Background: Communication is critical to engineering work, and despite its emphasis within engineering education, it is still noted as a gap in new engineers' preparedness for work. Literature review: Prior research points to communication gaps among new engineers. Few studies have extensively examined transitions between academic and professional engineering contexts. Work remains for understanding how new engineers transfer communication skills. Research questions: 1. In what ways do new engineers transfer communication practices from school to work? 2. What challenges do new engineers experience in moving from communication as practiced at school to communication as practiced at work? Research methodology: This study presents a thematic analysis of data from weekly reflections and regular semistructured interviews conducted during new engineers' first year of work. Results and conclusions: Despite relying heavily on academic experiences involving both documenting and presenting technical work, new engineers report experiencing communication-related challenges. While further attention to communication activities can be given within engineering curricula, the complexity and situated nature of communication in the workplace cannot be fully replicated in the classroom. As new engineers move between school and work, they experience challenges adapting to a new environment including communication activities embedded within unique sociocultural contexts. While the classroom cannot fully replicate these professional settings and all of their nuances, students can be made more fully aware of the embedded nature of communication activities. Moreover, engineering educators can simulate aspects of the workplace in capstone courses, and companies can provide guidance to help mentor new engineers through the inevitable context gaps.

Background: More and more multinational corporations (MNCs) based in East Asia are adopting international social media to communicate messages on corporate social responsibility (CSR), but little research has investigated their content qualitatively. Literature review: I reviewed the literature related to the convergence and divergence of corporate behaviors under the framework of the institutional theory. Comparative studies on web-based CSR communication (CSRC) were also addressed, and CSR development in China and Korea was described as the research context to develop hypotheses and research questions. Research questions: 1. How do Chinese and Korean CSRCs resemble each other in international social media? 2. What are the differences between Chinese and Korean CSRCs in international social media? Research methodology: I selected six Chinese companies and six Korean firms from the 2019 Forbes 2000 world's-largest-corporations ranking, and analyzed the content of their English-language Facebook accounts using “Leximancer,” a powerful textual analysis software package. Results: Results indicated that the CSR messages of Chinese and Korean firms resembled each other at a macrolevel but differed at a microlevel. In addition, the CSR messages of Chinese companies were more likely to reflect national strategic agendas, while Korean firms placed greater emphasis on short-term events and legal compliance. Conclusions: Chinese and Korean corporations have adopted an approach of “global topics, native framing” in their CSRCs to achieve a balance between internal and external legitimacy.

Research problem: The use of virtual teams (VTs) has been growing steadily since the late 1990s. However, there is disagreement on how the virtuality of a team impacts the relationship of trust and team effectiveness. Some studies have suggested that the operationalization of the virtuality has been simplistic, with most researchers treating virtuality as a binary state. Recently, some researchers have sought to explore more complex conceptualizations of virtuality. Research question: How do dimensions of virtuality impact the relationship between intrateam trust and team effectiveness for virtual teams? Literature review: Researchers have been studying the dynamics of VTs for more than 20 years; however, the prevailing measure of virtuality is unidimensional. Following others, we employ a multidimensional measure of virtuality to model three interactions with the relationship between intrateam trust and team effectiveness. By reviewing relevant team effectiveness, intrateam trust, and virtuality literature, we build a model of team effectiveness based on three dimensions of virtuality. Methodology: A total of 230 subjects on 73 project teams were asked to record their interactions while working on a complex case assignment, allowing us to measure the three dimensions of virtuality. Results: Findings indicate that although Distance Virtuality and Member Virtuality moderate the relationship between intrateam trust and effectiveness, Time Worked Virtually does not, supporting the proposition that virtuality is a multidimensional construct. Conclusion: Differential findings support the multidimensional conceptualization of virtuality. We discuss several implications of our findings for virtual team managers, while paying attention to recent changes in team composition resulting from shelter-in-place orders associated with the COVID-19 pandemic.

Background: Communication is fundamental to the success of engineered systems, enabling interactions between the system's stakeholders. Systems engineering, an integrative discipline on which the contributions of many disciplines are evaluated against each other, may particularly benefit from research in communication methods. Specifically, storytelling may be beneficial to engineers because it enables sense-making. Research into storytelling is conducted to identify storytelling metrics that could be useful in engineering communication, specifically engineering case studies. Literature review: Although storytelling has been identified in past research as possibly useful to Model-Based Systems Engineering (MBSE) and software requirement writing, a rigorous study of the use of storytelling elements in systems engineering communication has not been performed. Research question: How are storytelling elements currently being applied in engineering case studies? Research methodology: Twelve interdisciplinary metrics from storytelling, content analysis, and engineering are identified from the literature and used to characterize a collection of 48 NASA case studies. The values of the metrics for each case study are determined and analyzed using statistical and content analyses. Results and discussion: Analysis of the 12 metrics indicates that the case study design region with a historical backstory structure, climactic plot structure, and early points of attack is most frequently used by designers. Conclusions: The analysis indicates that certain storytelling elements applied in engineering case studies are used more frequently. Further work is needed to leverage the metrics as design variables in engineering case study writing.

Introduction: Virtual teams, especially project teams, increasingly rely on computer-mediated communication for interaction when collaborating and completing their tasks. Team members represent various cultures, occupations, and industries. Virtual teams often use English as a business lingua franca in communication. This study investigates critical factors related to virtual project teams that influence computer-mediated communication. Research questions: 1. How is diversity in video meetings experienced by the members of multidisciplinary and multicultural project teams? 2. Do differences in team members' occupational or industrial backgrounds show in their opinions on video meetings? Literature review: The effectiveness of communication has been identified as playing a critical role in the success of virtual projects. Diversity, whether disciplinary or cultural, enriches teamwork by bringing different viewpoints to discussions. On the other hand, diversity can also set some challenges for communicating these viewpoints. Research methodology: Mixed methods were used to analyze data obtained from 104 responses to an online survey. Spearman's correlation coefficient and Kruskall-Wallis nonparametric tests were used for statistical analysis, and open comments were analyzed using thematic content analysis. Results and conclusion: The findings show that linguistic, cultural, and occupational diversity facilitates communication in virtual project team meetings. In addition, applying appropriate features of video meeting tools in different stages of project teamwork leads to better communication in virtual teams. A high level of English proficiency is not required, but clear communication rules are essential. In addition, some occupational or industry-specific differences in opinions on communication could be identified.

Background: People born between 1995 and 2012, referred to as Generation Z, grew up alongside significant technological advancements in communication. This cohort's oldest members are now entering the workforce. Literature review: Although the merits of generational research have been questioned, Generation Z's personal communication preferences and habits demonstrate unprecedented technological experiences and expectations in the workplace. Research questions: 1. What are Generation Z's current habits in using smart technology, social media, and voice communication for personal communication? 2. How does the current workplace communication environment appear through the lens of Generation Z? 3. Do the personal communication habits of Generation Z conflict with current workplaces? Methodology: The study reports on a 207-participant exploratory survey and 6 interviews with Generation Z members in January-March 2020. The survey included multiple choice and open-ended questions regarding respondents' personal and workplace communication habits and expectations. The interviews allowed further investigation of survey responses. Results: Working Generation Z respondents hold unexpected attitudes and behaviors, including awareness of the negatives of technology use, differences in personal preferences and professional behaviors, self-regulation of technology use, and concern for boundaries between personal and work life. Conclusion: Generation Z's ability to adapt to current workplace norms may slow changes in workplace communication. Their awareness of disruptive communication habits could make positive changes to workplace communication in the future. Employers should resist negative generational stereotypes and develop new communication policies to reflect current and future-looking technology use. This study was completed prior to COVID-19 and does not include pandemic-related workplace technology changes.

Research problem: Discourse bridges between the speakers and the audience in product launches. However, how the verbals and the visuals work together in the construction of interpersonal meanings in such communication remains largely underexplored. Research question: How were interpersonal meanings constructed via verbal and visual semiotics in the iPhone 1 product launch presentation?. Literature review: Despite the recognized importance of innovation communication, communication at the launch phase is underexplored. Moreover, communication and management studies have generally neglected the role of grammar-based discourse in promoting innovation, while linguistic studies have paid inadequate attention to language's implications for innovation communication and management. Thus, we address the discursive building of interpersonal meanings in product launch presentations to fill such gaps. Methodology: Integrating Halliday's Systemic Functional Grammar and Kress and van Leeuwen's Systemic Visual Grammar, we conduct both verbal and visual analyses to explore the construction of interpersonal meanings in Steve Jobs' iPhone 1 launch presentation. Results: Analysis of the verbal strategies suggests that Jobs built different interactive roles as an authority innovation leader and as a close “friend” willing to engage with the audience. Moreover, by combining verbal semiotics with the delicate arrangement of image act, size of frame, and angle, the presentation video was carefully planned to create offer contact, produce close social distance, and present equal and objective attitudes to further enhance the construction of interpersonal meanings, thus contributing to the audience's understanding and recognition of the innovative product. Conclusions: This article offers insights into innovation discourse and communication by investigating the semiotic features of the iPhone 1 product launch presentation, thus adding to the extant literature on professional communication and innovation management.

Most textbooks and trade press books on engineering communication are genre based, proscription based, or some are a combination of the two. Henderson takes a different approach to teaching the rules of English grammar and how to apply those rules to craft effective sentences. His approach is mathematics based, presenting the rules of English grammar as sentence equations. This approach makes the book particularly intriguing as a resource for teaching students of engineering and science. Henderson's "A Math-Based Writing System for Engineers: Sentence Algebra & Document Algorithms" presents a distinctive approach and methodology for clear engineering communication, particularly suited to its specific audience. Henderson's methodology, grounded in the "universal language" of mathematics, is unique and refreshing. The book is a welcome addition to available resources for these students and their instructors.

This book offers a welcome teaching and learning resource in Creating Intelligent Content with Lightweight Darwin Information Typing Architecture (DITA). The author is a Professor and Director ofThe Transdisciplinary Initiatives with the College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences at Virginia Tech. The author takes the reader through the history, design, and implementation of a relatively new variation of DITA, known as Lightweight DITA. Lightweight DITA was developed and is maintained by OASIS, the same standards body responsible for DITA, and differs from DITA in two particularly distinctive ways.

Introduction: To present technical content clearly and effectively for global users of English, engineering students need to learn how. About the case: Technical communication classes in Spain and the US engaged in an international telecollaborative project between cross-cultural virtual teams in which students in Spain developed oral presentations that were then peer-reviewed by counterparts in the US. Situating the case: Research on international professional communication and, more specifically, virtual exchange is rapidly growing to explore how instructors can help students gain key competencies such as audience awareness, intercultural sensitivity, and an understanding of English as a lingua franca. Approach/methods: As part of the Trans-Atlantic & Pacific Project network, this project focused on spoken communication. Data were analyzed from feedback forms used by US students to evaluate oral presentations, and on prelearning and postlearning reports completed by students in Spain, as well as from class discussions accompanying the project. Results/discussion: Through reflections on pragmatic strategies that facilitate exchange and collaboration in English as a lingua franca, the engineering students became more fully aware of the importance of rhetorical and linguistic factors that affect meaning-making for engineers internationally. Conclusion: Results suggest that students who participate in transnational virtual exchange projects integrate their desire to acquire knowledge with an awareness of the importance of sharing knowledge through mindful and inclusive communication practices. Technical and engineering communication instructors from different countries can heighten their students' audience awareness, and cultural and language sensitivities through such projects.

The reviewer concludes that, overall, Hanganu-Bresch and Flaherty’s "Effective Scientific Communication: The Other Half of Science" is an excellent introduction to scientific communication. Genre move analysis blended with step-by-step guidance and genre examples make this book a valuable guide for helping students in STEM fields acquire basic scientific communication skills. The book also provides food for thought for ESP teachers to foster research and encourage better-informed teaching practices.

Research problem: During humanitarian crises, communities of people face various types of dangers. To counter the dangers, they need information in a short period. Such need creates the opportunity for misinformation. Such misinformation can result in information harms that can generate short- or long-term consequences. Literature review: Prior researchers have tackled the situation by using technical or behavioral approaches. Research question: What are the harms from misinformation? We propose a taxonomy of 15 information harms grouped in 8 categories and assess the perception of risk regarding the harms through a survey of respondents who have experienced crisis response situations. Methodology: This paper examines two scenarios, the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing and the 2017 Oroville Dam evacuation order crises, through two dimensions: Likelihood of occurrence and Level of impacts of the harms. Results and conclusions: Findings are presented through visualization and test results for significant differences of harms between scenarios. Similar groups of harms are identified with different severity levels based on post hoc analyses: those with 1. high likelihood and low impact (psychological and confusion harms), 2. low likelihood and low impact (reputation and privacy harms), and 3. low likelihood and high impact (physical, financial, safety, and social harms). In addition to establishing the taxonomy of misinformation harms, findings will have practical value in emergency response and recovery activities to effectively prioritize resources to minimize specific harms from misinformation in crises. Further research directions are also discussed.

Research problem: The role that physical, temporal, and cultural distances play in global software development projects has been well researched. Culturally diverse teams separated by physical distances across multiple time zones face significant challenges in collaborating effectively with each other. This article examines a fourth dimension-cognitive distance-that relates to the problem-solving style of teams that can also have an impact on their ability to collaborate successfully. Research questions: 1. Does cognitive distance affect communication among global software development teams collaborating with each other? 2. How does cognitive distance affect the sentiment/emotion of global software development teams collaborating with each other? Literature review: Prior research shows that collaboration among teams on global software development projects is impacted by practices to manage collaboration; appropriate use of collaboration technologies; collaboration readiness that relates to individual characteristics such as personality traits, motivation, and trust; and shared understanding in group problem-solving. While shared understanding has looked at the effectiveness of the use of common language and knowledge sharing, it has not examined how differences in problem-solving styles of geographically dispersed teams impact their ability to collaborate successfully. Methodology: We examined project artifacts and email communication among geographically dispersed teams within a global software development project. From the project artifacts, we examined tasks allocated to different teams. From the emails, we established the communication network and volume of communication, and performed a sentiment analysis on email content. This analysis allowed us to observe not only the quality of communication among the teams but also the sentiment/emotion that reflected how well they were working together. Results and discussion: Managing teams that vastly differ in problem-solving styles and tasks requires that project managers be aware of these differences and introduce liaisons that reach across the teams to help bridge the cognitive divide.

This book aims to teach other user experience (UX) writers and technical communicators the content strategy that they need to “fix the words” for their companies. Pulling from her experience working at companies like Xbox, Microsoft, and Google, the author provides a digestible, practical guide to aid UX and microcopy writers in creating content that is consistent, brief, and useful within digital experiences. The author argues that the key in creating user brand affinity is having a consistent voice across a digital experience. That is why content strategists must establish voice guidelines. Strategic Writing for UX does have some drawbacks. Unfortunately, the author does not cover how junior UX writers or writers without organizational support can argue for broader overhaul of a product’s content or for implementing a content strategy. Her suggestions and examples are smart and insightful, but if a reader works for a company that would not invest in content strategy, then the writer would not have much opportunity to put the author’s suggestions to use. And, perhaps ironic for a book on UX, the book’s example illustrations are often difficult to read. Overall, the book is a straightforward how-to, which is a strong addition to the emerging field of books on UX writing and provides a strong reference for UX and microcopy writers overhauling entire products. Content strategists and technical communicators alike will benefit from keeping a copy of this book handy, particularly when it is time to argue that product writing is about more than just “fix[ing] the words.”

Background: College and university science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) students in Japan, who hope for careers in science and technology fields, lack the motivation to learn English as a second language (L2), impairing their current capacities to learn the L2 and their future abilities to communicate globally once employed. Literature review: Although these students' motivation to learn English seems strongly linked to the external pressure to do well on a standardized English test, gain employment, and progress up the career ladder, this extrinsic motivation may not be as beneficial for their L2 learning as positive images of themselves using English in future situations. Three types of future career-related self images-an Ideal L2 Self, a Probable L2 Self, and an Ought-to L2 Self-are hypothesized to promote L2 achievement. Research methodology: Data from questionnaires examining psycholinguistic variables for 1013 Japanese STEM students of English were subjected to ANOVA and multiple regression analysis with three L2 Self variables as predictor variables and scores from the TOEIC standardized English exam as the outcome variable. Results/discussion: ANOVA results showed that students had a strong image of themselves as needing English for future career goals, as measured by the Ought-to L2 Self, but had lower levels of Ideal L2 Self, the variable measuring a future image as a fluent user of English. In the regression analysis, the Ought-to L2 Self predicted lower TOEIC exam scores; conversely, the Ideal L2 Self predicted greater TOEIC scores. These paradoxical results indicate that Japanese STEM students struggle motivationally to improve English skills needed for future STEM job-related communication, despite feeling pressured to do so. Conclusions: To encourage the formation of students' images of Ideal L2 selves or stronger Probable L2 selves, STEM teachers and language teachers of Japanese STEM students could introduce motivational interventions. For example, positive role models of English language learners could visit classes and demonstrate how they have applied their English as a foreign language (EFL) learning experiences to future careers.

This book provides a useful and practical framework for professional user-experience (UX) teams and students who need to understand how consumers think. It has achieved its purpose in the following ways: educating designers about the Six Minds of Experience Framework; showing researchers how to uncover new insights from customers; and demonstrating how to use the Six Minds of Experience framework to enhance the design for products and services. This book sets itself apart from the other technical communication books that discuss understanding audience experience because the author suggests that UX is multidimensional and multisensory, and that looking at more than one cognitive process will unwrap many more facets of the consumer’s thoughts behind the experience. The book concludes by leaving designers with a thought for the future. The author briefly discusses the history of artificial intelligence (AI) and its current evolutionary stage as Siri, Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant, etc. He argues that Six Minds can be a framework to explore how machine learning and AI can support humans by augmenting their cognitive abilities. Whether in the workplace or the classroom, this short book will supplement UX designers and technical communication students in exploring what it means to truly know the target audience.

Background: Past research has established the importance of discursive leadership in professional communication, but it has not systematically examined how conformity behaviors emerge as a potentially undesirable consequence of discursive leadership. Literature review: Review of the literature on the centrality of communication in leadership processes and conformity behavior suggest a void of analytic tools to adequately examine the negative consequences of discursive leadership. Research question: Are later interlocutors more likely to speak similarly to earlier ones if the earlier interlocutors occupy a more central position in the conversation network? Methodology: Based on 32,000 words of a transcribed meeting corpus, we measured conformity behaviors using Term Frequency-Inverse Document Frequency scores, which are widely used in the information retrieval setting. We also operationalized the strength of discursive leadership as a positional centrality measure in the conversation network using a matrix algebra approach in social network analysis. Results: Findings support the hypothesis that discursive leadership is associated with conformity in language aligned toward discursive leaders' opinions. Conclusions: This study makes theoretical advances in understanding leadership construction and conformity behaviors between leaders and followers using empirical, authentic meeting data. We also give business people an applied understanding of the process of discursive leadership, which may help them to improve communication efficacy in their organizations by reducing overly conforming behaviors. We recommend that future research include more diverse participants and be combined with a survey to supplement the conversation data.

This book offers ding effective data graphics using the ggplot package for the R language. Although the implied audience is researchers in the social sciences, there is a lot of practical wisdom here for anyone who works with numerical data. The book treats both the theoretical principles of effective data visualization design as well as concrete guidance on how to integrate such wisdom into a slick data-analysis workflow in the R ecosystem. This practitioner-oriented approach is a very welcome addition to the literature: by covering both the whys and the hows of data visualization, this single volume swiftly equips researchers to build compelling graphics from their numerical data. It is clear that the author is passionate about his topic: you really feel that he is fed up with seeing sloppy data graphics in published academic work. Likewise, his commitment to free researchers from laborious scutwork is evident in the many productivity tips he is eager to provide for the R environment. The book's prose is engaging and chatty, and the style of instruction is unpretentious and practical. The manuscript itself is attractively typeset: one commendable feature is the direct integration of the many graphics alongside the corresponding passage of text, by setting them as sidenotes in the wide margins. This richly graphical approach makes the lessons engaging, tangible, and enjoyable to read.

Background: Visualizations are used to communicate data about important political, social, environmental, and health topics to a wide range of audiences; however, perceptions of graphs as objective conduits of factual data make them an easy means for spreading misinformation. Research questions: 1. Are people deceived by common deceptive tactics or exaggerated titles used in data visualizations about non-controversial topics? 2. Does a person's previous data visualization coursework mitigate the extent to which they are deceived by deceptive tactics used in data visualizations? 3. What parts of data visualizations (title, shape, data labels) do people use to answer questions about the information being presented in data visualizations? Literature review: Although scholarship from psychology, human-computer interaction, and computer science has examined how data visualizations are processed by readers, scholars have not adequately researched how susceptible people are to a range of deceptive tactics used in data visualizations, especially when paired with textual content. Methodology: Participants (n = 329) were randomly assigned to view one of four treatments for four different graph types (bar, line, pie, and bubble) and then asked to answer a question about each graph. Participants were asked to rank the ease with which they read each graph and comment on what they used to respond to the question about each graph. Results/Discussion: Results show that deceptive tactics caused participants to misinterpret information in the deceptive versus control visualizations across all graph types. Neither graph titles nor previous coursework impacted responses for any of the graphs. Qualitative responses illuminate people's perceptions of graph readability and what information they use to read different types of graphs. Conclusions: Recommendations are made to improve data visualization instruction, including critically examining software defaults and the ease with which people give agency over to software when preparing data visualizations. Avenues of future research are discussed.

Background: Captions do important communicative work, but little research has investigated their content quantitatively. Literature review: Captions help facilitate learning and make retrieving information from databases easier. Yet, few studies have explored the rhetorical moves found in figure captions to better understand their communicative function. Research questions: 1. How do captions found in psychology, linguistics, biology, and technical and professional communication (TPC) journals differ in terms of length? 2. What are the rhetorical structures of figure captions in psychology, linguistics, biology, and TPC journals? 3. How do the rhetorical structures of captions in journals from these four disciplines differ? 4. To what extent does visual type interact with caption length and rhetorical structure? Research methodology: Using quantitative content analysis, I compared the frequencies of moves in captions across disciplines, determined whether the moves were conventional or optional, and identified patterns in the progression of moves in the captions that I analyzed. A supplementary analysis of the types of visuals that accompanied the captions offered insights into the findings of the caption-content analysis. Results: Results suggest a high degree of variation in the rhetorical structure of captions in academic journals. Biology captions were, on average, the longest and contained the most moves. TPC captions were the shortest and contained the fewest moves. Psychology and linguistics captions fell between the biology and TPC captions. Conclusions: Understanding variation in caption content can encourage a more rhetorical approach to caption writing. Researchers in disciplines where shorter captions are standard might consider writing elaborated captions.

Background: As all sorts of communications have substantially moved to the internet, volumes of literature on internet-mediated communication have emerged in professional and technical communication in different research paradigms, including studies on internet-mediated genres, which often have generic features beyond traditional conception and thus require updated understanding. This study systematically explores the emerging body of internet-mediated genre studies and identifies the specific genres that researchers have studied, the analytical components and research methods used, and conclusions reached to characterize the current state of the research. Research questions: 1. Which internet-mediated genres have been studied in existing literature (2005-2019)? 2. What affordances have been considered in existing studies on internet-mediated genres? 3. Which research methods have been used to study internet-mediated genres? Literature review: Major issues affecting prior studies of internet-mediated genres include inconsistent terminology used by researchers, the ways that affordances are considered, and the inadequacies of current genre analysis methods to explain features arising from those affordances. Methodology: Employing an integrative literature review, we conducted a systematic search resulting in 35 qualified studies published in journals indexed in the Social Sciences Citation Index between 2005 and 2019. Each was systematically analyzed to identify the genre addressed, communicative goal, medium, affordances addressed, and research methods used. Results/discussion: Three main types of internet-mediated genres-including email, website, and social media, and several subtypes-were identified, each distinguished by their medium and communicative goal. The affordances were either treated monomodally, mentioned as contextual information, or integrated into the analytical framework. Researchers relied on a variety of methods to study internet-mediated genres, with mixed methods most commonly used. Conclusions and further research: The data show that both the genres of interest and methods used to study them vary with time, suggesting that this area of research continues to evolve. Future studies could probe into a larger variety of internet-mediated genres with more diverse analytical components and methods.

Background: After a six-month training program in the Chilean public accelerator Start-Up Chile, entrepreneurs are asked to update a short pitch they wrote in the submission stage to appear in the program's online portfolio. Literature review: We reviewed relevant literature related to the pitch as well as research aiming to track changes within pitches. Research questions: 1. Which are the editing strategies used to change their pitch? 2. Do these strategies conform to specific discursive patterns? Research methodology: To answer the research questions, we designed an exploratory qualitative study to describe in depth the editing strategies used by two generations of startups, corresponding to 148 pairs of written pitches. In order to contextualize the results, we conducted two interviews with the program managers and analyzed the accelerator's official Playbook and Technical and Administrative Requirements. Results: We identified 10 editing strategies. Of those editing strategies, “Deleting technical descriptions” is by far the most common procedure. The identified patterns can be classified into two groups, those simplifying, hedging, and focusing on certain elements of the first pitch, and those adding and specifying information of the first version. Conclusions: We conclude by discussing the strengths of this methodological approach for understanding such edits and for supporting successful edits in accelerator programs, as well as the potential for better understanding entrepreneur coachability.

Medical practitioners and patients interested in technological advancements in the medical field will find Raymond Tong’s Wearable Technology in Medicine and Health Care intriguing, useful, and practical. Each of its 15 chapters is authored by experts from universities and research hospitals all over the world who discuss innovative health care devices that are changing the medical field for practitioners and patients alike. The book accomplishes its goal of informing readers about how new technology is changing the medical field by discussing the strengths and limitations of specific wearable technologies.

Writing scholarship has given a lot of attention to structures and lexical-grammatical features of texts in relation to discipline and the discourse community. More attention should be paid to where, when, what, and how academics write, because writing is at the heart of their professional lives. "Academics Writing: The Dynamics of Knowledge Creation" addresses this issue, drawing on literacy studies and socio-material theory. Exploring the writing practices of 16 British academics from three disciplines in nine universities through interviews, observation, and document analysis, this book provides deep insights into the socially situated nature of academics’ writing. It would be an informative and thought-provoking read for those who are engaged with academics writing, professional development, and higher education management.

Background: Although effective communication has been the most important attribute of success in the workplace, poor communication has hindered employees from performing well. This outcome worsens when communication occurs between cross-generational groups in an organization. Literature review: Prior research suggests that Millennials, who make up a large cohort of the population in workplaces, are technologically savvy, multitasking, and result-oriented but considered to be deficient in their communication skills. There exists a divergence between Millennials and previous generations in terms of their attitude, behavior, and value system. Research questions: 1. Is there a significant difference in the communication styles of Millennials and their predecessors in India? 2. Are Millennials communication deficient? 3. Do their Gen X predecessors lack the skills to recognize different generational preferences in order to effectively lead a multigenerational workforce? Research methodology: For this investigation, a 36-item questionnaire measured 12 interpersonal styles through three items each on a Likert-type scale. Results: The results presented in this study are not limited to generational stereotyping but rather claim to be accurate and context-sensitive. Millennials defied general stereotypes in several ways. The findings confirmed that although Millennials are different, they are not necessarily communication deficient. Conclusion: To flourish, Millennials and their predecessor and successor generations should strive to adapt to each other by avoiding stereotypes.

Background: Successful team collaborations require psychological safety (PS)-a measure that addresses how individuals perceive their own behaviors in a team, allowing members to be comfortable being themselves. Technical communication curricula do not engage deeply with managing the socioemotional components of collaboration. Literature review: Scholarship addressing hundreds of teams with thousands of members concludes that psychological safety has a direct influence on task performance. Few studies track psychological safety across a team's lifecycle, and different professions exhibit a wide range of PS values. Extensive research indicates that collaboration can be improved by training. Research questions: 1. Will a targeted training intervention produce higher levels of psychological safety? 2. Does team duration affect teaming success as exemplified by psychological safety, satisfaction, and cohesion? Methods: Our multisite longitudinal study surveyed 215 students in 50+ short- and long-term teams to understand the effects of a specific training intervention (a PS learning module). Results and discussion: Training had no significant impact, but targeted training might still increase psychological safety. Short-term teams experienced significantly better psychological safety over long-term teams, and psychological safety improved the more time members spent in teams. Comparisons within longitudinal intervals were also significant, indicating that different team contexts influenced our results. Implications and future research: Results suggest that incorporating team-specific training may facilitate building a personal awareness of interdependence among team members. Moreover, research should account for contextual differences and use longitudinal team self-assessments. Future research should concentrate on identifying a range of viability for PS useful in benchmarking.

As technology evolves, the needs of users evolve, and "Wicked, Incomplete, and Uncertain: User Support in the Wild and the Role of Technical Communication" provides technical communicators, writing user-facing documentation, and instructors in technical communication a useful, insightful guide for what the future of technical communication could look like. The book succeeds in its purpose of demonstrating the problems facing technical communication and the ways that technical communicators can leverage the knowledge creation generated in user forums to solve those problems.

Background: The cognitive load involved in research article (RA) reading can be overwhelming for L2 novice readers. RA section headings can be used as signals to help novices focus on essential information related to their learning goals to reduce extraneous cognitive processing. There is a need to examine RA macrostructures to inform RA reading instruction. Literature review: RAs do not always follow the Introduction-Methods-Results-Discussion (IMRD) model. Previous research has examined the macrostructure of articles in disciplines such as computer science, applied linguistics, and pure mathematics, but few have investigated the macrostructure of economics RAs. Research questions: 1. Are there any sections frequently used in economics articles apart from the conventional sections? 2. If yes, what are the views of expert economics RA readers on the communicative functions and propositional content of the newly identified sections of economics RAs? Research methods: Eighty RAs were collected from five economics journals using stratified random sampling. Following Yang and Allison's macrostructure analysis method, we conducted an analysis of the overall structure of the RAs based on section headings and the function and content of each section. Results: Compared with the IMRD model, we found six new section types: Background, Theoretical Model, Econometric Model, Robustness, Mechanisms, and Application. Interviews were conducted to explore expert RA readers' genre knowledge on the newly identified sections. Conclusion: The findings can be useful for RA reading and writing instruction and future research on part-genres of economics articles.

Background: Environmental reporting is an indispensable part of the corporate social responsibility (CSR) report, which has become a main genre of nonfinancial disclosure for corporations. The present study explores how companies use metaphors to construct their role in the relationship with the environment. Literature review: Previous studies tend to focus on environmental metaphors in genres such as newspapers, blogs, and scientific discourse, but rarely attend to the genre of corporate environmental reporting. Research questions: 1. What metaphors are used by banking and energy companies to represent their role in the relationship with the environment? Are there similarities or differences across cultures? 2. What are their representations in terms of the corporate role, and what impacts do they have on the environment from an ecolinguistic perspective? 3. Why are these metaphors used for environmental communication? Research methodology: The study investigates a corpus of 180 CSR reports published by Chinese, US, and Italian companies with the framework of critical metaphor analysis combined with genre analysis, so as to approach metaphor use from a cross-cultural perspective. Results and conclusions: The study highlights both universal metaphors (manager, protector, and traveler) and culture-specific metaphors (the bee metaphor in Chinese, the steward metaphor in English, and the fighter metaphor in Italian) across three languages, which are used to represent the company's good intentions, caring attitude, and responsible behavior, contributing to building an environmentally responsible corporate image. Some of the metaphors seem useful in inspiring eco-constructive behavior, while others may bear eco-destructive connotations.

Background: Technical communication, business communication, and professional communication are potentially overlapping disciplines with open disciplinary questions. A comparative topical analysis of research topics can identify similarities and differences between them, addressing intellectual and physical concerns for each. Literature review: Recent topical analyses have been done for technical communication. Historical topical analyses have been done for business communication. Few professional communication topical analyses exist. Some studies were done 15 or more years ago, and one related comparative study exists. Research questions: 1. What research topics are unique to each of the disciplines of technical communication, business communication, and professional communication in a corpus of research abstracts spanning 1963-2017? 2. What topics are shared among the disciplines of technical communication, business communication, and professional communication in a corpus of research abstracts spanning 1963-2017? Research methodology: I used collocation analysis on the target phrases technical communication, business communication, and professional communication from a 4822-abstract corpus. I compared words collocated with target phrases to find words unique to a single term, those shared with two terms, or those shared with all three terms. Results/discussion: Findings identified science communication as a technical communication topic; other findings corroborated previous research. Business communication findings corroborated previous research and identified an emphasis on global communication. Findings show professional communication as a rhetorically flexible term that creates a space for emerging concepts and expands disciplinary boundaries. The three shared communication, pedagogy, international, and disciplinary concerns. Conclusions: The disciplines feature some overlap but maintain distinct research foci. Professional communication is a distinctive discipline that assists technical communication and business communication by incubation of emerging concepts.

Background: The ability to create a context is essential in writing the introduction of a research article (RA). This study explores the experience of engineering Ph.D. students in Australia, for whom English is an Additional Language (EAL), in using a problem-solution-based writing model to develop context-creating skills in writing RA introductions. Research question: What is the experience of engineering Ph.D. students in creating contexts through explicit learning of a problem-solution-based model for writing RA introductions? Literature review: Genre-based teaching is a common approach in the second language classroom. Recently, a genre-based approach for writing the introduction of engineering RAs has been proposed. The descriptive values of the model, PSP-CaRS, have been shown in corpus studies of published engineering RAs. However, its applicability has not been explored pedagogically. Methodology: Twenty-nine Ph.D. students were asked to respond to a questionnaire nine months after learning the model and reflect on their experience using it. The findings were then corroborated with data obtained from interviews, researcher observation, and writing samples. Results: The findings showed that the participants perceived PSP-CaRS to be useful and they continued using it after nine months despite some difficulties encountered in the writing process. Participants' responses showed that explicit teaching of PSP-CaRS formed the foundation upon which more competent skills to create contexts were developed through practice and integration of subject knowledge. Discussion: Explicit teaching using a model can impart the basics of genre awareness to students. Once students gained an in-depth understanding of the model by working through their difficulties, they developed better genre awareness, and used the model adaptively to visualize and write their RA introductions. Conclusion: The results confirm the usefulness of the proposed model and reveal how a continuing process of learning and practicing using the model helps students develop their skills to create contexts and enhance their genre awareness.

For technical communicators wanting to learn how to enact social justice, Technical Communication After the Social Justice Turn: Building Coalitions for Action by Rebecca Walton, Kristen R. Moore, and Natasha N. Jones is a useful and insightful guide. The book successfully achieves its purpose of introducing technical communicators to social justice scholarship and practice after the social justice turn within the field of technical communication. To successfully achieve its purpose, the book provides technical communicators with methods of understanding oppressive structures in their daily lives and then establishes a theoretical framework for understanding social justice. Using this information, Technical Communication After the Social Justice Turn directs technical communicators toward stances of activism, intersectional awareness, and coalitional action. The book’s contribution to the field is that it serves as a comprehensive introduction to social justice after the social justice turn in the field of technical communication and that it anticipates and addresses questions and criticisms that both readers and researchers may have. This book will be a great asset for anyone looking to understand technical communication after the social justice turn and ways to address social justice issues in various situations, including day-to-day interactions and the workplace.

Background: Engineers increasingly work and advance their careers in international business settings. As technical managers, they need management and technical skills when working with different stakeholders with whom they may not share a common first language. Studies have revealed that informal oral communication skills are of prime importance for global engineers who face challenges in building shared meaning and formulating clear messages in meetings with non-native speakers of English. This article proposes that studying the use of multimodal resources (spoken language, gaze, gestures, and objects) in meetings can unpack how work tasks are accomplished in business through different communicative strategies. Literature review: This paper focuses on engineers' and technical managers' needs and challenges in professional and intercultural communication where English is used as a business lingua franca (BELF) in multimodal meetings. While multimodal conversation and discourse analytic studies highlight the dynamic nature of meeting interaction, previous technical and professional communication and BELF research on multimodality is limited. Research questions: 1. How do technical managers use multimodal resources to articulate their ideas in BELF meetings with their peers? 2. How does the use of multimodal resources contribute to the construction of shared meaning in explanatory, consensus-seeking, and solution-finding communication? Methodology: This study reports on two case studies and multimodal discourse analysis of video-recorded meetings among technical managers and their peers in four companies. The use of multimodal resources is analyzed in explanatory, consensus-seeking, and solution-finding communication. Results and conclusions: In BELF meetings, assemblages of spoken language, gestures, tools, whiteboard, and documents contribute to constructing shared meaning. This study has implications for global professional and engineering communication. Future research should further examine multimodality in BELF meetings.

Background: Early-stage accelerator programs teach new entrepreneurs how to identify and exploit venture opportunities. In doing so, they implicitly teach these new entrepreneurs how to develop and iterate claims. But since this function of teaching persuasion has been implicit and generally unsystematic, it is unclear how well it works. Literature review: We review related literature on the venture development process, value propositions, and logic orientation (Goods-Dominant vs. Service-Dominant Logic). Research questions: 1. Does an entrepreneurship training program implicitly teach new entrepreneurs to make and iterate persuasive claims? 2. How effectively does it do so, and how can it improve? Research methodology: We examine one such accelerator program via a qualitative case study. In this case study, we collected interviews, observations, and artifacts, then analyzed them with thematic coding. Results/discussion: All teams had received previous entrepreneurship training and mentoring. However, they differed in their problem and logic orientations as well as their stage in the venture development process. These differences related to the extent to which they iterated value propositions in the program. Conclusions: We conclude with recommendations for improving how accelerator programs can better train new entrepreneurs to communicate and persuade.

In the modern workplace, technical roles often have overlapping responsibilities. Therefore, it is essential for professional communicators to familiarize themselves with these roles to facilitate a collaborative and cooperative work environment. Stull’s UX Fundamentals for Non-UX Professionals: User Experience Principles for Managers, Writers, Designers, and Developers is a beneficial book for professionals, students, and anyone interested in user-experience (UX) design and research. The book’s purpose is to teach beginners the fundamentals of UX by making the content accessible, although the effort sometimes fails in the denser chapters.

"Scientific and Medical Communication: A Guide for Effective Practice" serves as a comprehensive resource for readers who want practical information about writing and publishing in two related academic fields. S.A. Mogull combines studies in scientific and medical communication (SMC) and interviews with journal editors, and information from journal websites to create an inclusive view of the process. Mogull's audience is novice scientific and medical researchers, so the tone and information are well suited for undergraduate and introductory graduate research methods courses. More experienced researchers may also find the volume useful as a handbook filled with reminders and checklists that their teams can use to ensure effective communication of their research. Scientific and Medical Communication is an outstanding contribution to research methods pedagogy. Mogull effectively combines scholarly research, recent examples, and personal experience to create a volume that should support the needs of students and instructors alike.

Research problem: With the extensive use of the internet, cyber language management has become a critical issue for international organizations (IOs). IOs' language choices on their official websites represent the very interests of member nations and form a key factor in organizational image construction. However, research on IOs' cyber language management is rather limited. Literature review: Previous studies examined the use of different languages on websites of large corporations, state institutions, and organizations that aim to reach linguistically diverse populations, but discussions of language management of international organizations generally focus on traditional offline language policies. This article attempts to examine the choices of languages on IOs' official websites. Research questions: 1. What languages are used on international organizations' official websites? 2. How do intergovernmental organizations differ from nongovernmental organizations in such language choices and cyber language management? Methodology: Data from the official websites of 50 intergovernmental organizations (IGOs) and 20 nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) were collected, and both qualitative and quantitative approaches were adopted to analyze the data. Results: The findings show that English is the dominant language on IOs' official websites, and is especially preferred by NGOs; inconsistency of IOs' cyber language policy is found among the languages used on specific pages, e-documents, and the general available languages; and IGOs' language choices are more diversified, unified, and standardized than NGOs'. Conclusion: Accordingly, the effect of technology on IOs' language policy is further analyzed, and suggestions for IOs' language management are presented concerning the linguistic ecology at supra-national levels.

Research problem: Cultural differences may be increasingly important in technical communication. Research is needed to investigate differences in document design practices and user preferences. This study examines cultural differences between Chinese and Western manuals for household appliances. Literature review: Earlier studies identified a wide range of possible differences between Chinese and Western documents, but the findings are not consistent and do not provide more generic perspectives on cultural differences. Possible reasons are the diversity of the documents used, the rather informal research designs, and relatively small sample sizes. Research question: To what extent and how do Chinese and Western manuals for household appliances differ from each other in terms of content, structure, and use of visuals? Methodology: To overcome these shortcomings, a quantitative content analysis was conducted, comparing 50 Chinese manuals and 50 Western manuals for household appliances. The coding scheme was based on earlier research findings and focused on content, structure, and the use of visuals. Results and conclusions: The results show that the content of Chinese manuals is less strictly confined to the function of user support than that of Western manuals. Compared to Western manuals, the structure of Chinese manuals appears to be fuzzier and less rigid. Regarding visuals, Chinese manuals contain more non-instrumental, entertaining illustrations than Western manuals. Underlying these differences is a more general distinction between highly instrumental Western manuals and more flexible Chinese manuals. These differences seem to point to two cultural dimensions: holistic versus analytic thinking and analog versus digital cultures.

Background: The lab report is a commonly assigned genre in engineering lab courses; however, students often have difficulties meeting the expectations of writing in engineering labs. At the same time, it is challenging for engineering faculty to instruct lab report writing because they are often under-supported in writing pedagogies and usually unfamiliar with the extent of students' prior writing knowledge. Literature review: Literature on technical communication in engineering addresses the importance of a rhetorical approach to writing instruction, as well as an emphasis on genre. Extending this literature, research into writing transfer provides valuable insight for better understanding how undergraduates negotiate the engineering lab report as a new genre within this distinct rhetorical context. Research questions: 1. How effective is a transfer-focused writing pedagogy in supporting students' understanding of the genre conventions of engineering lab reports? 2. How does the transfer-focused writing pedagogy impact students' writing quality in five categories (rhetorical knowledge, organization, evidence, critical thinking, and disciplinary conventions)? 3. What are the rhetorical features that engineering students improve or struggle with the most with lab report writing? Research methodology: Four engineering instructors and two English instructors participated in this study to design and develop the lab report writing instructional module, and implemented the module materials into their engineering lab courses. The module, consisting of lab report writing instruction and assessment resources, shares a rhetorical approach and foundational writing terms with first-year composition courses to emphasize a writing-transfer pedagogy. We collected and analyzed undergraduates' lab report samples to evaluate the impact of the module on students' writing performance. Two sets of lab reports were collected for analysis: the sample sets before (control), during the 2015-2016 academic year; and after (experimental) implementation of the module, during the 2016-2017 academic year. Results and conclusions: Data collected via pre- and post-implementation writing artifacts show that a rhetorical approach to teaching lab reports helped students better understand the expectations of the lab report as a discipline-specific genre, and it developed students' understanding of the rhetorical features of engineering writing. The pilot module positively impacted the quality of students' lab reports, a finding that suggests that using a transfer-focused writing pedagogy can successfully support the transfer and adaptation of writing knowledge into gateway or entry-level engineering laboratory courses.

Background: Although some have noted that combining technical and marketing content is precarious, technical communication professionals are increasingly involved in content marketing, which includes the creation of white papers. Literature review: The little existing literature on white papers provides conflicting guidance about managing the combination of technical and marketing content. Both soft-sell and hard-sell marketing approaches have been recommended. One source of such inconsistent guidance may be the lack of agreement about definitions. Research on print advertisements has described hard and soft selling as multidimensional rather than binary aspects of persuasive appeals. Research question: Which dimensions of hard and soft-sell appeals are predominant in white papers? Research methodology: To complete our descriptive study, we collected a corpus of documents labeled as white papers in TechRepublic, and then selected and trained three raters to complete a series of judgments about dimensions of persuasive appeals in the corpus. We aggregated those ratings, calculating the mean and standard deviation for the dimensions to describe their distribution across the corpus. Results/discussion: Overall, hard-sell dimensions were more prevalent than soft-sell dimensions. However, the soft-sell category of “implicitness” was also dominant. Conclusion: Our results demonstrate the value of treating hard and soft selling as multidimensional, complementary, and combinatory marketing appeals that allow, for example, a single white paper to be both “subjective” (soft sell), and “precise” (hard sell), or both “creative” (soft sell) and “informative” (hard sell).

This book posits that there is a lack of social justice coverage in today’s engineering curriculum. The authors’ fundamental premise is that, while some social aspects may be covered in engineering courses, the general approach to engineering subject matter presents only the technical details, not other aspects. The book examines how culture and other social issues are a part of engineering practice. The authors want to get educators thinking, as well as changing and making courses and programs more aware of cultural, political, and social issues. The authors assert that the social impacts of the engineering curriculum are hidden and generally ignored. The book opens an interesting discussion of social justice and engineering professionals. The underlying message is that professional engineers—and the engineering curricula being taught—are not emphasizing the inclusion of social justice within those programs. Current curricula include social justice as only a minor component in the training of engineers, with the technical aspects overriding social needs except in small doses. The book addresses a truly significant problem to society: Who bears the responsibility of ensuring that social injustice is addressed and corrected? The authors provide thoughts and insights, but the solution is very complex and cannot be solved with one book. Each person needs to accept the responsibility of correcting injustice where they can. Understanding the problem may still not provide a solution that prevents social injustice completely; it’s a start. Introducing a semester course on social justice is insufficient, but it may foster changes in other curricular offerings. Such introductions and changes will take time. Regarding limitations, it would have helped to make the case if the book did more to address potential naysayers. Professors in engineering who do not see the importance of the matter might claim that the engineering curriculum already meets accreditation requirements, and therefore, they might justify not making changes by saying that accreditation agencies must believe that social justice is being adequately covered.

This book is a practical guide for pursuing US federal funding for research. The book is intended for new investigators in the early stages of their career, who are new to grants, or unfamiliar with the structures, priorities, and processes that govern the funding landscape. Rather than merely providing an overview of these processes, the authors aim to help investigators “understand how to work the process to [their] advantage” (p. xi). The book succeeds by offering a detailed overview of the federal funding process while simultaneously explaining how new investigators can use this knowledge to position themselves for success. Hilton and Leukefeld are experienced researchers who have worked as grant and contract administrators for the National Institutes of Health (NIH). As a result, much of the content reflects NIH policy and practice. Investigators pursuing NIH funding will find this guide particularly useful, and investigators who are pursing funding from other federal sponsors (e.g., the National Science Foundation) will find that many of the book’s recommendations are transferable.

Background: Previous research on user-generated content in technical communication focused primarily on non-traditional forms of technical communication outside of traditional institutions and organizations. User-generated content from the forum StackOverflow provides rich knowledge and stories behind problems faced by web and software developers. This study explores how technical communicators engage in this knowledge-rich content specific to web and software developers. Our findings provide insights into how researchers, instructors, and practicing technical communicators might leverage user-generated forum content in their work. Literature review: Previous research examined how user-generated content is a form of technical writing and technical editing. Furthermore, some research in technical communication has examined how technical user forums present a type of user-generated content to which technical communicators might add value. However, no research on user forums has explicitly examined how technical communicators engage in user forums to gain subject-matter familiarity or expertise. This study seeks to explore how technical communication students engage in user forums to troubleshoot coding problems. Research questions: 1. Are technical communication students able to successfully solve unfamiliar coding problems using user-generated content posted on the StackOverflow website? Are they able to identify the conceptual knowledge needed to solve the coding problem? 2. When learning about new, unfamiliar technical content, how do technical communication students search for information and decide which forum content to engage with? 3. Do technical communication students make meaning and actively fill knowledge gaps when they engage in new, unfamiliar technical content on StackOverflow? 4. After searching and reading through user-generated forum content to troubleshoot a coding task, do technical communication students feel confident enough in what they learned to teach someone else? Results: Most participants were unable to solve any of the coding problems using StackOverflow. Those who did successfully troubleshoot the coding problems exhibited more active scanning when selecting a search thread and made meaning of thread content more closely. Conclusions: Actively engaging and making meaning of thread content reveals insights into the stories behind the thread. These stories provide important details and clues for gaining subject-matter familiarity, but users must actively engage in meaning-making to access the stories and fill knowledge gaps. Practitioners and instructors can leverage content on StackOverflow to better understand coding problems. StackOverflow threads, along with other user-generated forum content, also give instructors insight into technical audiences and can be leveraged to teach students how to use primary research to better understand audiences. Researchers can continue to study how novice users interact with user-generated content by investigating how confidence levels affect meaning-making.

Designing for Life offers a thorough background in advances in technology that have improved the human condition. The book details the history of technological development as well as recent advancements and their implications for the future. The authors want designers to think about human perception and experience as the foundation of design best practices, and they achieve this goal by including multiple citations to help designers and researchers follow up with additional reading.

Background: The participatory web complicates professional communicators' goals of providing accurate, usable, and trustworthy content, especially for health and medical topics. Professionals can better reach their audiences by understanding individuals'purposes for using e-health. Literature review: Previous literature has shown the need for audience analysis in e-health, and has called for personalized, nuanced, and contextualized methods for developing audience-centered content. Professional communicators in e-health can use personas as a strategy to help account for users' diverse, evolving, and extra-institutional purposes in accessing e-health, whether that content is professionally-generated or user-generated. Research questions: 1. What are patients' larger information-seeking contexts? 2. For what purposes do patients use e-health? 3. How can professional communicators leverage this deepened understanding of their audience's purposes to improve their content? Methods: In-depth interviews were conducted with seven community members who self-identified as e-health users. They were asked about their larger health information-seeking practices, specific instances of using e-health, and website preferences. Results: Participants use e-health among other sources including medical professionals. They use an array of e-health sites, including professional and user-generated sites, and have diverse purposes in using that array of sites. Conclusion and implications: The results suggest that professional communicators deepen their audience analysis to account for informational context, emotional context, and the diverse and shifting purposes of their users. Heuristics for professionals are provided to develop purpose-driven personas.

The reviewers feel that what makes "Digital Justice: Technology and the Internet of Disputes" so valuable is its relevance to a wide range of professional and nonprofessional applications, including healthcare, technology, e-commerce, social media and social relationships, law, and the workplace. Readers who use digital media for organizational and business communication can benefit from Digital Justice and its insights into disputes, access to justice, and the influence of digital media on barriers to justice. Ethan Katsch and Orna Rabinovich-Einy address the emerging disputes brought by the advancement of technology as well as the ways that these disputes could be resolved or prevented altogether. There has yet to be a dispute resolution and prevention process that works flawlessly in all cases, but the authors provide valuable insight toward what issues need to be addressed, as well as how and why these issues affect users involved in disputes.

Background: Consumer-to-consumer (C2C) e-commerce involves consumers re-selling products to other consumers using online platforms. Research identifies trust as a major factor in this exchange. It concludes that seller-generated product descriptions can mitigate mistrust. Further, technical and professional communication research can reveal what content sellers tend to provide and can reveal how platform design may encourage that content. Literature review: C2C e-commerce and TPC researchers agree that mistrust can be mitigated by detailed content, and they call for platform designers to help improve platform and seller reputations. Research questions: 1. What content do sellers provide about their technical products? 2. How do the platforms' web form designs and the associated documentation about listing a product for sale encourage certain content types? Research methodology: Four platforms were chosen using specific criteria. Product descriptions were collected once per week for six weeks, generating 1900 product descriptions. These descriptions were unitized and given reliable content categories, a methodology called quantitative content analysis. Further, the documentation and processes for posting items were explored to determine how they may encourage content types. Results/discussion: Sellers mostly provide product information and sales procedures, and they rarely give benefits and goodwill to the buyer. The platform design seems to encourage this content because of the content-entry process, the content-entry options, and the required and unrequired content entry. Conclusions: This study invites technical and professional communicators to provide more guidelines for users about the kinds of content they may include, and designers to explore the content entry process using usability and user-experience research.

Background: Preparing students to work on teams in the workplace is both important and challenging. The transfer of learning from school to work requires that faculty provide guidance to support teamwork processes, including team communication. Literature review: Leader communication, especially when nondirective, has been associated with team success. Nondirective leaders influence others and develop quality relationships through personal rather than position power. Personal power is created partly through interactions in which a leader's linguistic behavior effectively manages rapport with team members. Research questions: We wanted to explore the influence of team member feedback on leader rapport management, leader-member relationship quality, and perceived team effectiveness. Research methodology: We designed a feedback intervention that was delivered to team leaders within multidisciplinary student teams in a technical writing course. The study was a traditional, intervention-based, between-subjects quasi-experiment. Results/discussion: Despite its singular focus on team leader behavior, the intervention resulted in higher perceived group effectiveness. Although leader rapport management and leader-member relationship quality were higher in teams with feedback intervention, the effects were not statistically significant. Conclusion: We discuss several potential causes of our results, including several options for future research. Ultimately, because the intervention is simple to create and efficient to share, we conclude that it can supply instructors with one useful tool for intervening in student teamwork processes to improve team outcomes and for emphasizing the importance of interpersonal communication and leadership in teams.

Research problem: This study investigates the way in which large Chinese firms communicated occupational fatalities in corporate social responsibility (CSR) reports. Research questions:1. Did the sample firms disclose information about workplace fatalities in their CSR reports? 2. What communicative strategies were used in the disclosure for the purpose of self-legitimation? 3. How were these strategies manifested linguistically and rhetorically? Literature review: The study is based on legitimacy theory, which suggests that when reporting bad news, firms may use communicative strategies to maintain or restore organizational legitimacy. Previous studies of negative CSR disclosures focus more on information selection and omission than on information presentation. A lack of consideration of actual organizational performance in some studies also makes it less feasible to account for strategies that firms use to misrepresent reality. Methodology: The study compared CSR reports issued by Fortune 500 Chinese firms with the firms' reports of fatal occupational incidents to see whether the incidents were reported faithfully. An integrated analytical framework of legitimation strategies, developed from previous studies of legitimation in organizational communication, was applied to the analysis. Results and conclusions: Most firms disclosed their fatality incidents. Legitimation strategies-in particular, positive performance evaluations and corrective actions-were used by the firms to de-emphasize or minimize the bad news. This study calls for greater attention from CSR monitors and professionals to information presentation as an important indicator of report quality. The findings are limited to one type of CSR disclosure and to the firms that were examined.

Background: This study adopted a corpus-linguistics approach to investigate the gender effects in students' technical and scientific writing. Specifically, we analyzed whether gender influenced how males and females used adverbs (e.g., very, really, and definitely) and passive voice (e.g., the article was published in the journal). The overuse of both adverbs and passive voice has been associated with poor writing clarity and concision. Literature review: Previous research works on gender effects in language have been mixed. Since these are all the essential elements of effective technical communication, teachers need to know what gender effects might exist. Research questions are as follows: 1. Does gender influence the student writers' use of adverbs? 2. Does gender influence the student writers' use of passive voice? Methodology: The sample included 87 writers (46 females and 41 males) who contributed to a 757,533-word corpus. Researchers analyzed 12,111 instances of adverbs and 4,732 instances of passive voice within a variety of technical texts. Results/discussion: Female writers used significantly more adverbs as well as more additive/restrictive, degree, and stance adverbs than expected. Male writers used more linking and manner adverbs than expected. Female writers also used significantly more passives, particularly passive verbs associated with reporting findings and interpretation. In contrast, male writers associated with passive verbs used to describe methods and analyses. Overall, the results suggested that females and males used the same style markers to fulfill different rhetorical functions.