Description
Book SynopsisThis book explores five important areas where technology affects society, and suggests ways in which human communication can facilitate the use of that technology.Usability has become a foundational discipline in technical and professional communication that grows out of our rhetorical roots, which emphasize purpose and audience. As our appreciation of audience has grown beyond engineers and scientists to lay users of technology, our appreciation of the diversity of those audiences in terms of age, geography, and other factors has similarly expanded.We are also coming to grips with what Thomas Friedman calls the 'flat world,' a paradigm that influences how we communicate with members of other cultures and speakers of other languages. And because most of the flatteners are either technologies themselves or technology-driven, technical and professional communicators need to leverage these technologies to serve global audiences.Similarly, we are inundated with information about world cris
Trade Review"This is an outstanding collection of papers for use in a technical communication - and for technical communication practitioners who wish to learn about crucial issues and developments in the field. The major topics are, without exception, important. Individual papers address issues through a variety of methodologies, including case study." - Muriel Zimmerman, Ph.D., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, University of California, Santa Barbara "Editors Hayhoe and Grady have combined a wide range of topics into a single reference work that surveys the ever-growing field of technical communication. This anthology provides a clear snapshot of the space between today's technology and the people who use it." - Brenda Huettner, President, P-N Designs, Inc. "Too many people still see effective communication as a luxury - a useful but nonessential ingredient of products and processes. In contrast, this book nicely demonstrates the far-reaching impact that technical and professional communication can have on issues of relevance in today's world. As such, it should be an eye-opener for many readers in the field, notably students at all levels." - Jean-luc Doumont, Ph.D., Founding Partner, Principiae"
Table of ContentsIntroduction:
George F. Hayhoe and Helen M. Grady
Part I-Usability: Making Technology Fit Its Users
Chapter 1 Making Connections: Teaming Up to Connect Users, Developers, and Usability Experts
Carol Barnum, David Deyton, Kevin Gillis, and Joe O'Connor
Chapter 2 Usability Standards: Connecting Practice Around the World
Whitney Quesenbery
Chapter 3 Conducting an Automated Experiment Over the Internet to Assess Navigation Design for a Medical Web Site Containing Multipage Articles
Elisabeth Cuddihy, Carolyn Wei, Alexandra Bartell, Jen Barrick, Brandon Maust, Seth S. Leopold, and Jan H. Spyridakis
Chapter 4 Manuals for the Elderly: Text Characteristics That Help or Hinder Older Users
Floor van Horen, Carel Jansen, Leo Noordman, and Alfons Maes
Part II-Globalization: Overcoming the Challenges of Languages and Cultures
Chapter 5 Communication as a Key to Global Business
Reinhard Schäler
Chapter 6 The Hidden Costs of Cross-Cultural Documentation
Marie-Louise Flacke
Chapter 7 How to Save Time and Money by Connecting the Writing Process to the Update and Translation Process
Margaretha Eriksson
Chapter 8 Technical Communication and Cross-Cultural Miscommunication: User Culture and the Outsourcing of Writing
Joseph Jeyaraj
Chapter 9 Presenting in English to International Audiences: A Critical Survey of Published Advice and Actual Practice
Thomas Orr, Renu Gupta, Atsuko Yamazaki, and Laurence Anthony
Part III-Health and Safety: Informing Society of Risks and Dangers
Chapter 10 Public Professional Communication in the Anti-Terror Age: A Discourse Analysis
Catherine F. Smith
Chapter 11 Challenges to Effective Information and Communication Systems in Humanitarian Relief Organizations
Christina Maiers, Margaret Reynolds, and Mark Haselkorn
Chapter 12 Using Role Sets to Engage and Persuade Visitors of Web Sites that Promote Safe Sex
Michaël F. Steehouder
Chapter 13 Physicians and Patients: How Professionals Build Relationships through Rapport Management
Kim Campbell
Part IV-Biotechnology: Reporting Its Potential and Its Problems
Chapter 14 Connecting Popular Culture and Science: The Case of Biotechnology
Susan Allender-Hagedorn and Cheryl W. Ruggiero
Chapter 15 Biotechnology and Global Miscommunication with the Public: Rhetorical Assumptions, Stylistic Acts, Ethical Implications
Steven B. Katz
Chapter 16 The Need for Technical Communicators as Facilitators of Negotiation in Controversial Technology Transfer Cases
Dale L. Sullivan
Part V-Corporate Environment: ImprovingTechnology
Chapter 17 Technical Language: Learning from the Columbia and Challenger Reports
Paul M. Dombrowski
Chapter 18 The Theoretical Foundations of Service Leadership: A New Paradigm
Judith B. Strother and Svafa Grönfeldt
Chapter 19 Managing Collaboration: Adding Communication and Documentation Environment to a Product Development Cycle
Laura S. Batson and Susan Feinberg
Chapter 20 Virtual Office Communication Protocols: A System for Managing International Virtual Teams
Kirk St. Amant
Chapter 21 Knowledge Management in the Aerospace Industry
David J. Harvey and Robert Holdsworth
Chapter 22 Using Their Digital Notes: Three Cases to Make Tacit Knowledge Visible in a Web-based Surrounding
Leisbeth Rentinck
Meet the Contributors
Index
