Describes a seven-step approach for writing a strategic plan for a small business. (SR)

Reconsiders the modern classic "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance" by Robert Pirsig. Discusses three issues from the book that speak to the technical writer in particular: finding the proper perspective, using metaphoric writing, and avoiding gumption traps. (SR)

Compares a technical publication department riding out a recession to an individual discovering she has cancer and recovering from surgery and chemotherapy. Outlines how to assist publication departments to recovery from the economic recession. (SR)

Identifies four metaphors that appear dominant in current studies in the field of technical communication: transmitter, channel, balance, and bridge. Suggests limitations upon each of the metaphors. Discusses the alternative metaphors of lock, translator, transformer, synthesizer, conductor, and orchestrator. Proposes orchestration as a fruitful…

Notes that reader analysis is essential in writing technical documents. Reviews several ways to analyze readers, and groups the ways into three manageable categories: demographic, organization, and psychological approaches. (SR)

Looks at the benefits and the losses to consider when thinking about making the transition from writer to manager. (SR)

Asks where the sources of quality in documentation lie. Concludes that the only way to achieve quality is through professional communicators. (SR)

Explores some of the confusion about singular and plural subject-verb agreement in English. (SR)

Discusses two conflicts occurring during the first decade of the Royal Society (1660-70) that questioned the proper writing style for communicating scientific knowledge: the taxonomists' method versus the conjecturalist method. Suggests parallels are present in contemporary issues and presents implications for teaching, practice, and theory. (NH)

Technological illiteracy is affecting productivity in the workplace; some people fear that technological problems will be their fault and unsolvable. Software and manuals that people can easily understand are needed, and training must be carefully designed. (JOW)

Describes the author's postmodernist approach to teaching legal writing. Discusses how, in their examination and critique of contradictory models, students discover that good legal writing depends on the context: the writer/purpose/audience matrix. (SR)

Shows how visual images and text differ from one another in the extent to which they resemble their referents; kinds of concepts they evoke; precision with which they evoke them; kinds of structures they impose on the information they convey; and degree to which that information can be interpreted by perceptual as opposed to higher level cognitive…

Examines two ways that graphics and graphic techniques can help communicate technical topics visually: by helping readers navigate through a manual; and by helping readers better understand the material in the manual. (SR)

Provides advice for technical communicators about using statistical terms. (SR)

Discusses the lack of information about cost accounting in technical publications. Argues that nobody is publishing real numbers because the real numbers are hard work, competitively advantageous, and sometimes embarrassing. (SR)