Using a qualitative approach to data collection and analysis, the article discusses some of the findings from a larger study on collaboration and the role of gender. We profile three student engineering teams as they participate in processes leading to the submission of a report for a team-based technical communication course. While some theorists suggest that gender can play a significant role in achieving a successful team dynamic, our study only partially supports that claim. A synopsis of two women from two predominantly male teams reveals glimpses of what the literature describes as traditional gender-linked behaviors by both men and women, but the all-female team does not conform to stereotypical patterns and their behaviors call into question the existence of these interactional styles. We suggest that factors other than gender and independent of a team's gender composition exert a greater impact on collaboration. Nevertheless, the study does caution against assigning women to predominantly male teams, since when a team's social structure is mostly male, traditional gender-linked interactional behaviors as well as manifestations of the culture of engineering are more likely to emerge. Overall, the study underlines the importance of examining specific face-to-face interactions to see how behavior is situationally produced in order to more fully understand the interactional strategies open to individuals.

In this qualitative content analysis, I examined 55 articles with keywords relating to collaboration published in the 1990-1999 issues of five major technical communication journals. I considered the frequency, types of research, and themes in the 55-article collection. My analysis reveals differences in the authors' discussions of collaboration depending on whether the collaboration occurred in the classroom or the workplace. I also found that most of the 55 articles were more concerned with collaborative practice than with theoretical discussions of collaboration. Suggestions for future research include investigating how experienced workplace collaborators and experienced teachers of collaborative skills in technical communication courses solve the nonroutine problems that occur when practice becomes difficult. From these investigations, researchers might determine what constitutes expertise in collaboration.

This article reports on a survey of 162 recent engineering graduates about their writing experiences during co-op. Specifically, the survey obtained data about how much time they spent writing, to what extent they engaged in collaborative writing, what kinds of documents they wrote, and the purposes and audiences for those documents, whether they believed their employers valued writing ability, and what strategies they perceived as most helpful in learning to write like engineers. Data were analyzed in terms of engineering specialty and gender. The findings are presented, along with implications for teaching and future research.

We are pleased to bring you this joint issue of Technical communication and IEEE transactions on professional communication on communication in cross-functional teams. This special issue is a result of a collaborative effort between two leading organizations in the field of technical communication—the Society for Technical Communication and the IEEE Professional Communication Society. The topic of the special issue seems particularly appropriate given the nature of this joint venture.

Uses a qualitative methodology to examine how discourse norms and socialization processes affect the development of technical requirements. Our exploratory investigation of how government personnel develop and review technical requirements indicates that discourse norms and academic technical writing socialization processes affect the technical writing process. Technical writers perceived that requirements in work statements became less precise as more requirements were coordinated in team-based designs. In essence, we found that, in team-based designs, interpretation conflict and technical diffusion were important dimensions when writing and coordinating technical requirements. Our findings suggest that collaborative technical writing is a complex and difficult process in team-based designs where integration and persuasion skills dominate.

Beginning Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) students often have difficulty learning the genre of lab report writing. This difficulty can be alleviated through genre theory strategies and research, which writing center consultants, for example, can use to focus on the specific form and content of engineering writing, which then can be taught to students in a writing center environment. Genre theory provides a means (1) for humanities writing center consultants to learn specific characteristics about engineering writing, (2) for interdisciplinary collaboration between writing professionals and engineers to take place, and (3) for students to have increased opportunities to learn the discourse of their field. All of these benefits are enhanced by discipline-specific writing programs that support and facilitate them. In addition, the collaboration provides a stimulating, fluid, creative environment in which to discuss engineering writing, an environment which reflects the changing needs of engineering education as a result of technological advancements. As technology continues to influence engineering education, prompting evolutions in both technical and communication skills and knowledge, genre theory and interdisciplinary collaboration will continue to gain importance as strategies for initiating students into the communication demands of their field. The discussion focuses on the integration of genre theory with writing instruction in the ECE Department at the University of South Carolina. This integration stimulated interaction among ECE faculty, composition and rhetoric faculty and students, and ECE students.

Geographically distributed software development projects have been made possible by rapid developments primarily within the data communication area. A number of companies recognize that distributed collaboration has great potential for the near future. The article describes the empirical study of a cooperative student project located at two different geographical sites. The project was carried out at two universities: one in Sweden and one in Finland. The initial goals were to give the students the opportunity to learn about the practical aspects of cooperation between two geographically separate institutions and to study specific problems anticipated by the teachers with regard to communication, coordination, language, culture, requirements' handling, testing, and bug fixing. The article focuses on communication and coordination within the cooperative project, as these were identified as the most significant problem areas. We also thought that these areas were the most interesting and the ones most likely to lead to improvements. The article not only describes our findings but also gives hints about what to think about when running similar projects, both with respect to project related issues and teaching issues.

Much knowledge work involves temporary work teams. Increasingly, these teams are not face-to-face but virtual teams. The paper explores the gender impact of virtual collaboration as compared to face-to-face teams. Descriptive statistics are used to show the different perceptions of the group experience based on gender and on face-to-face versus virtual team experiences. Women in the virtual groups perceived that the group stuck together more and helped each other more than did the men. Also, the women were more satisfied with the virtual group than men and felt that group conflict was readily resolved. In comparing the experience of women in the virtual groups to women in the face-to-face groups, the face-to-face women were less satisfied with the group experience than their virtual counterparts and perceived that conflict was smoothed over.

The University of Colorado at Denver's Internet Task Force has been conducting developmental research on the collaborative learning and participatory design process while creating and implementing the School of Education's Web page and mediated learning environment. We developed a design and learning process model that is appropriate for designers working in groups in academic or corporate environments. Critical features are authentic tasks, knowledge development, generating research questions and reflection.

Groupware software promises to increase productivity by providing users with a common interface from which they may access a variety of software programs that they may then work with in a variety of ways. While groupware technology can perform the many tasks it is designed to do, it is more difficult for people to become comfortable and productive with new technological tools. This is especially true for groupware because it is more than a just new tool: groupware fundamentally changes the way an organization works and communicates. The corporate culture must either be ready for groupware or adapt itself to address the cultural premises of groupware (shared effort, cooperation, collaboration) that the software is designed to enhance. The commentary describes the experience of one organization as it struggled to re-engineer itself using groupware.

The paper argues that virtual communication spaces such as the World Wide Web (WWW) offer unique opportunities for collaboration within technical writing classrooms. Three common types of project scenarios are identified, along with the discourse communities and collaborative relationships that are supported and emphasized by each project scenario. A technical writing assignment is described that emphasizes the benefits of students collaborating within the WWW, an emerging, real world discourse community. In describing this assignment, we redefine collaboration to include activities used by WWW site developers and designers.

Practitioners of research in a particular field have extensive knowledge of how to operate successfully in that field and communicate effectively with others, within the boundaries of their own language and culture. However, when it comes to inducting novice researchers into these skills, difficulties are often encountered, and more so when the novice comes from a different language and cultural background. At the same time, specialists in English teaching or cross-cultural communication aiming to prepare novices to enter such a research environment often lack access to the details of how things are really done there. At The University of Adelaide, South Australia, this situation is being addressed through a new program for international postgraduate students in their first semester of enrolment. This Integrated Bridging Program (IBP) relies on collaboration between the discipline specialist researcher and language and learning specialists and is informed by the perspectives of systemic functional linguistics (SFL). This paper presents an overview of the IBP, followed by details of its operation in the Faculty of Engineering. Information is included on outcomes of the collaboration in specific instances, and how SFL theory has been applied to develop a flexible and effective induction which is highly valued by both staff and student participants.

The paper discusses applying computer networks to cooperative distance learning for technical communication education. It first outlines applications of communication technologies employed in distance learning, and describes the design strategies of the applications. The paper's main focus is on the CORAL (Cooperative Remotely Accessible Learning) system for promoting cooperative distance learning currently under development in Taiwan. The CORAL system is a collective and collaborative project intended to integrate four major components in concept and construction: an interactive learning environment, educational foundations and implications, domain knowledge; and research efforts. One of CORAL system's goals is to aid science and engineering students in learning communication technology courseware. The CORAL development process, including its design approach, structure, courseware, and evaluation, is reported. Research issues are also addressed.

While Australia is positioning itself politically to capitalize on the strengths of its multiculturism and many ethnic identities, the nation is also vigorously addressing companion language needs to support workplace interaction, cooperation, collaboration and negotiation. The paper discusses the implementation of the genre approach in Australia. The approach is a new paradigm that emphasizes content, structure and sequence.

From both a technological and educational perspective, cyber education creates a multitude of challenges for students and instructors. Both novice and experienced computer users alike must master the use of Internet tools quickly, while also working to overcome conceptual misunderstandings about the technology and its root metaphors. The technology also makes commenting on student documents cumbersome but does have the benefit of creating a digitized record of students' writing processes, while also allowing for the online publication of students' work. Other benefits include more active learning and better interactive collaboration. Preliminary assessments further indicate that, despite critics' concerns about the rigor and quality of distance learning, for a variety of technical and social reasons, student work is equal to and sometimes better than that of on-campus students.

Despite increasing interest in collaborative writing in industry, little is known about the writing done in companies adopting team-based organizational designs. In such settings, teams organized to produce special documents may include members who do little or no writing for their regular jobs and thus lack experience in generating and selecting ideas, particularly in group settings. In the case study discussed here, the issue of authority provided a subtle but powerful undercurrent during the lifespan of one writing project. The collective and individual voices of team members indicated a constant tug between deep-seated expectations born of traditional systems of hierarchy in organizations and the new responsibilities of making contributions in team settings. Although environmental supports for authentic involvement seemed to be in place, those supports alone could not guarantee the sharing of authority.< <ETX xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">&gt;</ETX>

Socializing technology is the rhetorical goal of technology transfer. Specialists from all walks of the technical communications profession can participate in this goal by involving themselves in key processes such as developing market awareness, creating inreach and outreach programs, and facilitating collaborative ventures. By broadening the market for our services in the technology transfer movement, we will increase the scope and value of our skills in a high-visibility endeavor that will be on the national agenda for years to come.< <ETX xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">&gt;</ETX>

American document design process models reflect the assumption that comprehension and usability are the most important characteristics of effective documents, but it is increasingly evident that other cultures value other communicative features of documents and that purposes and intentions vary across cultures. This case study examines the responses of four sets of American readers (three sets familiar with American document design research and practice and one set of content specialists-engineers by training) to the visual aspects of an annual report. The original document was prepared for a mid-sized Japanese corporation and published and distributed in Japan; the American version is an almost literal translation of the original document from Japanese to English, with no changes in visuals, graphic design or format. Protocol analyses of readers' responses revealed distinct patterns of expectations and preferences based on (1) cultural biases, (2) degree of familiarity with the American document design model, and (3) ignorance of Japanese culture and corporate communicative practices. This study raises questions about the effectiveness in terms of cultural sensitivity of what we have called the "American" document design process model and usability testing procedures, and calls for extensive collaborative research designed to describe and analyze current practice in international settings.

Document ownership attributions often have direct consequences for evaluation, in both classrooms and workplaces. But when writers work collaboratively, ownership attributions are not straightforward. This study, about how and why collaborative writers make such attributions, reports that interviewed workplace writers emphasized product criteria (quality and liability), while surveyed student writers emphasized process criteria (teamwork and workload). A review of previous research suggests that such a difference may result from cultural differences between the academy and the workplace. That analysis further suggests how both instructors and practitioners could help newcomers make successful transitions to professional writing, by foregrounding ownership attitudes.< <ETX xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">&gt;</ETX>

To better understand the complex relationship between academic researchers and funding agencies, the author interviewed 15 academic researchers regarding their views, suggestions, and difficulties in coordinating the proposal process. Data suggest that academic research funding is highly rhetorical, and that successful researchers have well-developed managerial, organizational, and communication skills. The author concludes by describing the competitiveness and complexity of contemporary research relationships, and by briefly outlining guidelines for improving collaboration between researchers and funders.< <ETX xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">&gt;</ETX>

The paper examines collaborative writing practices students in the Air Force Institute of Technology's Graduate School of Logistics and Acquisition Management use to produce team-authored theses. In analyzing how student writing teams plan, execute, and assess writing activities, the researchers identify and describe some of the forms that collaboration takes, thereby successfully connecting their work within a broader research continuum concerning collaborative writing, particularly when applied in academic settings.< <ETX xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">&gt;</ETX>

The application of computer tools to mediating and promoting collaborative design efforts between mutually distant parties has become feasible. Technology is again ahead of practice, and problems of assimilation have only begun to be explored. This paper postulates the requirements of environments for computer-mediated collaborative design in architectural practice, drawing upon experiences of design collaboration among schools of architecture on three continents and supplementing these with enquiries into design excellence in practice.< <ETX xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">&gt;</ETX>

Professional educational philosophers C.A. Bowers and D.J. Flinders (1990) describe the classroom as an ecology comprising interrelated linguistic and cultural patterns that determine how information is communicated in the classroom. their classroom ecology model centers on the observation of three interconnected areas: the metaphors that the teacher and the textbook use to introduce students to the formal and informal curriculum, the manner in which the teacher frames student expertise and classroom relationships, and the nonverbal communication between teacher and students. Using Bowers and Flinders' model, a technical writing class taught by a teacher who emphasizes relationships, understanding and acceptance, and collaboration was studied. The teacher's metaphorical language, framing of instruction and student relationships, and nonverbal language are shown to reflect a rhetorical approach to technical writing, a caring approach to teaching, and a supportive, community environment for learning. This ethnographic study provides a snapshot of how one teacher defines technical writing and how he answers the question of how is should be taught.< <ETX xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">&gt;</ETX>

Do university writing experiences prepare students for future job-related writing tasks? If not, how can we create a smoother transition from the academy to the workplace? The author analyzes the differing discourse communities of academic writing and technical communication which may limit the transfer of skills from one arena to the next. The discussion considers the ways process, collaborative learning, writing across the curriculum, and language theories can form the foundation for constructive communication among disciplines. As the focus of academic writing moves from an emphasis on the individual to social context and wider audiences, it bridges the gap between disciplines and can ease the movement from the classroom to real-world settings.< <ETX xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">&gt;</ETX>

The inclusion of a course in gender issues in a technical communication curriculum affords students the opportunity to confront objectivist and rationalist paradigms still found in the discourse of technical communication. The theoretical and practical foundations of a course that examines feminist inquiry into the production and dissemination of knowledge, as well as the language practices associated with professional writing and communication, are discussed. Issues of gender roles within organizational collaborative work groups, as well as issues related to gendered assumptions in science and technology, are also integral parts of the course design. A description of objectives, assignments, and tests for the course, as well as a full syllabus, are included.< <ETX xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">&gt;</ETX>

It is pointed out that veteran technical writers and editors sometimes suspect that the professors who teach technical writing and editing are too deeply immersed in their academic culture to translate effectively into the classroom the world of work culture in which technical writing and editing are practised. It is argued, however, that the two cultures are remarkably alike, sharing the same goal-to improve communication. Differences arise primarily in the approaches taken to achieve that common goal. Drawing on 25 years of experience as a visiting professor in a university writing program, the author discusses the different approaches that industry and academia take to such topics as grammar, rhetoric, audience, editing, artwork, decision-making, and collaborative writing.< <ETX xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">&gt;</ETX>

It is pointed out that preparing people to work collaboratively allows them to experience some issues of professional ethics, cooperation, responsibility, and decisionmaking. A model for teaching people to work collaboratively is described. A teaching team, comprised of a technical communication professor and a clinical psychologist, explains group dynamics and the three phases of group development to students. The team then asks the members of a group to rehearse roles and discuss various issues that may arise in their groups. It is concluded that people experience and work through issues of collaboration and professional ethics before they begin to work as a group.< <ETX xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">&gt;</ETX>

The authors introduce the concept of hypertext and focus on how hypertext can facilitate writing activities. A survey of the capabilities of existing hypertext systems and current research activities is included.< <ETX xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">&gt;</ETX>

The author suggests that when technical experts team up to produce technical documents, dividing the workload horizontally, with each team member handling a separate chapter or section, does not work very well. He maintains that stratifying the project vertically, with a project team leader, a data gatherer, a writer, an editor, and a graphics person, is a more efficient and more effective method of collaborative writing. The process is quicker and the product is better because team members get to do what they are best at.< <ETX xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">&gt;</ETX>

Communication instruction at the undergraduate, senior level within the mechanical engineering curriculum is discussed. Faculty collaboration across disciplines and departments and the involvement of students as professionals in their field of study are seen as elements in the process of developing technical communication skills. Faculty-student dialog that supports communication skill development is highlighted.< <ETX xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">&gt;</ETX>

It is suggested that students can learn the fundamentals of project leadership, team writing, and production of a major document if the teacher plans and structures the assignments for the project leader so that the project leader and the student writers share the same understanding of the document, know the lines of authority for decisions, and see how individual parts fit into the whole. The principles of cooperation necessary to complete the project also engage the students in issues of professional ethics.< <ETX xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">&gt;</ETX>

Professional technical communicators and academicians who study and teach technical communication have opposing perspectives on the ethics that should guide the work of communicating technical information. Valuing most the well-being of their profession and the organizations in which they work, the professionals advocate an ethics in which competence is the principle and market success is the purpose that guides good technical communication. The academicians, valuing most the well-being of the larger society in which all technology is situated, advocate an ethics in which responsibility is the guiding principle and the protection of that society's interests is the guiding purpose. The author considers that an alternative perspective founded on rhetoric might be acceptable to both. He makes cooperation the principle and compromise the purpose that should guide technical communication, suggesting an ethic in which open interaction and collaborative judgment become the context in which technical communication functions.

Collaboration between the programming and documentation departments may be the key to writing good user manuals. Although time constraints and the computer culture stand in the way of collaboration, writers and programmers can overcome these problems with respect, good humor, and careful thinking. The authors describe an informal but successful system developed over the last three years at a software company.

Communication skills training is not well established in the British university curricula. For a long time, it has been a neglected issue while priority is given to the acquisition of technical skills. A research project carried out at Aston University examined the question of how communication skills could most effectively be provided for engineering students. From information received from people experienced in the field in Britain, several interesting differences were noted among courses held in a number of institutes of higher education. Such differences included the background of the lecturer (in primarily engineering or communication), the timing of the course in the degree program, and syllabus selection focusing on academic and industrially related skills. Accordingly, a series of recommendations was made concerning methods of course development at Aston University. The main conclusion is that a joint collaborative approach between an engineering department and a communication specialist is likely to be most successful. Further attention also needs to be paid to the specific skills required by practicing engineers in industry.

The technical report and proposal are strategic documents that must cogently define, rationalize, and sell their high-technology products in the world of competitive procurement. Because these documents are created by group authorship, there is a need to coordinate the multiple engineer-authors, provide them with strategy information, and help them develop arguments that justify their design approaches. Conventional methods of subject outlining, trial-and-error writing, and post-manuscript reviewing do not cope with these needs. The Stop (Sequential Thematic Organization of Proposals) technique applies five principles to solve this problem: It (1) recognizes the passage unit of discourse to gain expository-descriptive coherence; (2) uses the essay (with thesis sentence) to enhance strategic discussion; (3) restricts outlining to establishing topical architecture and introduces prewriting (via storyboards) to discover and exercise argument, explanation, and visualization; (4) uses pre-reviewing (via real-time, walk-through group dynamics) to permit team/corporate review of the story plan prior to manuscript drafting; and (5) stresses group writing to infuse both the marketing and the technical strategy and design approach into the document. Twenty years of applying STOP has shown it to be a thoroughly practical system, even though intellectually demanding and unforgiving of lazy writing. This paper reviews the principles, practices (including misconceptions), and lessons of STOP as developed, refined, and learned during those years.

Uniformity in style for scientific and technical journals is justified by savings in costs for authors, savings in redactorial costs, and more ready comprehension of text and tables by readers. Uniform style is readily imposed upon journals published within a single organization. Reaching agreements on uniform style becomes more difficult as the span of journals increases to independent journals within on discipline and to journals increases to independent journals within one discipline and to journals in different disciplines. Collaborations within, or sponsored by, the Council of Biology Editors, the Royal Society of Medicine, and the Nordic Publication Committee for Medicine illustrate the possibilities for intradiscipline agreements on style. Collaboration among different disciplines will be more difficult but should be a major aim in scientific publication.