essential works on technical communication · 2015-07-28 · many essential works on technical...

ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY SUMMARY� Presents an annotated list of 115 essential

works on technical communication compiledfrom a list of over 600 titles from a wide varietyof print, Internet, and professional sources

� Constitutes what might be called “essentialliteracy” in technical communication

Essential Works on TechnicalCommunicationGERALD J. ALRED

INTRODUCTION

When I began the task of developing a bibliog-raphy of “essential works on technical com-munication” for this special issue of Technicalcommunication, I soon realized that no list of

works or definition of essential could adequately representthe wide range of activities of those in technical commu-nication. I concluded that what is essential could only bedefined by practitioners, educators, researchers, and con-sultants who depend on such works.

MethodologyFortunately, I could start with my research from The St.Martin’s bibliography of business and technical communi-cation, which included 376 works gathered from a widevariety of over 50 sources (Alred 1997). To those works, Iadded over 500 titles from 40 additional, more recentsources that included the following:

� Bibliographies and lists of selected works publishedafter 1997 in Technical communication and else-where

� Recommended works published by professional or-ganizations or posted on the Web, for example, atSTC Web sites

� Lists of recent award-winning books and articles ontechnical communication

� Works selected for new and forthcoming collectionsof important articles on technical communication

� Multiple separate postings and collected lists of rec-ommended works posted in the last seven years ontwo discussion groups: TECHWR-L (http://www.raycomm.com/techwhirl/) and ATTW-L (http://www.attw.org/ATTWEmailList.asp)

� Personal lists of recommended “essential works”from both new and experienced practitioners, edu-cators, researchers, and consultants in the U.S. andabroad

As titles of works were gathered from various sources, eachtitle was coded for every source in which it was listed. Withthis coding, then, I would know which and how manysources listed any particular title.

Next, I organized the titles into categories. In additionto their usefulness to readers in the final version, categorieswould help me sift and narrow the roughly 600 titles intothe final list of 115 items. My primary goal as I createdcategories was to allow them to grow out of subject areassuggested by the works themselves, as opposed to creatingcategories according to any prior assumptions. The finalresult of categorizing produced the sections that follow:

� Landmark anthologies� Philosophy, history, and ethics� Research studies and methodology� Education and professional development� Writing and editing� Documentation and usability� Visual and graphic design� Publication and information management

Although I hoped that the final categories would bereasonably balanced and clear cut, many works overlapseveral categories. For example, a number of works in“Documentation and usability” might arguably fit in thecategory “Writing and editing.” For such a work, I consid-ered its major emphasis or how readers might view thatwork.

My primary consideration for including a title was thenumber and diversity of sources listing that particular title.For example, when a title appeared in many diversesources, I could be fairly certain that it could be considered“essential.” To my pleasant surprise, a very large percent-age of the decisions were obvious and relatively easy. But

Manuscript received 22 May 2003; revised 10 July 2003;accepted 15 July 2003.

Volume 50, Number 4, November 2003 • TechnicalCOMMUNICATION 585

for works that seemed borderline, I considered the follow-ing additional criteria:

� Whether the work was a watershed or essential tothe development of a subject area

� Whether a work provided leads for further informa-tion or other important works essential to subspe-cialties or newly developing areas

� Whether a work originated from highly selective list-ings, such as those from specialists particularly quali-fied to judge the work’s importance

� Whether a work was so product specific (for exam-ple, software guides) or dated that it would be ofmarginal value to a significant portion of the broadreadership of Technical communication.

Although I used all these strategies and appealed to col-leagues for help in areas less familiar to me, ultimately, Iremained the final arbiter.

General observations about this listWhile all the works on this list are essential, not every workthat is essential to specific practitioners, educators, andconsultants appears on the list. Based on my review ofmany sources and the opinions of a wide variety of spe-cialists, however, I believe this list does constitute essentialliteracy in contemporary technical communication.

Perspective on “essential works” In the process ofdeveloping this list, I concluded that the works includedhere are essential because they enable those who valuethem to do their work—but often for very different rea-sons. Some works, for example, are essential to the imme-diate needs of professional technical communicators whoface specific and demanding workplace tasks under tightdeadlines. Other works are crucial to educators who mustbe concerned with the long-range implications of researchor theoretical insights as they prepare students for profes-sional careers in technical communication.

As these examples and my own observations in theprocess of gathering these titles suggest, practitioners andeducators often have very different perspectives about theworks that are “essential.” R. Stanley Dicks (2002) describessome of the reasons for these differing perspectives in anarticle titled “Cultural impediments to understanding: Arethey surmountable?” Dicks, who has spent over 13 years inacademia and 16 years as a practicing technical communi-cator in industry, concludes that the “cultural differences”between academic and workplace professionals are sopronounced that “operating in these two worlds can be liketraveling between countries” (p. 23).

If Dicks is correct, some practicing technical commu-nicators and academics may have difficulty understandingwhy specific works are listed here or why some works arenot listed or why the question even matters. But the ques-

tion does matter, as Dicks observes, “because academicprograms and the practice of technical communication aremutually dependent [and] for both groups to succeed, theymust communicate and collaborate effectively” (p. 23).Certainly, most academic programs depend on mutuallybeneficial relationships with technical communication pro-fessionals through such activities as internships, alumniprograms, advisory boards, and workplace researchprojects. Further, as this bibliography also reflects, profes-sionals in industry increasingly come from academic pro-grams in technical communication.

The split that Dicks describes is evident in the compo-sition of this list. For example, the first four categoriescontain works primarily aimed at academic audiences, andthe final four categories include works generally addressedto practitioners. This division, as well as the selectionsthemselves, grew out of the process described under“Methodology.”

Appreciation of cultural differences As someonewho has participated in academic-practitioner partner-ships, I would suggest that the tensions embedded in thedifferent perspectives of the professional and academiccommunities, while they create problems in understand-ing, also generate ideas and work toward the advancementof the field. As an educator, I would argue that in technicalcommunication, theory, practice, research, and pedagogyare inevitably and vitally connected and interrelated. Forexample, many of the projects that academic researcherspursue have been stimulated by the needs and questionsraised by workplace professionals. Likewise, many of thepublications that professionals depend on for their dailywork have been created by academic authors based onresearch, theory, and pedagogy. One of my students ad-mitted recently that, as a workplace professional, he foundit very difficult to appreciate “theory.” However, after hav-ing taken a course in teaching technical communication, henow understands why theory as well as research are sovital to education. He also told me that an understanding oftheory has even given him a wider perspective of his workoutside the academy.

Nevertheless, as the works in this bibliography makeclear, some undeniable differences in perspectives maynever fully be accommodated. And perhaps they cannot,nor should not, be brushed aside. I would hope at least thatthis list might help foster understanding—that readers fromboth the academy and the workplace would gain an ap-preciation for why these works are essential to those out-side their own culture.

LANDMARK ANTHOLOGIESMany essential works on technical communication havebeen published in collections of articles. The anthologies

ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHYEssential Works on Technical Communication Alred

586 TechnicalCOMMUNICATION • Volume 50, Number 4, November 2003

below as well as the articles highlighted have shaped thedirection of the field and offer significant insights on theroles of technical communicators. Note: The abbreviation“Bib.” in a citation indicates that the book contains a sep-arate listing of sources for further information beyond the“references” cited in the text.

Anderson, Paul V., R. John Brockmann, and Carolyn R.Miller, eds. 1983. New essays in technical and scientificcommunication: Research, theory, practice. Baywood’sTechnical Communication Series, vol. 2. Farmingdale, NY:Baywood Publishing. 254 pp.

The introduction to this anthology suggests some centralcharacteristics of technical and scientific communica-tion: its worthiness as an intellectual pursuit, its diversityand eclecticism, its value to the disciplines from which itborrows, and its need to be studied contextually. Theimportance of this collection is evident not only in thefrequency with which its articles have been cited butalso in the influence of many articles on the direction ofresearch. Among the noteworthy articles in this collec-tion are “Studying writing in non-academic settings” byLee Odell, Dixie Goswami, Anne Herrington, and DorisQuick; “A cognitive approach to readability” by ThomasN. Huckin; “Revising functional documents: The sce-nario principle” by Linda Flower, John R. Hayes, andHeidi Swarts; “What constitutes a ‘readable’ technicalstyle?” by Jack Selzer. The final part of the collection is“What’s technical about technical writing?” by David N.Dobrin, which he later re-published in his book Writingand technique (listed under “Philosophy, History, andEthics”).

Bazerman, Charles, and James Paradis, ed. 1991. Textualdynamics of the professions: Historical and contemporarystudies of writing in professional communities. Madison,WI: University of Wisconsin Press. Index. 390 pp.

The editors of this collection assert that “by understand-ing texts within the professions, we understand how theprofessions constitute themselves and carry out theirwork through texts” (p. 3). Part One, “Textual construc-tion of the professions,” examines the rhetorics of thesciences, management, and literary criticism. Part Two,“The dynamics of discourse communities,” examineshow discourse communities are formed. Part Three,“The operational force of texts,” includes studies ofparticular texts in context: “Text and action: The opera-tor’s manual in context and in court” by James Paradis;“Understanding failures in organizational discourse: Theaccident at Three Mile Island and the Shuttle Challengerdisaster” by Carl G. Herndl, Barbara A. Fennell, and

Carolyn R. Miller; and “Creating a text/creating a com-pany: The role of a text in the rise and decline of a neworganization” by Stephen Doheny-Farina.

The editors conclude that the world “cannot be re-duced to the rhetorical domination of a powerful mono-lithic discourse of science and technology, as is some-times feared” (p. 10). In fact, discourse communities“provide varied enough voices to maintain a robustrhetorical environment and keep the forces of reduc-tionism at bay. And they provide enough of a rhetoricalchallenge to require our best efforts at understandingthem” (p. 10).

Blyler, Nancy Roundy, and Charlotte Thralls, eds. 1993.Professional communication: The social perspective. New-bury Park, CA: Sage. Index. Bib. 292 pp.

In his forward to this collection, Charles Bazerman sug-gests that “in the humanities we have a fear of the social.The humanities, we believe, constitute the place wherethe individual learns to express the self against compul-sive society” (p. vii). The 14 essays present a diversity ofissues that suggest the importance and value of thesocial perspective in embodying the “particularities thatwe live and to these particularities that we write” (p. x).In their preface, the editors cite earlier works that antic-ipated the importance of social and contextual studiesand suggest that they should continue to be central toresearch and pedagogy in business and technical com-munication.

The collection is divided into two parts—Part I, “His-tory, theory, and research,” and Part II, “Pedagogy andpractice.” Hoping “to advance . . . conversations about asocial paradigm in professional writing research andpedagogy” (p. xii), the editors include selections such as“The social perspective and professional communica-tion: Diversity and directions in research” by Thralls andBlyler; “Ideology and the map: Toward a postmodernvisual design practice” by Ben F. Barton and MarthaleeS. Barton; “You are what you cite: Novelty and intertex-tuality in a biologist’s experimental article” by CarolBerkenkotter and Thomas Huckin; “The role of law,policy, and ethics in corporate composing: Toward apractical ethics for professional writing” by James E.Porter; and “Conflict in collaborative decision-making”by Rebecca E. Burnett.

Duin, Ann Hill, and Craig J. Hansen, eds. 1996. Nonaca-demic writing: Social theory and technology. Mahwah, NJ:Erlbaum. Indexes. 376 pp.

In the foreword to this collection of 14 essays, MarilynM. Cooper defines nonacademic writing in part as

ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHYEssential Works on Technical CommunicationAlred


“writing that gets something done, as opposed towriting that serves an aesthetic, cognitive, or affectivefunction” (p. x). In the preface, the editors suggestthat each chapter challenges current theory, research,and pedagogy as well as provokes additional inquiryabout nonacademic writing (p. xiv). The chapterscover a broad range of issues in such influential es-says as “The computer culture, gender, and nonaca-demic writing: An interdisciplinary critique” by MaryM. Lay; “Writing as democratic social action in a tech-nological world: Politicizing and inhabiting virtuallandscapes” by Cynthia L. Selfe and Richard J. Selfe,Jr.; and “Nonacademic writing into the twenty-firstcentury: Achieving and sustaining relevance in re-search and curricula” by Elizabeth Tebeaux.

Odell, Lee, and Dixie Goswami, eds. 1985. Writing innonacademic settings. New York, NY: Guilford. Indexes.553 pp.

This collection of 14 articles presents scholarship onwriting in nonacademic settings and suggests “ways itmight become the basis for teaching and for furtherresearch” (p. viii). The articles are divided into fiveparts. Part I is Paul V. Anderson’s “What survey re-search tells us about writing at work.” Part II includes“Perceiving structure in professional prose: A multiplydetermined experience” by Gregory G. Colomb andJoseph M. Williams and “Making information accessi-ble to readers” by Janice C. Redish, Robbin M. Batti-son, and Edward S. Gold. Part III treats the influenceof new technologies in articles by Jeanne W. Halpernand Denise E. Murray.

Part IV begins with “Nonacademic writing: The socialperspective” by Lester Faigley and includes “Beyond thetext: Relations between writing and social context” byLee Odell; “Writing at Exxon ITD: Notes on the writingenvironment of an R&D organization” by James Paradis,David Dobrin, and Richard Miller; and “Special topics ofargument in engineering reports” by Carolyn R. Millerand Jack Selzer. Part V includes “The writing teacher inthe workplace: Some questions and answers about con-sulting” by Dwight W. Stevenson in addition to twoarticles on building a professional writing program andcourses in collaboration with those outside the acad-emy. Part VI includes “Survey methodology” by Paul V.Anderson and “Ethnographic research on writing: as-sumptions and methodology” by Stephen Doheny-Farina and Lee Odell.

Spilka, Rachel, ed. 1993. Writing in the workplace: Newresearch perspectives. Carbondale, IL: Southern Illinois UP.Index. Bib. 332 pp.

“In many respects,” according to the editor, “this book isa follow-up to the 1985 anthology Writing in nonaca-demic settings” (p. viii). After commenting on the sub-sequent progress in the field, Spilka suggests that “be-fore the discipline can mature further, it needs todetermine where it has been and where it needs to gonext” (p. vii). Accordingly, the 19 articles are dividedinto two parts: “Part one: Research studies of writing inthe workplace” and “Part two: Implications of recentresearch findings for theory, pedagogy and practice, andfuture research.”

Part One begins with “Situational exigence: Compos-ing processes on the job by writer’s role and task value”in which Barbara Couture and Jone Rymer survey work-ing professionals relative to writing processes, roles, andtasks. The nine other articles report studies of specificcontexts, audiences, and genres, such as “Genre as com-munity invention: A central bank’s response to its exec-utives’ expectations as readers” by Graham Smart, “Dis-course regulations and the production of knowledge” byAnthony Pare, and “Becoming a rhetor: Developingwriting ability in a mature, writing-intensive organiza-tion” by Jamie MacKinnon.

Part Two begins with “Corporate authority: Sponsoringrhetorical practice” by Mary Beth Debs, who examinesthe concept of authorship in the workplace. Jack Selzerexamines intertextuality and the writing process andLeslie Olsen explores research on discourse communi-ties. Patricia Sullivan and James E. Porter examine re-search methodology and suggest it should take place“with these perspectives—theory, practice, method—indialectic tension” (p. 237). Other contributors examinethese various tensions, such as Rachel Spilka in “Influ-encing workplace practice: A challenge for professionalwriting specialists in academia” and Tyler Bouldin andLee Odell, who use a “systems theory perspective” toview writing in the workplace.

PHILOSOPHY, HISTORY, AND ETHICSThe works listed below provide important philosophicalinsights on technical communication, including definitionsof the field, historical perspectives, and ethical foundationsof practice.

Allen, Lori, and Dan Voss. 1997. Ethics in technical com-munication: Shades of gray. New York, NY: John Wiley &Sons. Index. Bib. 410 pp.

This textbook is a comprehensive guide to ethical com-munication for both classes and technical communica-tors on the job. The authors liven the book with epi-grams on ethics from diverse sources from Shakespeareto noted business executives.



Part I, “Setting the stage,” has three chapters that defineethical behavior, value analysis, and professional codesof ethics. In the second part, the authors propose 10basic values for analyzing ethical dilemmas: honesty,legality, privacy, quality, teamwork, conflict of interest,cultural sensitivity, social responsibility, professionalgrowth, and professionalism. Chapters in Parts I and IIinclude “application” exercises that review principles inthe chapters and “exploration” exercises that assign writ-ing projects.

Part III defines case studies and includes nine chaptersthat each present a case requiring analysis. The casestudy chapters begin with a description of the casesituation followed by questions for small-group discus-sion, a role-playing exercise, and a suggestion for large-group discussion. Cases include such situations as suf-ficient safety warnings in manuals, plagiarism, andaccurate reports.

Connors, Robert J. 1982. “The rise of technical writinginstruction in America.” Journal of technical writing andcommunication 12, no. 4:329–352.

As long as human beings “have used tools and haveneeded to communicate with each other about them,”the author observes, “technical discourse has existed”(p. 329). Before tracing the history of technical writinginstruction during the period 1900–1980, the authorexamines its origins in engineering education in the 19thCentury. He describes the key figures and their textsduring the early years (1895–1939): T. A. Rickard, Sam-uel Chandler Earle, J. Raleigh Nelson, Frank Aydelotte,Sada A. Harbarger, and others. Several controversies areevident from the field’s beginnings: vocationalism vs.liberal arts, faculty status in English departments, anddebates over the goals of courses. The author concludes“in general the prospect is excellent for both teachersand students of technical writing” (p. 349).

Dobrin, David N. 1989. “What’s technical about technicalwriting?” Chapter 3 in Writing and technique. Urbana, IL:National Council of Teachers of English.

One of the most widely cited works in technical com-munication, Dobrin’s “What is technical about technicalwriting?” first appeared as a chapter in Paul V. Ander-son’s 1983 collection New essays in technical and sci-entific communication: Research, theory, practice (list-ed earlier in this bibliography under “LandmarkAnthologies”). Dobrin argues against definitions of tech-nical writing that rely merely on identifying specificformats, scientific or technical content, or an “objective”style, or those definitions that assume a universal or

transparent theory of language. Instead of technical writ-ing as information transfer or the simple imparting offacts, Dobrin uses the philosophies of Wittgenstein andQuine as well as the speech act theory of John Searleand Hubert Dreyfus to define technical writing as “writ-ing that accommodates technology to the user” (p. 54).As a result of this definition, Dobrin suggests that re-search in technical writing should extend beyond boththe act of writing and the written product itself to en-compass “the practices of groups the writer is writing to,writing for, and writing from, as well as the practices ofgroups in which the writer” is located (p. 58).

Faber, Brenton. 2002. “Professional identities: What is pro-fessional about professional communication?” Journal ofbusiness and technical communication 16, no. 3:306–337.

Surveying the use of the term professional in majortechnical and business communication journal articlesbetween 1990 and 1999, Faber finds that many do notadequately distinguish professional writing from occu-pational writing considered more generally. Of thosethat do, Faber identifies three common themes thatdistinguish professional identity: professionals have aspecific rather than general audience relationship, pro-fessionals have “responsibility as social advocates,” andprofessionals “are ethically obligated to maintain theiroccupational distinctiveness and the social and eco-nomic power that comes from this elitism” (pp. 314–315). Building on these characteristics, Faber suggeststhat professional identities create possible points of con-flict with values of professional communication instruc-tors, such as a “contradiction between the elitism ofprofessional powers and the egalitarianism supportedby rhetorical scholars” (p. 320), as well as epistemolog-ical differences. Moreover, Faber argues that a variety ofoccupational and social forces are causing a decline inboth the elite status and vital social role of professions.Teachers of professional communication should addressthis decline and help students “become better aware ofthe highly charged and changing occupational and so-cial contexts that define professional work” (p. 331).

Johnson, Robert R. 1998. User-centered technology: A rhe-torical theory for computers and other mundane artifacts.SUNY Series, Studies in Scientific and Technical Commu-nication. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press.Index. Bib. 195 pp.

Johnson offers what he calls a “user-centered theory” oftechnology, which calls for users to become “activeparticipants in the design, development, implementa-tion, and maintenance of the technology” (p. 32). For



practitioners, this theory can help provide “a deeper,more conscious understanding . . . [of] the ‘givens’ thatwe take for granted concerning users and technology aswe go about our everyday lives” (p. xiv) as well asapplications of the user-centered approach. The first ofthree parts, “Situating technology,” describes the impor-tant (but often overlooked) impact of technology in oureveryday lives. Johnson also presents a theoreticalmodel, the “user-centered rhetorical complex of tech-nology,” which places the user (rather than the designeror the technological system) at the center of the designand writing process. This model can be used by techni-cal communicators as a device for audience analysis, asa heuristic for analyzing technologies themselves, or asa way to study how users “use, make, and/or evendestroy technology” (p. 40).

The second part, “Complicating technology,” providesthe theoretical background for Johnson’s user-centeredapproach, whereas the third part, “Communicating tech-nology,” offers applications of this approach. Chapter 6focuses on nonacademic applications of the user-centered rhetorical complex. The user-centered per-spective views users not just as readers of texts, but asinvolved in a complex, localized context. In this view,the design and writing process “is a collaborative, ne-gotiated affair that is perpetually building the knowl-edge of users and their various contexts into the prod-ucts being developed” (p. 135). Chapter 7 offerspedagogical and research applications of user-centeredapproach, arguing that researchers and students shouldbe trained to become “technical rhetoricians,” or “a tech-nical communicator who is trained in the theory andpractice of the arts of discourse, and who practices thesearts as a responsible member of a greater social order”(p. 158).

Johnson-Eilola, Johndan. 1996. “Relocating the value ofwork: Technical communication in a post-industrial age.”Technical communication quarterly 5, no. 3:245–270.

The author aims to “provide a more productive frame-work for technical communication by positioning cur-rent research and practice in technical communicationwithin specific aspects of symbolic-analytic work” (p.246). Drawing on the shift from industrial to post-indus-trial economies described by economist Robert Reich,Johnson-Eilola argues that technical communication canovercome its disempowering relegation to a service orsupport role by affirming the communication aspect oftechnical communication. Reich’s symbolic-analytic cat-egory opens up possibilities for doing so by allowingtechnical communicators to locate value in process andcontextualized information rather than only in product

and de-contextualized technology. Johnson-Eilola pro-vides four areas of focus that would allow technicalcommunication to be rearticulated as symbolic-analyticwork: experimentation, collaboration, abstraction, andsystem-thinking. He then describes five “key projects”for technical communication pedagogy that would“strengthen the symbolic analytic skills” (p. 263). John-son-Eilola concludes: “By rearticulating technical com-munication as symbolic-analytic work, we might use ourprofessional diversity and flexibility to empower our-selves and technology users” (p. 266).

Katz, Steven B. 1992. “The ethic of expediency: Classicalrhetoric, technology, and the Holocaust.” College English54, no. 3:255–275.

The author begins this article by reproducing an actualmemo requesting improvements for Nazi exterminationvans. He writes, “Here, as in most technical writing and,I will argue, in most deliberative rhetoric, the focus is onexpediency, on technical criteria as a means to an end”(p. 257). Katz contends that Aristotle’s “ethic of expedi-ency” was “rhetorically embraced by the Nazi regimeand combined with science and technology to form the‘moral basis of the holocaust” (p. 258). Suggesting thatHitler justified mass extermination through a rhetoric oftechnology, the author cautions against “a rationalitytaken to such extremes that it becomes madness” (p.267). He then discusses the use of propaganda andconcludes that we should “question whether expedi-ency should be the primary ethical standard in deliber-ative discourse, including scientific and technical com-munication” (p. 272).

Kuhn, Thomas S. 1996. The structure of scientific revolu-tions. 3rd ed. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.Index. 212 pp.

Kuhn’s book is often referred to as a landmark inintellectual history. It is a landmark because Kuhneffectively practices a meta-scientific inquiry that callsinto question the very nature of scientific method. Theobject of greatest scrutiny for Kuhn is “normal sci-ence,” which refers to a tradition of research sanc-tioned by a particular scientific community. To exam-ine this inherently conservative (and unreflective) setof codes, Kuhn proposes the idea of “paradigms.” ForKuhn, paradigms “provide models from which springparticular coherent traditions of scientific research”(p. 10). Normal science does not disclose its super-vising paradigms, nor does it take seriously the anom-alies that always crop up in scientific experiments.When these anomalies come to predominate, then,



Kuhn claims, a new paradigm is called for to makesense of them. This is how one tradition supplantsanother. Most of Kuhn’s book is an examination ofhow and why scientific revolutions occur—why aparadigm shift happens at a certain point in the his-tory of science. Far from being based on objective,foundational facts, this history is permeated by con-ventions, communities, and intuitions that make itdifficult to predict the course of inquiry. Kuhn’s bookmay itself be seen as occasioning a paradigm shift, asthe scientific world undergoes another Copernicanrevolution by recognizing the historicity of its mostcherished assumptions.

In an important Postscript (written seven years afterthe original 1962 publication), Kuhn addresses the crit-icism of his colleagues, especially regarding his some-times ambiguous use of the term “paradigm.”

Kynell, Teresa C. 2000. Writing in a milieu of utility: Themove to technical communication in American engineer-ing programs, 1850–1950. 2nd ed. ATTW ContemporaryStudies in Technical Communication, vol. 12. Stamford, CT:Ablex Publishing. Indexes. 134 pp.

M. Jimmie Killingsworth states in the preface that thisbook “has been an essential text in the study of thehistory of technical communication” (p. xiii), and in theintroduction, Elizabeth Tebeaux suggests that Kynell hasprovided “a clear link between the past and our owntime” (p. xix).

In the book, Kynell uses archival research to describe theevolution of technical writing as a field focusing on prac-tical utility in “the real world” and deeply rooted in engi-neering education. According to Kynell, “By examining theplace of English in the curriculum of engineering studentsfrom the mid-19th century to 1950, I demonstrate howtechnical writing evolved and developed as a distinct En-glish discipline in American engineering programs” (p. 2).In doing so, Kynell identifies the roots of many disciplinaryand pedagogical struggles that continue today.

Kynell begins with a chapter reviewing the literatureavailable on technical writing’s roots in American engi-neering education. Chapters 2–7 each describes a sepa-rate decade and identifies an important influence on thedevelopment of the discipline, such as curricular changein engineering and, consequently, English; the need forpractical utility of English and, therefore, a different kindof English class; questions of pedagogical jurisdiction,expertise, and teacher training; and the emergence oftechnical writing as a discipline following World War II.The book concludes with an epilogue “Technical Com-munication 1950–1998: Where Are We Now?” byKatherine Staples.

Lay, Mary M. 1991. “Feminist theory and the redefinition oftechnical communication.” Journal of business and techni-cal communication 5, no. 4:348–370.

The author addresses how technical communication “ei-ther directly or through its affiliation with these otherdisciplines [has] been affected by feminist theory andgender studies” (p. 348). The author then addresses thisquestion by first discussing five characteristics of femi-nist theory: a celebration of difference, theory activatingsocial change, acknowledgement of scholars’ back-grounds and values, inclusion of women’s experiences,and a study of gaps and silences in traditional scholar-ship. This foundation allows the author to call for aredefinition of technical communication through ethno-graphic research and collaborative writing that adheresto those five characteristics. Finally, the author con-cludes with a series of questions for future scholars toaddress that center around discovering the importanceof such a redefinition, as well as the new avenues thatwill be able to be followed through that redefinition.

Mathes, J. C., and Dwight W. Stevenson. 1991. Designingtechnical reports: Writing for audiences in organizations.2nd ed. New York, NY: Macmillan. Index. 506 pp.

Developed in part through the authors’ summer insti-tutes at the University of Michigan, the original versionof this textbook (Bobbs-Merrill 1976) presented a sys-tematic procedure with which engineers could “design”reports. The second edition addresses “a wider range ofsubject matters . . . drawn from business, banking,healthcare, social service, criminal justice, and insuranceas well as engineering” (p. viii). One of the most notableelements in both editions is their “egocentric organiza-tion chart for audience analysis” as graphic representa-tion of various layers of audiences at increasing distancefrom the writer (p. 33). This representation has contrib-uted to a general understanding of complex, multipleaudiences.

Miller, Carolyn R. 1984. “Genre as social action.” Quarterlyjournal of speech 70 (May): 151–167.

The author proposes that “in rhetoric the term ‘genre’ belimited to a particular type of discourse classification, aclassification based in rhetorical practice and conse-quently open rather than closed and organized aroundsituated actions” (p. 155). Miller asserts, “To consider aspotential genres such homely discourse as the letter ofrecommendation, the user manual, the progress report,the ransom note, the lecture, and the white paper, aswell as the eulogy, the apologia, the inaugural, the



public proceeding, and the sermon, is not to trivializethe study of genres; it is to take seriously the rhetoric inwhich we are immersed and the situations in which wefind ourselves” (p. 155). The article refines her thesisthat genres can be seen as “typified rhetorical actionsbased in recurrent situations” (p. 159). After describingfive typical features of the understanding of genre, sheconcludes, “genres can serve both as an index to culturalpatterns and as tools for exploring the achievements ofparticular speakers and writers; for the student, genresserve as keys to understanding how to participate in theactions of a community” (p. 165).

Miller, Carolyn R. 1979. “A humanistic rationale for techni-cal writing.” College English 40, no. 6:610–617.

In perhaps the most often-cited article in technical writ-ing, Miller argues that technical writing possesses signif-icant humanistic value. What has worked against thisview, she suggests, is the dominant positivist perspec-tive of science and a “windowpane theory of language”(p. 611) that have essentially turned technical writinginto a task of simple transmission of given information.

Viewing writing as participation in a community, sheproposes, “We can improve the teaching and study oftechnical writing by trading our covert acceptance ofpositivism for an overt consensualist perspective” (p.616). Further, by understanding that science is partici-pation in a community, “Good technical writing be-comes, rather than the revelation of absolute reality, apersuasive version of experience” (p. 616). Miller sug-gests that technical writing teachers revise their under-standing of science to reconceptualize the discipline asa whole in more systematic terms, and she concludes, “Ifwe do begin to talk about understanding, rather thanonly about skills, I believe we have a basis for consid-ering technical writing a humanistic study” (p. 617).

Miller, Carolyn R. 1989. “What’s practical about technicalwriting.” In Technical writing: Theory and practice, ed.Bertie E. Fearing and W. Keats Sparrow. New York, NY:Modern Language Association, pp. 14–24.

The author begins with the observation that technicalwriting, with its focus on “the rhetoric of the ‘world ofwork,’ of commerce and production” is often viewed asa “practical” discipline, with the term “practical” oftenintended to suggest, in a pejorative sense, that technicalcommunication is an applied, vocational field ratherthan one defined through a body of theoretical knowl-edge (p. 15). The author disputes this view, counteringwith the argument that technical writing is indeed “prac-tical,” but in the particular sense that it is a field charac-

terized by praxis or the prudent application of theoret-ical knowledge in specific situations with the larger aimof enhancing the well-being of the community. Shesuggests that this re-conceptualization of technical com-munication as a field grounded in the rhetoric of praxishas much to offer pedagogy: “Understanding practicalrhetoric as a matter of conduct rather than of produc-tion, as a matter of arguing in a prudent way toward thegood of the community rather than of constructing texts,should offer some new perspectives for teachers oftechnical writing and developers of courses and pro-grams in technical communication” (p. 23).

Ornatowski, Cezar M. 1992. “Between efficiency and poli-tics: Rhetoric and ethics in technical writing.” Technicalcommunication quarterly 1, no. 1:91–103.

Ornatowski suggests that a central contradiction in theteaching and practice of ethical technical communica-tion lies within textbooks’ requirement that technicalwriting be effective, practical, and objective. The tech-nical writer faces two incompatible goals: “to serve theinterests that employ her effectively and efficiently whilebeing objective, plain, factual, and so on” (p. 94). Thus,the author claims that technical writing in real-worldcontexts is much more political and rhetorical than text-books make it out to be. The author asks his readers toaccept that technical writing is rhetoric, and because ofits “stylistic attributes of clarity, directness, factuality,objectivity, and neutrality, technical communication iswell suited to serve as the rhetorical instrument of or-ganizational bureaucratic rationality”(p. 101). This real-ization does not solve the contradiction, Ornatowskiacknowledges, but does make the contradiction visibleso that writers can “take the first step toward having thecapacity to analyze the trade-offs and bargains that onemakes” (p. 102).

Pirsig, Robert M. 1999. Zen and the art of motorcyclemaintenance: An inquiry into values. 25th anniversary ed.New York, NY: William Morrow. 418 pp.

Pirsig’s novel has become something more than a cultclassic since its publication in 1974. This 25th anniver-sary edition includes a new introduction from the authorwho explains some of the faults of the original manu-script and reveals his interpretation of the conclusion. Inthe novel, Pirsig wishes to diagnose a tendency in west-ern society to separate technological expertise from amore holistic, humanistic understanding of the world.The controlling metaphor for this analysis is the motor-cycle, which for Pirsig represents a piece of technologyone may tinker with in the same way one tinkers with



one’s own beliefs and desires. Pirsig’s main question inthe novel is “What is Quality?” as he tries to movebeyond the platitude of “What’s new?” to the far morecompelling question “What is best?” This question takesPirsig back to Greek philosophy and encourages him tomake a distinction between two modes of understand-ing: romantic and classic. Pirsig finds motorcycle ridingromantic, whereas he sees motorcycle maintenance asclassic. An editor and writer of technical manuals beforewriting his novel, Pirsig struggles to understand howtechnical writing became so far removed from a sense ofcaring about both the readers of these manuals andactual technological device being described. By intro-ducing the Eastern concept of “Zen” into Western ratio-nality, Pirsig hopes to suggest an alternate frameworkfor making sense of our own technology.

Slack, Jennifer Daryl, David James Miller, and Jeffrey Doak.1993. “The technical communicator as author: Meaning,power, authority.” Journal of business and technical com-munication 7, no. 1:12–36.

In this article, the authors claim that technical commu-nicators are viewed as transmitters of messages or trans-lators of meaning instead of being considered “authors”who participate in articulating and rearticulating mean-ings. They explain that in each of these views “the placeof the technical communicator—and of the technicaldiscourse itself—shifts in different relations of power”(p. 14). Their conclusion is a call to “give up the faiththat the goal of communication is always clarity andbrevity” by claiming that technical communicators needto be sent out “armed” and prepared to take full respon-sibility for their work (p. 33). They explain that technicalcommunicators can become armed by understandingtheir roles as writers through the articulation viewpoint;they argue that the articulation viewpoint will conceivethe “technical communicator as author and [ . . . ] tech-nical communication as a discourse that produces anauthor” (p. 12).

Tebeaux, Elizabeth. 1997. The emergence of a tradition:Technical writing in the English Renaissance, 1475–1640.Baywood’s Technical Communication Series. Amityville,NY: Baywood Publishing. 246 pp.

Surveying a variety of English Renaissance technical man-uals on topics such as gardening, medicine, animal hus-bandry, household management, and military science, Te-beaux argues that “early technical books allow modernreaders to study the emergence of a genre, while providingnew insight into the study of technical discourse as itreflects the intrinsic character of culture” (p. 30).

Chapters 3–6 provide numerous specific examplesand page illustrations of Renaissance technical writing,arranged according to four major topics: document de-sign and format, audience accommodation, the plainstyle, and the development of graphics for technicaldescription. In Chapter 3, Tebeaux focuses on docu-ment format and design, arguing that a Ramist philoso-phy of classification heavily influenced the developmentof technical document design. Chapter 4 explores theways English technical writers accommodated technicalhandbooks to a wide variety of audiences, focusingspecifically on the use of Latin, Greek, and vernacularEnglish. Tebeaux deals with the emergence of plainstyle in Chapter 5, suggesting that “too much emphasishas been given to both science and Bacon as the pro-genitors of this style” (p. 168). Tebeaux links plain styleinstead with the development of “an increasingly literatepublic that needed books written in spoken English forself-enhancement” (p. 169). Finally, Chapter 6 builds onWalter Ong’s description of a shift from oral to textualcommunication by examining the increasing use of vi-sual aids for technical description. The emergence ofvisual aids in Renaissance technical handbooks “illumi-nates the shift from orality to textuality in another formof written discourse besides narrative, the major focus ofmost orality studies” (p. 176).

RESEARCH STUDIES AND METHODOLOGYThe works below report the results of workplace studies,describe directions in research, and present underlyingassumptions or principles of research.

Alred, Gerald J. 1997. The St. Martin’s bibliography ofbusiness and technical communication. New York, NY: St.Martin’s Press. Indexes. 179 pp.

This bibliography is intended as “a resource for . . .teachers, graduate students, program directors, and con-sultants . . . [especially] those who are new to this field”(p. v). The Introduction includes an essay on the work-place and academy, work and human communication,the interdisciplinary character of the field, and the rela-tionship of theory, practice, and pedagogy. It also detailsthe methodology used to gather and select the worksincluded. The front matter includes sections listing pro-fessional associations, journals, conferences, and Inter-net discussion groups. The 376 works listed are anno-tated and divided into six main sections: Research andhistory; Theory and rhetoric; Profession and curriculum;Workplaces, genres, and language; Technology and vi-sual theory; and Interdisciplinary connections. Thesesections are further divided into subsections, such asBibliographic works, Computer documentation, and



Technology studies. The book concludes with authorand subject indexes.

Anson, Chris M., and L. Lee Forsberg. 1990. “Moving be-yond the academic community: Transitional stages in pro-fessional writing.” Written communication 7, no 2:200–231.

Using qualitative research methodology (for example,journals, logs, taped interviews, workplace texts), theauthors studied the transitions of six university seniorsmoving from academic to professional discourse com-munities. The students were enrolled in a special, 12-week writing internship course in which they discussedand analyzed the writing they were doing at corpora-tions, small businesses, and public service agencies. Thearticle describes the students’ experiences through ex-cerpts from their journals as well as interview statementsand their own analyses.

The authors identify three stages in the student’s tran-sitions: expectation, disorientation, and transition andresolution (p. 208). In describing the students’ disorien-tation, the authors observe, “Much of the disorientationexpressed by the interns soon after they began writingon the job . . . originated not only from the disappoint-ment of generally held expectations, but from collisionof what they saw in their new reality and what they hadlearned from previous experience in other discoursesettings” (p. 211). Among other findings, they observe,“Our study . . . suggests that the writer must first becomea ‘reader’ of a context before he or she can be ‘literate’within it” (p. 225). They conclude that in searching foranswers to the questions this study raises, “we may welldiscover some useful ways in which to extend our cur-rent pedagogy of professional writing beyond its primar-ily textual or ‘composing process’ orientation and intothe realms of territoriality, initiation and membership,ritual, and dialect—concepts that would seem to lie atthe heart of writing as cultural adaptation” (p. 228).

Barabas, Christine. 1990. Technical writing in a corporateculture: A study of the nature of information. Norwood,NJ: Ablex Publishing. Indexes. 313 pp.

This study examines reports in an R&D organization.According to the author, the audience includes “those inacademe who are interested in either studying or teach-ing technical writing and . . . those in R&D organizationswho either write or read technical reports” (p. xxxix).The 12 chapters are divided into three parts: Part I is ageneral examination of academic versus “real-world”writing. Part II looks at scientific and technical writing intheoretical terms and lays a conceptual framework for

the author’s study. Part III describes the study, researchmethods, and the conclusions. Using surveys, inter-views, and other methods, the author studied a singlegenre, the progress report, from a wide variety of per-spectives in an R&D organization. This focus allows theauthor to examine in detail and with precision the writ-ing process of writers and the context of the organiza-tion. Barabas suggests that “this study demonstrates howresearchers can use a combination of methods to con-duct integrative, context-based studies” (p. 286). As aresult of her study, Barabas also recommends that teach-ers use real-world problems and samples of technicalwriting in the classroom, invite guest speakers fromR&D organizations, provide students with first-hand ex-perience through work-study arrangements, and treattopics of primary importance to real-world writers andreaders (p. 281).

Bazerman, Charles. 1988. Shaping written knowledge: Thegenre and activity of the experimental article in science.Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin Press. Index. 356 pp.

As the author prepared to teach writing to students ina variety of disciplines, he found that he “could notunderstand what constituted an appropriate text inany discipline without considering the social and in-tellectual activity which the text was part of” (p. 4).This book is an effort to make such an evaluation and,in the process, trace the emergence of the experimen-tal article in science. The author states, “In the attemptto understand what scientific language has become inpractice, this book consists of a series of case studies”(p. 16). What this statement does not reflect is theauthor’s important observations about the social andrhetorical nature of science as he examines thesecases.

The 12 chapters of this book are divided into five parts.Part I includes an introductory chapter that defines theproblem of assessing scientific texts and a chapter thatexamines three articles, two from the sciences, and onefrom literary studies. Part II reviews the emergence ofthe experimental article. Part III looks at the genre of theexperimental article in physics, and Part IV examines theexperimental report in the social sciences, including ananalysis of the rhetoric of the APA Publication manual.The final part examines how language realizes the workof science and suggests some strategies for writers ofscience and their teachers.

Although scientists do not need to become expertrhetoricians, Bazerman concludes, one result of the au-thor’s study is a clear recognition that writing in thesciences is thoroughly rhetorical and merits furtherscholarly attention.



Berkenkotter, Carol, and Thomas N. Huckin. 1995. Genreknowledge in disciplinary communication: Cognition/cul-ture/power. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum. Indexes. Bib.190 pp.

This book explores the central role played by the genresof disciplinary writing—such as grant proposals, re-search reports, conference papers, journal articles, andmonographs—in the development and communicationof field-specific academic and professional knowledge.The authors outline a “sociocognitive theory of genre”comprising five “principles” for characterizing writtendiscourse genres: dynamism, situatedness, form andcontent, duality of structure, and community ownership.The authors then present six case studies of writtengenres used in a range of academic and professionalcommunities that “further develop and comment on[these] principles” (p. x). A key aim throughout the bookis to explore how the concept of genre might be used tosituate individual agents’ rhetorical actions within thecontext of larger discursive systems. Consequently,while the authors seek to understand the nature andacquisition of the genre knowledge deployed by indi-viduals in their work, they are also concerned with theways in which a discourse community’s genres reflect itscollective “norms, epistemology, ideology, and socialontology” (p. 25). In the final chapter, the authors ex-amine the pedagogical implications of the sociocogni-tive theory of genre developed in the book, focusing onthe debate over the effectiveness of explicit instructionin helping children master school-based genres.

Blyler, Nancy. 1998. “Taking a political turn: The criticalperspective and research in professional communication.”Technical communication quarterly 7, no. 1:33–52.

As an alternative to the proliferation of professional com-munication scholarship that simply offers a descriptive,explanatory research focus, the author suggests a criticalperspective. This perspective should rely on research that“attempts to contribute to the establishment of free andopen communication situations in which societal, organi-zational, and individual interests can be mutually accom-plished,” and, more importantly, becomes “emancipatory[and] frees individuals from sources of domination and toeffect social action” (pp. 37–39). The author suggests thatprofessional communication research from a critical per-spective model itself after feminist, radical educational, andparticipatory action research. Finally, the author concludeswith a series of implications that the adoption of a criticalperspective would require, including a “need to selectalternative research sites, questions, and sources of fund-ing” (p. 45).

Doheny-Farina, Stephen, ed. 1988. Effective documenta-tion: What we have learned from research. MIT Press Seriesin Information Systems. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. Index.354 pp.

This collection of 16 essays provides a foundation ofresearch-based “information for technical writers, docu-ment designers, managers of technical writing depart-ments, technical communication researchers, and teach-ers and students of technical communication” (pp. 1–2).Some authors report on their own research projects,whereas others “review the implications of a wide vari-ety of empirical research on a given topic or topics” (p.2). Other essays “discuss how technical communicatorsmay incorporate research activities within the documen-tation cycles of their organizations” (p. 2). In-depthdiscussion is provided on “Research into User Learningand Performance, Research into Format and GraphicDesign, Research into the Management of Documenta-tion Processes, and Analyses of Research Methods forTechnical Communication” (p. 2). In the book’s openingessay, Mary Beth Debs reviews “other publications thatoffer technical communication guidelines based on re-search” (p. 7).

Doheny-Farina, Stephen. 1986. “Writing in an emergingorganization: An ethnographic study.” Written communi-cation 3, no. 2:158–185.

This study examines the collaborative writing processesof a group of computer software executives during ayear-long process as they wrote a business plan. As theauthor investigated the social and organizational con-texts that influenced the writing, a number of implica-tions for theory building and pedagogy emerged. First,the author demonstrates how the writing of “a briefpassage of the company’s 1983 Business Plan involved acomplex social process” (p. 178). Thus, among otherobservations, he suggests that the definition of writing innonacademic settings should “include social interactionas a part of the process” (p. 179). More specifically, theauthor finds, “a reciprocal relationship between writingand the development of an organization” (p. 180). Forexample, the writing process itself played a role in thedevelopment of the organization or social group. Heconnects this finding to pedagogy by suggesting,“Teachers would do well to recognize this reciprocalrelationship when integrating collaborative teamprojects into their technical, business, and professionalwriting courses” (p. 180). By providing an ethnographicview of the preparation of a single document, this studyoffers a rich view of the social process the authordescribes.



Driskill, Linda. 1989. “Understanding the writing context inorganizations.” In Writing in the business professions, ed-ited by Myra Kogen. Urbana, IL: National Council of Teach-ers of English and Association for Business Communica-tion, pp. 125–145.

The article uses various examples, especially the spaceshuttle Challenger accident, to demonstrate how contextand corporate culture affect writing in organizations.The author states, “The chief value of context is itsusefulness in explaining the types of meanings writersattempt to express, and readers expect to interpret, inspecific situations” (p. 125). She describes how and whythree models of business communication neglect con-text and provides both text and visual examples to makeher points. The article closes with implications for teach-ing: “Recognizing the force of culture, technology, andsituations can enrich our production and use of cases inthe classroom” (p. 142).

Geisler, Cheryl, Charles Bazerman, Stephen Doheny-Farina, Laura Gurak, Christina Haas, Johndan Johnson-Eilola, David S. Kaufer, Andrea Lunsford, Carolyn R.Miller, Dorothy Winsor, and JoAnne Yates. 2001. “IText:Future directions for research on the relationship be-tween information technology and writing.” Journalof business and technical communication 15, no. 3:269–308.

The authors, members of the IText working group,argue that the development of text-based technology,called information technology (IT, and thus, IText), isa relatively recent phenomenon, one that places tech-nical communication specialists in a position to in-form the study and design of IT. This article identifiescore issues in IT and traditions of study that caninform these issues. These traditions include rhetoricaltheory, activity theory, literacy studies, genre theory, us-ability research, and workplace writing. The issues identi-fied are effectiveness of ITexts, the interplay of visual andverbal information, credibility in ITexts, information over-load, information retrieval, and IText as intellectual prop-erty. Finally, the authors state that “research on IText must. . . work to understand and direct IT development ina way that acknowledges the complexity of the mean-ing-making process, the historical forces that shapeinteractions with text, and the powerful impact liter-ate interactions in these new electronic environmentsare having on society” (p. 297).

Rainey, Kenneth T. 1999. “Doctoral research in technical,scientific, and business communication, 1989–1998.” Tech-nical communication 46, no. 4:501–531.

This article updates Kenneth Rainey and Rebecca Kelly’ssurvey of doctoral research in professional communica-tion for a 1992 issue of Technical communication (39,no. 4). The author continues to “focus on making knownthe wide variety of doctoral research in professionalcommunication emanating from many academic institu-tions” and provides a survey of doctoral programs intechnical communication (p. 501). Rainey uses this in-formation to establish a framework for discussing re-search methods, concerns of the discipline, and avenuesfor further study. He concludes his analysis with a bib-liography that lists and categorizes 178 dissertationscompleted between 1989 and 1998.

Rainey, Kenneth T., and Rebecca S. Kelly. 1992. “Doctoralresearch in technical communication, 1965–1990.” Techni-cal communication 39, no. 4:552–570.

This article is based on a survey of technical communi-cation programs, searches of electronic databases, andcontent analyses of dissertation abstracts. The authorssummarize their findings concerning research at thedoctoral level, examine the institutions conducting doc-toral research, describe the methodologies used, andcatalog the topics of dissertations. They conclude theiranalysis with a bibliography that lists 155 (of the 170)dissertations produced during 1965–1990.

Selzer, Jack. 1983. “The composing processes of an engi-neer.” College composition and communication 34, no.2:178–187.

This article reports a landmark study of the composingprocess of a single engineer. The author discovers prac-tices that run counter to research on composing whenthe article was published. For example, Selzer observes,“If for academic and professional writers revision is amessy, recursive matter of discovering and shaping whatone wants to say, for Nelson [the engineer] revising is arather clean matter of polishing a rough draft that al-ready approximates his intentions” (p. 184). Selzer alsoobserves that the engineer analyzes his audience’sneeds carefully when he wants to generate content, notwhen he is making stylistic choices later in his writingprocess (p. 180). Further, “Nelson relies on an impres-sive array of invention procedures—analyzing audi-ences, reading, consulting colleagues, brainstorming,and reviewing previously written documents” (p. 181).Based on these and other observations, Selzer con-cludes, “it may be appropriate to describe the writingprocess of engineers as more linear than recursive. Itmay also be appropriate in teaching prospective engi-neers to emphasize principles and techniques of ar-



rangement and, by contrast, to regard revision as theleast important activity in the engineer’s writing process”(p. 185).

Spilka, Rachel. 1990. “Orality and literacy in the workplace:Process- and text-based strategies for multiple-audienceadaptation.” Journal of business and technical communi-cation 4, no. 1:44–67.

This qualitative study of seven engineers addresses twoquestions: “What is the role of orality in the composingprocesses of corporate writers?” and “How does oralityrelate to literacy in the evolution of corporate docu-ments?” (p. 45). The author uses orality to mean theprocess of transmitting ideas via speech, including “writ-ten forms resembling speech” (p. 45). As a result of herstudy, the author observes that orality was the centralmeans of analyzing multiple audiences, adapting dis-course to multiple audiences, fulfilling rhetorical goals,and fulfilling social goals as well as building and sus-taining the corporate culture (p. 45). During the processof evaluating the data, the author graphically presents“an audience-adaptation model” to illustrate the strate-gies used by five of the engineers in the study who wererhetorically successful (p. 53). Spilka concludes that weneed to broaden our approach to multiple-audienceanalysis in the workplace in a way that considers thesocial features of a rhetorical situation. Further, we needto “develop a fuller appreciation of the multiple roles oforality in fulfilling rhetorical and social goals” (p. 66).

Winsor, Dorothy A. 1990. “The construction of knowledgein organizations: Asking the right questions about the Chal-lenger.” Journal of business and technical communication4, no. 2:7–20.

The author states that previous research on the Chal-lenger explosion tends “to ask why it happened thatvarious people in the organizations involved knewabout the faulty O-rings but failed to pass on the infor-mation to decision makers” (p. 7). Winsor sees thisquestion as faulty because it assumes that knowledgeexists apart from social forces and that we can simply“pass on” information: “The passing on of information isa misleading concept because it is part of what might becalled the conduit model of communication” (p. 13).

She offers two questions that address the social contextof communication. First she asks, “Given that there weretwo alternative views of the O-rings’ safety available,what factors made one view more acceptable than theother?” (p. 16). She continues that while “it is a com-monplace maxim that knowledge is power, it is also truethat power is knowledge in the sense that people with

power decide what counts as knowledge” (p. 16). Hersecond question is “How could the advocates of theview that the O-rings were not safe have affected com-munal knowledge so that this view became the morewidely accepted of the two alternative views?” (p. 17).She suggests a pedagogical application: “we might alsoteach about the necessity for picking battles carefully,since a writer who is critical too often will create theethos of being constantly at odds with the organization”(p. 17). For her concluding questions, she asks “Whatadvice can we, as scholars of rhetoric, offer to those whostruggle to construct knowledge so that we might lessentheir chances of experiencing regret when the truthfinally becomes known?” (p. 18).

Winsor, Dorothy A. 1996. Writing like an engineer: Arhetorical education. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum. In-dexes. 120 pp.

This longitudinal study examines the emerging rhetori-cal awareness of four engineering undergraduates asthey participate in a five-year cooperative educationprogram. Through interviews and document analysis,Winsor investigates the effects of “exposure to practicingengineers and to common engineering genres” (p. 17)on the students’ writing, focusing especially on the stu-dents’ assumptions of the “centrality of data”—the beliefthat “data can create knowledge apart from persuasion”(p. 32)—and their evolving understanding of audience.Following individual discussions of each student and hiswriting, Winsor examines the tension between joining adiscourse community and “retaining some distance on acommunity’s discourse to critique its inevitable limita-tions” (p. 105). The book’s “Backtalk” sections includecomments and reflection from the young engineers ontheir review of Winsor’s manuscript.

Yates, JoAnne. 1989. Control through communication: Therise of system in American management. Baltimore, MD:Johns Hopkins University Press. Index. 339 pp.

This book examines the relationship of communicationsystems to managerial development during the period1850 to 1920. The first three chapters discuss “Manage-rial methods and the functions of internal communica-tion,” “Communication technology and the growth ofinternal communication,” and “Genres of internal com-munication.” The remaining five chapters examine threespecific organizations: the Illinois Central Railroad, Sco-vill Manufacturing Company, and E. I. du Pont deNemours & Company. The book is richly illustrated witharchival materials, such as organizational documentsand photographs.



One of the author’s findings is that “new communica-tion genres developed as a product of organizationalneeds and available technologies. Circular letters, re-ports, and manuals were shaped by the demands of theirproduction and use. Older customs of form and stylegave way in the face of a new desire to make documentsmore efficient to create and to use. Thus, developmentsin managerial methods, communication technologies,and communication genres fed on one another in theevolution of the communication system” (p. xviii). Thisbook not only provides historical insight but also offersa lens through which we might better understand theimpact of modern communication technologies.

EDUCATION AND PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENTWorks in this section include significant resources forteachers, students, trainers, and professionals.

Barnum, Carol M. and Saul Carliner. 1993. Techniques fortechnical communicators. Boston, MA: Allyn and Bacon.Index. 368 pp.

This book is intended for “advanced students of techni-cal, scientific, and professional communication pro-grams, as well as working professionals and those inter-ested in entering the field” (p. iii). Establishing anaudience- and process-centered approach, the authorsdivide the book into four parts: planning, designing,editing, and verifying and protecting. A “collaborativeeffort between industry and academe,” each sectioncontains chapters written by educators and profession-als working in technical communication (p. iii).

Part I on planning emphasizes the importance of read-ers as active users and interpreters of texts, effectivedrafting principles, and group project management. PartII focuses on designing information: using writing de-vices, applying graphic forms, choosing design features,and developing multimedia communication. Part III, onediting texts, takes an audience-centered approach toissues of grammar, consistency, and style conventions.Part IV covers verifying and protecting information—namely, usability and usability testing, copyright laws,and the ethical obligations that technical communicatorsface when composing texts.

Gopferich, Susanne. 1998. Interkulturelles technical writ-ing: Fachliches adressatengerecht vermitteln. Tubingen,Germany: Gunter Narr Verlag. Index. 521 pp.

This book (English translation: “Intercultural technicalwriting: Technical knowledge training for target audi-ences: A text and workbook”) presents the results ofresearch from various fields on how to improve writing

skills, especially in the field of technical documentation.The book includes chapters on communication theoryand semiotics; visualization; typography and layout;professional genres; syntax from a communicative per-spective (speech act theory, theme/rheme theory); ter-minology science and terminography; legibility, read-ability, and comprehensibility; cognitive processesinvolved in writing; cultural barriers and how to over-come them; legal aspects of technical documentation; aswell as a survey of writing- and translation-related soft-ware. Each chapter ends with exercises; a key is pro-vided at the end of the book.

Horton, William. 2000. Designing Web-based training:How to teach anyone anything anywhere anytime. NewYork, NY: John Wiley & Sons. Index. 607 pp.

The author defines Web-based training (WBT) as “Anypurposeful, considered application of Web technologiesto the task of educating a fellow human being” (p. 2). Henotes that initial advantages of WBT over CBT (comput-er-based training from disks) are “access to Web-basedresources, centralized storage and maintenance, [and]collaboration mechanisms” (p. 19). Horton stresses that“WBT does not change how humans learn, but . . . howwe can teach them” (p. 6), and he argues that theshortage of trained technology workers creates an in-creasing need for WBT. Horton outlines the benefits anddisadvantages to using WBT, providing solutions to theproblems arising in WBT.

The book uses a structure that a trainer or teachermight follow: choosing an approach for a WBT course;building the course’s framework, from explaining thecourse to gathering feedback and clearing hurdles; or-ganizing the sequence of lessons; creating learning ac-tivities to enhance student interest; developing tests andexercises; and promoting collaboration among students.The final sections of the book examine teaching in avirtual classroom, motivating learners, expanding to aglobal focus, overcoming technical hurdles, and movingbeyond the classroom to incorporate both real and vir-tual components, such as field trips and online libraries,to enhance the experience and abilities of students.

Keene, Michael L., ed. 1997. Education in scientific andtechnical communication: Academic programs that work.Arlington, VA: Society for Technical Communication. In-dex. Bib. 210 pp.

This book was funded by a grant from the Society forTechnical Communication to provide a “comprehensivedescription of the key types of scientific and technicalcommunication programs available in the United States



today” (p. xi) and ultimately to “push the process ofquality improvement” (p. xii).

Following an introduction that describes the history ofthis project, eight chapters examine different types ofprograms: PhD, master of science, master of arts, bach-elor of science, bachelor of arts, certificate, the minor,and two-year college programs. Although the chaptersare written by different authors and use as an examplespecific programs, they share the same structure. Thefirst part of each chapter presents a discussion of the“general characteristics shared by most programs of thatchapter’s particular type [and] the second part of thechapter focuses on one program as representing all thedistinguishing characteristics (including not just charac-teristic strengths but also any tendency to a particular setof weaknesses) of this type of program” (p. xx). Thebook ends with “Conclusion: Issues of quality” by Keenewhich addresses the “nature of the profession of tech-nical communication,” “the nature of U.S. colleges anduniversities,” and “the intersection of the first two” (p.185). Among other recommendations, Keene concludesthat “flexibility within programs and diversity acrossprograms seem to be qualities to seek and to nurture”(p. 196).

Lutz, Jean A., and C. Gilbert Storms, eds. 1998. The practiceof technical and scientific communication: Writing in pro-fessional contexts. ATTW Contemporary Studies in Techni-cal Communication, vol. 4. Stamford, CT: Ablex Publishing.Index. 309 pp.

This book is for anyone who wishes “to explore thisprofession [technical communication] for its career po-tential” (p. vii). Each chapter describes what technicaland scientific communicators do in 12 different profes-sional areas—business and manufacturing, engineering,aerospace, computer science, environmental science,hazardous waste management, medicine, pharmaceuti-cals, general science, government and social services,technical advertising, freelancing, and consulting. Eachchapter, written by contributors who are practitionersand/or teachers in one of the areas, tries to answerquestions people entering the profession might have:What’s it like to be a writer in a particular professionalarea? Where might I work? What special skills might Ineed? And how, exactly, should I prepare if I want to bea technical or scientific communicator? In addition, eachchapter contains interviews with two practitioners aboutthe details of their work.

Redish, Janice. 1995. “Adding value as a professional tech-nical communicator.” Technical communication 42, no.1:26–39.

Redish argues that technical communicators must “con-sider it [their] role to show the value [they] add” (p. 38).To this end, Redish provides a series of concrete strate-gies for persuading managers that “even if quality workby professionals takes more resources up front, thereturn on that investment more than makes up for thecosts” (p. 27). Using a wide variety of case studies fromdifferent industries, Redish provides techniques for mea-suring value added, such as outcome measures (forexample, fewer support calls; lower support costs), sat-isfaction measures (for example, ratings by customers),and projections (for example, estimating avoidablecosts). In addition to producing data, however, Redishsuggests that technical communicators must be moreassertive in taking credit for their positive contributionsto organizations.

Savage, Gerald J., and Dale L. Sullivan. 2001. Writing aprofessional life: Stories of technical communicators onand off the job. Allyn and Bacon Series in TechnicalCommunication. Boston, MA: Allyn and Bacon. Bib. 192pp.

This collection includes 23 narratives written by practicingtechnical communicators that “both reinforce and chal-lenge a number of the current ‘truths’ of the profession” (p.xxv). Although most of the stories are drawn from com-puter-related industries, a range of other industries are alsorepresented: civil engineering, medical writing, marketing,freight industry safety, research and development. Thebook is organized in three sections, each reflecting onecategory of narrative. The first section includes storiesabout getting started in the field of technical communica-tion. These stories “commonly reveal concerns about thetransition from academia to professional workplaces” (pp.xxv–xxvi). The second section consists of stories about thetechnical communication process. These narratives em-phasize some of the skills and principles typically taught intechnical communication courses, but also “call attentionto realities that are largely overlooked in the classroom”:issues like consulting, interpersonal skills, networking andteamwork, working with subject matter experts, and main-taining professional standards (p. xxvi). The third sectionincludes stories of “life beyond the job,” stories whichfeature “issues of identity” and “the problem of balancingpersonal and professional commitments and interests” (p.xxvi). The collection ends with a list of suggestions forfurther reading on narrative and writing in the workplace.

Selber, Stuart A. 1994. “Beyond skill building: Challengesfacing technical communication teachers in the computerage.” Technical communication quarterly 3, no. 4:365–390.



This article examines pedagogical issues that accom-pany increased computer use in technical communica-tion classrooms and the limits this causes in movingbeyond skill building. The author argues that technicalcommunication teachers should “encourage computerliteracies . . . that consider the rhetorical, social, andpolitical implications of computer-mediated communi-cation and work” (p. 366). Through a survey of collegeand university course descriptions and Internet discus-sion groups, the author examines “common approachesto integrating computers in technical communicationcurricula and in what ways these approaches may ormay not move beyond skill building to include broaderliteracy and humanistic issues” (p. 366). The authorposes three challenges to move beyond skill building:“Balancing Technological with Literacy and HumanisticConcerns,” “Re-Envisioning Our Computer-Related Cur-ricula,” and “Educating Teachers Who Use Computers inTheir Classrooms.”

Selfe, Cynthia L., and Gail E. Hawisher. 2002. “A historicallook at electronic literacy: Implications for the education oftechnical communicators.” Journal of business and techni-cal communication 16, no. 3:231–276.

Selfe and Hawisher urge technical professionals andstudents to expand their definitions of digital literacy.From sample interviews, case studies, and survey in-formation taken from the TECHWR-L listserv, the au-thors investigate how technical communicatorsgained electronic literacy from 1960–2000. They sug-gest that 21st century technical communicators must“read, write and navigate in technological con-texts”(p. 260), that class and race must be understoodas factors in the acquisition of digital literacy, thatfaculty and technical programs should include teach-ing “both emerging and fading literacy practices” (p.265). Perhaps most central, “the digital divide charac-terizing the end of the twentieth century—and affect-ing the prospects of some technical communicators—will never be fully addressed until access tocomputers and to the acquisition and development ofelectronic literacy is understood as a vital, multidi-mensional part of a larger cultural ecology” (pp. 268–269). The authors conclude by urging the technicalcommunication profession to “extend its thinkingabout what literacy now entails in digital environ-ments and how new electronic literacy skills andvalues can be taught in pre-professional programsand in on-the-job contexts” (p. 270).

Staples, Katherine, and Cezar Ornatowski, eds. 1997. Foun-dations for teaching technical communication: Theory,

practice, and program design. ATTW Contemporary Stud-ies in Technical Communication, vol. 1. Greenwich, CT:Ablex Publishing. Indexes. 358 pp.

This collection of 22 essays, according to the editors,attempts to answer the question of where the disciplineis today, “not to limit possibilities or define boundariesbut to serve as a marker on the way, an orientationpoint, an invitation to the journey ahead’” (p. ix). Theessays are divided into four parts: Theoretical founda-tions, Practical foundations, Professional roles for tech-nical communicators, and Program design. This organi-zation, the editors state, “reflects our belief that technicalcommunication is at once founded in theory and ori-ented toward practice . . . and that these dual founda-tions are reflected in technical communication educa-tion and program design” (p. xii). The editors concludetheir introduction to the essays by identifying four shiftsin the discipline, including “a shift away from a view oftechnical communication as a transaction betweenwriter and audience and toward a social or contextualview of technical communication” (p. xx). Because theessays, written by many leading scholars in the field,provide both an overview and starting points for furtherstudy of a wide range of topics, the collection has beenused in courses designed to prepare students as teachersand researchers.

Zemke, Ron, and Thomas Kramlinger. 1982. Figuringthings out: A trainer’s guide to needs and task analysis.Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley. Index. Bib. 348 pp.

According to the authors, “this book is about the tech-niques and tactics we apply to the problem of figuringout what successful people do when they do somethingsuccessfully” (p. 3). The book also examines techniquesto use when someone suggests that an organization hasa training problem but has not accurately pinpointed thecauses of the situation or its appropriate solutions. Thebook’s title is the authors’ response to jargon terms suchas “task analysis” or “needs analysis”: “We decided to callwhat we do an FTO (Figuring Things Out) study. . . .[O]ur job is to identify the human factors or ‘peopleparts’ of important organizational problems and deter-mine the cause or causes of those human performanceproblems . . . . In a nutshell, we Figure Things Out”(p. 5).

The 21 chapters are divided into seven sections plusthree appendixes. The first section outlines the authors’approach to analyzing human performance problemsand the factors that influence organizational perfor-mance. Sections II–V detail techniques and proceduresfor “figuring things out.” The authors state that “at one



time or another we have used every one of these tech-niques in our own work” (p. 6). Section VI covers thetechniques to apply to specific performance problems“to separate the political from the technical consider-ations” (p. 6). Section VII provides guidelines for com-municating FTO results to management as well as somespecific applications.

WRITING AND EDITINGThis section lists references that technical communicators usefor writing and editing both paper and electronic documents.

Alred, Gerald J., Charles T. Brusaw, and Walter E. Oliu.2003. Handbook of technical writing. 7th ed. Boston, MA:Bedford/St. Martin’s. Index. 645 pp.

The Handbook uses an encyclopedia format with alpha-betically arranged entries that allow extensive cross-referencing throughout. Designed as a reference guidefor both students and those on the job, the Handbookincludes an introduction discussing the writing process;a topical key grouping entries in categories, such as“design and visuals”; entries on document types (forexample, manuals and newsletters); usage items (forexample, affect/effect); style items (for example, empha-sis and tone); grammar issues (for example, verbs andtense); writing-related topics (for example, e-mail); anda full cross-referenced index. Entries provide samples ofdocument types and cover a wide range of such topicsas giving presentations, conducting meetings, and pre-paring for job interviews.

Baumert, Andreas. 1998. Gestaltungsrichtlinien: Styleguides planen, erstellen und pflegen. Reutlingen, Germany:Doculine. Index. Bib. 119 pp.

This book (English translation: “Document designguide: Planning, implementing, and updating styleguides”) describes how to plan, develop, and maintain acompany style guide. The author suggests the benefits,such as cost savings, as well as the “psychology of styleguides.” The author also discusses how both languageand design can strengthen an organization’s imagewhile reducing costs for translation and localization. Theauthor suggests that the well-designed style guide is alsoa valuable assistant in project management.

Bonura, Larry S. 1994. The art of indexing. Wiley TechnicalCommunication Library Series. New York, NY: John Wiley& Sons. Index. Bib. 233 pp.

Bonura provides both an argument for the rhetoricalcomplexity of indexing and detailed technical instruc-

tion for producing indexes. Indexing is not just “a simpleclerical task or the focus of a large number cruncher,”but rather “a creative activity” (p. 10). The importance ofindexing, Bonura suggests, is especially clear in the caseof technical manuals, for which the “index is used as thefirst entrance into the material” (p. 26). Bonura thuspresents a user-centered guide for creating indexes, pro-viding strategies for activities as abstract as choosingindex topics and as concrete as deciding on font style,size and spacing. The book also supplies the mechanicsof indexing with traditional index cards or using moreadvanced technology, and offers tips for calculating thetime and cost of indexing. The extensive supplementarymaterial includes a bibliography, a glossary, a styleguide, and sample indexes.

Buehler, Mary Fran. 1981. “Defining terms in technicalediting: The levels of edit as a model.” Technical commu-nication 28, no. 4:10–15.

In this landmark article, the author states that “whenwe—as technical editors—try to communicate clearlyabout technical editing, we find that we have not yetagreed on standard meanings for our own terms” (p.10). After demonstrating the confusion over the termcopy editing as an example, she describes the “levels-of-edit” concept, which was also described in a bookshe published by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Thelevels of edit (1980), with Robert Van Buren. Nine typesof edit are performed with documents at JPL: “Coordi-nation, Policy, Integrity, Screening, Copy Clarification,Format, Mechanical Style, Language, and Substantive”(p. 11). After brief descriptions of each edit, she suggestshow these terms can be used to define other terms ofediting, such as copy editing. “Whether we in technicalcommunication use the terminology of the types andlevels of edit or not,” she concludes, “we must find somecommonly understood terms with which we can com-municate, if we are to prevent or remove our misunder-standings—unless we are content to struggle with mis-understandings for all our days” (p. 14).

Bush, Donald W., and Charles P. Campbell. 1995. How toedit technical documents. Phoenix, AZ: Oryx Press. Index.Bib. 186 pp.

The authors recognize that technical editors work in“isolation,” are “mixed in with keyboarders,” and oftenare engaged in “combative” relationships with writers(p. viii). Because technical editing is often perceived asan extension of “keyboarding,” the authors attempt “toshow how technical editing can improve itself” by usingrhetoric, linguistics, semantics, and transformational



grammar (p. viii) to “upgrade the technical editing pro-fession” (p. x) to a profession identified with communi-cation. The book offers instructional chapters on tech-nical editing strategies as well as an accompanyingworkbook for practicing these techniques. After defin-ing technical editing as a career, the authors discussspecific tasks technical editors use: cutting copy, orga-nizing documents, editing graphics, making wordchoices, using punctuation, and handling manuscripts.The authors also present the pros and cons of currentpractices and how technical editors can improve thosepractices. Appendixes cover editing specific technicaldocument types, such as manuals and proposals.

Ede, Lisa, and Andrea Lunsford. 1990. Singular texts/pluralauthors: Perspectives on collaborative writing. Carbondale,IL: Southern Illinois University Press. Indexes. 284 pp.

Citing their own long-standing collaborative relation-ship, Ede and Lunsford challenge the idea of writing asa solitary act of authorship and explore historical andtheoretical aspects of collaborative writing. The bookcontains five chapters. “Old beginnings” gives a back-ground for this project. “Collaborative writers at work”describes in detail the collaborative practices of severalwriters in varied fields and presents survey results ofseven major professional organizations’ membershipsregarding writing in the workplace. “The concept ofauthorship” reviews the history of “authorship” and dis-cusses challenges to the traditional concept in contem-porary literary criticism and in practices such as corpo-rate authorship, honorary authorship in the sciences,and electronic media. “The pedagogy of collaboration”offers historical perspectives, provides a context for col-laboration within composition studies, and suggests apedagogy consistent with theories of plural authorship.“New beginnings” notes that “we have only begun toscratch the surface of what it means to describe writingas a social or collaborative process. Every aspect wehave touched on—in the work world and in technolog-ical practices, in theory, in pedagogy—calls for furtherinvestigation, exploration, elaboration” (p. 141).

EEI Editorial Staff. 1996. Stet again! More tricks of the tradefor publications people: Selections from the Editorial Eye.Alexandria, VA: EEI Press. Index. 354 pp.

This collection of excerpts from the pages of The edito-rial eye, a monthly newsletter on current editorial prac-tices, is similar to the 1986 Stet ! This revision retains theintent and tone of the original, providing authoritativeopinions on a variety of editorial issues—from the dis-tinctions among “gamut/gantlet/gauntlet” (p. 143) to

advice on “managing collaborative writing projects” (p.282). Excerpts are organized from the general to thespecific, beginning with “The art of writing,” movingthrough “Usage and grammar,” and into “Design andtypography.” A distinctive feature of the original—small“Test yourself” sections with answers—reappears in thisedition.

Hale, Constance, and Jessie Scanlon. 1999. Wired style:Principles of English usage in the digital age. Rev. ed. NewYork, NY: Broadway Books. Index. 198 pp.

Finding that “traditional style manuals [ . . . ] offer little helpin writing fluently and colloquially about the digital world,”the editors designed Wired style to “complement thoseguides by digging into questions writers and editors con-front daily” (p. 2). The manual is made up of three sections.The first section presents ten principles for writing well inthe digital age, five aimed at improving prose style and fiveaimed at updating copy-editing for current usage. Thesecond section, which constitutes the bulk of the manual,is a glossary of terms and acronyms related to digital tech-nologies, ranging from AFAIK (“as far as I know”) toYahoo! The final section provides answers to frequentlyasked questions about digital style topics, such as format-ting e-mail addresses and treating long domain names.With advice such as “be irreverent,” the manual intends toprovide guidance on both technical and cultural transfor-mations in language use.

Hargis, Gretchen, Ann Kilty Hernandez, Polly Hughes, JimRamaker, Shannon Rouiller, and Elizabeth Wilde. 1998.Developing quality technical information: A handbook forwriters and editors. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.Index. Bib. 311 pp.

The authors, members of the editing staff of the IBMSanta Teresa Laboratory in San Jose, CA, originally setout to identify, based on user comments and their ownexperience, the characteristics of high-quality IBM tech-nical documentation. This book, based on two earliereditions published for IBM software developers, isaimed generally at technical writers, editors, and review-ers. The book is organized into chapters focusing onnine major quality attributes: task orientation, accuracy,completeness, clarity, concreteness, style, organization,retrievability, and visual effectiveness. A series of gen-eral statements on how to improve documents in eachof these areas is illustrated with extensive before-and-after examples covering writing, illustration, lists, andtables. At the end of each chapter, the statements arecollected into checklists; the checklists themselves arecollected into a master checklist in an appendix.



Hoft, Nancy L. 1995. International technical communica-tion: How to export information about high technology.Wiley Technical Communication Library Series. New York,NY: John Wiley & Sons. Index. 372 pp.

Written for technical communicators who address inter-national audiences, the book is intended as a practicalguide to balancing two “often contradictory needs:economy (business needs) and cultural understanding(user needs)” (p. 2). Hoft reviews the benefits and prob-lems of communication strategies such as localization,internationalization, and globalization, and suggests that“concurrence” (p. 28)—the corporate-level coordinationof goals, processes, and data—is the most promisingapproach for the next generation of international tech-nical communication. In addition to design, writing,graphics, translation, and online issues, the book dis-cusses in detail some of the cultural variables and be-havioral differences of international audiences, includ-ing models from Edward Hall, Geert Hofstede, and othertheorists. The book’s appendixes contain worksheets fororganizing international projects, examples of user anal-yses, and a listing of resources useful to internationaltechnical communicators.

Judd, Karen. 2001. Copyediting: A practical guide. 3rd ed.Menlo Park, CA: Crisp Learning. Index. Bib. 304 pp.

The author—a long-time managing editor, copy editor,and teacher of copyediting—wrote this book to answersuch questions as “how to transpose two terms, what todo with artwork, and how to handle permissions . . .[and] how to deal physically with a manuscript” (p. vii).The 13 chapters, which are illustrated with numerouscopymarked passages, offer detailed instructions on us-ing copyediting and proofreading symbols, reviews ofgrammar and usage, guidance for coding manuscript,and advice on getting work as a copy editor. Althoughnot specifically labeled as a textbook, each chapter con-tains exercises with answers as well as a summary of“key points” in the chapter. The final section (“No copyeditor should be without . . . ”) lists reference books andWeb sites with annotations that give the author’s view oftheir usefulness to copy editors.

Microsoft Corporation. 1998. Microsoft® manual of stylefor technical publications. 2nd ed. Redmond, WA: Mi-crosoft Press. Index. 336 pp.

Although intended for writers and editors of Microsoftprint, Web, help, and software products, this style guidehas become widely accepted by many practitioners bothas a reference for using Microsoft Windows terminology

(such as defining screen terms: “active window,” “drop-down list,” “dialog box,” “check box,” “group box,” “listbox,” “button,” etc.) as well as for advice on generaltopics (such as “Active voice vs. passive voice,” “Bias-free communication,” and “Dangling modifiers”). Themanual is organized alphabetically by topic with indextabs for quick reference. Appendixes include a “List ofacronyms and abbreviations” and a list of “Special char-acters.” Included with the book is a CD with searchableHTML versions of this book and other Microsoft publi-cations.

Redish, Janice C., and Jack Selzer. 1985. “The place ofreadability formulas in technical communication.” Techni-cal communication 32, no. 4:46–52.

The authors identify serious problems with readabilityformulas: (1) They have been applied without validresearch; (2) They are not valid predictors of how un-derstandable technical material may be to adults; (3)Readability formulas value short words and sentences,which do not necessarily make documents easier tounderstand; (4) The underlying assumption of readabil-ity formulas that they work universally is not valid; and(5) They ignore many factors that are essential for peo-ple’s understanding and ability to use documents. Thebest method, the authors explain, to determine the ef-fectiveness of documents is through usability testing inwhich users perform tasks with documents to evaluatetheir effectiveness. The authors list reasons why suchusability testing is cost-effective even though it mayseem more expensive than using readability formulas.

Rubens, Philip, ed. 2001. Science and technical writing: Amanual of style. 2nd ed. New York, NY: Routledge. Index.Bib. 427 pp.

The editor states that this book’s purpose is to help“writers and editors prepare useful documents” (p.xxxv). The book is composed of 13 chapters, 8 of whichare authored by professional technical communicators:“Audience analysis and document planning”; “Writingfor non-native audiences”; “Grammar, usage, and revis-ing for publication”; “Punctuating scientific and techni-cal prose”; “Using acceptable spelling”; “Incorporatingspecialized terminology”; “Using numbers and sym-bols”; “Using quotations, citations, and references”;“Creating indexes”; “Creating nontextual information”;“Creating usable data displays”; “Designing useful doc-uments”; and “Bibliography.” Each chapter begins witha summary of its contents and each paragraph in thechapter is numbered (for example, Chapter 2 para-graphs are numbered 2.1, 2.2, and so on), which facili-



tates cross referencing. The bibliography is divided intosections that correspond to the previous 12 chapters.

Rude, Carolyn D. 2002. Technical editing. 3rd ed. Allyn andBacon Series in Technical Communication. New York, NY:Longman. Index. 470 pp.

This book is aimed at advanced students in technicalcommunication and practicing editors. Part 1, “Peopleand purposes,” introduces the editor’s role, readerresponse, and teamwork in technical communicationprojects. Part 2, “Methods and tools,” contains threechapters on copymarking, including one written byDavid Dayton that provides an extensive treatment ofelectronic editing. Part 3, “Basic copyediting,” coverspunctuation, grammar, mechanics, and proofreading;Part 4, “Comprehensive editing” deals with style, or-ganization, and visual design. Chapter 20, written byBruce Maylath, focuses on preparing documents forinternational readers. Part 5, “Management and pro-duction,” explains legal issues, printing and produc-tion, and managing document production. The chap-ters include style sheets, checklists, editing exercises,recommended readings, and illustrations of the edit-ing process. A glossary of terms (for example, deadcopy, XML) is included.

Sabin, William A. 2001. Gregg reference manual. 9th ed.New York, NY: Glencoe/McGraw Hill. 640 pp.

The author states that the ninth edition of this standardoffice guide “presents the basic rules that apply in vir-tually every piece of writing, as well as the fine pointsthat occur less often but cause no less trouble when theydo” (p. v). The book begins with six brief, relativelyinformal essays by the author about “points of style thatcause great difficulty for those who work with words”:the use of numbers, capitalization, commas, compoundadjectives and hyphens, semicolons, and abbreviations.The book is then divided into three parts. Part 1: “Gram-mar, usage, and style” contains 11 sections on topicssuch as punctuation, abbreviations, spelling, and usage.Part 2: “Techniques and formats” contains 7 sections onsuch topics as proofreading, filing, letter forms, andmanuscript preparation. Part 3: “References” includes 3appendixes: a glossary of grammatical terms, a glossaryof computer terms, and an alphabetical list offeringappropriate pronunciation for words used in business,legal, and professional contexts.

Strunk, William, Jr., and E. B. White. 2000. The elements ofstyle. 4th ed., with a foreword by Roger Angell. New York,NY: Longman. Index. 105 pp.

This style guide descends from a booklet WilliamStrunk, Jr. privately printed and used in his classes atCornell University over 80 years ago. In E. B. White’sintroduction to the 1979 edition, included here, he com-ments, “Will Strunk loved the clear, the brief, the bold”(p. xviii). These basic principles remain the foundationfor this style guide.

Part I, “Elementary rules of usage,” contains 11 punc-tuation and grammar rules, such as “Do not join inde-pendent clauses with a comma.” Part II, “Elementaryprinciples of composition,” continues the numberingsystem with style rules 12 through 22, for example, “Usethe active voice,” and “Avoid a succession of loosesentences.” Part III, “A few matters of form” discussesmechanics, for example, “Headings” and “Numerals.”Part IV, “Words and expressions commonly misused,”covers 123 items involving correct word usage, appro-priate constructions, and revision of cliches. In Part V,“An approach to style,” White discusses the intangiblequalities of style and offers 21 style principles, including“Do not explain too much,” and “Do not overwrite.” Thisedition includes a glossary of grammatical terms.

In a foreword, Roger Angell, a stepson of E. B. White,explains modernizing updates in examples and says thate-mail is not covered because it is “conversation” (p. x).In an afterword, Charles Osgood comments that Strunkand White collaborated separately and across decades,with White taking Strunk’s “little gem” and transformingit into “a classic” (p. 87).

Sun Technical Publications. 2003. Read me first! A styleguide for the computer industry. 2nd ed. Upper SaddleRiver, NJ: Prentice Hall. Index. Bib. 356 pp.

The authors state that this book “provides everythingyou always wanted to know about documenting com-puter products, from writing about Web sites to legalguidelines, from writing for an international audience todeveloping a documentation department” (p. xix). Readme first! is organized into 14 chapters with four appen-dixes. Each chapter offers guidelines for the following:mechanics of writing; constructing text; writing style;online writing style; constructing links; writing tasks,procedures, and steps; writing for an international audi-ence; legal guidelines; types of technical documents;working with an editor; working with illustrations; writ-ing about Graphical User Interfaces; glossary guidelines;and indexing. Appendix A, “Developing a publicationsdepartment,” includes topics such as scheduling, rolesand responsibilities, technical review, and printing andproduction. Appendix B, “Checklists and forms,” con-tains sample checklists for documentation development,including manuscript tracking, request for editing, art



tracking, and a technical review cover letter. Appendix Cis “Correct usage of terms” and Appendix D is “Recom-mended readings.”

Tarutz, Judith A. 1992. Technical editing: The practicalguide for editors and writers. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley Publishing. Index. Bib. 454 pp.

This book is intended for technical editors or thoseplanning to be editors. Part I, “The editor’s role,”provides a definition of technical editing and princi-ples used by effective editors, including collaboration.Part II, “The editor’s job,” covers editorial reviews,common errors, levels of edit, rules, company styleguides, style tips, and computer manuals. The chap-ters contain specific tips for tasks (for example, pro-duction edits, text heads) and for decision-making(for example, performing editing triage). Part III, “Theeditor’s career,” discusses desktop publishing, man-aging projects, the job search, and surviving newtechnology. Scattered throughout the 16 chapters are26 exercises asking readers to identify a text problemor to rewrite some text.

Appendix A contains ten case studies that include adescription of a problem and the author’s analysis of it.The cases focus on negotiating teamwork and cooper-ation. Appendix B shows the tables of contents for threecomprehensive style guides. Appendix C provides an-swers to the 26 exercises in the book. A glossary oftechnical terms (for example, user interface) and a bib-liography of editing and style guides are also included.

U.S. Government Printing Office. 2000. Style manual:2000. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.Index. 326 pp.

The GPO Style manual is a standard guide for writersand editors in the federal government and for thosewho submit work to the federal government. It pro-vides both general advice and specific format instruc-tions for documents as well as guidance in the use ofsuch elements as capitalization, spelling, abbrevia-tions, signs and symbols, italics, tables, footnotes, andgeographical and political divisions. The GPO StyleBoard states that “the manual is primarily a GPOprinter’s stylebook. Easy rules of grammar cannot beprescribed, for it is assumed that editors are versed incorrect expression. [Further,] its rules cannot be re-garded as rigid, for the printed word assumes manyshapes and variations in type presentation” (p. IV).The Style manual is available in PDF form at theGovernment Printing Office Web site: http://www.access.gpo.gov/styleman/2000/style001.html.

University of Chicago Press. 1993. The Chicago manual ofstyle. 14th ed. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Index.Bib. 921 pp.

The first edition of this manual was published in 1906,and, over the following century, it has become a defin-itive editorial guide for writers, editors, proofreaders,copy editors, designers, and publishers. Part 1, “Book-making,” contains four chapters on manuscript prepara-tion and copyright and permissions. Part 2, “Style,” con-tains 13 chapters covering such issues as “Tables” and“Mathematics in type,” and a section (“Foreign lan-guages in type”) with extensive lists of type differencesfor Hebrew and other non-Roman alphabet languages.Part 3, “Production and printing,” has two chapters ondesign and composition. The decimal-numbering sys-tem used throughout the manual makes it easy to use. Aglossary of technical terms (for example, flyleaf, kern,x-height) is included as well as a bibliography listingother style and editing guides.

Williams, Joseph M. 2003. Style: Ten lessons in clarity andgrace. 7th ed. New York, NY: Longman. Index. 270 pp.

In his preface, Williams provides the questions on whichhe bases the book: “What is in a sentence that makesreaders judge writing as they do? How can we diagnoseour own prose to anticipate their judgments? How canwe revise a sentence so that readers will think better ofit?” (p. ix). Rather than presenting rules, he offers hisprinciples as ways to help predict how readers will readand judge our prose. He says, “these principles havelittle to do with how you write, much to do with howyou revise” (p. x). Using his own knowledge of lan-guage and his experience teaching in organizations,Williams demonstrates in ten “lessons” various featuresof clarity and grace, such as cohesion, emphasis, ele-gance, and the ethics of prose. Williams includes exer-cises with “possible revisions” at the end of the book.

DOCUMENTATION AND USABILITYWorks in this section describe the development and usabil-ity of online and paper documentation.

Barker, Thomas T. 1998. Writing software documentation:A task-oriented approach. Allyn and Bacon Series in Tech-nical Communication. Boston, MA: Allyn and Bacon. In-dex. 484 pp.

This book is a comprehensive guide for producing soft-ware documentation, that is, “documents . . . that helpsoftware users learn program features and use them towork productively” (p. xix) Throughout, the approach



taken by the author is that of “task orientation” based onthe notion that the “software instructions, procedures,manuals, and help programs that users find useful intheir work reflect the organization of the user’s tasks” (p.xix). The book is divided into 15 chapters. The firstchapter explains the concept of “task-oriented” softwaredocumentation. The next six chapters outline a step-by-step process for developing task-oriented documenta-tion: analyzing the documentation’s intended users, cre-ating a task list, planning and writing documents,obtaining reviews of documents, conducting usabilitytests, and editing documents. The final eight chaptersconstitute a reference manual for documentation de-signers and cover such topics as laying out pages andscreens; employing user-centered, task-oriented lan-guage; using graphics effectively; and designing in-dexes. At the same time, this final section of the bookdistinguishes between three modes of help for users—“writing to teach,” “writing to guide,” and “writing tosupport”—and their corresponding documentationtypes: tutorials, procedures, and reference texts.

Bias, Randolph G., and Deborah J. Mayhew, eds. 1994.Cost-justifying usability. Boston, MA: Academic Press. In-dex. 334 pp.

Aimed at interface designers, human factors profession-als and educators, and those in related areas, this book’schapters are written by 17 usability experts, primarilyfrom major high tech or consulting firms. The editors’goal in “gathering contributions to this book . . . was toempower usability champions of any background withthe awareness, the tools, the methods, and the languageto compete for . . . development resources—to competebased not on the intangible benefits and the inherentrightness of usability, . . . but on equal ground with theother areas . . . that have a solid history and tradition ofdemonstrating their dollar value” (p. xiv). The 14 chap-ters cover such topics as demonstrating the cost-benefitof user-centered design, case studies that demonstratethe value of usability, and organizational “inhibitors andfacilitators” to usability. Among the specific examples inthe book are a detailed budget for setting up a usabilitylab and mathematical tools for estimating the cost-benefits associated with adopting particular human fac-tors or usability measures. Each chapter includes anintroduction, a concluding summary, and references forfurther information.

Brockmann, R. John. 1990. Writing better computer userdocumentation: From paper to hypertext, version 2.0. NewYork, NY: John Wiley & Sons. Index. Bib. 365 pp.

According to its author, this book, written in the formatof a software user’s manual, “is designed to help youwrite accurate, clear computer documentation for users–documentation beyond systems and programming doc-umentation. This book presents a systematic approachto writing paper and online documents, and follows theprocess of creating materials from the inception of thedocumentation project to updating after publication” (p.1). The author further states, “This book assumes noprior knowledge of either software or documentation”(p. 5). Its intended audience includes technical commu-nicators, human factors engineers, documentation spe-cialists, programmers, students, systems analysts, andmanagers of information services.

The book is divided into two parts. In Part one, “Thedocumentation problem,” the author “describes theproblems of user documentation, what the possible con-sequences of inadequate documentation may be, andwhy these problems have occurred” (p. 6). Problems,both on paper and online, are addressed. In Part two,“The standard documentation process,” the author “out-lines a solution to user documentation problems—theStandard Documentation Process (SDP)” (p. 6). Each ofthe nine chapters in Part two cover one step in theprocess from “Developing the document specifications”to “Maintaining the document.” The book includes anextensive bibliography, glossary, and index.

Carroll, John M. 1990. The Nurnberg funnel: Designingminimalist instruction for practical computer skill. Cam-bridge, MA: MIT Press. Index. Bib. 340 pp.

The Nurnberg funnel refers to a legendary funnel, intowhich someone might pour knowledge to make peoplewise very quickly. “The very idea of ‘pouring’ materialinto the mind seems ill-conceived,” the author states, yetin trying to make instruction efficient, “designers havefrequently lapsed into trying to pour information intothe learner’s mind” (p. 10). This book gathers together“two dozen or so separate empirical projects and theo-retical discussions” (p. xviii) about the way “peoplelearn to use computer application systems by self-instruction, that is, in the absence of human coaches orteachers” (p. xvii), which were published over the pre-ceding decade by the author, Robert Mack, and ClaytonLewis. The author says that their “analysis of specificlearner problems exposed fundamental flaws in thestandard systems approach to instruction and suggestedan alternate instructional model, which [they] call theminimalist model” (p. xvii). In the final chapter of thebook, the author examines implications and furtherchallenges for minimalist instruction. Although Carroll



has published other works since this book, the Nurn-berg funnel defined his approach.

Coe, Marlana. 1996. Human factors for technical commu-nicators. Wiley Technical Communication Library Series.New York, NY: John Wiley & Sons. Index. 350 pp.

The author focuses on the “cognitive-psychologicalpoint of view” of technical communication (p. xiii). Asthe author notes, the text is not a “how-to” book; rather,it is a book on how users’ learn and use informationbased on technical communication mediums, styles, andproducts. The author suggests readers can “use thisbook sequentially or in a random-access fashion” (p.xiv). Using examples and scenarios, both good and bad,the author explores the psychological and physical sen-sory and perceptual process users engage when pro-cessing information. Individual chapters on memory,sensation and perception, learning, and problem solvingdescribe ways users learn information. After developinga framework for human factors in technical communi-cation, the author discusses ways to produce strong,user-centered technical communications. From choos-ing medium types to presentation of information, theauthor details how technical communicators can use thisinformation successfully. The book covers the use ofcolor, placement of text, and designing and developingcontent for native and non-native English speakers.Each chapter ends with a summary and a detailed read-ing list. An appendix provides an extensive list of re-sources, which identifies societies, newsgroups, and In-ternet sites; a glossary defines terms used in humanfactor studies.

Dumas, Joseph S., and Janice C. Redish. 1999. A practicalguide to usability testing. Rev. ed. Portland, OR: IntellectBooks. Indexes. Bib. 404 pp.

Dumas and Redish begin by defining usability, articulat-ing usability methods, and reviewing several possibili-ties for assessing and assuring usability. Among themany usability principles they present, some of the morenoteworthy ones include “involving users throughoutthe design process” and “allowing usability and users’needs to drive design processes” (p. 6). The authorsguide readers through the planning and execution ofusability tests, placing a strong emphasis on ways thattest results can help designers modify both products andprocesses. Recognizing that usability testing is centralthroughout the development process, the authors alsoemphasize that usability designers must understand us-ers’ performance goals because “people consider aproduct easy to learn and use in terms of the time it

takes to do what they want, the steps they go through,and the success they have in predicting the right actionto take” (p. 5). Ultimately, the authors stress that usabil-ity testing requires a specific purpose. To reinforce thistask-specific approach, they offer guidelines on deter-mining the purpose of particular tests, designing tests,developing tests with task-directed objectives, solicitingand debriefing users, and collecting and analyzing data.

Farkas, David K., and Jean B. Farkas. 2002. Principles ofWeb design. Allyn and Bacon Series in Technical Commu-nication. New York, NY: Longman. Index. Bib. 378 pp.

This textbook introduces basic Web design concepts.Believing that “those who gain an in-depth, coherentunderstanding of Web design become the best design-ers” (p. xxi), the authors focus on terms, theories andprinciples of Web design (for example, navigation, in-formation structure, interface design, and project man-agement) rather than specific Web technologies (forexample, HTML, XML, or JavaScript). The text includes13 chapters on topics like project planning, hypertexttheory, Web site structures, the navigational interface,content types, writing for the Web, and graphic design.Although the book focuses mostly on information struc-tures and interfaces, the authors also include an intro-duction to the history and background of the Web and achapter on societal and ethical implications of Webtechnologies. Four appendixes include “Twenty-fiveguidelines for getting started,” “An introduction to copy-right law,” “Project reports,” and “Implementation re-sources,” a short list of books and Web sites for furtherreading on graphics; animation, video, and audio; andauthoring, programming and scripting.

Hackos, JoAnn T., and Janice C. Redish. 1998. User andtask analysis for interface design. New York, NY: JohnWiley & Sons. Index. Bib. 488 pp.

This book focuses on the process of gathering informa-tion on user and task analysis through field studies,on-site visits, and listening to and talking with people.Hackos and Redish introduce readers to the rationalebehind user and task analysis by first demonstrating itsrole in the design process and then by demonstratinghow multiple disciplines contribute to the overall ben-efits drawn from such analysis. The authors introducetechniques and variations, such as conducting inter-views, using scenarios to analyze data, and developingprototypes, to allow readers easy adaptation to theirspecific projects and knowledge levels. After extensivediscussion of the basics, the authors walk the readerthrough setting up a client visit. The authors outline



handling the site visit as well as understanding the user’sgoals and tasks as they relate to individual projects. Thefinal chapter explains how to make the transition fromanalysis to design. One appendix lists resources foraudio and video equipment.

Horton, William. 1994. Designing and writing online doc-umentation: Hypermedia for self-supporting products. 2nded. Wiley Technical Communication Library Series. NewYork, NY: John Wiley & Sons. Index. Bib. 439 pp.

The author states that online documentation “requires arapid and convenient way of retrieving and displayingthat information” and this book “explains how to designand write such documents” (p. iii). He calls this book a“style guide,” which “tells what to do, but does notpresent system-specific details of how to do it” (p. iii).The fourteen chapters are divided into eight categories:overview, managing, access, architecture, user-interface,media, specific forms, and conclusion. These categoriesare framed by a number of questions, such as “Whyshould I put my document online?” “How do I plan andmanage an online documentation project?” “How do Imake information accessible?” “How do I design docu-ments to help users at work?” and “How will onlinedocumentation change my job?” (pp. iv–v).

Krug, Steve. 2000. Don’t make me think! A common senseapproach to Web usability. Indianapolis, IN: New RidersPublishing. Index. Bib. 195 pp.

Krug wrote the book because “Suddenly a lot of peoplewith little or no previous experience have been maderesponsible for big-budget projects that may determinethe future of their companies, and they’re looking forpeople to tell them that they’re doing it right” (p. 4). Heprovides a holistic, practical view of Web usabilityaimed at, according to the back cover, a broad range ofpeople in the workplace: “the designers, the program-mers, the webmasters, the project managers, the mar-keting people, and the folks who sign the checks.” Thebook’s three sections deal with general principles fordesigning Web pages, for designing navigation andhome pages, and for conducting usability tests. Becausea Web site, like any workplace project, can become apolitical battleground, Krug gives readers tips on focus-ing Web site discussions on the user’s experience andaway from more contestable areas like programmingand artistic design. The author provides illustrationsfrom real Web sites to support his points. He also in-cludes a brief annotated list of suggested sources relat-ing to Web design, usability, creativity, and decision-making.

Laurel, Brenda, ed. 1990. The art of human-computer in-terface design. Boston, MA: Addison-Wesley. Indexes. Bib.523 pp.

The introduction states that this collection of articles“was originally proposed by [S.] Joy Mountford as part ofan interface training course sponsored by the HumanInterface Group at Apple Computer” (p. xiii). It soonblossomed into a text for educational and professionaluses outside Apple. The book is divided into five majorsections—Creativity and Design, Users and Contexts,Sermons, Technique and Technology, and New Direc-tions. This eclectic and hope-filled mix of theory, tech-nology, and vision that appeared several years beforethe Worldwide Web contains some surprising contribu-tions, including a chapter on how Koko the gorilla usesthe human-computer interface and “sermons” written byDr. Timothy Leary, famous more for psychedelics thanfor interfaces, and others. One reason for Apple’s heavycommitment to the issues of the human-computer inter-face at the time was that its Macintosh, although not theonly system to support a graphical user interface (GUI),was certainly the predominant GUI system then in use.From the current perspective of more than a decade ofexperience with subsequent generations of Macs andMicrosoft’s Windows, the theoretical underpinnings arestill valid and so this book has outlived Laurel’s expec-tations of obsolescence in five years (p. 482).

Laurel, Brenda. 1991. Computers as theatre. Reading, MA:Addison-Wesley Publishing. Index. 211 pp.

The author, who was a student of theatre before shebecame a designer of electronic games and computerinterfaces, proposes an ideal she calls designed experi-ence which “emphasizes the intrinsically interdiscipli-nary nature of design by blurring the edges betweenapplication and interface and by incorporating insightsand techniques from artistic disciplines, especiallydrama and theatre” (p. xvii). Although the book is or-ganized into seven chapters, the author views it largelyas having two halves. The first half (chapters 1–4) de-velops a general theory of human-computer activity, shecalls poetics (based largely on Aristotle). The secondhalf (primarily chapters 5 and 6) illustrates how thegeneral theory can be applied to new design ap-proaches by combining dramatic theory with ideasdrawn from some of the leading experts on applicationand interface design. “My goal in writing this book,” shesays, “is to improve the quality of human-computerexperiences” (p. xviii). In a reprint edition (1993), theauthor adds a chapter titled “Post-Virtual Reality: Afterthe Hype Is Over,” in which she concludes by bridging



technology and art through passion in design: “As an arti-fact and amplifier of thought, technology is not exclusivelyabout rationality; content is not exclusively about informa-tion. [ . . . ] As we ponder our collective evolution, we seethat passion is the prosody of intelligence” (p. 214).

Nielsen, Jakob. 2000. Designing Web usability: The practiceof simplicity. Indianapolis, IN: New Riders Publishing. In-dex. Bib. 419 pp.

Nielsen, well known for his Web site (www.useit.com),explains that he wrote this book because he wants “tochange your behavior” so that you can “provide betterservice to your users” (p. 13). For Nielsen, Web usabilitymakes good business sense: “Usability rules the Web.Simply stated, if the customer can’t find the product,then he or she will not buy it” (p. 9). Nielsen discussespage design, content design, and site design. Simply put,simplicity should be the goal of page design, pagesshould provide quality content, and users should beable to discern the overall structure of a site to findspecific pages and needed information. Nielsen alsodevotes chapters to intranet design, Web accessibilityfor users with disabilities, and usability concerns forinternational audiences. To help facilitate the learning ofconcepts, Nielsen provides examples of real Web sitesthroughout the book.

Nielsen, Jakob. 1993. Usability engineering. San Diego:Academic Press. Indexes. Bib. 362 pp.

Nielsen states that his main goal in writing this book is“to provide concrete advice and methods that can besystematically employed to ensure a high degree ofusability in the final user interface” (p. ix). In the book,Nielsen largely deals with the interfaces of computersystems, but the “methods can be used for the develop-ment of interfaces to any kind of interactive system” (p.xi). The book opens by detailing the cost savings ofusability testing, some common slogans about usabilityengineering, and discount usability engineering. Thebook contains chapters on defining usability, on theusability engineering lifecycle, and on usability heuris-tics. He focuses on a discussion of usability testing andusability assessment methods, including observations,interviews, questionnaires, and focus groups. Nielsenconcludes the book with a discussion of usability con-cerns for international user interfaces and future devel-opments. Appendixes include an exercise section aswell as a 23-page annotated bibliography of resources.

Price, Jonathan, and Henry Korman. 1993. How to commu-nicate technical information: A handbook of software and

hardware documentation. Redwood City, CA: Benjamin/Cummings. Index. Bib. 402 pp.

The authors’ goal with this book is to show technicalwriters how to create “convivial” software or hardwaremanuals, manuals that “empower people to do whatthey want” (p. viii). In Part 1, “Planning,” the authorsmove the reader through the pre-writing stage. Thereader learns how to study the subject and audience,and plan what documents to write, schedule, and bud-get. In Part 2, “Writing,” some of the topics discussed aretables of contents and introductions, tutorials, comput-er-based training, reference materials, indexes and glos-saries, and online help. Part 3, “Revising,” covers theprocess of revision and includes advice on getting feed-back, rewriting, refining style, updating manuals, andreviewing other manuals. This book is a revision ofJonathan Price’s earlier book, How to write a computermanual (1984), which dealt specifically with softwaredocumentation.

Price, Jonathan, and Lisa Price. 2002. Hot text: Web writingthat works. Indianapolis, IN: New Riders. Index. Bib. 507pp.

In this book, the authors give their “personal take onwhat works best when writing on the Web” (p. xv).Because writing for the Web “transforms our old ideas ofaudience, structure, and style, . . . concepts that we haveinherited from years of writing on paper begin to dis-solve” (p. xiii). They focus on the text rather than ondesign as evidenced by their chapter titles which include“Who am I writing for, and incidentally, who am I?”“What will the Web do to my text?” “Make text scanna-ble,” “Write menus that mean something,” “Creatingcustomer assistance that actually helps,” and “Persuad-ing niche markets, individuals, and the press.” In addi-tion, the authors offer tips for becoming a Web writer oreditor, and they provide an extensive list of referencesand online Web sites, including the authors’ Web site at(http://www.WebWritingThatWorks.com). The site con-tains supplementary materials and exercises based on thebook to assist teachers and students.

Rubin, Jeffrey. 1994. Handbook of usability testing: How toplan, design, and conduct effective tests. Wiley TechnicalCommunication Library Series. New York, NY: John Wiley& Sons. Index. 330 pp.

This book is intended for those “with little or no formaltraining in human factors or usability engineering, andwith limited resources and facilities for conducting us-ability testing” or for “the more experienced human



factors or usability specialist who may be new to thediscipline of usability testing” (p. xvii). Written in plainlanguage, the book aims to teach “everything you needto know to plan, design, conduct, and analyze the re-sults of a usability test” (p. xviii). Part I covers thereasons for the proliferation of unusable systems, pro-vides an overview of usability testing, and explains fourtypes of usability tests. Part II describes how to preparefor usability testing while Part III explains the six stagesfor conducting a test. Finally, Part IV discusses the “strat-egies and tactics for establishing a usability programwithin your own organization” (p. xviii). The appendixreprints Article IV of “Human Factors and ErgonomicsSociety Code of Ethics,” which explains the principlestesters should follow to treat human and animal subjectsfairly.

Shneiderman, Ben. 1998. Designing the user interface: Strat-egies for effective human-computer interaction. 3rd ed. Read-ing, MA: Addison-Wesley Longman. Indexes. 639 pp.

This book is “intended primarily for designers, manag-ers, and evaluators of interactive systems . . . [and sec-ondarily for researchers] who are interested in humanperformance with interactive systems” (p. iii). The au-thor states that “my goals are to encourage greater at-tention to the user-interface and to help develop a rig-orous science of user-interface design” (p. iii). Thiswide-ranging book covers topics such as managing de-sign processes, interaction devices, presentation styles,information search and visualization, usability testing,and accommodating for human diversity.

Weiss, Edmond H. 1991. How to write usable user docu-mentation. 2nd ed. Phoenix, AZ: Oryx Press. Index. Bib.267 pp.

The author states, “The purpose of this book is to en-hance the power and professionalism of everyone whoplans, designs, or writes user documentation” (p. viii).This book, a revision of Weiss’s How to write a usableuser manual, is divided into three parts. Part 1, “Towarda science of user documentation,” provides an overviewof user documentation, explains ways user documenta-tion succeeds and fails, and discusses the criterion ofusability in user documentation. Part 2, “A structuredapproach to user documentation,” moves the readerthrough the “life cycle” of user documentation: analysis,outline, storyboard, assembly, editing, testing, andmaintenance. Part 3, “Online documentation and inter-nal support,” covers “User documentation withoutbooks,” “Strategies for online documentation,” and, inan afterword, looks “Into the next century.” Appendixes

include “Excerpt from the user support plan,” “Illustra-tive modular outlines for user manuals,” “Illustrativemodule specs,” “Illustrative 2-page modules,” “Glossaryof selected terms,” and “Books and periodicals for docu-mentors.”

VISUAL AND GRAPHIC DESIGNThis section includes works that deal with the conceptualand practical aspects of visual design and graphic ele-ments.

Bernhardt, Stephen A. 1993. “The shape of text to come:The texture of print on screens.” College composition andcommunication 44, no. 2:151–175.

The author examines the evolution of texts—and read-ers’ interactions with texts—that is occurring as com-puter technologies become increasingly central to socialdiscourse. The article aims to identify differences be-tween print texts produced for distribution on paper andelectronic texts created for the screen, and more specif-ically, to develop “a framework for understanding di-mensions of variation in texts across the two media” (p.151). The author proposes an analytic framework of“nine dimensions of variation that help map the differ-ences between paper and on-screen text” (p. 151);namely, on-screen texts tend to be more “situationallyembedded, interactive, functionally mapped, modular,navigable, hierarchically embedded, spacious, graphi-cally rich, and customizable and publishable.” The au-thor predicts that as computer technologies becomeeven more prominent in our world, we will see newforms of interplay between print and electronic textsand develop new strategies for reading and writing.

Felker, Daniel B., Francis Pickering, Veda R. Charrow, V.Melissa Holland, and Janice C. Redish. 1981. Guidelines fordocument designers. Washington, DC: American Institutesfor Research. 117 pp.

Described on its title page as “a product of the Docu-ment Design Project funded by the National Institutes ofEducation,” this publication was a landmark in the directapplication of research to provide guidance for usingboth visual and written elements in the development ofdocuments. Chapter I is a five-page introduction thatdescribes the publication’s scope and method as well asthe authors’ purpose “to improve the quality of publicdocuments [because] they frequently affect our well-being in many ways” (p. 1). Chapter II (102 pages)contains 25 “guidelines” covering principles of organiz-ing text, writing sentences, employing typography, andusing graphics. Each numbered guideline section (such



as “A-3. Use informative headings” or “C-5. Use raggedright margins”) presents relevant principles with exam-ples as well as a section titled “What the research says,”which summarizes and cites research studies on thetopic. Chapter III (8 pages) lists 193 research studies,divided into categories that match the guideline sec-tions.

Horton, William. 1991. Illustrating computer documenta-tion: The art of presenting information graphically onpaper and online. New York, NY: John Wiley & Sons.Index. Bib. 313 pp.

Horton suggests that illustrations in technical documen-tation are generally too minimally used, or are thewrong illustrations, or they are merely aesthetic, or theyare “clumsy and crude” (p. vi). Rather than providing ahow-to book for correcting these problems, Horton“provides a conceptual understanding from which youcan deduce rules and on which you can base designdecisions” (p. vii). Horton describes the role of graphicsin technical communication, explores concepts such ascolor and organization, and explains the difference be-tween print and online graphics. He provides chaptersbased on the different functions of graphics (“Showingwhat things look like,” “Labeling with icons and visualsymbols”) as well as chapters on the emotional effects ofgraphics and on overall page design. Horton maintainsthat tools and technologies may change, yet the samegoal exists: “convey[ing] understanding from one humanmind to another” (p. 283).

Kostelnick, Charles, and David D. Roberts. 1998. Designingvisual language: Strategies for professional communica-tors. Allyn and Bacon Series in Technical Communication.Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon. Index. 455 pp.

Intended for students, practitioners, and teachers oftechnical communication, the authors “outline a system-atic approach” based on the central premise that effec-tive visual design “depends on the rhetorical situation—audience, purpose, and context” (p. 41). Instead ofproviding rules or “how-to” advice, this book encour-ages the reader to develop a “more comprehensiveframework for thinking about and practicing design” (p.xviii). The first part, “Integrated Communication,” pre-sents fundamental rhetorical concepts, principles of per-ception and design, and tools for visual analysis. Theremaining three parts apply these rhetorical and visualprinciples to three levels of design: text, graphics, and“design elements encompassing the whole documentand strategies for shaping these elements to enhanceusability” (p. xx). Each of the ten chapters ends with

notes and references, exercises, and assignments. Al-though the book focuses primarily on paper documents,the authors suggest that the principles outlined in thebook can also be applied to hypertext, Web sites, andonline communication. The book concludes with a glos-sary of rhetorical and visual terms.

Norman, Donald A. 2002. Reprint. The design of everydaythings. New York, NY: Basic Books. Original edition, 1988.The psychology of everyday things. New York, NY: BasicBooks. Index. Bib. 257 pp.

Norman’s purpose is to make issues of good and baddesign “visible” in their influence on quality of life. Theauthor’s technique is first to map the processes by whichhumans make decisions about objects, and then to showthe ways in which the design of these objects helps orhinders these decision-making processes. In the newpreface, the author explains that the 1988 version wasoften filed in the psychology sections of bookstores andlibraries, and indeed the book’s discussions of faultycausal reasoning, models of short- and long-term mem-ory, and patterns of error clearly show the reasoningbehind the original title. Of particular interest are theauthor’s theories about the ubiquity of poor design,which include observations that, for consumers, “usabil-ity is often not thought of as a criterion during thepurchasing process,” and that, after all, “designers arenot typical users” (pp. 78, 155). Norman asks that de-signers avoid thinking of “a simple dichotomy betweenerrors and correct behavior”; rather, “the entire interac-tion should be treated as a cooperative endeavor be-tween person and machine, one in which misconcep-tions can arise on either side” (p. 140).

Schriver, Karen A. 1997. Dynamics in document design.New York, NY: John Wiley & Sons. Indexes. Bib. 559 pp.

According to the author, the book has three broad aims:“(1) to describe how document design has evolved, (2)to characterize how readers think and feel about docu-ments, and (3) to demonstrate the practical advantagesof taking the reader’s needs seriously” (p. xxv). Thesethree aims are reflected in the structure of the book. PartOne, “Situating document design,” defines documentdesign in two ways: as an activity—“the act of bringingtogether prose, graphics (including illustration and pho-tography), and typography for purposes of instruction,information, or persuasion” (p. 10)—and as a disci-pline—“the field is concerned with creating texts(broadly defined) that integrate words and pictures inways that help people to achieve their specific goals forusing texts” (p. 10). The author then provides a history



of how practitioners, teachers, and researchers in vari-ous countries have contributed to the development ofthis field over the period from 1900–1995. Part Two,“Observing readers in action,” presents a research-basedaccount of how readers’ knowledge, beliefs, thoughts,feelings, and aesthetic responses come into play as read-ers interpret and use documents in accomplishing par-ticular tasks. This part examines a broad range of sub-jects, including three different approaches to audienceanalysis; the textual interplay of words, typography,space, and graphics; and problems that readers face inattempting to deal with poorly designed documents.Part Three, “Responding to readers’ needs,” uses empir-ical research to explain “how document designers cantranslate readers’ feedback into textual action” (p. xx-viii).

Tufte, Edward R. 1990. Envisioning information. Cheshire,CT: Graphics Press. Index. 126 pp.

“The world is complex, dynamic, multidimensional; thepaper is static, flat. How are we to represent the richvisual world of experience and measurement on mereflatland?” (p. 9). To help answer that question, the au-thor presents principles “that have specific visual con-sequences, governing the design, editing, analysis, andcritique of data representations. These principles help toidentify and to explain design excellence—why somedisplays are better than others” (p. 9). This book itself islavishly designed with many full-color illustrations.Chapter 1, “Escaping flatland,” presents a variety ofdesign strategies to reproduce dimensions and “datadensity” (richness). Chapter 2, “Micro/macro readings,”treats the reduction of clutter and the revision of illus-trations that contain too many details. Chapters 3through 6 treat “Layering and separation,” “Small multi-ples,” “Color and information,” and “Narrative of spaceand time.” Much like a “studio” course, the author’stheory is communicated as much through an apprecia-tion of the examples as through his words.

Tufte, Edward R. 1983. The visual display of quantitativeinformation. Cheshire, CT: Graphics Press. Index. 197 pp.

While stressing the integrity of data, the author treats thedisplay of quantitative information as much as a visualenterprise as a mathematical or mechanical exercise. InPart I, “Graphical practice,” Tufte provides nine princi-ples for graphic display, including that graphical dis-plays should “induce the viewer to think about thesubstance rather than about methodology, graphic de-sign, the technology of graphic production, or some-thing else” (p. 13). But they should also “avoid distorting

what the data have to say” and “be closely integratedwith the statistical and verbal descriptions” (p. 13). PartII, “Theory of data graphics,” containing six chapters,“provides a language for discussing graphics and a prac-tical theory of data graphics. Applying to most visualdisplays of quantitative information, the theory leads tochanges and improvements in design, suggests whysome graphics might be better than others, and gener-ates new types of graphics” (p. 10). While his verbalexplanations are useful, his examples are far more ef-fective in their ability to teach the reader.

Tufte, Edward R. 1997. Visual explanations: Images andquantities, evidence and narrative. Cheshire, CT: GraphicsPress. Index. 156 pp.

As the author explains, while his first two books oninformation design address “pictures of numbers” and“pictures of nouns,” this book is about “pictures ofverbs” (p. 10). In an exploration of the crucial role ofJohn Snow’s graphical displays in understanding thesource of an 1854 cholera epidemic—one of two ex-tended analyses that comprise the first half of hisbook—Tufte argues that visual explanations shoulddemonstrate causality, because convincing demonstra-tions of cause enable us to “intervene, to govern thecause so as to govern the effect” (p. 28). The secondanalysis reviews primary sources leading up to the de-cision to launch Challenger, concluding that the “chart-makers . . . had the correct theory, and were thinkingcausally, but they were not displaying causally” (p. 44).The second half of this book offers an eclectic array ofattempts to “document and explain a process, to makeverbs visible” (p. 55). Tufte singles out characteristics of“smallest effective difference,” “parallelism,” and “mul-tiples in space and time”; the book ends with a chapteron “visual confections,” a graphical “assembly of manyvisual events” (p. 121).

White, Jan V. 1988. Graphic design for the electronic age.New York, NY: Watson-Guptill Publications. Index. 211pp.

Jan White, author of standard works on print design,states “Let’s remember the fundamental truth: it is notthe technology that matters, but the message” (p. ix).Recipients of communication want information “fast, tothe point, easy to understand, easy to absorb, easy touse” (p. ix). The book models those precepts: it isprinted in an 81⁄2 x 11� size and richly illustrated withuseful examples and intriguing historical reproductions.The book is divided into five chapters: “Using type”;“Type options: Practical pointers”; “Type facts”; “Page



ingredients”; and “Constructing publications.” The ap-pendixes cover paper, binding, measuring equivalents(for example, converting U.S. points to European Didotpoints), and printing nomenclature in six languages. Thewriting style throughout is informal, even as the authorpresents such technical terminology as “quadding.” Hesuggests that understanding such language as well aspublishing history is not only important if you discuss aproject with production professionals, but the “deeperneed . . . [to] know the words to understand the con-cepts they represent” (p. 51).

Williams, Robin. 1994. The non-designer’s design book:Design and typographic principles for the visual novice.Berkeley, CA: Peachpit Press. Index. Bib. 144 pp.

Structured for and focused on the inexperienced docu-ment designer, Williams’ book uses extensive visualsand explanations to evaluate useful document designwith examples ranging from nametags to party invita-tions to resumes and advertisements. The principlesWilliams presents—contrast, repetition, alignment, andproximity (CRAP)—apply to any type of print-documentdesign (p. 14). Williams moves through these principlesin reverse order in the chapters of the book, allowingthe reader to design a page logically by placing similartypes of information together, laying out that informa-tion on the page so that elements connect, using re-peated design elements consistently to create a “cohe-sive look and feel” (p. 43), and then applying contrast to“add visual interest . . . and to create an organizationalhierarchy among different elements” (p. 53). The lastthree chapters discuss designing with type, based on herfour principles; Williams then offers an “extras” section,including re-design exercises, quizzes with answers, anda list of type fonts.

PUBLICATION AND INFORMATION MANAGEMENTThis section includes works that describe the managementand organization of people, information, and documentation.

Albers, Michael J., and Beth Conney Lisberg. 2000. “Infor-mation design: A bibliography.” Technical communication47, no. 2:170–176.

Aiming to “identify books that should be on any infor-mation designer’s shelf” (p. 170), Albers and Lisberghave compiled a list of 17 books voted most importantby InfoDesign list participants. Albers, an assistant pro-fessor of professional writing at the University of Mem-phis, annotates each of the seventeen, which range fromclassic visual theory to current how-to’s in Web design.Lisberg, a technical communicator and owner of an

information design consulting firm, provides an addi-tional 101 titles suggested by herself and InfoDesignvoters. The 101 additional texts are categorized underthe headings Creativity, critical thinking; Visual thinking;Graphic design; Infographics; Information design; In-structional design; Interface design; Design—other dis-ciplines, theory; Linguistics; Online information, multi-media; Print information, document design; andTypography.

Allen, O. Jane, and Lynn H. Deming, eds. 1994. Publica-tions management: Essays for professional communicators.Baywood’s Technical Communication Series. Amityville,NY: Baywood Publishing. Index. 251 pp.

The editors state, “We have collected these essays forstudents in academic programs in technical and profes-sional communication and for communication profes-sionals in the workplace” (p. ix). The focus of the 18separately authored chapters is on managing projects,people, and technical communication programs. Part I,“Communication and the manager,” includes three arti-cles on the process of project management, personnelissues, and meetings. Part II, “Management and super-vision,” includes four articles concerning such issues ashiring freelancers and managing internships. Part III,“Project management and the information developmentcycle,” contains six articles on such topics as developingtimetables, document standards, and estimating costs.Part IV, “Legal and ethical issues,” contains two articlesand Part V, “Pedagogy,” includes three articles in pro-gram and course development for professional commu-nicators. Many of the articles include both referencesand selected readings.

Applehans, Wayne, Alden Globe, and Greg Laugero. 1999.Managing knowledge: A Practical Web-based approach.Addison-Wesley Information Technology Series. Reading,MA: Addison-Wesley Longman. Index. 115 pp.

The authors assume their audience is convinced of thevalue of knowledge management, so instead of convinc-ing readers they should do knowledge management, theauthors want to convince readers that they can do it (p.10). In the introduction, the authors define knowledgemanagement as “delivering the information and datapeople need to be effective in their jobs” (p. 18). Com-panies incorporate knowledge management for threereasons: ease of partnering, managing expertise turn-over, and decentralizing decision-making (p. 17). Thefirst part of the book details the audit, the content port-folio, knowledge architecture, profiling people, and re-turn on investment. Part Two shows how to envision the



company, “not as an organizational hierarchy, but as acollection of cooperative ‘content centers’” (p. 23). PartThree explains how to bring it all together into a unifiedknowledge architecture. Finally, Part Four provides achecklist to ensure a successful knowledge managementinitiative.

Boiko, Bob. 2002. Content management Bible. New York,NY: Hungry Minds. Index. 966 pp.

The author states that to appreciate this book “you needto have felt the pain of too much content and notenough system to handle it” (p. xi). The book is acomprehensive reference guide for handling large-scalecontent management system projects.

The five parts define content and content manage-ment; outline requirements for a content managementproject; provide instructions for creating a logical de-sign; and provide information about building and im-plementing a content management system. The book isaimed at such readers as managers, developers, editors,and those who need general familiarity with contentmanagement. Parts of the book (such as “AnalyzingAudiences”) are of interest to marketing, publishing, andcommunication experts both in the workplace and theacademy. The companion Web site (http://www.meta-torial.com/) offers audio commentaries by the author,sample databases, and other features accessible only toowners of the book.

Gery, Gloria J. 1991. Electronic performance support sys-tems: How and why to remake the workplace through thestrategic application of technology. Boston, MA: Weingar-ten Publications. Index. Bib. 302 pp.

The book offers solutions to personnel training chal-lenges every organization faces. Gery, an acknowledgedexpert in computer training, maintains that “people areapplying new technology to old models rather thanre-orienting themselves to the possibilities and alterna-tives that new technologies will permit” (p. 28). Geryproposes a new paradigm she calls “electronic perfor-mance support system” (or EPSS), a flexible conceptualframework within which organizations can generatespecific electronic models of personnel performanceand training. To make the EPSS concept more tangiblefor her readers, the book describes its application in tenorganizations as well as in chapters on such issues asjustification, strategy, philosophy and politics. The au-thor’s emphasis on human reactions in a social environ-ment, rather than on merely technical factors in themodel’s application, makes the EPSS concept of endur-ing interest to communication professionals.

Hackos, JoAnn T. 1994. Managing your documentationprojects. Wiley Technical Communication Library Series.New York, NY: John Wiley & Sons. Index. Bib. 629 pp.

The author states, “Few books or training programs existthat deal with the specific requirements of publications-project management” (p. xvii). This landmark book isintended not only for publications-project managers andindependent project contributors but also for instructorsof future technical communicators and publications-project managers. The 29 chapters are divided into sixparts: “Managing for quality—An introduction to publi-cations project management,” “Starting the project—Theinformation-planning phase,” “Establishing the specif-ics—The content-specification phase,” “Keeping theproject running—The implementation phase,” “Manag-ing the production phase,” and “Ending the project—The evaluation phase.” Five appendixes provide variouschecklists and guides intended to help managers main-tain quality technical publications.

Jacobson, Robert, ed. 1999. Information design. Cam-bridge: MIT Press. 357 pp.

In the introductory chapter, “Why information designmatters,” the editor maintains that because we con-stantly produce and consume information, all of us areinformation designers. He suggests that the principles ofedification (personal enlightenment) and commutativity(mutual change) are central to the book’s discussion ofinformation design. The purpose of the book is “to showus how to be both cautionary and hopeful, to offer usvisions of how information design can be practiceddiligently and ethically for the benefit of consumers andproducers alike” (p. 2). Contributors to the book “runthe gamut, from those who deny that there is such athing as information design to those who believe theyhave been practicing it for a lifetime” (p. 3). If informa-tion design is not yet a true profession, it is in theprocess of becoming one (p. 6). Part I provides theoret-ical foundations of information design, Part II providesexamples of information design practice, and Part IIIfocuses on designing for the technologies of informa-tion. According to Jacobson, “Information design, what-ever its label, will enhance our society’s ability to collect,process, and disseminate information and to produceunderstanding” (p. 10).

Redish, Janice C. 2000. “What is information design?” Tech-nical communication 47, no. 2:163–166.

Redish offers two meanings of information design: “theoverall process of developing a successful document”



and “the way the information is presented on the pageor screen” (p. 163). In either case, Redish observes, theobjective is “to develop a document (or communication)that works for its users” through considering the users’needs, their ability to understand what they find, andtheir capacity to use their findings (p. 163). The authorindicates four vital concerns in information design: plan-ning questions and front-end analysis; iterative evalua-tion; the interaction and equal importance of writing andpresentation; and planning question-based guidelinesfor design purposes (p. 163). The two critical trends intechnical communication Redish indicates are the Weband single sourcing; the visual aspects of the former andthe multiple uses of the latter constrain informationdesign, and communicators must consider the“whole”—process and product, writing and design—tocreate successful documents.

Rosenfeld, Louis, and Peter Morville. 2002. Informationarchitecture for the World Wide Web. 2nd ed. Sebastopol,CA: O’Reilly & Associates. Index. Bib. 461 pp.

Rosenfeld and Morville hope to reach “anyone who’sinterested in information architecture and maybe a fewwho aren’t” (p. xix). Part I provides an overview ofinformation architecture, including a definition of theprofession, qualities and skills essential to the profes-sion, and techniques for identifying how people accessinformation through technology. Part II details the fun-damental components of information architecture, in-cluding organization, labeling, and navigation systems.Part III focuses on the process and methodology behindinformation architecture. Part IV is a “series of shortessays that provide practical tips and philosophical ad-vice for those doing the work of information architec-ture” (p. xviii). Throughout the book, the authors in-clude examples, both good and bad, that the reader canaccess and study via the Internet. The authors provide adetailed list of additional resources, such as discussionlists, directories, books, formal education programs,conferences, and tools.

Wick, Corey. 2000. “Knowledge management and leader-ship opportunities for technical communicators.” Technicalcommunication 47, no. 4:515–529.

Because technical communication and knowledge man-agement share three core competencies, the author be-lieves technical communicators are well positioned totake a leadership role instead of a supportive role withinbusinesses. The author defines four knowledge manage-ment perspectives—document-centered, technological,socio-organizational, and knowledge organization—and

demonstrates how a technical communicator’s skill setfits into the “recent and projected growth” of projectmanagement (p. 523). The author suggests that technicalcommunicators leverage their skill sets to become “le-gitimate contenders” in knowledge management (p.527). In addition, the author proposes that technicalcommunicators broaden their competencies by studyingthe technologies used in knowledge management,which will help convince some professionals of the valuetechnical communicators add to business and help techni-cal communicators earn the “visibility, respect, and com-pensation [they] have sought for so long” (p. 528).

Wurman, Richard Saul. 2001. Information anxiety 2. Indi-anapolis, IN: Que. Index. 308 pp.

This book is a revision of Wurman’s much discussedInformation anxiety (New York, NY: Doubleday,1989) “with additional research and writing by LoringLeifer and David Sume.” Trained as an architect ofbuildings, Wurman uses this book not only to suggeststructures that help humans cope with the informationexplosion but also for reflection: “When I came upwith the concept of information architecture in 1975,I thought everybody would join in and call themselvesinformation architects. But nobody did—until now.Suddenly, it’s become an ubiquitous term. Of course,as is the case with any ubiquitous label, there aresome information architects who legitimately meetthe definition of the term, but there are lots whodon’t” (p. v).

As in the earlier edition, Wurman uses a 22-page tableof contents as not only a window on the book but alsoa readable text by itself. In the chapters, Wurman and hiscollaborators present a philosophy built on an under-standing of how people function and react to informa-tion. One prominent example is the use of instructions,understood broadly. Wurman observes that “In a worldrun by ideas, people are the resources” (p. 230); in thatcase, instructions in the workplace “require a highercaliber of communications” (p. 229). The book is illus-trated with maps, diagrams, cartoons, and drawings thatreflect the informality and humor in the writing. Ulti-mately, Wurman and his colleagues encourage us tounderstand our limited capacity to process all the infor-mation around us and, through this recognition, con-sider alternative ways to make sense of thisinformation. TC

ACKNOWLEDGMENTSI must first thank Margaret Artman, an English PhD student atthe University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, for her many hours ofcrucial assistance and steady support on this project.



I am enormously grateful to the many colleagues and profes-sionals in technical communication who donated lists, com-mented on works, offered advice, and helped recruit annota-tors during the process. The advice and help from the followingcolleagues was indispensable: Mollye Barrett, AndreasBaumert, Ted Brusaw, Saul Carliner, Dave Clark, Dan Dieterich,Sam Dragga, Judy Glick-Smith, Christina Grignon, JoAnnHackos, Bill Hart-Davidson, George Hayhoe, Bill Holahan,Matthias Jonas, Karla Saari Kitalong, Mohan Limaye, MikeMarkel, Walt Oliu, Jim Porter, Judy Ramey, Diana Reep,Carolyn Rude, Michael Salvo, Geoff Sauer, Stuart Selber, JackSelzer, Charles Sides, Brenda Sims, Graham Smart, RachelSpilka, Clay Spinuzzi, Erik Thelen, Bill Van Pelt, Tom Warren,Katherine Wikoff, Chauncey Wilson, and Dorothy Winsor.

My thanks as well to Bedford/St. Martin’s for granting permis-sion to reprint and adapt annotations from The St. Martin’sbibliography of business and technical communication, byGerald Alred (copyright 1997).

Finally, I am especially grateful to those who helped ensure thisarticle meet the publication deadline by developing new anno-tations: Antonio Ceraso, Diana Reep, Graham Smart, CandieMcKee, Meg Artman, Jordynn Jack, Dylan B. Dryer, Leslie Fife,Rebecca J. Bryson, Maria Cochran, Lyn Gattis, Richard Hay,Brian Hentz, Jerry Kenney, Alicia Middendorf, Stephen Schnei-

der, Shaun Slattery, Robert Stultz, Russell Willerton, ChristinaWright, Steven Jong, and Matthew Turner.

REFERENCESAlred, Gerald J. 1997. The St. Martin’s bibliography of

business and technical communication. New York, NY: St.Martin’s Press.

Dicks, R. Stanley. 2002. “Cultural impediments tounderstanding: Are they surmountable?” In Reshapingtechnical communication: New directions and challengesfor the 21st century, ed. Barbara Mirel and Rachel Spilka.Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum, pp. 13–25.

GERALD J. ALRED is an associate fellow of STC andprofessor of English at the University of Wisconsin-Milwau-kee, where he teaches courses in professional writing anddirects the graduate certificate program in international tech-nical communication. His books include The St. Martin’s bib-liography of business and technical communication, Busi-ness and technical writing: An annotated bibliography ofbooks, 1880 –1980, and the Handbook of technical writing(7th ed.). His most recent article is “A review of technicalcommunication programs outside the United States” in theJournal of business and technical communication. Contactinformation: [email protected]



essential works on technical communication · 2015-07-28 · many essential works on technical...

Documents