#26692
The Abductive Inference: An Effective Tool for Science Communication
Suggests that the interrelated skills of understanding and representing (re-presenting) the abductive inference (often neglected in technical and professional communication pedagogy) are critical for the scientific communicator vis-a -vis kairos, and that science communication instructors ought to develop a pedagogy that includes the instruction of this skill.
Graham, S. Scott. Orange Journal, The (2005). Articles>Scientific Communication>Rhetoric
#10285
Aesthetic Experience and the Importance of Visual Composition
When considering the design of information and information structures, the focus tends to gravitate to general issues of content, information hierarchies, and in some instances, system usability. In discussions concerning system usability and human factors, the issue of the user experience, or overall aesthetic experience, with regard to a specific information structure is rarely addressed. Things such as the 'look and feel' of a website, for example, may get some attention by the designers and developers of the information structure, but the idea of 'look and feel' is essentially an issue of how to 'decorate' the information. Too often, when software developers or usability engineers discuss 'look and feel,' they do not consider it to be an integral part of the information design structure but an additive element applied only after the structure and content of the information have been resolved. What seems to be lacking in information design is a concern for the visual composition of information.
Greenzweig, Tim. Orange Journal, The (2001). Design>Web Design>Rhetoric>Visual Rhetoric
#14798
Applying Audience Invoked Models to Instructional Design Methods
You should know what appeals to and motivates your audience before you approach them with a suggestion for action. The same point is also true for writers. The writer must have a good idea of who the audience is and what motivates them in order to create arguments that will convince his or her audience to not only to read the text, but also to behave in the desired fashion after they have read the text.
Cleman, Kelly A. Orange Journal, The (2001). Articles>Education>Instructional Design
#26691
If a single course is to be an effective representation of the discipline it should hope to include rhetoric, critical thinking, formalism, service learning, and civic rhetoric to, depending on how effectively so much can be managed within a semester.
Hicks, Tim. Orange Journal, The (2005). Articles>TC>Theory
#26688
In a broad sense that the weblog can be beneficial to the business world as a whole. More specifically, however, it provides technical communicators with unprecedented opportunites at innovation and leadership.
Danielson, Joe. Orange Journal, The (2005). Articles>Business Communication>Online>Blogging
#20636
Building an Online Learning Community
We decided to explore alternative methods for incorporating discussion into a distance-learning course in an attempt to facilitate the sense of community found in more traditional classrooms. Our goal through this study was to uncover factors that enable and hinder discussion between students in online learning environments and to determine whether the level of class discussion leads to an increased sense of community.
McDowell, Mindi, Stephanie Trunzo and Kristin Vincent. Orange Journal, The (2003). Articles>Education>Community Building>Social Networking
#14913
In the information age it is widely understood that there is now too much information. Some of this newly created information will most certainly be valuable, but despite marked improvement in search tools, finding the valuable information is a slow panhandle. Perhaps in light of this situation, the W3C under the direction of Berners-Lee has begun to build the foundation for the next phase of the web. This phase, called the Semantic Web, will make information stored with this technology much more processible by machines.
Emonds-Banfield, Peter. Orange Journal, The (2002). Articles>Web Design>XML>Metadata
#26680
We seem to be constantly chasing the latest and greatest technology, eternally one step behind. Our continual struggle to establish the field of technical communication yet assert dominance over new technological domains seem to be in direct conflict with each other. How can we possibly establish our dominance over a moving target? Instead of trying to peer into future, perhaps we need to look toward the past.
Davis, Toni. Orange Journal, The (2004). Articles>Technology>Audience Analysis
#26703
Communication and Women in Engineering
Women can be either encouraged or discouraged to take on the role of engineer through communication. Encouraging women to take on the role of engineer is imperative because of the lack of women currently in engineering.
Brown, Sarah. Orange Journal, The (2005). Articles>Workplace>Engineering>Gender
#14800
Communication, Cognition, and Community
There is a vast assortment of schools of thought concerning how it is possible to communicate. Empiricism, romanticism, materialism, psychoanalysis, and cognitive psychology all have been used as rationale for, and to describe the genesis of, the simple and natural activity of communication. How is it possible that we are able to communicate successfully? Much scholarly work has been generated documenting our interpretation of written discourse in an attempt to describe how we successfully convey meaning from within to without. Whether a theorist is an advocate of New Criticism, Reader Response, Phenomenology, Social Constructionism, rhetoric, or plain style, the basic question remains the same: How are we able to convey concepts successfully and accurately from one source to another?
Smith, David C. Orange Journal, The (2001). Articles>Communication>Community Building
#26685
Concerned About RFID Tags? You Should Be
Gives a brief overview about how RFID tags work and examines the threat RFID tags pose to consumers and privacy in general.
Cook, J.R. Orange Journal, The (2005). Articles>Technology>Privacy
#14909
A Cubist Approach to Analyzing Interpretive Communities
Stanley Fish's theory of interpretive communities has been highly regarded for the past two decades. This paper deals with the idea of multiple interpretive communities as they relate to technical communicators. Technical communicators have a duty to use rhetorical devices and embedded structural cues to help readers identify the correct interpretive framework.
Connolly, Brianne. Orange Journal, The (2002). Articles>Rhetoric>Theory
#14914
Defining Technical Communication: Is It a Goal or a Sisyphean Task?
Defining the field of technical communication is a potentially impossible task. In some respects, the process of defining this profession is similar to Sisyphus' eternally futile task: Just as one theory is proposed within the technical communication discourse community, another article is published and the previous theory suddenly collapses. Unlike Sisyphus, however, the members of the discourse community should be able to successfully create a definition of the field based upon the best ideas from previous theories and writings.
Thayer, Alexander. Orange Journal, The (2002). Articles>TC>Theory
#10286
Much discussion in web usability in recent years has revolved around designing web sites which are intended to be easily accessible by even the least technologically advanced user. This attempt to attract the highest number of visitors is especially appropriate for promoting and selling goods and services. The inexperienced user unaccustomed to reading text displayed on monitors and unable to efficiently download multimedia files should not be alienated by highly detailed or stylized web writing or a lack of bandwidth. Yet, there are more-advanced users on the web that designers should consider when appropriate.
Hinkelman, Andrew. Orange Journal, The (2001). Design>Information Design>Usability
#26687
Digital Plagiarism: The Role of Society and Technology
Examines the application of the World Wide Web in class education and research and the ways in which the Internet has enabled cheating and given educators ways to fight plagiarism.
Kennedy, Ryan. Orange Journal, The (2005). Articles>Publishing>Ethics>Plagiarism
#26693
Do These Serifs Make Me Look Phat? Conveying Personality with Typeface
Explores some possible approaches to understanding typeface 'personality,' including empirical research and scholarly discussion, in the hopes of generating more discussion about how we can understand and use typeface personality when creating organizational identity packages.
Striker, Amy. Orange Journal, The (2005). Design>Typography>Visual Rhetoric
#13386
Does Web Delivery Impact the Reader-Response Approach to Technical Communication?
This paper is an attempt to explore how reader-response criticism and the overall approach to using rhetoric in technical communication may be impacted by the large amount of technical documentation moving to the Web. The discussion focuses on three main areas: moving from the “reader” to the “user” in online documentation; the value of plain language style in this medium; and how Web delivery seems to be bridging the gap between user interface (UI) text and help documentation. I shall explore these areas in an attempt to clarify whether the publication of technical documentation on the Internet negates the rhetorical approach to technical communication and how or if Web delivery impacts the reader-response view that users play a significant role in creating the meaning of a text.
Fisher, Jeanette. Orange Journal, The (2001). Articles>Rhetoric>Theory
#13379
By discussing the modern technical communicator's audience with the presumption that they are individuals reading text, many technical communication theorists vastly limit and underestimate the role of the technical communicator. Indeed, Billie J. Wahlstrom writes that as new technologies have been developed over the years, '[technical communicators] have adopted an ahistorical approach . . . largely ignoring . . . luminal eras when changes in communications technologies caused profound cultural transformations' (Walstrom 131).[1] Moreover, arguments in technical communication theory frequently miss the fact that even though they can become wildly divergent, they may all seem appropriate to certain audiences and in certain situations. For example, Claude E. Shannon and Warren Weaver's The Mathematical Theory of Communication outlines a theory of communication in seeming contradiction to Carolyn R. Miller's in 'A Humanistic Rationale for Technical Writing.' But despite this conflict, we still find value in both of these theories. How is this possible? Are there any unifying theories that allow for such divergent theories to coexist? Indeed there are, but they require us to look at technical communication in a different way than what is presently assumed in technical communication discourse.
Larson, Jerrod. Orange Journal, The (2001). Articles>Education>Theory
#26682
The Effect of Changes in Publishing Technologies on Labor and Documentation
Online publishing technologies is an ever-changing, morphing animal that cannot necessarily be predicted, but perhaps we can work to harness it. As publishing technologies change, so too will the style in which the readability of those documents change as they are shaped and designed to meet new formulas and needs. Likewise, as the readability and accessibility of documents change, so too must the interaction and intervention of the technical communicator change to ensure readable, articulate, navigable documentation, as well as preserve an author-reader relationship and also to preserve the role of the technical communicator.
Comstock, Jeanie. Orange Journal, The (2004). Articles>TC>Publishing>History
#26684
Email in the Workplace: Employees Perceive Email Differently than Employers
Argues that employees' misunderstanding of email in the workplace has in part stemmed from employers not being direct about the need to monitor it. By being clear and direct, employers can possibly reduce misuse and ultimately the need for such intrusive email monitoring.
Knox, Jessica. Orange Journal, The (2005). Articles>Workplace>Email>Privacy
#26686
Email Overload in the Workplace: A Multi-Dimensional Exploration
This paper is a multidimensional exploration of email overload, incorporating a mixture of studies and opinions presented by various experts.
Pratt, Andrew. Orange Journal, The (2005). Articles>Workplace>Email
#20638
Engaging and Educating Readers Through a Progressive Writing
Although technical communication documents cannot possibly be tailored to exactly match the interest, reading level and many-faceted influences of a reader, they can I believe, take measures to engage the reader to believe that the information he or she is receiving from the document is valuable to their experience in some way.
Comstock, Jeanie. Orange Journal, The (2003). Articles>Writing>Rhetoric>Technical Writing
#26702
Ethical Implications of Intercultural Audiences
Argues that it is crucial that technical writing courses raise the awareness of the implications of intercultural communication, and specifically, how to include the translator as the target audience.
Heitzman, Lisa. Orange Journal, The (2005). Articles>Language>Ethics>Rhetoric
#26699
Facilitating Conversations: Orange, Interface Design, and Electronic Discourse
The philosophy behind the Orange Journal requires that the editors take several practical, theoretical, and technical elements into careful consideration in order to provide the best knowledge-building community possible.
Glazebrook, Rob L. Orange Journal, The (2005). Articles>Publishing>Web Design
#13378
Humanistic Virtues in Information Graphics
The media, in confronting the challenge of presenting heartrending information and the overwhelming amount of bereavement on 9/11, relied on a quantifiable approach to designing such statistics for mass consumption. Evidently, production inserts keyed in on the bottom of television screens displayed scrolling numbers, sound-byte tracks of seemingly instantaneous gratification in coping with the economy of airtime and awesome amount of news. One could imagine information “tickers” of human tragedy—where numbers surmount, anxiety and anticipation cultivates. Quantitative virtues portrayed in these information graphics argued for numerical clarity in its message; whereby in the days following, the world could have been changed forever, and these momentary glances at numbers assuage how humanity stood frozen at that very moment in time. Nonetheless, today the tickers are gone; numbers are no longer news; families are left bereft; and a war is well underway. The media has retreated to capture screen shots of “Ground-Zero” as it stands in recovery, and the news, while still overpopulated with information, may perhaps be apologetic for the dispassionate exhibit it proposed soon after the catastrophe.
Fukumoto, Dane K.T. Orange Journal, The (2001). Design>Graphic Design>Information Design
