Review: The Craft of Scientific Presentations: Critical Steps to Succeed and Critical Errors to Avoid  

As the word craft in the title of the book suggests, the ability to give good presentations is not a genetically linked trait but a craft that can be learned.

Armbruster, David L. Technical Communication Online (2004). Articles>Reviews>Presentations>Scientific Communication

A Cross-Cultural Comparison of the Use of Graphics in Scientific and Technical Communication    

Communication styles vary across cultures. To investigate cultural differences in visual communication, graphics from Chinese popular science magazines and instruction manuals were compared with their counterparts from American sources. The results show that the Chinese visuals provide more contextual information to the readers when presenting new scientific concepts. The Chinese instruction manuals contain graphics with extensive technical data, which are not a typical feature in American manuals. The American visuals, on the other hand, are more closely integrated with corresponding verbal explanations. The emphasis of American manuals is on problem solving, that is, performing tasks. Cultural factors that may account for the differences are also discussed.

Qiuye, Wang. Technical Communication Online (2000). Design>Graphic Design>Regional>China

Cultural Differences in the Appreciation of Introductions of Presentations    

On the basis of both established theories of the differences between cultures and recommendations in advice literature from different cultures, we believe that it is likely that cultures will differ in what they consider to be an effective introduction to a presentation. In this article, we report on an exploratory experimental study with 300 respondents in the Netherlands, France, and Senegal regarding their appreciation of and response to three introductions to a presentation about a mobile phone. The results show that the cultures differ with respect to the introduction they prefer. The Dutch respondents appreciated the overview most, while the French respondents preferred the ethical appeal, and research participants from Senegal preferred the anecdote. It is likely that the introduction that gains greatest attention and that best increases the ability to listen in a culture will be most appreciated in that culture.

Gerritsen, Marinel and Evelyn Wannet. Technical Communication Online (2005). Articles>Presentations>Cultural Theory>Rhetoric

Review: Culture, Technology, Communication: Towards an Intercultural Global Village  

The Internet is continually changing how we think about "the office." Online media now allow us to exchange information with overseas colleagues almost as quickly and as easily as we can with coworkers located across the hallway from our workstations. This new degree of access, however, means that cultural differences could affect workplace interactions.

St. Amant, Kirk R. Technical Communication Online (2004). Articles>Reviews>Collaboration>International

A Curriculum for the Research and Practice of International Technical Communication    

It is no secret that businesses around the world need to compete globally in order to survive. What is a secret is that technical communicators in every country in the world are untrained to deal with the issues, deadlines, standards, and quality measures necessary to address the needs of global businesses. This paper offers some ideas and justification for a curriculuum in international technical communication.

Hoft, Nancy L. Technical Communication Online (1995). Articles>Education>Globalization

Review: CyberRegs: A Business Guide to Web Property, Privacy, and Patents  

By providing excellent and easy-to-read overviews of certain legal developments, CyberRegs helps readers understand the ever-changing challenges of regulating cyberspace interactions. By including listings of online resources on specific legal topics, the author also provides a method for augmenting what one learns in the book itself. For these reasons, CyberRegs is a resource that can continue to prove useful even after the laws it examines have changed.

St. Amant, Kirk R. Technical Communication Online (2004). Articles>Reviews>Intellectual Property>Online

Defining Glossaries    

Glossaries are lists of specialized word definitions contained in technical documentation that can assist the nontechnical user to comprehend fully the technical topic at hand. In a joint project with SAS Institute, I sought to discover how glossaries were first developed, what guidelines are available for technical writers in the writing of glossaries, and what rhetorical technique might be of value for glossary writers. I found that glossaries are much more than simple word lists; they are, in fact, an opportunity for the technical writer to outline and protect the parameters of technical discourse between a company and its customers across multiple communications channels, and different languages. In an increasingly global technical environment, an explicit connection between the rhetorical technique of definition and the writing of glossary definitions should be made to aid technical writers in this task.

Tackabery, Michelle Kidd. Technical Communication Online (2005). Articles>Editing>Glossary

Defining the Employee Status of Independent Contractors in the U.S.: A Review and Report on the Legal Issues for Technical Communicators    

In the past, companies hired independent contractors to perform special projects. Now, while still used for these purposes, ICs are also used in strategic positions throughout many organizations. The use of ICs in strategic roles is especially beneficial to small and medium-sized businesses that cannot afford the cost of permanently employing individuals for specialized functions. For instance, an experienced technical communicator specializing in project management could be hired by a small business as an independent contractor to provide project management services.

Clements, Rhonda. Technical Communication Online (2002). Careers>Consulting

The Dell Computer Experience: From Maturity Model Assessment to Strategic Planning    

Dell Computer Corporation's Information Development area was tasked with benchmarking itself with other similar areas in the industry. This case study details the evolution of this requirement to the fundamental need for a strategic plan, and how the requirement was met. The steps begin with gaining an understand of strengths and weaknesses as compared to the industry and end with goals for using the strategic plan to strengthen the area.

Rosenquist, Deborah J. Technical Communication Online (1997). Articles>Information Design>Assessment

Demonstrating Effectiveness and Value: A Process for Evaluating TC Products and Services    

This article attempts to provide a framework that can be used to assess the effectiveness and value of technical communication products, and suggest how we can use it to help our clients perceive the value of those products. The framework is adapted from a similar framework initially developed by Kirkpatrick for trainers. First, the article presents the Kirkpatrick model and identifies the limitations in using it to assess the quality and value of technical communication products. Next, an adapted model for assessing the quality and value of technical communication products is presented. Last, the article addresses a series of issues related to collecting data about quality and value, such as when to collect the data, how to ensure its credibility, and how to report it to others. This framework may help us develop a widely used and accepted methodology for assessing the quality and effectiveness of technical communication products.

Carliner, Saul. Technical Communication Online (1997). Articles>TC>Assessment

Design Issues for Producing Effective Multimedia Presentations    

When designing multimedia presentations, technical communicators must consider navigational aids and the degree of user control, audio cues, color and typographical elements, visual elements, and copyright issues. Understanding these issues will help us develop guidelines for effective use of multimedia.

Mason, Lisa. Technical Communication Online (1997). Design>Information Design>Multimedia

Design Teams and the Web: A Collaborative Model for the Workplace    

Formal corporate models that standardize collaborative processes into rigid templates and flow charts can actually become anti-collaborative and isolate team members from each other. This divisionary effect is particularly problematic for World Wide Web hypertexts, which often require on-going, dynamic collaborations between professionals with diverse specializations. In this article, we examine collaborative processes through theory and two Web project team interactions: one that reflects a failed formal process model, and one that represents a more successful dialogic model. Because dialogic models are non-formal and inherently adaptable, they are thus stronger process models for collaboration, particularly for Web design projects.

Wambeam, Cynthia A. and Robert Kramer. Technical Communication Online (1996). Design>Web Design>Collaboration

Designing Embedded Help to Encourage Inadvertent Learning    

What do we do when a legacy help system has trained the users not to use it? How do we design a solution that not only lures users back to the user assistance, but also encourages users to learn more about the product? This article follows the decision-making process of a design team that had to solve these problems. Additionally, the design team had to craft solutions for an application that imposed extreme limitations on those solutions, both in help system implementation and information design.

Mobley, Karen L., Clinton Knight and Timothy Meserth. Technical Communication Online (2003). Design>Documentation>Help

Designing User Assistance for Internet Marketplace Applications Using Server-Side Online Help    

In this article, I examine Internet marketplace applications and the challenges they present to user-assistance design. This examination illustrates the ways in which complex Internet applications, such as marketplaces, force technical communicators to rethink their approach to online user assistance. In the course of this examination, I make a case for a model of user assistance that taps the potential for customizability, scalability, and dynamic content of the technologies that power Internet applications. However, marketplaces are only one example of the type of application that can benefit from this model because it can be implemented for any Internet or intranet application that utilizes dynamic, build-on-the-fly Internet technologies, such as Microsoft Active Server Pages or Sun Microsystem JavaServer Pages. To fulfill our responsibilities to our users, we technical communicators must be willing to expand our skill set by adopting these technologies that allow us to target documentation to user needs.

Whittemore, Stewart. Technical Communication Online (2003). Design>Documentation>Online

Designing Wearable Performance Support: Insights from the Early Literature    

According to Gery (1991), an electronic performance support system (EPSS) is an electronic environment available to and easily accessible by employees that is structured to provide online access to all information to permit them to do their jobs with minimal intervention by others. Why do we assume that this support must be provided on a computer? If effective performance support must be 'available' and 'easily accessible,' how can designers provide support to people whose jobs require mobility? Such jobs include (but certainly are not limited to) supervising a manufacturing operation, inspecting foods, and repairing equipment. A designer for any EPSS being developed to support jobs such as these would have to take the employees' mobility into account.

Gobert, Danielle. Technical Communication Online (2002). Design>Content Management>Wireless Web

Developing a Resource for Multinational Writing at Xerox Corporation    

Documentation and training developers at Xerox Corporation have been creating materials for worldwide distribution for many years. MC&SE - the Multinational Customer and Service Education organization - has included a translation department since 1978. A system of writing for both machine and manual translation had been in place since then. The supporting materials for this writing system had become scattered and, in some cases, obsolete. When MC&SE created an Employee Development System, two skills that pertain to global communication were identified: 'Writing for Translatability' and 'Global Design'. Many of the resources that had been used in support of multinational document creation were pertinent to the development of these skills. The article describes the development of an updated set of training aids to assist authors in developing their global communication competency.

Adams, Ann H., Gail W. Austin and Melissa Taylor. Technical Communication Online (1999). Articles>Writing>International

Developing an Embedded Help Solution    

As we grow up, we learn to develop our independence and to ask for help less and less. No wonder that, when confronted with a problem, so few users click the Help button. Standard help systems have several common issues: help is separate from the product; users have to leave the task they are performing to get help, and they return and try to remember what they were doing; users cannot find the required information; users get lost in the help.

Mueller, Paul. Technical Communication Online (2003). Design>Documentation>Help

Developing Heuristics for Web Communication    

The quicklists presented here are derived from five sets of heuristics that were published in the August 2000 special issue of Technical Communication, 'Heuristics for Web Communication.' They are intended to help Web designers and developers consider crucial communicative aspects of Web site design.

van der Geest, Thea and Jan H. Spyridakis. Technical Communication Online (2000). Design>Web Design>Methods>Usability

Developing Heuristics for Web Communication: An Introduction to This Special Issue    

This article describes the role of heuristics in the Web design process. The five sets of heuristics that appear in this issue are also described, as well as the research methods used in their development. The heuristics were designed to help designers and developers of Web pages or sites to consider crucial communicative aspects of Web site design. Also previewed is a sixth article that presents a framework for characterizing and analyzing the broad variety of heuristics that are available for Web designers.

van der Geest, Thea and Jan H. Spyridakis. Technical Communication Online (2000). Design>Web Design>Assessment>Heuristic Evaluation

Disciplinary Style Manuals as Reliable Guides to Scientific Discourse Norms    

Style manuals sponsored by professional associations in various scientific disciplines have received virtually no scholarly attention. These manuals, however, specify many disciplinary discourse norms that writers need to follow in publishing scientific research. Consequently, these manuals provide an important and reliable source of information about how communities of working scientists conceptualize, construct, and publish their scientific texts. The disciplinary norms that these style manuals promulgate derive both from general scientific research practices and from the practical demands of scientific publishing. Because of their unique normative nature and their connection with scientific practice, disciplinary style manuals should be categorized separately from other types of scientific style manual, and the material they contain can reliably be used in technical writing and editing.

Hagge, John. Technical Communication Online (1997). Articles>Scientific Communication>Style Guides

Doctoral Research in Technical, Scientific and Business Communication, 1989-1998    

This article is an update of the article by Rebecca S. Kelly and me in an earlier issue of Technical Communication (Rainey & Kelly 1992). My purpose here is the same as we had then: …we focus on making known the wide variety of doctoral research in professional communication emanating from many academic institutions. Specifically, we look at doctoral research in professional communication with a view to learning what academic institutions sponsor it, what methods researchers employ, and what topics doctoral candidates explore. (553) In this article, I use 'professional communication' to mean technical, scientific, and business communication.) In what follows, I first summarize the findings of this current search and then discuss the method of collecting information. Next, I identify the academic institutions that have doctoral programs in technical, scientific, and business communication, what methodologies the researchers use, and what topics they have researched in the period since 1989.

Rainey, Kenneth T. Technical Communication Online (1999). Academic>Education>Graduate>History

Doctoral-Level Graduates in Professional, Technical, and Scientific Communication 1995–-2000: A Profile    

Reports the results of survey research profiling 1995–2000 doctoral graduates in professional, technical, and scientific communication. Explores implications for recent graduates, prospective doctoral students, faculty, and administrators in the field.

Cargile Cook, Kelli, Charlotte Thralls and Mark Zachry. Technical Communication Online (2003). Articles>Education>Graduate>PhD

Document (re)Presentation: Object-orientation, Visual Language, and XML    

This article demonstrates how the combination of object-orientation and Horn's notions of visual language morphology, syntax, semantics, and pragmatics may be used to analyze and describe the mapping of marked-up XML files onto user documents. The article also raises the question of whether—or to what extent—the coupling of object-orientation and visual language might be exploited more directly for design purposes in a document production paradigm based on XML.

Johnsen, Lars. Technical Communication Online (2001). Design>Content Management>XML>Metadata