Technical Communication back issues from August 2004:
Call for proposals: special issue on the future development of the profession.
Aug 01, 2004 ... Technical communication is pleased to announce a special issue on the future development of the profession to be published in August 2005. The guest editor is Michael J. Albers of the University of Memphis. DESCRIPTION Traditionally, the focus of technical ...
Facing up to budget cuts.(Editorial)
Aug 01, 2004; ... Just as most companies in recent years, the Society for Technical Communication finds itself faced with the need to trim spending by cutting some programs and reducing the costs of others. This belt-tightening results from a significant decrease in the number of members since 2001 and ...
The future of technical communication: how innovation, technology, information management, and other forces are shaping the future of the profession.(Applied Research)
Aug 01, 2004; ... SUMMARY * Presents results of a 2003 survey with influential practitioners on innovation, global concerns, management, the impact of new technologies, and future professional roles * Provides recommendations for the future focus of the profession ...
Mapping technical communication to a human performance technology framework.(Applied Theory)
Aug 01, 2004; ... SUMMARY * Traces the evolution of technical communication from content focus to user focus * Shows how we can use human performance technology methodology to guide user-centered approaches ********** INTRODUCTION About 20 years ago, ...
Fitting academic programs to workplace marketability: career paths of five technical communicators.(Applied Research)
Aug 01, 2004; ... SUMMARY * Reports on interviews with five master's program graduates about their varied career paths and the skills they use in their jobs * Discusses current issues facing technical communications programs--the variety of jobs available to graduates and the skills ...
Functional analysis for document design.(Applied Theory)
Aug 01, 2004; ... SUMMARY * Shows how a main document purpose may be decomposed into a hierarchical network containing sub-goals * Analyzes the multiple constraints that may be derived from different components of the functional context ********** INTRODUCTION ...
Usability, structured content, and single sourcing with XML.(Applied Theory)
Aug 01, 2004; ... SUMMARY * Examines four usability issues that emerge from XML development * Contends that usability will need to be evaluated in terms of the interrelationships among different interfaces and content views ********** Recent articles in technical ...
Stop Stealing Sheep & Find Out How Type Works.(Book Reviews)
Aug 01, 2004; ... Stop Stealing Sheep & Find Out How Type Works Erik Spiekermann and E. M. Ginger. 2003, 2nd ed. Berkeley, CA: Adobe Press. [ISBN 0-201-70339-4. 188 pages, including indexes. $30.00 USD (softcover).] An acknowledged type groupie, I love Stop stealing sheep & find out ...
The Design and Management of Effective Distance Learning Programs.(Book Reviews)
Aug 01, 2004; ... The Design and Management of Effective Distance Learning Programs Richard Discenza, Caroline Howard, and Karen Schenk, eds. 2002. Hershey, PA: Idea Group Publishing. [ISBN 1-930708-20-3. 299 pages, including index. $74.95 USD.] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] The ...
Designing Web Site Interface Elements.(Book Reviews)
Aug 01, 2004; ... Designing Web Site Interface Elements Eric Eaton. 2003. Gloucester, MA. Rockport Publishers [ISBN 0-201-79303-2. 256 pages, including index. $40.00 USD (softcover).] Designing Web site interface elements, a title in Rockport's Design Whys series, focuses on how ...
The Author's Toolkit: A Step-by-Step Guide to Writing and Publishing Your Book.(Book Reviews)
Aug 01, 2004; ... The Author's Toolkit: A Step-by-Step Guide to Writing and Publishing Your Book Mary Embree. 2003. Revised ed. New York, NY: Allworth Press. [ISBN 1-58115-260-4. 181 pages, including index. $16.95 USD (softcover).] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] "Do you love to ...
Web Design on a Shoestring.(Book Reviews)
Aug 01, 2004; ... Web Design on a Shoestring [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Carrie Bickner. 2004. Indianapolis, IN: New Riders Publishing. [ISBN 0-7357-1328-6. 215 pages, including index. $24.99 USD (softcover).] The subtitle of Carrie Bickner's Web design on a shoestring could ...
Cross-Cultural Psychology: Research and Applications.(Book Reviews)
Aug 01, 2004; ... Cross-Cultural Psychology: Research and Applications John W. Berry, Ype H. Poortinga, Marshall H. Segall, and Pierre R. Dasen. 2002. 2nd ed. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press. [ISBN 0-521-64617-0. 588 pages, including references and indexes. $30.00 USD (softcover).] ...
Content Rights for Creative Professionals: Copyrights and Trademarks in a Digital Age.(Book Reviews)
Aug 01, 2004; ... Content Rights for Creative Professionals: Copyrights and Trademarks in a Digital Age [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Arnold P. Lutzker. 2003. 2nd ed. Oxford, UK: Focal Press. [ISBN 0-240-80484-8. 304 pages, including index and CD-ROM. $39.99 USD (softcover).] ...
Great Web Typography.(Book Reviews)
Aug 01, 2004; ... Great Web Typography Wendy Peck. 2003. Indianapolis, IN: Wiley Publishing, Inc. [ISBN 0-7645-3700-8. 316 pages, including index. $34.99 USD (softcover).] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Great Web typography is a book that anyone but the most advanced Web designer ...
The Essential Guide to XML Technologies.(Book Reviews)
Aug 01, 2004; ... The Essential Guide to XML Technologies Ron Turner, 2002. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall PTR. [ISBN 0-13-065565-1. 385 pages, including index. $34.99 USD (softcover).] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Ron Turner's The essential guide to XML technologies is ...
Narratives We Organize By.(Book Reviews)
Aug 01, 2004; ... Narratives We Organize By Barbara Czarniawska and Pasquale Gagliardi, eds. 2003. Amsterdam, Netherlands: John Benjamins Publishing Co. [ISBN 1-58811-393-0. 278 pages, including indexes. $64.95 USD (softcover).] Narratives we organize by is a veritable treat for ...
Son of Web Pages That Suck: Learn Good Design by Looking at Bad Design.(Book Reviews)
Aug 01, 2004; ... Son of Web Pages That Suck: Learn Good Design by Looking at Bad Design Vincent Flanders. 2002. San Francisco, CA: Sybex. [ISBN 0-7821-4020-3. 295 pages, including index and CD-ROM. $45.00 USD (softcover).] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] The irreverent Vincent ...
Creating Web Graphics for Dummies.(Book Reviews)
Aug 01, 2004; ... Creating Web Graphics for Dummies Bud Smith and Peter Frazier. 2003. New York, NY: Wiley Publishing, Inc. [ISBN 0-7645-2595-6. 312 pages, including index and CD. $24.99 USD (softcover).] "The Web is a great new delivery platform that will end up raising the practice ...
Design It Yourself Newsletters: A Step-by-Step Guide.(Book Reviews)
Aug 01, 2004; ... Design It Yourself Newsletters: A Step-by-Step Guide Chuck Green. 2002. Gloucester, MA: Rockport Publishers. [ISBN 1-56496-767-0. 160 pages, including index. $25.00 USD (softcover).] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Newsletters are a very common and ...
Essentials of Knowledge Management.(Book Reviews)
Aug 01, 2004; ... Essentials of Knowledge Management Bryan Bergeron. 2003. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. [ISBN 0-471-28113-1. 208 pages, including index. $29.95 USD (softcover.)] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Essentials of knowledge management provides plentiful detail ...
Writing Power: Communication in an Engineering Center.(Book Reviews)
Aug 01, 2004; ... Writing Power: Communication in an Engineering Center Dorothy A. Winsor. 2003. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press. [ISBN 0-7914-5758-3. 173 pages, including index. $18.95 USD (softcover).] According to Dorothy Windsor, " ... power is constructed in the ...
Publishing for Small Press Runs: How to Print and Market from 20 to 200 Copies of Your Book.(Book Reviews)
Aug 01, 2004; ... Publishing for Small Press Runs: How to Print and Market from 20 to 200 Copies of Your Book Gary Michael Smith. 2002. 2nd ed. New Orleans, LA: Chatgris Press. [ISBN 0-9658380-8-0. 336 pages, including index. $19.95 USD (softcover).] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] ...
Virtual Publics: Policy and Community in an Electronic Age.(Book Reviews)
Aug 01, 2004; ... Virtual Publics: Policy and Community in an Electronic Age Beth E. Kolko, ed. 2003. New York, NY: Columbia University Press. [ISBN 0-231-11827-9. 396 pages, including index. $27.50 USD (softcover).] Virtual publics is a book of essays, edited by Beth Kolko, that ...
Essential JavaScript for Web Professionals.(Book Reviews)
Aug 01, 2004; ... Essential JavaScript for Web Professionals Dan Barrett. 2003. 2nd ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall PTR. [ISBN 0-13-100147-7. 319 pages, including index. $29.99 (softcover).] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] JavaScript is a cross-platform scripting language ...
Information Graphics and Visual Clues: Communicating Information Through Graphic Design.(Book Reviews)
Aug 01, 2004; ... Information Graphics and Visual Clues: Communicating Information Through Graphic Design. Ronnie Lipton. 2002. Gloucester, MA: Rockport Publishers. [ISBN 1-56496-864-2. 208 pages. $45.00 USD.] You wouldn't expect from a book on graphic design anything less than ...
Knowledge Mapping and Management.(Book Reviews)
Aug 01, 2004; ... Knowledge Mapping and Management Don White, ed. 2002. Hershey, PA: IRM Press. [ISBN 1-931777-17-9. 328 pages, including index. $59.95 USD (softcover).] Knowledge mapping and management is a collection of research papers produced by an international set of academics on ...
Woe Is I: The Grammarphobe's Guide to Better English in Plain English.(Book Reviews)
Aug 01, 2004; ... Woe Is I: The Grammarphobe's Guide to Better English in Plain English Patricia T. O'Conner. 2003. 2nd ed. New York, NY: Riverhead Books. [ISBN 1-57322-252-6. 240 pages, including index. $19.95 USD.] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] How often have you looked at some ...
Designing Effective Web Sites: A Concise Guide.(Book Reviews)
Aug 01, 2004; ... Designing Effective Web Sites: A Concise Guide Johndan Johnson-Eilola. 2002. Boston, MA. Houghton Mifflin Company. [ISBN 0-618-07433-3. 122 pages, including index. $20.00 USD (softcover).] Johndan Johnson-Eilola's Web design guide lives up to its title as a concise ...
Peer to Peer: Collaboration and Sharing over the Internet.(Book Reviews)
Aug 01, 2004; ... Peer to Peer: Collaboration and Sharing over the Internet Bo Leuf. 2002. Boston, MA: Addison-Wesley. [ISBN 0-201-76732-5. 429 pages, including index. $44.99 USD (softcover).] As humans, we have a primeval need to communicate with each other even when we are physically ...
Qualitative Communication Research Methods.(Book Reviews)
Aug 01, 2004; ... Qualitative Communication Research Methods Thomas R. Lindlof and Bryan C. Taylor. 2002. 2nd ed. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications. [ISBN 0-7619-2494-9. 356 pages, including index. $42.95 USD (softcover).] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Longitudinal Research ...
Designing Instruction for Technology-Enhanced Learning.(Book Reviews)
Aug 01, 2004; ... Designing Instruction for Technology-Enhanced Learning Patricia L. Rogers, ed. 2002. Hershey, PA: Idea Group Publishing. [ISBN 1-930708-28-9. 274 pages, including index. $74.95 USD.] "Teaching as you were taught won't work." The title of Chapter 4 could serve as the ...
How to Start and Run a Small Book Publishing Company: A Small Business Guide to Self-Publishing and Independent Publishing.(Book Reviews)
Aug 01, 2004; ... How to Start and Run a Small Book Publishing Company: A Small Business Guide to Self-Publishing and Independent Publishing Peter I. Hupalo. 2002. West St. Paul, MN: HCM Publishing. [ISBN 0-9671624-3-2. 160 pages, including index. $18.95 USD (softcover).] Having ...
The Web Writer's Guide.(Book Reviews)
Aug 01, 2004; ... The Web Writer's Guide Darlene Maciuba-Koppel. 2002. Amsterdam, Netherlands: Focal Press. [ISBN 0-240-80481-3. 318 pages, including index. $24.99 USD (softcover).] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Written for writers who have recently launched their writing careers ...
Power Tools for Technical Communication.(Book Reviews)
Aug 01, 2004; ... Power Tools for Technical Communication David A. McMurrey. 2002. Fort Worth, TX: Harcourt College Publishers. [ISBN 0-15-506898-9. 521 pages, including appendixes and index. $84.95 USD (softcover).] If my house caught fire and I could escape with only one technical ...
Beyond Postprocess and Postmodernism: Essays on the Spaciousness of Rhetoric.(Book Reviews)
Aug 01, 2004; ... Beyond Postprocess and Postmodernism: Essays on the Spaciousness of Rhetoric Theresa Enos and Keith D. Miller, eds. 2003. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. [ISBN 0-8058-4408-2. 278 pages, including indexes. $27.50 USD (softcover).] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] ...
The MIT Guide to Teaching Web Site Design.(Book Reviews)
Aug 01, 2004; ... The MIT Guide to Teaching Web Site Design Edward Barrett, Deborah A. Levinson, and Suzana Lisanti. 2001. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. [ISBN 0-262-2500-0. 102 pages, including index. $22.95 USD.] The MIT guide to teaching Web site design is a much-needed addition to ...
Handheld Usability.(Book Reviews)
Aug 01, 2004; ... Handheld Usability Scott Weiss. 2002. Chichester, UK: John Wiley & Sons. [ISBN 0-470-84446-9. 271 pages, including index. $55.00 USD.] The author and the publisher of Handheld usability may have had a little difficulty targeting and titling the book. The book could ...
Books received 1 December 2003 to 28 February 2004.(Book Reviews)
Aug 01, 2004 ... Allen, Moira Anderson. 2003. Starting your career as a freelance writer. New York, NY: Allworth Press. Baker, Donna L. 2004. Adobe Acrobat 6 tips and tricks: The 100 best. Berkeley, CA: Adobe Press. Benz, Brian, with John Durant. 2003. XML programming Bible. ...
Chinese Business Face: Communication Behaviors and Teaching Approaches.(Communication)
Aug 01, 2004; ... Chinese Business Face: Communication Behaviors and Teaching Approaches P. Cardon and J. Scott. 2003. Business communication quarterly 66:9-21. "Chinese businesspersons are extremely sensitive to protecting and enhancing face .... a result of their emphasis on ...
Moving Technical Communication into the Post-industrial Age: Advice from 1910.(Communication)
Aug 01, 2004; ... Moving Technical Communication into the Post-industrial Age: Advice from 1910 G. Lippincott. 2003. Technical communication quarterly 12:321-342. "This article examines advice from a century ago that anticipates current calls to relocate the value of technical ...
The New Voice Choice.(Communication)
Aug 01, 2004; ... The New Voice Choice D. M. Ewalt. 2004. Information week (March 1): 34-44. Some "business technology managers are [replacing] a jumble of phone systems within their organizations .... [with] an emerging technology called Voiceover IP .... [that digitizes] a voice ...
Using Internet-based, Distributed Collaborative Writing Tools to Improve Coordination and Group Awareness in Writing Teams.(Communication)
Aug 01, 2004; ... Using Internet-based, Distributed Collaborative Writing Tools to Improve Coordination and Group Awareness in Writing Teams P. B. Lowry and J. Nunamaker, Jr. 2003. IEEE transactions on professional communication 46:277-297. "This paper argues for using specialized ...
Are E-readers Viable Instructional Delivery Systems?(Education)
Aug 01, 2004; ... Are E-readers Viable Instructional Delivery Systems? M. Schcolnik. 2002. Journal of instruction delivery systems 16 (4): 6-17. "A study of reading with e-readers investigated the strategies adult users of e-readers apply to ...
As the Case May Be: The Potential of Electronic Cases for Interdisciplinary Communication Instruction.(Education)
Aug 01, 2004; ... As the Case May Be: The Potential of Electronic Cases for Interdisciplinary Communication Instruction D. Fisher, T. Bowers, A. Ellerstson, T. J. Brumm, and S. K. Mickelson. 2003. IEEE transactions on professional communication 46:313-319. "In an effort to provide ...
Assessing Online Learning in Higher Education.(Education)
Aug 01, 2004; ... Assessing Online Learning in Higher Education S. Shuey. 2002. Journal of instruction delivery systems 16 (2): 13-18. "Due to the accelerated growth rate of online distance learning courses and the need to meet institutional demands, teachers are required to translate ...
CALL and the Responsibilities of Teachers and Administrators.(Education)
Aug 01, 2004; ... CALL and the Responsibilities of Teachers and Administrators J. Jones. 2001. ELT journal 55:360-367. "High technology, especially the use of computers, has won a secure place among the resources available to the modern language teacher ..... However, despite the ...
Collaborative Review of Editing and Writing (CREW): A Method for Training Medical Writers and Editors.(Education)
Aug 01, 2004; ... Collaborative Review of Editing and Writing (CREW): A Method for Training Medical Writers and Editors T. A. Lang. 2002. AMWA journal 17 (1): 23-25. Lang describes a method for training and enhancing the professional development of medical writers and editors, a method ...
Design of an Online Learning Environment in Pain and Symptom Management for Registered Nurses.(Education)
Aug 01, 2004; ... Design of an Online Learning Environment in Pain and Symptom Management for Registered Nurses K. Richards. 2002. Journal of instruction delivery systems 16 (3): 34-39. "Many registered nurses provide daily care of cancer patients and others with life-threatening ...
The Design of Online Learning Communities for Older Adults.(Education)
Aug 01, 2004; ... The Design of Online Learning Communities for Older Adults M. Snyder. 2002. Journal of instruction delivery systems 16 (3): 27-33. "Rapid, ongoing advancements in the growth of the Internet and web-based technology coupled with the steadily increasing number of older ...
An Email Exchange Project between Non-native Speakers of English.(Education)
Aug 01, 2004; ... An Email Exchange Project between Non-native Speakers of English K. Fedderholdt. 2001. ELT journal 55:273-280. Fedderholdt "describes a recent email writing project between non-native speakers (NNS) of English .... Japanese university students, and .... Danish students ...
Expanding Internships to Enhance Academic-industry Relations: A Perspective in Stakeholder Education.(Education)
Aug 01, 2004; ... Expanding Internships to Enhance Academic-industry Relations: A Perspective in Stakeholder Education K. St.Amant. 2003. Journal of technical writing and communication 33:231-241. "To improve technical communication education, educators and internship providers need ...
Field Study and the Rhetoric Curriculum.(Education)
Aug 01, 2004; ... Field Study and the Rhetoric Curriculum K. McGill. 2003. Technical communication quarterly 12:285-302. "Using field study to teach writing and speaking in rhetoric impacts both how technical ...
Mediators of the Effectiveness of Online Courses.(Education)
Aug 01, 2004; ... Mediators of the Effectiveness of Online Courses R. Benbunan-Fich and S. R. Hiltz. 2003. IEEE transactions on professional communication 46:298-312. "A three-year field study of 17 courses, part of an undergraduate degree in Information Systems, compared the process ...
Mentor-guided Analytical Thinking (MAT): A Method for Training Medical Writers and Editors.(Education)
Aug 01, 2004; ... Mentor-guided Analytical Thinking (MAT): A Method for Training Medical Writers and Editors T. A. Lang. 2002. AMWA journal 17 (1): 26-27. Lang reports a classroom-based method for developing high levels of writing and editing skills on the mentor model in which "a ...
The Multi-audience Memo and the International Business Interview.(Education)
Aug 01, 2004; ... The Multi-audience Memo and the International Business Interview J. Crossman. 2003. Business communication quarterly 66:72-86. "[T]wo pragmatic assignments that ... [include rubrics] in the MBA program at Johnson & Wales University .... can be easily adopted by ...
The New Rules of Engagement: Keeping Online Students Involved and on Track in Asynchronous Discussion Forums.(Education)
Aug 01, 2004; ... The New Rules of Engagement: Keeping Online Students Involved and on Track in Asynchronous Discussion Forums D. Wakley. 2002. Journal of instruction delivery systems 16 (2): 6-12. "The asynchronous learning network (ALN) discussion forum is the online equivalent of ...
Online Peer Review: An Alternative to Face-to-face?(Education)
Aug 01, 2004; ... Online Peer Review: An Alternative to Face-to-face? E. DiGiovanni and G. Nagaswami. 2001. ELT journal 55:263-272. The question of whether online peer review (OLPR) can be a worthwhile alternative to face-to-face peer review (FFPR) led the authors to ...
Practical Advice for First Time Online Instructors: A Qualitative Study.(Education)
Aug 01, 2004; ... Practical Advice for First Time Online Instructors: A Qualitative Study G. MacKinnon. 2002. Journal of instruction delivery systems 16(1): 21-25. Analysis of ...
Reflections on Teaching and Learning Online.(Education)
Aug 01, 2004; ... Reflections on Teaching and Learning Online J. McKamey. 2002. Journal of instruction delivery systems 16 (2): 27-34. "After participating as both an ...
Reimagining the Functional Side of Computer Literacy.(Education)
Aug 01, 2004; ... Reimagining the Functional Side of Computer Literacy S. Selber. 2004. Journal of conference on college composition and communication 55:470-503. "Although computer literacy amounts to a complex set of interconnected capacities, teachers ...
SpeakEasy: Online Support for Oral Presentation Skills.(Education)
Aug 01, 2004; ... SpeakEasy: Online Support for Oral Presentation Skills M. Hill and A. Storey. 2003. ELT journal 57:370-376. "This paper describes the development of an online course that aims to help tertiary students improve their English oral presentation skills .... The challenge ...
Teaching a Critical Understanding of Virtual Environments.(Education)
Aug 01, 2004; ... Teaching a Critical Understanding of Virtual Environments T. Carnegie. 2003. Business communication quarterly 66:55-64. "This article outlines an assignment for a virtual class discussion .... held in a MOO classroom that facilitates students' critical understanding ...
Technical Students Interacting with Professional Literature and Writing.(Education)
Aug 01, 2004; ... Technical Students Interacting with Professional Literature and Writing S. Tichenor. 2003. Teaching English in the two-year college 31:163-169. Tichenor teaches technical writing at a vocationally-oriented branch of a state university, where "vocational training ...
Early Modern Information Overload [Special Issue].(Information Management)
Aug 01, 2004; ... Early Modern Information Overload [Special Issue] D. Rosenberg, ed. 2003. Journal of the history of ideas 64:1-10. "What, then, is the history of 'information overload? Is it a history that can be written? .... Taken together, these papers suggest that during the ...