MA students in professional writing and editing researched technical writing in specific workplace cultures. Their research is interpreted in light of recent theory on authorship as a cultural rather than individual phenomenon. Students' constructs for understanding their own writerly selves are discussed, as are constructs that emerged for the interpretations of selves and others in workplace cultures. Teaching technical authorship meant addressing such constructs, implicating issues of status, affect and effect, representation, and expertise.

Humanistic Aspects of Technical Communication. Ed. Paul M. Dombrowski. Amityville, NY: Baywood, 1994. 239 pp. Part of Baywood's Technical Communication Series, Jay R. Gould, ed. Composition Theory for the Postmodern Classroom. Ed. Gary A. Olson and Sidney I. Dobrin. Albany: State University of New York. 1994. 360 pp. Publications Management: Essays for Professional Communicators. Ed. O. Jane Allen and Lynn H. Deming. Amityville, NY: Baywood, 1994. 251 pp. Designing and Writing Online Documentation: Hypermedia for Self‐Supporting Products, 2nd ed. William Horton. New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1994. 439 pp. with index. On‐the‐Job Learning in the Software Industry: Corporate Culture and the Acquisition of Knowledge. Marc Sacks. Westport, CT: Quorum Books, 1994. 216 pp.

This article claims that the debate over research in professional communication is grounded in ideology. The article discusses the ideologies of two research perspectives: a functionalist perspective, common in much social scientific research, and a critical interpretive perspective, currently emerging in disciplines other than our own. The article sets recent discussions of research in professional communication within a functionalist framework, then posits that a critical interpretive ideology provides an alternative. The interests advanced by both perspectives are discussed, and the viability of critical interpretive research in professional communication is supported.

Understanding the relationship between culture and language has become a requisite for successful business enterprises in the developing global economy. Cultural conventions inform language, often creating differences in the content, organizational pattern, presentation of argument, style, and format of business documents. Differences in conventions can lead to readers' misinterpretation or failure to understand a message. International business communication is evolving along with the global economy in four distinct patterns: as a hybridized language, as a business interlanguage, as a multiconventional language, and as an international language. The present workforce and those about to enter it need to become sensitized to the effects of multicultural conventions on their business communication.

Technical communication scholars have argued that communication skills can be used to promote and enhance ethical uses of technology. This essay articulates a related view: technical communicators should remain cognizant of the ways that technologies can inhibit ethical communication practices. The author proposes a framework for evaluating the degree to which communication technologies promote ethical communication. This framework's applicability is then demonstrated in an explication of the ethical problems associated with “Caller Identification.”;

One meaning of postmodernism is the recognition and inclusion of the previously excluded and suppressed. Recent developments of a generally humanistic nature in technical communication—the rhetoric of science, social constructionism, and feminist and ethicist critiques of science—are instances of such recognition. These developments deflate some traditional assumptions about and privileges associated with scientific and technical knowledge and practice, while they elevate previously denied aspects. Thus, surprisingly, postmodernism reveals itself in technical communication as the resurgence of humanism.

One of the reasons students in technical and professional writing classes are often unable to make judgments about the ethical worth of a piece of writing is that they lack an understanding of how connotative meanings are constructed. Socially oriented semiotic theories offer models of how language works symbolically in this way. A productive means of introducing these is to have students evaluate advertisements as forms of technical and professional writing. This study uses central ideas from Roland Barthes's essays on connotative semiotics as a rationale for directing writers to develop the critical reflex to analyze and then make judgments about the values implied by connotative systems.

Drawing on arguments by Carolyn Miller, Steven Katz, and others, this essay claims that teaching ethics is particularly important to technical writing. Next, the essay outlines a classical, sophistic approach to ethics based on the theories and pedagogies of Protagoras, Gorgias, and Isocrates. This sophistic approach emphasizes the Greek concept of nomos, internal and external deliberation, and responsible action or articulation. The final section of the essay discusses possible problems and pedagogical applications of sophistic ethics in the contemporary technical writing classroom.

Fragments of Rationality: Postmodernity and the Subject of Composition. Lester Faigley. Pittsburgh: U of Pittsburgh P, 1992. 285 pages. Literacy and Computers: The Complications of Teaching and Learning with Technology. Cynthia L. Selfe and Susan Hilligoss, eds. New York: MLA, 1994. 387 pages. Dazzle ‘Em with Style: The Art of Oral Scientific Presentation. Robert R. H. Anholt. New York: W. H. Freeman, 1994. 200 pp. The Chicago Manual of Style: The Essential Guide for Writers, Editors, and Publishers. 14th ed. Chicago: U of Chicago P, 1993. 921 pp. Science and Technical Writing: A Manual of Style. Philip Rubens, ed. New York: Henry Holt, 1994. 513 pp.

With over 150,000 environmental educators and communicators in the United States, environmental communication has become one of the fastest‐growing areas within scientific and technical communication. Environmental communicators are frequently called upon to facilitate or otherwise participate in deliberations about environmental policy in which the role of the public is a central concern. This article poses four models for public participation and presents a case study of the application of one model to regional deliberations about environmentally sustainable development.

This article examines research literature on educational hypermedia design and divides the literature into two groups, one advocating no author control of the user's path through the material, the other advocating varying degrees of control. The no control researchers’ work is determined to be lacking in audience and goals analyses as well as results evaluation while the researchers advocating control lack grounding in theory.

Academic Literacy and the Nature of Expertise: Reading, Writing, and Knowing in Academic Philosophy. Cheryl Geisler. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 1994. 354 pp. Computer Ethics: Cautionary Tales and Ethical Dilemmas in Computing. 2nd ed. Tom Forester and Perry Morrison. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1994. 347 pp. A Practical Guide to Usability Testing. Joseph S. Dumas and Janice C. Redish. Norwood, NJ: Ablex, 1993. 412 pp. Managing Your Documentation Projects. JoAnn T. Hackos. New York: Wiley, 1994. 629 pp. Hypertext in Hypertext. George P. Landow. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins UP, 1994. 242 pp. Available in either MS Windows or Apple Macintosh versions on two 3.5 inch diskettes.

As writers and designers for Information Systems and Services, Inc., we developed hypertext/hypermedia computer‐based training and online help for the General Estimates System (GES). This article describes how this hypermedia application accomplishes the goal of improving the quality of the data entered in the GES database.

This article analyzes the ideological assumptions that have driven the conception and development of hypertext, demonstrating how it has developed from an apractical romantic viewpoint that remains a very strong driving force. The article argues that technical communicators must critique and subsequently design hypertexts that are rhetorically sound, refiguring hypertext as user‐centered, historically situated, and practical.

Hypermedia, the facility for presenting information as a combination of text, pictures, animation, sound, and full‐motion video, provides exciting new opportunities for presenting information to our audiences. It may also, however, place additional cognitive load on them and may change the way they process the information presented to them. Those who write for hypermedia applications may need to change the way they look at the writing process, and those who teach writing may need to reconsider what they teach and what they choose to emphasize. Additionally, teachers who use hypermedia materials may need to be sensitive to students’ ways of approaching and using the material.

This article discusses collaborative design in the context of developing a Toolbook hypertext intended to introduce graduate students to the fields of rhetoric and professional communication. It examines the new grammar and rhetoric of hypertext, discusses the importance of document planning within an emergent design, and argues for a functional aesthetic.

This article presents a rationale and method for introducing a hypertext authoring assignment in a professional writing course in computer‐aided publishing. We define the technology and its relations to print. We then describe a rhetorically centered pedagogy that incorporates portfolio assessment, collaborative authoring, and real world projects for teaching hypertext within the context of situated problem‐solving theory.

Although effective public policy depends upon accurate post‐accident reports and investigations, accident reports in a large government agency reflect a linear, sequential model of cause and effect that fails to account for the multidimensional nature of accidents in tightly coupled technologies. As a result, unions, agencies, and operators engage in fiercely contested public debates over responsibility and authority when disasters occur. In proposing a three‐dimensional model of accident analysis (both visual and verbal), this article illustrates how underlying models of causality influence the structure of technical reports and the nature of the argument over responsibility and authority in largescale technological disasters.

By examining computer‐related courses and faculty rationales for offering such courses, this article broadly examines how and why we commonly use computers in technical communication classrooms, and in what ways our current instruction may or may not move beyond skill building to include literacy and humanistic issues. It then broadly outlines three pedagogical challenges that lie ahead as we use computer technologies to support our teaching efforts over this decade and during the next century.

The Construction of Negotiated Meaning. A Social Cognitive Theory of Writing. Linda Flower. Carbondale: Southern Illinois UP, 1994. 334 pp. Theory and Practice in the Teaching of Writing: Rethinking the Discipline. Lee Odell, ed. Carbondale: Southern Illinois UP, 1993. 329 pp. Audience and Rhetoric: An Archaeological Composition of the Discourse Community. James A. Porter. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1992. 185 pp. Approaches to Computer Writing Classrooms: Learning from Practical Experience. Ed. Linda Myers. Albany: State U of New York P, 1993. 225 pp. The Digital Word: Text‐Based Computing in the Humanities. Ed. George P. Landow and Paul Delany. Cambridge: MIT P, 1993. 362 pp. Electronic Quills: A Situated Evaluation of Using Computers for Writing in Classrooms. Bertram C. Bruce and Andee Rubin. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 1993. 232 pp. The Tech Writing Game. Janet Van Wicklen. New York: Facts on File, 1992. Marketing Yourself with Technical Writing: A Guide for Today's Professionals. William M. Vatavuk. Boca Raton, FL: Lewis Publishers, 1992. Technical Writer's Freelancing Guide. Peter Kent. New York: Sterling Publishing Co., 1992. 160 pp.

Technical communicators are becoming increasingly involved in product development, often playing important roles on design teams. This shift brings with it the possibility for technical communicators to play more critical roles in balancing gender biases in technology. Feminist critiques of technology offer a range of perspectives for both educators and practitioners. Because discussion of feminism and technology in relation to technical communication is relatively new, the possibilities for applications of these theories are broad.

In critiquing the sexually loaded metaphors in James Paradis' analysis of the problem of expert knowledge in technical operator's manuals, this essay demonstrates how professional discourse formally embodies images of violence and domination that may also interfere with the responsible control of a dangerous technology. Describing the relationship between logos and ethos in professional discourse, this essay demonstrates how a feminist perspective can help technical communicators understand the pragmatic consequences of unarticulated sexual codes in scientific and technical discourse.

This study focuses on the means by which women convey authority in their scholarly publications. After analyzing a selected sample of women's scholarship in technical communication journal articles, the study explores whether traditional authoritative writing features conflict with traits more frequently characterized in feminist research as “women's ways of making meaning.”; Findings point to a need for more research into how scholarly writers develop a voice of authority; such research may challenge how we define and teach scholarly writing in technical communication.

Drawing on gender theory and research and on audience theory and research, this essay suggests that although earlier studies would lead us to believe that women would be better at considering audience during a writing task, little difference exists between males and females as they constructed a verbal and visual set of instructions.

Increasingly, professional communicators are involved in situations in which social action, and questions of ethical and civic responsibility, are implicated. Arguing that feminist scholarship is a relevant and powerful means of understanding these situations, we position the five contributions to this special issue within theoretical frameworks that explore interconnections of gender with methods and practices in technical and professional communication. After outlining areas for future research, we raise the question of men's relation to gender research and feminism, calling for more scholarship that engages a wider spectrum of feminist thought.

Understanding Scientific Prose. Jack Selzer, ed. Wisconsin UP, 1993, 388 pp. A History of Professional Writing Instruction in American Colleges: Years of Acceptance, Growth, and Doubt. Katherine H. Adams. Dallas: Southern Methodist UP, 1993. xi + 192 pp. Technical Writing: Contexts, Audiences, and Communities. Carolyn R. Boiarsky. Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 1993. 652 pp. Technical Communication. 3rd ed. Rebecca E. Burnett. Belmont: Wadsworth, 1994. 742 pp. Technical Communication: Problems and Solutions. Roy F. Fox. New York: Harper Collins, 1994. 610 pp. Communicating Technical Information: A Guide for the Electronic Age. Donald Pattow and William Wresch. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice Hall, 1993. 600 pp.

Because technical communicators are expected increasingly to participate in environmental communication, technical communication practitioners, researchers, and teachers should be aware of current practices in public environmental debate and related reform movements. This essay uses a controversial case in which a Mohawk community clashes with the Environmental Protection Agency 1) to explore how alternative worldviews affect environmental remediation efforts; and 2) to serve as a template for the development of a feminist perspective on how communicative practices in environmental policy making should be reformed.

To gain a better sense of the metaphorical nature of the scientific research paper, the author reviewed 89 journal articles taken from the top 400 most‐cited documents in the Science Citation Index database for the period 1945–1988. Metaphorical constructions were found in a variety of forms: conceptual models, experimental designs, technical analogies, standard technical names, conventional figurative expressions, and even original figurative language normally associated with more‐literary writing. Examples are given for each mode of metaphor.

The instructor and students in a technical writing class constitute a complex organizational unit with an array of interests, needs, values, and agendas. The need to negotiate and define both shared and conflicting goals and assumptions presents a richly problematical rhetorical situation. In this context, we can use the old standard organizational genre, the memo, in ways that are both rhetorically and pedagogically rich, helping students to write themselves—and their instructors—into a more vital, satisfying, and effective learning environment.

This essay uses Jürgen Habermas' theory of communicative action to explore the issue of empowerment. The essay first describes a communicative situation now common in public life, where scientific and technological forces are arrayed against citizenry over concerns with public import. Next, the essay discusses Habermas' critique of communicative practices and his vision of the way in which the technocratic consciousness has usurped communicative action in social life. Third, the essay applies Habermas' theory to the situation previously described, supporting the claim that in such situations empowerment may remain only a communicative ideal.

Power, determined by rank, can be a primary determinant of how communication acts are structured by the writer and perceived by the reader. The sales model underpinning traditional business communication principles does not consider the effect of such power in memos written by managers to subordinates. Three rhetorical and linguistic strategies that reflect the construct of power in managerial communication are projecting leadership, assuming commonality, and controlling information. These strategies, which have not been sufficiently considered in theoretical and applied research, suggest the need to consider new ways of articulating principles for management communication.

Public policy issues in professional writing may be understood, in part, by revisiting our understanding of the writing process and of the way character, or ethos, is shaped in the writing and reading of a text. This paper suggests a method for modeling the characters of writers, readers, and sponsoring organizations as they are shaped in the process of writing about public policy issues. The model is then used to examine the classroom oral presentations of four professionals who were involved in different ways with the same controversial public policy issue. The goal is to integrate classroom considerations of the writing process and of audience analysis, of personal and professional ethics, and of relevant workplace controversies.

Human factors Is an important discipline for technical communicators to explore, but an examination of its historical bias toward the technological system and away from the user should be part of this exploration if we are to effectively use human factors methods in print and on‐line document development. Beginning with the advent of formal human factors in the early twentieth century, this essay reviews moments in the history of human factors that are especially relevant to technical communicators. The essay concludes with a discussion of human factors research that is most applicable to technical communications, specifically qualitative usability research, minimalism, and human activity interface design.

Signs, Genres, and Communities in Technical Communication. M. Jimmie Killingsworth and Michael K. Gilbertson. Amityville: Baywood, 1992. 272 pp. Sociomedia: Multimedia, Hypermedia, and the Social Construction of Knowledge. Ed. Edward Barrett. Cambridge: MIT P, 1992. 580 pp. On Line Help: Design and Evaluation. Thomas M. Duffy, James E. Palmer, and Brad Mehlenbacher. Norwood: Ablex, 1992. 260 pp. The Professional Writer: A Guide for Advanced Technical Writing. Gerald J. Aired, Walter E. Oliu, and Charles T. Brusaw. New York: St. Martin's P, 1992. 426 pp. Techniques for Technical Communicators. Ed. Carol Barnum and Saul Carliner New York: Macmillan 1993. 368 pp.

This essay develops a conception of science as a complex series of cultural practices mediated in and through discourse. This conception requires attention to discourses typically considered non‐scientific, such as those resulting in funding decisions. A case study of the cold fusion controversy demonstrates that internal scientific practices cannot explain adequately the eventual closure of the debate, and that we must look to the rhetorical practices of Congressional committees and government agencies for those explanations.

When writers communicate risks about hazardous technologies, they need to realize that their persuasive purposes cannot be to resolve debate but rather to evoke consensus and to encourage new ways of talking about risk issues. To gain insight into achieving such purposes, rhetoricians can learn from theories in the social science subdisciplines of risk perception and communication. Theorists in these fields identify various psychological, social, political, and cultural dynamics that risk communicators must address in order to generate new processes of debate. I apply many of these theoretical principles to a sample risk communication on nuclear energy to determine realistic expectations for persuasive risk communications. My conclusions stress that rhetorical researchers need to explore and test the extent to which written rhetorical forms can facilitate consensus.

The early stages of the cold fusion controversy are reviewed. It is shown how ideas in the sociology of scientific knowledge such as “symmetry,”; “interpretative flexibility,”; and “experimenter's regress”; are applicable to the controversy. It is argued that there is nothing exceptional about the dynamics of the debate, apart from the media attention. In cold fusion we see scientific controversy as normal.

Communication at a Distance: The Influence of Print on Sociological Organization and Change1y. David S. Kaufer and Kathleen M. Carley. Hillsdale: Lawrence Erlbaum, 1993. 474 pp. Writing and Reading Mental Health Records. John F. Reynolds, David C. Mair, and Pamela C. Fischer. Newbury Park, London, New Delhi: Sage, 1992. 109 pp. Designing, Writing, and Producing Computer Documentation. Lynn Denton and Jody Kelly. New York: McGraw, 1992. 258 pp. Writing in the Workplace: New Research Perspectives. Rachel Spilka, ed. Carbondale and Edwardsville: Southern Illinois UP, 1993. 332 pp. *