Notes that, although unillustrated text has changed from a string of unseparated words to the paragraph system, text-image relations present a continuous pattern of different degrees of interpretation and structuring for visual understanding. Suggests that human cognitive needs caused an adaptation in unillustrated text and that text illustrations…

Analyzes several examples of metalanguage from current literature on professional writing, applying three principles for evaluating metalanguage in industry and academe. Considers a potentially effective metalanguage based on simple grammatical expressions. (MM)

Analyzes how the Tailhook Report, which was commissioned to investigate charges of sexual misconduct by naval aviators at the Tailhook Symposium, omits answering two of the three questions asked by Susan Wells that were established as necessary by precedence to avoid making conclusions that might necessitate actions that would alter the…

Discusses the technical vocabulary of computing, noting some early computing words, semantic change, words that define themselves, semantic ambiguity, and analogies to the real world. (SR)

Discusses trends for the future in marketing communication: expanding channels for communication, global marketing, product brands, and changing jobs. Suggests ways marketing communicators can prepare for these changes. (SR)

Discusses Roger E. Allen's 1994 book, "Winnie the Pooh on Management." Discusses a manager's processes and principles. (SR)

Asks why technical writers are needed to "translate" the work of technologists into accessible communication. Examines the situation that creates the need for technical writers and argues for change so technologists can communicate for themselves. Bases the argument on Heidegger's philosophy of language. Argues that changing technology…

States that documentation can be designed specifically to help people perform physical tasks. Shows that research in computing, motor learning, and in music and sports instruction suggests that documentation is more effective when it takes into account how people think about physical tasks. (PA)

Discusses six steps to follow when documenting an ISO 9000 quality system: using ISO 9000 to develop a quality system, identifying a company's business processes, analyzing the business processes; describing the procedures, writing the quality manual, and working to the documented procedures. (SR)

Argues for a view of technical communication as authorship--as the mediation of articulated meanings, as opposed to the mere transmission of a message from writer to sender. Draws on practitioner research to present some of the facets of this new understanding of technical communication. (TB)

Discusses ways to make the professional consulting experience successful and to understand an organization's communication problems. States that consultants should be aware of how the organization's culture may affect its members' communication practices, and should learn to read various signs of organizational culture. Emphasizes that effective…

Describes the importance of metaphors in technical writing. Presents an explanation of metaphor from G. Lakoff and M. Johnson's "Metaphors We Live By." (SR)

Contrasts robotic editing with human editing (discussing descriptive grammar, periodic sentences, theme-rheme concept, right-branching, zeugma, and Irish bulls). Maintains that, for any editing that requires thinking, humans are always superior. (SR)

Discusses some of the ethical dilemmas faced by writers who prepare marketing materials in engineering organizations. Describes social, political, economic, and legal changes in the professions during the last 30 years and the growing influence of market-driven decisions on ethical decision making. (PRA)

Asserts technical writers are rhetoricians who continually make ethical choices in serving diverse interests and negotiating between conflicting demands. Argues that the recognition of the fundamental rhetoricity of technical writing is the first step toward accommodating a meaningful notion of ethics into the technical writing curriculum. (PRA)