Knowles' foundational principles of adult learning in making presentations are that (1) the audience should be active participants in a process of inquiry and (2) the process should build on the background, needs, interests, problems, and concerns of the audience. (SK)

Investigates how college students in an upper-division professional writing course respond to user input at the draft stage of writing computer documentation. Finds that writers perceive user input in different ways and suggests that draft-stage user testing produces better documentation. (PRA)

Outlines a psychophysiological (involuntary responses to novel environmental stimuli) model of the role of orienting responses (ORs) in learning from televised lectures. Demonstrates that insertion of videographics in talking-head lectures produces ORs in television viewers. Finds that ORs enhance learning of familiar material but interfere with…

Surveys 25 people who use databases at work to discover the ways in which social and organizational factors affect users' tasks and their acquisition of knowledge and skills. Finds that learning to use databases for complex tasks in work entails more than simply learning concepts and procedures for executing program functions. (PRA)

Describes the effect of first-year directing students using short, abstract poems rather than scenes from classic plays as the basis of their productions. Notes that the images in these poems speak loudly and intensely to the audience, in contrast to the usual "talking heads" result of producing scenes from classics. (RS)

Argues that technical writers must construct proper contexts for readers' understanding. Discusses reader-oriented syntax, rhetorical confidence, and three kinds of context qualifiers. Offers various examples. (SR)

Describes the use of a quantitative research experience (a readership study) as a teaching tool in a magazine publishing course. Maintains that students showed an increased understanding of the purposes and processes of quantitative research. (SR)

Recounts when the Fluxus community first became self-consciously aware of itself during early European concert tours. Provides insights into criteria that delineate European and American Fluxus performances. Discusses use of chance procedure by members of the group, their debts to John Cage, and the relationship between the audience and the…

Explains how to teach children to be storytellers, including retelling stories, choosing the story, learning the story, voice factors, facial expressions, audience participation, and stage fright. A sidebar lists sources for stories that are suitable for young children to retell. (LRW)

Campus public relations professionals offer advice for improving the effectiveness of public relations efforts by (1) setting behavioral goals; (2) targeting audiences carefully; (3) focusing appeals by making messages explicit; (4) connecting the public relations message with larger societal issues; and (5) reaching internal as well as external…

Asserts that, although government leaders stress the role of television in "comforting" the people, an analysis of key challenges to the centralized authority suggests that such comfort may come at the expense of local and regional participation. (PRA)

Focuses on the rhetorical values, benefits to debating programs, and administrative issues of intercollegiate, audience-style debating. (PRA)

Examines the tactics evangelical Christian feminists use in reinterpreting scriptural texts to create an empowered role. Claims that a focus on interpretive communities can enable critics to consider both dominant ideologies and audience activities. (NH)

Examines factors affecting publishing outcomes. Suggests prescriptions for overcoming factors inhibiting the successful completion of the publishing process within the discipline of communication. Devotes specific attention to motivational, analytic, and content variables likely to affect publishing outcomes positively. (RS)

Discusses how the format and flow of ideas of effective academic articles serves to help readers identify what kind of information can be found in such articles. Suggests that following certain discourse guidelines not only makes an article easier to read but also raises the possibility that it will be published. (Author/VWL)