Discusses the problem of using graphics in international documents, since graphics are not universal unless expressly designed as such. Discusses how to plan international graphics, pitfalls to avoid, wordless instructions, and text. Offers a checklist for cultural and national differences. (SR)

Offers suggestions on ways to include electronic mail skills in college classes, focusing on wide-area networks not on networks within a classroom. (SR)

Uses Jurgen Habermas' theory of communicative action to explore the issue of empowerment. Describes a communicative situation now common in public life (scientific and technical forces arrayed against citizenry). Applies Habermas' theory to that situation. Claims that empowerment remains only a communicative ideal. (HB)

Qualitative analysis of insights from consumer focus groups on product manual usage reveals consumer perceptions and preferences regarding manual and safety message format. Results can be used to improve manual design and content. (JOW)

Shows how to prepare students for the behavioral job interview. Discusses two components: improving students' cognitive and affective skills, and developing students' ability to answer behaviorally based questions. Suggests ways to train students to master the second component more effectively. (HB)

Surveys technical writing professors concerning the definition and location of technical writing programs. Finds that programs located in English departments do not receive the respect and support they need; and that faculty in programs located in other departments are significantly more satisfied. Suggests some strategies for improving the…

Examines construction and use of documentation to create and disseminate order in activity systems of several engineering organizations. Finds that participants used documentation to protect themselves and to describe future actions for others to take. Suggests that creating effective documentation was difficult when writer and reader were from…

Describes how data displays can be classified into four types: conventional, perceptual, informational, and aesthetic. Argues that conflicts among the standards can be resolved by allowing the rhetorical situation to guide the design process. Explores a case in information design to show how the rhetorical situation shapes data displays, telling…

Describes an assignment in which students write a letter of complaint, and discusses how this assignment aids students in seeing the importance of effective written communication to their daily lives. (SR)

Examines roles technical communicators play in designing and developing information systems, especially online help. Surveys technical communicators, developers, and users. Finds users of systems for which the online help was written by a technical communicator used the online help more often and rated the quality of that help higher. Discusses…

Explores how technical communicators arrive at their attitudes toward the future and the effects of such attitudes toward current practice. Argues for a critically informed, open-minded approach to the future, an approach that encourages an honest self-criticism within the discipline of technical communication. (SC)

Questions the widespread, largely uncritical importing of corporate paradigms into the technical-writing classroom. Calls for the university to remain separate from the corporation in its purpose. Describes a recently developed senior seminar that challenges students' assumptions about their own and others' scientific and technical writing. (SC)

Outlines the evolution of information design in Europe, which has long involved practitioners from a broader set of disciplines than in the United States. Speculates on reasons for differences in approach to information design in Europe and the United States. Maintains that quality of education is key to both approaches, to respect and improve…

Investigates the effectiveness of information design principles and feedback-based usability testing in developing clinical questionnaires. Finds that a form developed using information design principles collected significantly more data than did a control form. (SR)

Describes the Information SubTypes and Effects (ISTE) approach, which measures the relationship between the design of a document and the way users handle it. Positions the ISTE method within the broader context of usability testing. Describes its basic approach and some recent applications. Demonstrates that ISTE is a viable instrument for…