Presents a colloquium in which five scholars examine issues facing researchers in the history of business communication: how to identify topics and research questions; where to find archival and published sources; how to interpret texts and set them in context; special problems to overcome in historical research; and what work needs to be done.…

Describes how teams of students in an undergraduate business and technical communication class carried out 12-week consulting project assignments for off-campus nonprofit agencies and on-campus nonteaching departments, developing documents useful to each workplace and learning about the role and practice of communication in business settings. (SR)

Surveys recent graduates of a degree program in professional and technical communication to identify their current employment, attitudes toward their academic preparation, and professional courses they found most helpful. Describes history and curriculum of Rochester Institute of Technology's 11-year program, its liberal arts core, and its…

Experimental subjects wrote abstracts of an article using a simplified version of the TEXTNET abstracting assistance software; subjects were presented with either keywords or phrases extracted automatically. Results showed considerable variation among subjects, but 37% found the keywords or phrases "quite" or "very" useful in…

Presents six steps of data warehouse development that result in valuable, long-term reporting solutions, discussing how to choose the right reporting vehicle. The six steps are: defining one's needs; mapping the source for each element; extracting the data; cleaning and verifying the data; moving the data into a relational database; and developing…

Presents the results of an empirical study comparing writing and engineering instructors' responses to students' technical writing. Indicates that the gap between engineering and writing teachers' standards for evaluating technical writing is not as wide as is generally assumed. Concludes that the differences that do emerge suggest ways that the…

Recommends focus groups as a useful research methodology for supplementing other, more commonly used measures of qualitative and quantitative assessment. Explains how focus groups can be used to examine teacher and practitioner perspectives of effective technical writing. Provides suggestions on how focus groups can also be used for evaluating…

The defining of colors is a very subjective topic and results in many misunderstandings, especially in translation from one language to another. The number and significance of color adjectives vary from culture to culture. The goal of this article is to explain the origins of such variations and to discuss examples of common translation errors and…

Notes that the divisionary effect of formal corporate models that standardize collaborative processes is particularly problematic for World Wide Web hypertexts, which require ongoing, dynamic collaborations among professionals with diverse specializations. Examines collaborative processes through theory and two Web project teams interactions: one…

Presents a case study of a year-long collaboration over the Internet between a systems analyst from Sweden and a technical communicator from the United States that resulted in a conference paper. Describes the progress of the collaboration, the major difficulties encountered, and the authors' conclusion about its success. Suggests how to improve…

Discusses design issues for interactive multimedia. Notes that technical communication instructors must consider navigational aids, the degree of control a user should have, audio cues, color and typographical elements, visual elements, and copyright issues. (RS)

Describes the Dream Vacation project, part of the Tech Prep Applied Communications curriculum for high school students, which is carried out in collaborative teams. Shows how the project integrates the language arts while developing communication, technical writing, and performance skills. Notes that the project uses and develops students'…

Analyzes two ancient Egyptian technical texts, the Edwin Smith Surgery Manual and the Ebers Manual, to identify complex rhetorical dynamics that present or encourage substantive reformulation of medical practice and thinking within a strongly conservative, authoritarian culture. Shows how the ancient Egyptian rhetorical forms allow for challenges…

An investigation of the application of a genre-based approach for the teaching of scientific and technical writing to English-as-a-Second-Language students explores how a genre for feedback on written reports can be created and implemented with the aid of a "small expert system." (Author/CB)

Discusses the purpose and effects of collaborative writing in proposal development projects. Suggests how collaboration serves the larger social functions of the modern corporation. Discusses how the circumstances of proposal development affect collaboration. Describes storyboarding--a common and often highly effective tool for fostering…