryn. Tieline (2003). Articles>User Centered Design>Methods>Surveys
#30778
Technical communicators must adapt to the changing dynamics presented by the addition of rich media in the technical documentation space. Discover some suggestions for how to do so.
Ortega, Dan. Intercom (2008). Articles>Documentation>Multimedia>Flash
#20117
Bring the lnternet into Your Documents on Budget and on Time
Technical communicators can mine the Internet for fresh approaches and information to prepare documents with efficiency and minimal expense.
Murphy, Avon J. STC Proceedings (1996). Articles>Information Design>Research
#28355
Method acting can take your personas from the page to the stage. Think beyond traditional practice to give emotional life to your personas.
Fugaz, Zef. Boxes and Arrows (2006). Articles>Usability>Methods>Personas
#23333
Bringing Literature Teachers and Writing Teachers Closer Together
Many traditional college English departments now find themselves in an unpalatable predicament. Pressure from the marketplace and from other college disciplines has made clear that students need more than basic composition skills. They need skills to communicate effectively in business, research, and industrial environments. While enrollments in traditional literature courses have continued to decline, English departments are asked to staff and teach an increasing number of courses in various types of technical writing. These two trends have produced a less than harmonious climate within many English departments. Technical writing courses are often viewed by literature teachers as alien intruders unrelated both to the established goals of an English department and to the attempt to encourage and preserve the study of humanities and aesthetics. Many teachers see technical writing as intellectually arid, controlled only by format and mechanical approaches to clarity. Many more consider it antiliterature, unsympathetic to the methods used to teach literary analysis and appreciation.
Kroitor, Harry P. and Elizabeth Tebeaux. ADE Bulletin (1984). Articles>Education>Collaboration
#23614
Bringing Real-World Projects Into the College Classroom
This presentation discusses the logistics and benefits of building partnerships between universities and business by incorporating real-world projects into the student preparation. Such a collaboration enables students to learn valuable lessons about how to balance the needs of diverse audiences (developers, business managers, etc.), adapt to business constraints, and work as part of a team. Businesses benefit by having projects completed that may have otherwise not been completed because of a lack of resources.
Cooke, Lynne and Sean D. Williams. STC Proceedings (2003). Articles>Education>Service Learning
#31205
Bringing Usability to the Front Lines of Medicine
Will Emergency Medical Records (EMRs) make our delivery of medical care more usable?
Whitney, Hunter. Usability Interface (2008). Articles>Usability>Biomedical
#21274
Bringing Your Personas to Life in Real Life
The way you communicate the personas and present your deliverables is key to ensuring consistency of vision. Without that consistency, you'll spend far too much time arguing with your colleagues about who your users are rather than how to meet their needs.
Freydenson, Elan. Boxes and Arrows (2002). Articles>Usability>Methods>Personas
#13567
Brokedown Palace Part 2: Workflows for Fun and Profit
If you're going to toss out your user guides, you'd better have a good user interface and concise supporting materials. Workflows can help you both in the design of the user interface and in the creation of job aids for the people who use your product. A workflow is a compact and effective way to describe the flow of any procedure. How many times have you grumbled about the design of a piece of software or Web site that you've been trying to use? Chances are that no one ever sat down to model it using the workflow technique.
Knowles, Michael. Write Thinking (2002). Articles>Writing>Documentation
#13566
Brokedown Palace, Part 1: Why User Guides Don't Work
Software user guides use up an awful lot of space with screen shots. But I know what the screen looks like -- it's right in front of me. Any decent GUI design is self-documenting to some extent, at least. No matter how much we complain about them, GUIs have gotten pretty good. Children have them figured out in minutes. And then they start asking questions like, 'How do I make my stick man move around?' Computers are toasters or drawing pads to them. That's another reason user guides don't work: the average user doesn't need one anymore.
Knowles, Michael. Write Thinking (2002). Articles>Writing>Documentation>Screen Captures
#23622
This paper identifies challenges for obtaining managerial buy-in for a user-centered design process using performance tasks. Initially, it presents lessons learned from a case study. Next, it provides strategies (leadership, persuasion, organizational conflict, active listening, and teamwork) for obtaining buy-in from work team and their constituencies. Last, it concludes with recommendations for obtaining buy-in from managers.
Carey, Jennifer and Gloria A. Reece. STC Proceedings (2003). Articles>Project Management>User Centered Design
#21505
Browse Sequence in Online Help
A browse sequence enables users to navigate through a series of help topics in the sequence established by the help author. Although often omitted from help systems, the browse sequence is useful and will become essential as print documentation diminishes. Effective design options for a browse sequence include multiple segments, rings, branching, and the use of a browse button to take the user to the first topic in the current segment of the browse sequence.
Farkas, David K. and Bruce R. Gibbs. STC Proceedings (1994). Articles>Documentation>Online>Help
#29014
The ongoing antitrust battle between the U.S. Department of Justice and Microsoft Corporation presents technical communicators with two ethical questions: 1) Is it right, good, or fair for Microsoft to give away its Internet Explorer browser? 2) If Microsoft gains monopoly control over the PC browser market, will this be good for us? This article examines these questions using traditional rights-based ethical theory (Kant), utilitarianism, and John Rawls principles of justice, concluding that it is neither good nor fair for a company having a near-monopoly over a market to sell products below fair market value, nor is it good that one company stands to gain monopoly control over the PC browser market. When the discussion turned to Netscape, one Intel executive, who asked not to be identified, recalled Martiz [Paul Martiz, Microsoft Group Vice President, Platforms & Application] saying: "We are going to cut off their air supply. Everything they re selling, we re going to give away for free" [1]. "We re giving away a pretty good browser as part of the operating system. How long can they survive selling it?"--Statement by Steve Ballmer, Microsoft President and CEO [2]. "Our business model works even if all Internet software is free," says Mr. Gates. "We are still selling operating systems." <em>Netscape</em>, in contrast, is dependent upon its Internet software for profits, he points out.--Statements by Bill Gates, Microsoft Chairman [3]. Only a monopolist could study a competitor and destroy its business by giving away products--Statement by Scott McNealy, Sun Microsystems Chairman [4].
Meier, Dennis. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication (1999). Articles>TC>Ethics>Web Browsers
