2:4: Form and Content in Technical Communication Theory
Up one levelMany technical communicators hear in the workplace that 'form' and 'content' are discrete elements. Subject matter experts often consider themselves providers of content, relegating technical communicators to mere addition of form or style to the substance. This issue rethinks that dichotomy, examining alternative theories which may explain our work better.
- Tell It Like It Is: Rehabilitating Positivism in Technical Communications
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Christian deMaagd
In this essay, I will use the work of several theorists to discuss, first, what the term 'interpretive community' entails; second, what the term means for the field of technical communication; and finally, I will extend empirical responses to humanitistic TC theory to include two coercions which technical communication can combat. - Humanistic Virtues in Information Graphics
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Dane K.T. Fukumoto
Information graphics have traditionally upheld the role as a constructor of clarity in visual communication; where interpretation experiments explicitly create obstacles in the exchanges of highly sensitive, impermeable data. Through clarity and a propensity towards objectivity, information graphics have advanced the institutional, empirical virtues of design for function and economy. - Educational Aspects of Technical Communication: Overview and Application of Howard Gardner's Theory of Multiple Intelligences
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Jerrod A. Larson
Technical communication is a form of education. As technical communicators we do not merely ask a reader (or viewer, user, or whoever) to elicit a certain response naively after interacting with something we produce, we strive for audience cognition. Through our documents we attempt to make our audience understand the design and operational philosophy of a computer program or machine (or whatever else), so that they can apply one instruction to another situation. - Reader Roles: Building a Bridge Between Content and Navigation
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John W. Michael
Will the generation of readers that grow in the age of the Internet respond to text differently than earlier generations? They may seek instead, an active role in both the text and the options they have in the online world. How can text support this role? What kinds of rhetorical reading strategies brought fourth by technical communication could support new adaptations to text that allow the reader to actively engage in both content and navigation online to capture a richer, more rewarding experience? - A Study of Theories of Style in Technical Communication
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Lily Sun
One of the most frequent questions technical communicators encounter is what style they should write in. Unfortunately it is not an easy question. The answer to this question should come from careful theoretical studies and deliberate analysis of the audience and many other factors, such as social environment. This paper analyze theories, which guide the style in technical communication, from three angles: reader analysis, interpretive communities and whether technical communication is plain, instructional, or rhetorical.