Technical Writing

Dynamic Engineering Information Traceability Based on DITA Standard

by Mario Storga

co-authored by Štorga, Mario; Marjanović, Dorian; Kelava, Josip
published in Proceedings of the 8th IPD Workshop 2010 / Sandor Vajna (ur.), Magdeburg: Otto-von-Guericke-University Magdeburg, 2010

To provide architecture for ‘smarter’ authoring, producing, and delivering engineering information, possibilities for... more To provide architecture for ‘smarter’ authoring, producing, and delivering engineering information, possibilities for implementation of the open standard - Darwin Information Typing Architecture (DITA) in product development traceability process are explored. DITA divides informational content into self-contained topics that can be reused in different deliverables of engineering process. The extensibility of DITA permits organizations to define specific information structures and still use standard tools to work with them. By using the DITA architecture, the ability to create information in small, reusable components that can be automatically assembled for different purposes – both for different types of documents, as well as for different types of users depending on the needed context, has been explored. As a case study for this research, aftermarket services and product support in company that is integrated onshore and offshore drilling and well services contractor have been selected. Dynamic publishing solution that is capable of automatically publishing to multiple types of media, including print, Web and other forms has been developed. As the result of the case study, important perspectives and requirements for traceability of engineering information fragments have been established, and company’s service information management procedures have been improved and standardised.

The Ethics of Teaching Ethics in Professional Communication: The Case of Engineering Publicity at MIT in the 1920s.

by David R. Russell

Commentary: The Myth of the Technical Audience

by Joe Moxley

Journal of Technical Writing and Communication Volume 18, Number 2, 1988

Þe Herte þe Fote þe Eye to Accorde: Procedural Knowledge and Three Middle-English Manuscripts of Martial Instruction.

by Mark Geldof

MA Thesis, University of Saskatchewan, 2011

Join the REx Collective

by Jenn Fishman

REx editors include Jenn Fishman, Joan Mullin, and Mike Palmquist.

The Research Exchange Index or REx  is designed to recognize local, national, and international writing... more The Research Exchange Index or REx  is designed to recognize local, national, and international writing researchers by periodically collecting and publishing information about the research studies they've conducted. All writing researchers are invited to contribute by uploading information about their work. In addition, writing researchers, teachers, and students are invited to help build and shape REx by joining the editorial collective as an acquisitions editor or an editorial reviewer. To learn more, download the attached paper or contact the REx editors: RExchangeContact@gmail.com.

A “Virtual Fieldtrip”: Service Learning in Distance Education Technical Writing Courses

by Brad Weiner

Co-authored with Krista M. Soria. Presented by Krista M. Soria at the annual meeting for the Association for the Study of Higher Education (ASHE) in Charlotte, North Carolina, USA. November, 2011.

This mixed-methods experimental study examined the effect of service learning in a distance education technical... more This mixed-methods experimental study examined the effect of service learning in a distance education technical writing course. Quantitative analysis of data found evidence for a positive relationship between participation in service learning and technical writing learning outcomes. Additionally, qualitative analysis suggests that service learning in online technical writing courses helps students to make connections to the “real world,” encourages students to connect with their audience(s) and develop a sense of purpose for writing tasks, connects students to future employment, and develops deep learning with course materials. It is hypothesized that these factors support the development of learning outcomes in distance education students.

Technical writer/subject-matter expert interaction: The writer's perspective, the organizational challenge

by Brad Mehlenbacher

Co-authored with Martha F. Lee (2000). Technical Communication, 47 (4), 544-552.

SUMMARY
􏰀 Reports perceptions collected from technical writers about interactions with subject-matter expertsmore SUMMARY
􏰀 Reports perceptions collected from technical writers about interactions with subject-matter experts
􏰀 Argues that SMEs and technical writers cannot fully alter their relationship without strategic management support

The Children of Aramis

by Joshua Prenosil

Recently, human and user-centered design methods have challenged older, system-centered practices, enriching resources... more Recently, human and user-centered design methods have challenged older, system-centered practices, enriching resources and providing better technological artifacts for end-users. This article argues that though design has become more user-centered, something is still lacking: more opportunities exist for articulating feedback already present in technology-culture networks. To encourage the recovery of this feedback, this article examines discourses surrounding transportation technology and the chora, the variety of stakeholders who shape the progression of technology through use, negation, or re-appropriation. While this article is far from a programmatic or procedural document, it suggests opening design processes to a variety of cultural inputs beyond those marked as “users.” It attempts to open a space for technical communicators in these multifaceted feedback loops, where choral influences are articulated and rearticulated for more effective transportation design.

Technical Documents as Rhetorical Agency

by Nathan R. Johnson

Communication In the Workplace: What Can NCSU Students Expect?

by Carolyn R. Miller

Co-authored with Jamie Larsen and Judi Gaitens; Unpublished report, NC State University, 1996.

This report has been supplemented by similar research in 2002 (available http://courses.ncsu.edu/eng331/common/resources/ciw2002/) and 2007 (available http://courses.ncsu.edu/eng331/common/resources/ciw2007/).

One of the most frequent comments that employers make about college graduates is that their communication skills... more One of the most frequent comments that employers make about college graduates is that their communication skills aren’t adequate for the workplace. Faculty and administrators in
most technical programs at NCSU (as well as nationwide) have heard this complaint from their advisory boards and other industry contacts. But communication practices in the
workplace are changing so fast that it is hard for curriculum designers and classroom teachers to know why these complaints are being made and what they mean. Exactly what
kinds of communication tasks can graduates of NCSU expect to do in the workplace? How are electronic technologies and global economies affecting these tasks? What affects the
quality and results of their communication—both oral and written? And how important is this component of their overall work responsibilities—and why?

Writing and managing maintenance procedures for a class of warships: A case for structured authoring and content management

by William P. Hall

2001: Hall, W.P. (in) May 2001 issue of Technical Communication, the professional journal of the Society for Technical Communication.

Many technical writers are exploring tools that produce or work with XML/SGML structured text as possible real-world... more Many technical writers are exploring tools that produce or work with XML/SGML structured text as possible real-world “structured information” solutions to improve author efficiency, to manage large amounts of content, and to retrieve and process information with speed and focus. Although some highly experienced people in the industry have argued strenuously that structured authoring and content management offer little of value to technical writers, others are already replacing word processing tools with ones that can readily parse and process semantic document content and are implementing structured content development processes.

In this case history, I describe how structured information has helped to solve real content development and management problems in the pivotal area of Integrated Logistics Support within Tenix’s ANZAC Ship Project to build 10 ANZAC frigates for the Australian and New Zealand navies. I joined the ANZAC Ship Project just after the prime contract to supply the ships was signed, and I cut my teeth on the range of commercial documentation issues. For the last 8 years, I have been developing and maintaining our environment for authoring and managing maintenance routines—that is, user maintenance instructions to keep the ships in service at a high level of
availability for combat duties.

The Evolution of Document Design Since 1985: a Response to Richard E. Mayer's “Structural Analysis of Scientific Prose”

by Martin E. Rosenberg

Some Assembly Required: The Latourian Collective and the Banal Work of Technical and Professional Communication

by Nathaniel Rivers

Journal of Technical Writing and Communication 38.3 (2008): 189-206 [lead article]. Nominated for a NCTE Scientific and Technical Communication Award.

In this article the author uses the critical vocabulary developed by Bruno Latour in his recent work Politics of... more In this article the author uses the critical vocabulary developed by Bruno Latour in his recent work Politics of Nature to offer an alternative way for technical and professional communicators to approach and articulate their work. Using the Discovery Channel's Mythbusters to explore Latour's vocabulary, the author positions technical and professional communication not simply as transmitting and translating, but instead as the collecting of articulated propositions about the common world in service of the common good, which thoroughly grounds its practice in rhetorical theory. Such a positioning also ascribes value to technical and professional communication without reinscribing the false dichotomy between science and politics.

Building context: Using activity theory to teach about genre in multi-major professional communication courses

by Donna Kain

"Strokez off ij hand swerde: a brief instruction in the use of personal arms"

by Mark Geldof

published in Opuscula 1, no.2 (2011): 1-9.

Meeting Students Where They Are: Advancing a Theory and Practice of Archives in the Classroom

by Tom Sura

Co-authored with Christina Saidy and Mark Hannah. Published in the Journal of Technical Writing and Communication 41.2 (2011): 175-193.

This article uses theories of technical communication and archives to advance a pedagogy that includes archival... more This article uses theories of technical communication and archives to advance a pedagogy that includes archival production in the technical communication classroom. By developing and maintaining local classroom archives, students directly engage in valuable processes of appraisal, selection, collaboration, and retention. The anticipated outcomes of this work are the critical practice of making connections, the decentering of the self, the ability to work through noise, and the ability to imagine future users of the archive. The authors conclude that local classroom archives are one new means of meaningful instruction in the technical communication classroom and the local archive concept has great potential for further development.