The quest to understand the nuances of professional communication using computational tools have continued since, and many researchers in our field have embraced the new interdisciplinary approach now known as data science. Our quick metadata search on the journals and conference proceedings in technical and professional communication (TPC) revealed an increasing number of articles associated with terms commonly used in data science (e.g., big data, content analysis, text mining, sentiment analysis, topic modeling, network analysis) originating from numerous disciplines (e.g., corpus linguistics, computational linguistics, artificial intelligence, statistics, business analytics). Yet, the field of TPC is just beginning to embrace the power of data-driven approaches. This special issue extends Orr’s work by taking a snapshot of current work in data-driven approaches to the study of TPC.

This paper introduces a new social media data-analysis tool called FireAnt that allows technical and professional communication researchers, instructors, and students to easily collect, analyze, and visualize social media communication.Problem:Currently, most social media analysis is carried out using custom computer scripts written in programming languages such as Python and R. Although these custom scripts can be very powerful, they create an enormous barrier to those without a strong computational background or the resources to hire a software engineer or data scientist.Key concepts:FireAnt is a freeware, stand-alone, multiplatform social media data-analysis tool designed for both novice and expert computer users. It can be used to collect, analyze, and subsequently visualize social media data as time-series plots, geopositional maps, and network graphs. It can also export results for further processing using traditional corpus tools, statistical packages, and custom scripts. Key lessons:This paper will show how FireAnt can be used to collect social media data related to specific companies, analyze those data, and visualize the data in a variety of ways.Implications for practice:FireAnt has applications in various technical and professional communication settings-for example, as part of a strategy to develop a social media presence and in the analysis of company-customer interactions and user perceptions of goods and services. It can also be used in the technical writing classroom as part of instructor- and student-centered instruction on the safe, appropriate, and effective use of language on social media platforms .

Introduction: With the growing need for intensive and online course formats, it has become increasingly difficult to determine what combinations of knowledge and skills that are important for both academia and industry can best provide students with the grounding for exploring the questions of global technical communication (TC) during their programs. About the case: The 7.5-week online global TC course at Arizona State University is divided into six theme-based units and a unit that focuses on a research/revision project. Situating the case: While over the last 20 years, excellent practical materials for teaching global TC have been published, there is a need for comprehensive course descriptions, particularly for courses in online and intensive formats. Methods/approach: The course was based on an extensive literature review of academic and trade publications. The course's effectiveness was analyzed based on final reflective discussion assignments and anonymous student course evaluations. Results/discussion: The literature review revealed six major themes that define global TC: culture and communication, the frameworks of culture, verbal communication, global content and technology, visual communication, and cross-cultural collaboration and audience work. Each unit addressed one of these themes. The course was well-received, and students started posing critical questions to explore in future courses. Conclusions: In our program, having a dedicated global TC course was very beneficial because it introduced students to concepts that they could further explore in other 7.5-week online courses. In addition, I present recommendations for adopting/adapting the course, as well as its limitations and suggestions for future research.

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<bold xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">Background:</b> <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">This study examined discourse during the problem resolution process in face-to-face technical-support interactions between technical-support providers and users at a helpdesk. Specifically, this study responds to the limited discourse-based research in technical-support interactions, despite the agreement that exploring communication within these interactions can help to improve them.</i> <bold xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">Literature review:</b> <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">Research in technical communication has only begun to systematically explore the microlevel (smaller, moment-to-moment) communication in these interactions, though it has provided a well-established understanding of their macrolevel (genre) structure. Further, research has not completely explored how the two participants in the interaction work discursively to resolve technical problems and what strategies appear to promote user satisfaction. </i> <bold xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">Research questions:</b> <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">1. What microlevel discourse do technical-support providers employ to resolve technical problems? 2. What microlevel discourse do users employ when collaborating with technical-support providers to resolve technical problems? 3. What microlevel discourse from both technical-support providers and users appears in satisfactory interactions? 4. What exchange patterns between the two participants appear in satisfactory interactions?</i> <bold xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">Methodology:</b> <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">Using speech-act discourse analysis, this study examined 17 helpdesk interactions that resolved problems. These interactions occurred at a large, Midwestern US university helpdesk at which 11 instructors sought help with instructional technologies. Using a post-session survey completed by the users, I compared interactions with above- and below-average levels of user satisfaction to determine which microlevel discourse promoted user satisfaction with the help experience.</i> <bold xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">Results:</b> <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">Technical-support providers employed signals announcing their thoughts and actions, gave explanations of the technology, and communicated confirmations or denials to user questions. Users employed inquiries about the technology, gave background information, and communicated confirmations or denials to technical-support provider questions. Statistically significant results about both speakers’ discourse indicate that typical instructional strategies (such as explanations) do not necessarily characterize more satisfactory interactions. Instead, alternate forms of instruction (minimal responses or giving background information from personal experience) contribute toward satisfactory outcomes. Also, users’ facility in asking follow-up questions or in giving further background information even during the problem-resolution stage appears to promote satisfaction. Further, a closer examination of the exchanges reveals how both participants interact in these ways. </i> <bold xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">Conclusions:</b> <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">This study provides further insight into the typical instructional strategies identified by other researchers. Specifically, although explanations or directions do characterize problem resolution, these discourse strategies do not necessarily characterize distinctly satisfactory problem resolution. As one of the only studies of the functional discourse within technical-support interactions, this study provides researchers and practitioners further insight into how these important interactions work when technical-support providers resolve problems.</i>

<bold xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">Background:</b> This research explores how controversial engineering decisions become the subject of widespread social media debates, using the prominent case of activism opposed to the Dakota Access pipeline (DAPL). The #NoDAPL Twitter hashtag became the primary vehicle for activism, with Twitter users shaping the debate through how they framed the controversy. <bold xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">Literature review:</b> Framing refers to how information is packaged and presented. Because framing shapes the interpretation of information, it plays a crucial role in scientific controversies. <bold xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">Research questions:</b> 1. Which framing strategies are present in the most influential (determined by the number of retweets and “likes”) posts using #NoDAPL on Twitter? 2. How do the framing strategies used in the most influential #NoDAPL tweets change in relation to major political events? 3. Do the framing strategies used in the most influential #NoDAPL tweets amplify the echo-chamber effect and polarization on Twitter? <bold xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">Methodology:</b> The team collected daily data on the #NoDAPL hashtag and selected tweets with #NoDAPL that had more than 1500 likes or retweets, and categorized them by the frames that they exhibited. <bold xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">Results and discussion:</b> The most-used frames were conflict/strategy and morality/ethics, with no noticeable middle path frame, leading to the echo-chamber effect and online polarization. The scientific/technical uncertainty frame was used only sporadically, in contrast with project proponents who tried to emphasize the pipeline's safety. <bold xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">Implications:</b> Engineers seeking to understand and participate in public debates about issues central to their profession should recognize and engage the frames being used by the public to understand information. The project proponents’ defense of the pipeline fell on deaf ears, likely because they focused on safety rather than broader questions of morality. While engineers should share technical information related to a project under fire, they cannot ignore the concerns expressed by their critics.

<bold xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">Teaching problem:</b> The comparative/contrastive approach to teaching intercultural communication is based on the premise that global rhetorical practices are not mere indicators of the cultural proclivities of a people, but are also a framework for developing a working knowledge about how members of a culture communicate. However, this approach predisposes learners to contrasting those cultures against their own and reinforces their preconceptions about national cultural characteristics. Augmenting that approach with transliteracies—emphasizing the benefits of knowledge sourcing not limited to scholarly/academic sources—offers a multidimensional perspective to intercultural communication. <bold xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">Research question:</b> How can transliteracy inquiry be applied in teaching and learning global rhetorics? <bold xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">Situating the case: </b> The approaches described here draw on the work of literacy researchers who delineate ways in which transliteracy broadens the scope of learning materials, including texts that are cultural and social (as opposed to linguistic) and that can be studied for what they convey about those cultures. <bold xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">How the case was studied:</b> This paper describes the experience of using transliteracies to teach intercultural professional communication. The material was collected informally over the course of two years of teaching the course through observation, student completed research reports, and reflections. <bold xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">About the case:</b> The shortcomings of contrastive and comparative rhetoric pedagogy in intercultural communication may be due in part to instructional materials selection and prioritization of what teachers deem to be scholarly. Reasoning that the basic architecture of a global rhetorics lies in its surrounding culture, artifacts, and communication systems, I designed an assignment that required students to describe how one culture's heritage, history, governmental systems, and value systems contribute to the development of persuasion and uses of rhetoric. <bold xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">Results:</b> Transliteracies opened up spaces that allowed students to gain an in-depth understanding of others’ rhetorical practices without contrasting them against their own and by approaching them as ethnographic objects of study. Students engaged the object of their scholarship more expansively. <bold xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">Conclusions:</b> Transliteracies in intercultural professional communication served to move students toward a more immersive and empathetic understanding of referent cultures, a stance that enriches professional communication. Students displayed a more altruistic value system in representing their objects of study and were careful to recognize that their work might be accessed by a wider audience. Transliteracies offer a practical toolkit for comprehending and fashioning understandable and compelling arguments about other cultures.

The author of this book builds a case for designers, marketers, and stakeholders in the global marketplace to incorporate multicultural and international considerations into all aspects of their products and services. The book demonstrates the long-term benefits of internationalization, and it provides useful information about cultural and technological trends across all continents. In addition, the author offers practical advice on aspects of localization that should be brought into research and design. Employing anecdotal observations about a variety of cultures and a small variety of case studies, the author largely succeeds in his endeavor to bring greater consideration for international concerns to the fore of user experience. This book serves as a strong argument for marketers and designers to incorporate internationalization into an organization’s design philosophy so that its products will benefit from the start. However, the book only demonstrates the need for internationalization; it rarely offers suggestions on how to address a large variety of needs at once. Nevertheless, Universal UX Design has merit. Given its emphasis on product design for international markets, the book can serve as supplemental reading for graduate courses in UX design and technical marketing.

<bold xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">Research problem:</b> When it comes to understanding certain aspects of a maintenance technician's information-seeking behavior, knowledge is lacking. For instance, little is known about what kinds of information needs that maintenance technicians exhibit while performing work tasks and what types of sources they employ to satisfy those needs. Understanding such information-seeking behavior is especially essential for technical communicators who endeavor to design useful and relevant technical information. <bold xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">Research questions:</b> 1. What information needs do maintenance technicians show evidence of while performing maintenance work tasks? 2. Where do they go to satisfy these information needs? <bold xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">Literature review:</b> Current knowledge on maintenance technicians’ information-seeking behavior is very limited. The literature reviewed for this study covers the task-based information-seeking behavior of different types of engineers and is mainly found within the field of library and information science research. This literature was selected because maintenance technicians and engineers share many characteristics. One information-seeking characteristic exhibited by engineers is the tendency to rely on internal company information, such as colleagues and self-created sources, before external information sources are consulted. <bold xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">Methodology:</b> This study utilized an ethnographic research approach where empirical data were collected, analyzed, and interpreted from a theoretical viewpoint—a synthesis of Byström and Hansen's conceptual framework and the Systemic-Structural Theory of Activity. Seven in-house aftermarket maintenance technicians were observed via participant observation at a repair center in Sweden while they performed maintenance tasks on machines that had been taken out of service. <bold xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">Results and conclusions:</b> The results—based on empirical data collected over the course of 12 days, spread over 12 weeks in the autumn of 2012—reveal that the observed maintenance technicians exhibited 50 different types of information needs. They seldom sought instructions covering an entire work task. Instead, to satisfy their information needs, the maintenance technicians consulted four types of sources that, in the present study, have been designated as information source hosts.

Background: Corporate social responsibility (CSR) reports are one of the vehicles for developing corporate images, namely, the cognitive representation of a company perceived by the concerned stakeholders. It would be interesting to compare the CSR reports of companies of the world's two largest economies: the US and China. Literature review: Previous studies of CSR reports tend to highlight their lexicogrammatical, semantic, and functional features at the discursive level, but few studies have examined the cognitive images that companies intend to develop at the level of conceptual structure (knowledge representation). This study investigates metaphor use as a discursive and cognitive strategy for developing corporate images in Chinese and American CSR reports from the perspective of corpus-based conceptual metaphor analysis, particularly based on the concept of genre-specific metaphors, the metaphors used to conventionally construe notions for a certain communicative purpose achieved by a particular discourse community. Research questions: 1. What are the major concerns of Chinese and American CSR reports? 2. What are the genre-specific metaphors used to construe major concerns of Chinese and American CSR reports? 3. What do the genre-specific metaphors reveal about the corporate images of Chinese and US companies? Are there differences in developing corporate images between Chinese and American CSR reports? Methodology: We collected CSR reports of the top companies in China and the US, identified genre-specific linguistic and conceptual metaphors, and conducted comparative analysis of metaphor-based corporate images. Results and conclusions: The conceptual metaphors genre-specific to CSR reports are businesses are objects, business is war, business is a journey, and business competition is competitive games/sports. Furthermore, CSR reports of both countries share most genre-specific metaphor parings and thus nearly the same mappings, which contribute to building corporate images of being economically competitive, ethically cooperative, and environmentally responsible. Although both stress self-development and taking a leading position, American companies seem to pay more attention to external cooperation with others. On the other hand, Chinese companies seem to stress internal cooperation and a well-organized hierarchy. Admittedly, this study may be limited in terms of analyzing only genre-specific metaphors and not balancing sector types of the companies in the two corpora.

This book consists of a collection of narratives on the subject of scientific writing skill needs compiled by the author through more than 100 interviews with senior scientists, emerging (early career) scientists, and recent Ph.D. graduates, all of whom would be appropriate audiences of the book. It is an interesting amalgam of opinions from the scientific community about technical writing, its importance, the breadth of writing opportunities, and the authors’ enjoyment—or lack thereof. While oriented toward science, it could easily be expanded to the entire spectrum of STEM fields. Through her informal approach, the author achieves her purpose of exposing diverse opinions on the need for and acceptance of technical writing within the scientific community. While the book might not fit nicely into a technical writing course, it can provide valuable insight into technical writing needs beyond university undergraduate and graduate students. The author, through the use of interviews and narrative summaries, has provided a view of technical writing as accomplished by three levels of scientists, where personal opinions of the scientists are supported by the level of success achieved by the individual respondent. This book could be used for a course in technical writing in a number of ways, especially at the undergraduate level, either as a reference text or as the primary text for the course. To begin with, the material in the book is based upon the contributors’ years of experience. In some cases, that could mean many years of technical writing not only within a particular field of interest, but in other genres or subject matters, based upon the individual’s experiences. A professor teaching the technical writing class may have limited experience in the world of publishing papers, books, or other technical matter. An assignment for a class could be to pick one of the respondents in the book, and develop a detailed description of his or her beliefs and approaches to technical writing. Such an assignment could then lead into a class discussion on the importance of technical writing in one’s career as supported by the text.

<bold xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">Background:</b> This study investigates linguistic characterizations in the form of linguistic co-occurrence patterns in discussion sections of English research articles (RAs) in an engineering discipline (i.e., chemical engineering) and linguistic variations that distinguish discussion sections of high-impact articles from those in low-impact articles. <bold xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">Research questions:</b> 1. What underlying linguistic characterizations are salient in RA discussions in chemical engineering? 2. Are there any differences in the identified linguistic characterizations of discussion sections between high- and low-impact RAs? <bold xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">Literature review:</b> In the process of composing RAs, the discussion section is a difficult and challenging part-genre to write. The rhetorical organization of RA discussions has been examined extensively through Swales's English for Specific Purposes genre analysis. However, the linguistic characterizations of RA discussion sections remain unclear and the question of whether discernible differences exist between discussions of high- and low-impact RAs in a specialized engineering discipline remains unanswered. <bold xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">Methodology:</b> This study used Biber's multidimensional (MD) analysis method. In response to the first research question, factor analysis (in this study, principal component analysis) was adopted to identify the linguistic characterizations in the form of linguistic co-occurrence patterns (“dimensions”) in 213 RA discussion sections extracted from chemical engineering RAs. To answer the second question, the independent t-test was implemented to compare the high- and low-impact RA discussion sections in the identified dimensions. <bold xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">Results and conclusions:</b> Six linguistic characterizations in the form of linguistic co-occurrence patterns were identified in RA discussion sections: 1. involvement and interactivity, 2. non-narration versus narration, 3. evaluative statements with further explanations and elaborations, 4. informational density, 5. stating results/claims, and 6. expression of denial relationships toward statement or experimental findings. The results suggest the linguistic characterizations in RA discussion sections and interesting differences in the high- and low-impact RA discussion sections, especially in Dimensions 1, 3, and 5. Reasons for the linguistic variations in the identified dimensions are discussed, followed by the pedagogical implications for reading or writing RAs for international scientific communication.

Background: In Taiwan, the insurance industry has the highest willingness and the largest budgets to implement mobile technology. Companies must continuously monitor, evaluate, and redesign the mobile IT infrastructure during implementation because when employees gain more experience with using mobile IT to support work tasks, they present their preferences and progressive needs. Therefore, exploration of how mobile technology can support the diverse job roles and task characteristics in insurance companies that have implemented mobile IT is vital to improving the efficiency of mobile IT implementation and organizational capacity. Research questions: In insurance companies: 1. How are different mobile devices used differently by salespeople and office staff? 2. What are the differences in the attitudes of salespeople and office staff toward using mobile technology? Literature review: Previous studies that explored employees' usage of mobile technology suggested that those in different job roles have different mobile technology needs and usage behaviors. These studies support further comparison and investigation of the mobile technology requirements of salespeople and office staff in insurance companies. Methodology: A survey collected empirical data from 177 employees from insurance companies in Taiwan. The participants' demographic information, attitudes toward applications, perceived advantages, and willingness to use mobile technology were collected and analyzed. Results and conclusions: The results showed that the most important tasks supported by mobile technology were instant communication and information access; developing an organizational culture that supports using mobile technology in job-related tasks can increase employees' adoption of mobile devices; and smartphones are thought to have better mobility and more functions to support main job tasks than tablets. Based on the findings, this study proposes suggestions for practice and implications for future research.

Introduction: Faculty members have little time and usually lack expertise to provide writing feedback on lab reports. Sending students to a writing center, an existing resource on virtually all college campuses, could fill that gap. However, the majority of peer writing tutors are in nontechnical majors, and little research exists on training them to provide support for engineering students. Research question: Can peer writing tutors without technical backgrounds be trained to provide effective feedback to engineering students? About the case: Previously, sending students to the writing center was ineffective. The students did not see the value, and the tutors did not feel capable of providing feedback to them. To remedy this situation, an interdisciplinary training method was developed collaboratively by an engineering professor and the writing center director. Situating the case: Researchers have suggested that effective writing center help for engineering students is possible, and the authors have designed an interdisciplinary training method that has produced positive results. Supporting literature includes the use of generalist tutors, writing in the disciplines, genre theory, and knowledge transfer. Methods/approach: This was a three-year experiential project conducted in a junior-level engineering course. The assignment, a lab report, remained the same. Qualitative and quantitative data were collected from students and tutors. Results/discussion: Tutor feedback and student satisfaction significantly improved. However, a few students who were satisfied overall still expressed interest in having their reports reviewed by a tutor with a technical background. Conclusions: Interdisciplinary tutor training can improve the feedback of peer writing tutors, providing support for faculty efforts to improve student writing. The method requires minimal faculty time and capitalizes on existing resources.

This manual is ideal for engineers at all stages of their careers: from the freshman engineering student to the college professor to the CEO of a large corporation. It can be a valuable tool for universities to train undergraduate and graduate students and for companies to train their employees. It clearly accomplishes its purpose—it teaches best practices in engineering communication using real-world issues and genres. It also serves as a guide for undergraduate and graduate students.

Research problem: Despite the abundance of research into usability and user experience (UX), there is still debate about the relationship between both concepts. The user perspective is under represented in all discussions. This study examines the personal conceptions that users of electronic and software products have of usability and UX. Research questions: 1. How do users of electronic and software products conceptualize usability and UX? 2. What do they think is the relationship between both concepts? Literature review: We review the literature on conceptualizations of usability and UX and their relationship. The literature suggests that both concepts are still developing and that there are different views about their relationship. A personal-constructs research approach appears to be a fruitful way of shedding more light on this. Methodology: Twenty-one participants were asked to place up to eight products in a grid with two axes: usability (high-low) and UX (high-low). They then filled out a short questionnaire about the products. Finally, interviews were held about their decisions and their views on usability and UX. Results and conclusions: A weak positive correlation between products' usability and UX scores indicates that the relationship between both concepts is far from straightforward. An analysis of the four quadrants of the grid provides a first typology of products based on how users perceive their usability and UX. When reflecting on the relationship between the two concepts, most participants see usability as a part of or contributing to UX. Based on our findings, however, it seems risky to assume that usability is sufficiently covered by the overall concept of UX.

Background: Swales's Create a Research Space (CaRS) is a popular model for writing research article (RA) introductions. CaRS prescribes three broad moves-establishing a territory, establishing a niche, and presenting the present work. This study assesses the applicability of a problem-solution patterns (PSP) approach to facilitate Move 1 in CaRS by analyzing RAs in materials science and engineering. Research questions: 1. Is structuring an RA introduction using problem-solution patterns a common approach in published RAs in materials science and engineering? 2. How does PSP facilitate the setting of boundaries between territory and niche in these RAs? Literature review: Variants of CaRS have been widely applied to study RA introductions. Even though the 2004 version of CaRS has been deemed effective in describing the structure of RA introductions in a number of disciplines, its prescription of Move 1 may not be easily operationalized in teaching engineering research writing. For problem- or application-based RAs, the territory can be established with PSP while preserving other CaRS moves. Methodology: This exploratory study employs a text analysis approach to assess 30 RA introductions from three materials science and engineering journals. Results and discussion: PSP is found in most RA introductions. By integrating PSP into CaRS, the proposed model can capture problem-solution cyclicity as a build-up move for territory and niche establishment. Conclusion: Because problem-solving is central to engineering research, RA introductions can be structured using naturally-occurring problem-solution patterns. PSP-CaRS may serve as an effective writing model for RA introductions in engineering-related fields.

Introduction: Virtual reality (VR) has gained popularity across industries for its ability to engage users on a level unprecedented by print or 2-D media; however, few guidelines exist for the use of VR technologies in technical and professional communication (TPC) curricula. To address this need, this experience report details the study of a recognizable and adopted set of VR devices to promote understanding of the ways in which emerging VR technologies provide new approaches to pedagogy. Literature review: Drawing from literature in computer science, communication studies, and anthropology, as well as embodiment and phenomenology, the authors provide a historical account of VR development. About the study: Using three concurrent case studies and qualitative interviews, the authors share their deployment of three low-end to high-end VR devices: Google Cardboard, Google Daydream View, and HTC Vive. Using a modified heuristic, the authors assess the functions, features, and uses of the devices; showcase current or potential deployments; and for triangulation, provide a user study of two devices. Results/discussion: VR immersion can provide students with a deeper understanding of course content; immersion in future workplaces can give students an initial vision of their project and profession; concepts can be seen from new vantage points; and user themes include felt experience, sense and sensibility, agency and autonomy, and constant identities. Together, these themes provide an entry into discussions of designing VR content for technical and professional communication. Conclusion: The authors discuss limitations to VR integration and provide resources so practitioners might implement VR in engaging and relevant ways.

Introduction:This case study examines students' and instructors' experiences with usability testing in technical communication service courses.Research questions:1. What prior experience do students and instructors have with usability testing? 2. What are their challenges with implementing usability testing in technical communication courses? 3. What are their recommendations for improving their efforts?About the case:This study was conducted in 2012 at a small Midwestern university where students and instructors in four sections of technical communication service courses participated in the study.Situating the case:Most technical communication scholarship focuses on usability practices, methods, or tools, and rarely explicitly addresses its pedagogy, especially the practical challenges faced by our students and instructors. Methods/approach:Data were gathered through preliminary and post-project student surveys and instructor interviews. Thematic coding was used to analyze the data. Results/discussion:Students faced the usual practical challenges such as time and resource constraints and collaboration with users. They found strategies such as using in-class activities, readings, and examples, and working directly with users to be helpful in their usability efforts. Instructors expressed the need for better preparation.Conclusions:Instructors should not only be required to take a usability course that will prepare them to be more effective usability instructors, but they should also incorporate readings and examples that will help students collaborate effectively with users and clients. The study is limited to research participants at one institution. Future research should involve larger, ethnographic studies of diverse students and instructors to address more aspects of usability pedagogy.

The book succeeds in informing its audience about how poorly designed products can anger, sadden, exclude, and even kill those who use them. The authors also effectively explain what designers can do to avoid and fix these mistakes. Includes concrete, compelling, real-world stories and testimonials as evidence of how tragic design directly impacts people’s lives, and it offers practical recommendations for altering tragic design practices.

Background: This document describes the implementation of an automated document-generation process for the creation of software-quality reports compliant with the European Cooperation for Space Standardization (ECSS) standards. Research statement: We propose a solution for the generation of technical documents that collect and aggregate data from different sources. In addition, we analyze the feasibility of building a solution that supports engineers in the generation of these complex artifacts. Situating the case: The structure and content of Software Product Assurance Milestone Reports and Software Verification Reports are defined in ECSS-Q-ST-80C and ECSS-M-ST-40C. Companies developing software for the European Space Agency must prepare these reports to detail development activities and the subsequent quality of software products. These reports incorporate data generated from different activities and managed with different software engineering tools. Case study: The automation techniques described in this paper were designed to create complex documents (quality and verification reports) based on the use of XML for data exchange and integration, and a set of connectors to collect software engineering data generated using different applications for requirements management, architectural design, testing, etc. Conclusions: The feasibility of the proposed solution was validated by applying it to two projects in the aerospace industry. The conclusion demonstrates that the automatic generation of complex documents from multiple sources of data is economically feasible and may produce benefits, including time to delivery and a significant reduction of production costs, by using existing XML-related technologies.

Introduction: This case study examines the impacts of component content management (CCM) on the ways global technical communication (TC) stakeholders practice multilingual quality. About the case: The case study is based on the results of a 12-month qualitative case study of global technical communication stakeholders at DreamMedi, a Fortune 500 manufacturer of medical devices. Situating the case:Three areas of inquiry informed the study. Academic and trade literature from technical communication and technical translation revealed disagreements and contradictions that surround multilingual quality in CCM environments. Rhetorical genre theory allowed analyzing multilingual quality by distinguishing content components as a new genre, a unit of analysis, and a mediator of global technical communication. Activity theory provided the theoretical foundation for examining a global TC activity system at its nodes and then elucidating the contradictions within these nodes.Methods/approach:The case study was a multiple-method research project that included observations, in-depth interviews, questionnaires, document collection/content analysis, and software exploration. The Institutional Review Board-approved study focused on technical communicators, translators, and bilingual reviewers. Results/discussion: Relying on thick descriptions of the storylines of global TC stakeholders, this paper pinpoints contradictions in how stakeholders understand and approach multilingual quality. These contradictions are rooted in stakeholders' backgrounds and experience, and become more dramatic after the transition to CCM. Conclusions: Global TC stakeholders lacked strategies for negotiating their understandings of and approaches to multilingual quality in the new information development and management paradigm. Developing such strategies is the key prerequisite for effective cross-functional and cross-cultural collaboration in multilingual CCM environments. Technical communicators are well-positioned to take on leadership roles in developing such strategies.

This book examines the multimodal rhetoric of scientific arguments as they have been expressed in professional journals over the course of the past century. Through a series of chronologically ordered case studies, the author applies and develops a syncretic model for understanding scientific argumentation, which he articulates in Part 1 of the book and which relies heavily on major concepts in rhetorical theory. By applying the model to the case studies, the author demonstrates how rhetoric can provide the analytical machinery needed to grapple with the multimodal means used to create scientific arguments. In Part 2, the focus is a groundbreaking 1912 publication in the field now known as X-ray diffraction crystallography, specifically a set of X-ray photogram images included in the article that would help scientists at the time gain a better understanding of both the nature of X-rays and the atomic structure of crystals. Parts 3 and 4 present the book’s more interesting (from a multimodal perspective) case studies in terms of how arguments are assembled, circulated, and reassembled over time. In Part 5, Chapter 12 examines the rise of Photoshop as a material affordance for scientific arguments and the ethical dilemmas that this rise has precipitated. Chapter 13 provides description and tabular analysis of the use of videos in published scientific arguments, from an era when VHS tapes were mailed with journal issues through the YouTube era. It is in these chapters where the salience of and potential for the author’s model becomes clearer: As the use of multimodality rises in scientific arguments through the use of new technologies, new and better means for understanding how arguments are conceived, assembled, and circulated are needed both for authors and for teachers. Both audiences would benefit from reading Assembling Arguments. The book does not have a specific engineering focus, but it does provide a broad framework for professional communicators, teachers, and students to consider and improve visuals and multimodality in document design.

This book provides a thorough examination of the role of ethics in design and engineering. Drawing from a wide variety of cases, the author argues that ethics are already embedded in an engineer’s design decisions and offers engineers and technical and professional communicators (TPC) methods for thinking through the implications of design decisions. The book succeeds in illustrating how ethics is embedded in every design decision. The author notes that the aim of this book “is to show that ethical considerations enter into all design solutions and thus are integral to the intellectual core of engineering.” The target audience is engineering students and faculty. However, more general TPC readers and educators will find parallels between his discussions of ethics and morals with TPC’s usability concerns.

Despite the migration of letters and memoranda to electronic media, these documents are still occasionally written as hard copy and transmitted through the post, especially during risk situations. In two recent environmental situations, such letters were sent in 2014 to residents in Newark, NJ, who were affected by the discovery of high levels of lead in their school water and in 2016 to residents of East Chicago, IN, who were affected by the discovery of lead under their homes. In each of these situations, letters were sent to residents whose reactions ranged from fear in Newark to anger in East Chicago. In neither case did residents act as requested. However, in 2011, residents in Morgan City, MO, whose land would be flooded by the opening of the Morganza Spillway, followed the instructions they received and evacuated. Research questions: This study examines the failure of citizens and community institutions to respond positively, if at all, to requests transmitted in hard copy that are related to risk situations. It poses the following research questions: 1. Do commonalities exist among the rhetorical decisions made by the writers of letters to which readers responded positively in a risk situation? 2. If so, do these decisions differ from those made by writers of letters to which readers objected or disregarded the requests made? Literature review: Research related to rhetorical analyses of primary documents transmitted in hard copy between engineers and managers prior to and during risk situations was surveyed. In addition, the literature related to rhetorical analyses of primary messages transmitted electronically prior to and during risk situations was also examined. Methods: A rhetorical analysis of the letters focused on the writers' efforts to consider readers' reading patterns and styles, prior knowledge, need for background information and details, and the economic, political, and psychological context in which readers read the letters. Results: The results indicate that the Newark and East Chicago letters are writer rather than reader-based, the writers failing to consider the readers' reading patterns and styles, to provide necessary information, and to recognize the context in which the readers read the letters. On the other hand, the letters related to the Morganza Spillway are reader-based, providing the necessary information at the beginning of the correspondence, as well as providing sufficient details to enable readers to take the actions required to safeguard themselves and their families, businesses, and homes.

This study aims to delineate the rhetorical organization of research article (RA) discussion sections in an engineering discipline and explore the variations that distinguish discussion sections of high-impact and low-impact RAs. Research questions: What is the rhetorical organization of RA discussions in chemical engineering? What are the similarities and differences in the use of rhetorical moves and steps in RA discussions of high-impact and low-impact articles? Literature review: Some studies have been conducted using Swales' move analysis with regard to the identification and textual comparisons of RA discussion sections. However, it remains to be determined whether RA discussions of the high- and low-impact articles within a single discipline display the variation in rhetorical patterns. Research methodology: A total of 40 RA discussions published between 2005 and 2015 were chosen based on five-year journal impact factor and citations of the articles in which they were published. Swales' move analysis was used to compare rhetorical moves and steps in both sets of RA discussions. Results and discussion: The study identified the rhetorical organization of RA discussions in the field of chemical engineering. The findings indicate that discussion sections of high-impact articles tend to make use of the “comment on results” move. Explanations of the similarities and differences in the employment of moves and steps are provided. Implications of the findings are discussed.

Background: Undergraduate engineering students often receive insufficient support when crafting résumés. Most notably, there is often a lack of disciplinary-specific instruction and a lack of emphasis on the persuasive function of résumés. Ultimately seeking to strengthen instructional materials, this study investigates a way to quantify the quality of engineering résumés, focusing specifically on the use of disciplinary discourse. Research questions: How do engineering résumés exhibit disciplinary discourse? How can disciplinary discourse be quantified as a way of promoting strong engineering résumé writing and professional development skills? Literature review: This project builds on research exploring the qualities of effective résumés. It extends on work establishing disciplinary differences in desired résumé qualities, as well as work characterizing résumé writing as an opportunity for professional identity development. Grounded in activity theory, this project seeks to elucidate the “rules” of effective engineering résumés at the lexical level. Methodology: This project analyzed a corpus of 31 engineering résumés through both qualitative and quantitative means. Résumés were initially ranked via a rubric, then coded for disciplinary discourse according to the American Association of Engineering Societies' Engineering Competency Model. Disciplinary discourse scores were then analyzed through descriptive statistics. Results and conclusion: Significant differences in the use of disciplinary discourse were found among strong, moderate, and weak résumés. Though these results are not generalizable due to the small corpus size, they indicate that disciplinary discourse may be a fruitful area for future research on résumés and the development of pedagogical materials.

This study aims to investigate the different and competing perspectives of stakeholders of cultural heritage sites by examining the Mutianyu Great Wall in China.Literature review:Most studies focus on investigating the tourism destination image from the perspective of only one stakeholder, and only a small amount of research has attempted to integrate the perspectives of competing stakeholders into a single study.Research questions:1. How did the business operator perceive the Mutianyu Great Wall? 2. How did UNESCO perceive the Mutianyu Great Wall? 3. How did international tourists on TripAdvisor perceive the Mutianyu Great Wall? 4. What are the dynamics among the three stakeholders' perceptions? 5. In those dynamics, what are the contested issues in the Great Wall's heritage preservation and tourism development? Methodology:The study adopts a discursive approach to social constructivism in examining the images of the site as perceived by the three important stakeholders. It incorporates qualitative thematic and multimodal discourse analysis with quantitative high-frequency word analysis, supplemented by an interview with the heritage site administrator and a field trip. Results:The business operator perceived the Mutianyu Great Wall as a scenic spot for modern rural tourism, UNESCO emphasized its historical and cultural significance, and international tourists perceived it as a hybrid image.Conclusions: The study identified a preservation-growth continuum and showed different and even competing perspectives. It also discussed two contested issues in the field. The study contributes to heritage studies by developing an interdisciplinary discursive framework and suggests practical implications to heritage management and professional communication.