This study explores the characteristics of authors who have published in technical communication journals between 2008 and 2012 to generate insights into who is actively contributing to scholarship in the field. These insights drive a broader discussion regarding programmatic implications and interdisciplinary approaches to research. Research questions: (1) Who is publishing in technical communication journals? In which departments are they housed and in which departments did they receive their Ph.D. training? (2) What relationship exists between an author's departments (current and Ph.D.) and the publication venues he or she chooses? (3) What relationship exists between an author's department (current and Ph.D.) and the type of research he or she produces? (4) What relationship exists between an author's department (current and Ph.D.) and collaboratively authored articles? Also, is there a relationship between doctoral training outside the US and collaboratively authored articles? (5) Among authors with Ph.D.'s in technical communication, is there a relationship between doctoral program and research output (collaboratively authored articles and research method)? Literature review: All disciplines, especially maturing disciplines, must examine and evaluate the research its scholars produce in order to identify trends that signal growth and areas that require additional growth. Previous research indicates that departments in which people trained and where they work influence the research profiles of individuals, and by extension, the field. This is particularly true in technical communication, whose research features a plurality of methods, a positive attribute of the field. However, an uneven distribution of research methods used in the field also presents potential areas for growth. Methodology: A data set of 674 authors who have published in the IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication (TPC), Technical Communication Quarterly, and Journal of Business and Technical Communication (JBTC), between 2008 and 2012 was coded for current department, Ph.D. department, department with a technical communication degree program, research method, and collaboratively authored articles. Data were analyzed using contingency table analysis and correspondence analysis. Results and discussion: Authors from English departments constitute nearly 30% of the sample; authors from information systems and technology departments and management, business, and economics departments made up more than 20% of the total sample. A little over 20% of the sample received a Ph.D. degree in technical communication. Authors from information systems and technology departments and management, business, and economics departments are highly associated with TPC. Authors from English departments and writing departments were associated with TCQ and JBTC. TC is associated with authors from education departments and human-centered design departments. Authors from information systems and technology departments and management, business, and economics departments were associated with surveys and experiments. Authors from English departments were associated with case study and mixed methods research. Non-US authors and ones from engineering, computer science, linguistics, information systems and technology, and management, business, and economics departments were all highly associated with collaboratively authored articles. These results provide insights into which disciplines are most influential and opportunities to consider the approaches and training of our diverse population of scholars in an effort to build a cohesive body of research. The results are limited by the time frame of the study, and future studies could examine a more extensive sample to examine shifts in authorship characteristics over time.

Research problem: In recent years, many businesses have become involved in internationalized projects, yet understanding the dynamics of engineering communication in virtual dispersed teams is limited. Research questions: How do the factors mentioned in the literature function in an international engineering project? Are there factors that enhance or constrain the work in an engineering setting that are not mentioned in previous studies? Literature review: Existing knowledge on the contextual factors that affect virtual international professional communication is mainly built on the study of the communication practices of students or business professionals who are not engineers. Results of that literature have identified factors that enhance communication for dispersed virtual teams (which include cross-cultural training, using appropriate communication technology, face-to-face communication opportunities, respect for partners, regularly scheduled meetings, a common language, a common discipline, and cross-cultural understandings though popular media). There are factors that challenge communication for dispersed virtual teams (which include differing cultural assumptions, differing cultural communication styles, US Government export control regulations, proximity and time issues, and differing levels of perceived power and influence). Methodology: This study involved observing international engineer meetings in the US and the UK and interviewing 19 engineers leading an international design team. The participants worked for the same international company with about half from the US and half in Great Britain. Results and discussion: Many of the factors identified in general professional communication studies held true for this context. But some features were unique to an engineering environment that the literature had not previously mentioned, including iplanning for and working with intercultural dispersed virtual engineering teams and that people need to consider many complexities of culture that affect communication practices. Because this study observed one team in the context of only two cultures, future research may determine whether these factors are more widely found in other teams, workplaces, and cultures. Future research may also determine the relative levels of influence of the contextual factors on international dispersed virtual engineering teams. In addition, the study of engineers learning to communicate in international settings may be illuminating.

Reviewed are: Singing School: Learning to Write (and Read) Poetry by Studying with the Masters by Robert Pinsky; reviewed by Rob Wallace Basic Skills Education in Community Colleges: Inside and Outside of Classrooms by W. Norton Grubb with Robert Gabriner; reviewed by Keith Kroll Rhetorical Strategies and Genre Conventions in Literary Studies: Teaching and Writing in the Disciplines by Laura Wilder; reviewed by Abigail Montgomery

Book Review| December 01 2014 After the Rubicon: Congress, Presidents, and the Politics of Waging War After the Rubicon: Congress, Presidents, and the Politics of Waging War. By Douglas L. Kriner. Chicago, IL: The University of Chicago Press, 2010; pp. 322. $97.00 cloth; $32.00 paper. Matthew C. Pitchford Matthew C. Pitchford University of Illinois, Urbana Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google Rhetoric and Public Affairs (2014) 17 (4): 757–760. https://doi.org/10.14321/rhetpublaffa.17.4.0757 Cite Icon Cite Share Icon Share Twitter Permissions Search Site Citation Matthew C. Pitchford; After the Rubicon: Congress, Presidents, and the Politics of Waging War. Rhetoric and Public Affairs 1 December 2014; 17 (4): 757–760. doi: https://doi.org/10.14321/rhetpublaffa.17.4.0757 Download citation file: Zotero Reference Manager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu nav search search input Search input auto suggest search filter All Scholarly Publishing CollectiveMichigan State University PressRhetoric and Public Affairs Search Advanced Search The text of this article is only available as a PDF. © 2014 Michigan State University Board of Trustees. All rights reserved.2014 Article PDF first page preview Close Modal You do not currently have access to this content.

Reviewed are: From Form to Meaning: Freshman Composition and the Long Sixties, 1957–1974 David Fleming Interests and Opportunities: Race, Racism, and University Writing Instruction in the Post–Civil Rights Era Steve Lamos Retention and Resistance: Writing Instruction and Students Who Leave Pegeen Reichert Powell Rhetoric of Respect: Recognizing Change at a Community Writing Center Tiffany Rousculp Transnational Literate Lives in Digital Times Patrick W. Berry, Gail E. Hawisher, and Cynthia L. Selfe

Book Review| November 01 2014 Review: Letters to Power: Public Advocacy Without Public Intellectuals, Samuel McCormick Samuel McCormick, Letters to Power: Public Advocacy Without Public Intellectuals. University Park: The Pennsylvania State University Press, 2011. 197 pp. ISBN (Hardcover) 978-0-271-05073-7 Rhetorica (2014) 32 (4): 414–417. https://doi.org/10.1525/RH.2014.32.4.414 Views Icon Views Article contents Figures & tables Video Audio Supplementary Data Peer Review Share Icon Share Facebook Twitter LinkedIn MailTo Tools Icon Tools Cite Icon Cite Search Site Citation Review: Letters to Power: Public Advocacy Without Public Intellectuals, Samuel McCormick. Rhetorica 1 November 2014; 32 (4): 414–417. doi: https://doi.org/10.1525/RH.2014.32.4.414 Download citation file: Ris (Zotero) Reference Manager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search All ContentRhetorica Search This content is only available via PDF. © 2014 by The International Society for the History of Rhetoric. All rights reserved.2014 Article PDF first page preview Close Modal You do not currently have access to this content.

Book Review| November 01 2014 Review: Cicero in Letters: Epistolary Relations of the Late Republic, by Peter White Peter White. Cicero in Letters: Epistolary Relations of the Late Republic. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010. 256 pp. Hardcover: $60. Paperback: $29.95. ISBN-13: 978-0-19-538851-0. Published to Oxford Scholarship Online: September 2010. Rhetorica (2014) 32 (4): 412–414. https://doi.org/10.1525/RH.2014.32.4.412 Views Icon Views Article contents Figures & tables Video Audio Supplementary Data Peer Review Share Icon Share Twitter LinkedIn Tools Icon Tools Get Permissions Cite Icon Cite Search Site Citation Review: Cicero in Letters: Epistolary Relations of the Late Republic, by Peter White. Rhetorica 1 November 2014; 32 (4): 412–414. doi: https://doi.org/10.1525/RH.2014.32.4.412 Download citation file: Ris (Zotero) Reference Manager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search All ContentRhetorica Search This content is only available via PDF. © 2014 by The International Society for the History of Rhetoric. All rights reserved.2014 Article PDF first page preview Close Modal You do not currently have access to this content.

Benson examines three books—Experimental Writing in Composition: Aesthetics and Pedagogies, Remixing Composition: A History of Multimodal Writing Pedagogy, and Rhetorical Delivery as Technological Discourse: A Cross-Historical Study—that contribute powerfully to the scholarly conversation about the changing face of composition by illustrating how the narrative of newness associated with multimodal and experimental work hides a long saga of negotiation between the traditional and the new in the field of composition.

Efficient coordination of the different writing processes is central to producing good-quality texts, and is a fundamental component of writing skill. In this article, I propose a general theoretical framework for considering how writing processes are coordinated, in which writing processes are concurrently activated with more or less overlap between processes depending on their working memory demands, and with the flow of information cascading from central to peripheral levels of processing. To support this view, I review studies that investigated effects of handwriting skills on concurrent activation of higher order processes, and research on word production that explored how information cascades between levels of processing in the writing system. I argue that a parallel and cascading model makes it possible to combine different findings in a common integrated framework and thus constitutes a heuristic for further understanding coordination of the different levels of processing involved in writing.

Research problem: Collaborative writing has dramatically changed with the use of cloud-based tools, such as Google Docs. System quality-both functional (i.e., what services the system provides) and nonfunctional quality (i.e., how well the system provides the services)-influences user satisfaction with these tools. Research question: Do functional and nonfunctional quality influence user satisfaction in cloud-based systems that support collaborative writing? Literature review: The intersection of literature from collaborative writing and system quality presents the theoretical foundation for this study. The literature on collaborative writing suggests that technology facilitates and constrains collaborative writing, while the literature on cloud computing highlights the challenges in ensuring various aspects of quality. Furthermore, literature on system quality emphasizes the importance of the different facets of quality (i.e., functional and nonfunctional) and their impacts on user satisfaction. Methodology: We conducted a survey of 150 undergraduate students enrolled in an information systems course at a large urban university. Results: The results show that functional and nonfunctional quality play a critical role in shaping user satisfaction with cloud computing and that nonfunctional quality has a stronger impact than functional quality. Implications: To ensure satisfaction with cloud computing, organizations need to provide adequate development and maintenance resources to ensure both types of quality, and they need to recognize that nonfunctional quality plays a key role in shaping user satisfaction with cloud computing.

Research problem: The question: How Korean entrepreneurs in an entrepreneurship program revised their slide decks for their presentations (“pitches”) in response to professional communication genres representing feedback from potential stakeholders in their target markets is examined. Research questions: As entrepreneurs learn to pitch ideas to unfamiliar markets, how do they revise their slide decks for their pitches when interacting with other professional communication genres that represent the concerns of market stakeholders? Specifically, what changes do entrepreneurs make to the claims, evidence, and complexity of arguments in their pitches? Literature review: The professional communication literature demonstrates that the revision process tends to take place in documentation cycles where documents are set in interaction with each other. Yet such revision processes are not studied in detail in existing studies of entrepreneurial pitches in marketing and technology commercialization. Methodology: In this exploratory qualitative study, researchers textually analyzed 14 sets of five related document genres in the archives of an entrepreneurship program. These genres represented a full cycle of activity: application to the program, initial pitches, initial feedback from program personnel, detailed feedback from representative stakeholders in the target market, and revised pitches. Interviews and surveys of program personnel further contextualize the data. Results and conclusions: Entrepreneurs revised their claims and evidence based on their dialogue with their target market. Some of the entrepreneurs altered their slides to make more complex arguments rebutting stakeholders' concerns. These findings suggest that entrepreneurs engage in dialogue with their target markets, but their engagement tends to be guided by tacit, situated experience rather than through an explicit, systematized approach.

“Assessment, from our perspective, should help us understand what we are doing and improve the ways that we are doing it.”

Reviewed are: Collaborative Learning and Writing: Essays on Using Small Groups in Teaching English and Composition, edited by Kathleen M. Hunzer, Reviewed by Signee Lynch Remixing Composition: A History of Multimodal Writing Pedagogy, by Jason Palmeri, Reviewed by Stephanie Vie Communal Modernisms: Teaching Twentieth-Century Literature in the Twenty-First Century Classroom, edited by Emily M. Hinnov, Laurel Harris, and Lauren M. Rosenblum, Reviewed by Mike Piero Understanding Rhetoric: A Graphic Guide to Writing, by Elizabeth Losh, Jonathan Alexander, Kevin Cannon, and Zander Cannon, Reviewed by Kristen Welch

Book Review| September 01 2014 Observation Points: The Visual Poetics of National Parks Observation Points: The Visual Poetics of National Parks. Edited by Thomas Patin. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2012; pp. xxvi + 296. $82.50 cloth, $27.50 paper. Joshua Trey Barnett Joshua Trey Barnett Indiana University Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google Rhetoric and Public Affairs (2014) 17 (3): 568–571. https://doi.org/10.14321/rhetpublaffa.17.3.0568 Cite Icon Cite Share Icon Share Twitter Permissions Search Site Citation Joshua Trey Barnett; Observation Points: The Visual Poetics of National Parks. Rhetoric and Public Affairs 1 September 2014; 17 (3): 568–571. doi: https://doi.org/10.14321/rhetpublaffa.17.3.0568 Download citation file: Zotero Reference Manager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu nav search search input Search input auto suggest search filter All Scholarly Publishing CollectiveMichigan State University PressRhetoric and Public Affairs Search Advanced Search The text of this article is only available as a PDF. © 2014 Michigan State University Board of Trustees. All rights reserved.2014 Article PDF first page preview Close Modal You do not currently have access to this content.

Book Review| September 01 2014 Hearing the Hurt: Rhetoric, Aesthetics, & Politics of the New Negro Movement Hearing the Hurt: Rhetoric, Aesthetics, & Politics of the New Negro Movement. By Eric King Watts. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 2012; pp. vix + 246. $39.95 cloth. Mark Lawrence McPhail Mark Lawrence McPhail University of Wisconsin-Whitewater Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google Rhetoric and Public Affairs (2014) 17 (3): 548–553. https://doi.org/10.14321/rhetpublaffa.17.3.0548 Cite Icon Cite Share Icon Share Twitter Permissions Search Site Citation Mark Lawrence McPhail; Hearing the Hurt: Rhetoric, Aesthetics, & Politics of the New Negro Movement. Rhetoric and Public Affairs 1 September 2014; 17 (3): 548–553. doi: https://doi.org/10.14321/rhetpublaffa.17.3.0548 Download citation file: Zotero Reference Manager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search All Scholarly Publishing CollectiveMichigan State University PressRhetoric and Public Affairs Search Advanced Search The text of this article is only available as a PDF. © 2014 Michigan State University Board of Trustees. All rights reserved.2014 Article PDF first page preview Close Modal You do not currently have access to this content.

Book Review| September 01 2014 Spiritual Modalities: Prayer as Rhetoric and Performance Spiritual Modalities: Prayer as Rhetoric and Performance. By William Fitzgerald. University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 2012; pp. 158. $54.95 cloth. Philip Perdue Philip Perdue Indiana University Bloomington Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google Rhetoric and Public Affairs (2014) 17 (3): 561–565. https://doi.org/10.14321/rhetpublaffa.17.3.0561 Cite Icon Cite Share Icon Share Twitter Permissions Search Site Citation Philip Perdue; Spiritual Modalities: Prayer as Rhetoric and Performance. Rhetoric and Public Affairs 1 September 2014; 17 (3): 561–565. doi: https://doi.org/10.14321/rhetpublaffa.17.3.0561 Download citation file: Zotero Reference Manager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search All Scholarly Publishing CollectiveMichigan State University PressRhetoric and Public Affairs Search Advanced Search The text of this article is only available as a PDF. © 2014 Michigan State University Board of Trustees. All rights reserved.2014 Article PDF first page preview Close Modal You do not currently have access to this content.

Book Review| September 01 2014 Cold War Progressives: Women’s Interracial Organizing for Peace and Freedom Cold War Progressives: Women’s Interracial Organizing for Peace and Freedom. By Jacqueline Castledine. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2012; pp. 1 + 210. $45.00 cloth. Angela M. McGowan Angela M. McGowan University of Southern Mississippi Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google Rhetoric and Public Affairs (2014) 17 (3): 558–561. https://doi.org/10.14321/rhetpublaffa.17.3.0558 Cite Icon Cite Share Icon Share Facebook Twitter LinkedIn MailTo Permissions Search Site Citation Angela M. McGowan; Cold War Progressives: Women’s Interracial Organizing for Peace and Freedom. Rhetoric and Public Affairs 1 September 2014; 17 (3): 558–561. doi: https://doi.org/10.14321/rhetpublaffa.17.3.0558 Download citation file: Zotero Reference Manager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search All Scholarly Publishing CollectiveMichigan State University PressRhetoric and Public Affairs Search Advanced Search The text of this article is only available as a PDF. © 2014 Michigan State University Board of Trustees. All rights reserved.2014 Article PDF first page preview Close Modal You do not currently have access to this content.

Book Review| September 01 2014 Militant Citizenship: Rhetorical Strategies of the National Woman’s Party, 1913–1920 Militant Citizenship: Rhetorical Strategies of the National Woman’s Party, 1913–1920. By Belinda A. Stillion Southard. College Station: Texas A & M University Press, 2011; pp. ix + 303. $45.00 cloth, $24.95 paper. Megan G. Bernard Megan G. Bernard Roosevelt University Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google Rhetoric and Public Affairs (2014) 17 (3): 544–548. https://doi.org/10.14321/rhetpublaffa.17.3.0544 Cite Icon Cite Share Icon Share Facebook Twitter LinkedIn MailTo Permissions Search Site Citation Megan G. Bernard; Militant Citizenship: Rhetorical Strategies of the National Woman’s Party, 1913–1920. Rhetoric and Public Affairs 1 September 2014; 17 (3): 544–548. doi: https://doi.org/10.14321/rhetpublaffa.17.3.0544 Download citation file: Zotero Reference Manager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search All Scholarly Publishing CollectiveMichigan State University PressRhetoric and Public Affairs Search Advanced Search The text of this article is only available as a PDF. © 2014 Michigan State University Board of Trustees. All rights reserved.2014 Article PDF first page preview Close Modal Issue Section: Book Reviews You do not currently have access to this content.

Book Review| September 01 2014 The Good Neighbor: Franklin D. Roosevelt and the Rhetoric of American Power The Good Neighbor: Franklin D. Roosevelt and the Rhetoric of American Power. By Mary E. Stuckey. East Lansing: Michigan State University Press, 2013; pp vii + 300. $59.95 cloth. Allison M. Prasch Allison M. Prasch University of Minnesota Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google Rhetoric and Public Affairs (2014) 17 (3): 553–558. https://doi.org/10.14321/rhetpublaffa.17.3.0553 Cite Icon Cite Share Icon Share Twitter Permissions Search Site Citation Allison M. Prasch; The Good Neighbor: Franklin D. Roosevelt and the Rhetoric of American Power. Rhetoric and Public Affairs 1 September 2014; 17 (3): 553–558. doi: https://doi.org/10.14321/rhetpublaffa.17.3.0553 Download citation file: Zotero Reference Manager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search All Scholarly Publishing CollectiveMichigan State University PressRhetoric and Public Affairs Search Advanced Search The text of this article is only available as a PDF. © 2014 Michigan State University Board of Trustees. All rights reserved.2014 Article PDF first page preview Close Modal You do not currently have access to this content.

Ferris looks at three books—Cross-Language Relations in Composition; Shaping Language Policy in the U.S.: The Role of Composition Studies; and Writing in the Devil’s Tongue: A History of English Composition in China—as they address the question of adherence to a monolingual or “standard” set of language and writing norms in composition, and consider how the answer to this question impacts our teaching.

Reviewed are: Placing the Academy: Essays on Landscape, Work, and Identity Jennifer Sinor and Rona Kaufman The Locations of Composition Christopher J. Keller and Christian R. Weisser, editors What Is “College-Level Writing”? Vol. 2: Assignments, Readings, and Student Writing Samples Patrick Sullivan, Howard Tinberg, and Sheridan Blau, editors Teaching Writing in Thirdspaces: The Studio Approach Rhonda C. Grego and Nancy S. Thompson Generaciones’ Narratives: The Pursuit and Practice of Traditional and Electronic Literacies on the U.S.-Mexico Borderlands John Scenters-Zapico

“Ambient Rhetoric succeeds because it usefully synthesizes and extends a broad range of anti-epistemological stirrings from within and outside of rhetoric studies and because it attempts to come to grips with some of the implications of an anti-epistemological shift.”

“Although Restaino’s treatment of theory could appear tenuous, the text’s weaving of storytelling and philosophy invite readers to examine the necessity of connecting theory to the everyday trials of those who actually practice composition pedagogy in the classroom.”

“The editors are quite right in arguing that both literature, because of its speculative qualities, and rhetoric, because of its overt concern with “suasion in all its manifestations,” have a particular connection to the issue of values.”

Book Review| August 01 2014 Review: A History of Renaissance Rhetoric 1380–1620, by Peter Mack Peter Mack, A History of Renaissance Rhetoric 1380–1620 (Oxford–Warburg Studies), Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011. 345 pp., ISBN: 978-0-19-959728-4 William P. Weaver William P. Weaver Baylor University, 1 Bear Place #97144, Waco, TX 76798, USA. w_weaver@baylor.edu Search for other works by this author on: This Site PubMed Google Scholar Rhetorica (2014) 32 (3): 317–319. https://doi.org/10.1525/RH.2014.32.3.317 Views Icon Views Article contents Figures & tables Video Audio Supplementary Data Peer Review Share Icon Share Facebook Twitter LinkedIn MailTo Tools Icon Tools Cite Icon Cite Search Site Citation William P. Weaver; Review: A History of Renaissance Rhetoric 1380–1620, by Peter Mack. Rhetorica 1 August 2014; 32 (3): 317–319. doi: https://doi.org/10.1525/RH.2014.32.3.317 Download citation file: Ris (Zotero) Reference Manager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search All ContentRhetorica Search This content is only available via PDF. © 2014 by The International Society for the History of Rhetoric. All rights reserved.2014 Article PDF first page preview Close Modal You do not currently have access to this content.

Book Review| August 01 2014 Review: “Imprison'd Wranglers”: The Rhetorical Culture of the House of Commons, 1760–1800, by Christopher Reid Christopher Reid, “Imprison'd Wranglers”: The Rhetorical Culture of the House of Commons, 1760–1800, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012. 270 pp., ISBN: 978-0-19-958109-2 Katie S. Homar Katie S. Homar University of Pittsburgh, 526 Cathedral of Learning, 4200 Fifth Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15260-0001, USA. ksh19@pitt.edu Search for other works by this author on: This Site PubMed Google Scholar Rhetorica (2014) 32 (3): 312–314. https://doi.org/10.1525/RH.2014.32.3.312 Views Icon Views Article contents Figures & tables Video Audio Supplementary Data Peer Review Share Icon Share Facebook Twitter LinkedIn MailTo Tools Icon Tools Cite Icon Cite Search Site Citation Katie S. Homar; Review: “Imprison'd Wranglers”: The Rhetorical Culture of the House of Commons, 1760–1800, by Christopher Reid. Rhetorica 1 August 2014; 32 (3): 312–314. doi: https://doi.org/10.1525/RH.2014.32.3.312 Download citation file: Ris (Zotero) Reference Manager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search All ContentRhetorica Search This content is only available via PDF. © 2014 by The International Society for the History of Rhetoric. All rights reserved.2014 Article PDF first page preview Close Modal You do not currently have access to this content.

Review of a book in which a selection of rhetorical and philosophical texts of Roman age concerning Alexander the Great is introduced, translated, and commented

Book Review| August 01 2014 Review: Metamorphoses of Rhetoric. Classical Rhetoric in the Eighteenth Century, by Otto Fischer and Ann Öhrberg Otto Fischer and Ann Öhrberg, eds., Metamorphoses of Rhetoric. Classical Rhetoric in the Eighteenth Century. (Studia Rhetorica Upsaliensia 3), Uppsala: Rhetoric at the Department of Literature, Uppsala University, 2011, 213 pp., ISBN: 978-91-980081-0-4. ISSN: 1102–9714 Merete Onsberg Merete Onsberg Department of Media, Cognition and Communication, Section of Rhetoric, University of Copenhagen, Karen Blixens Vej 4, DK-2300 Copenhagen S, DENMARK. onsberg@hum.ku.dk Search for other works by this author on: This Site PubMed Google Scholar Rhetorica (2014) 32 (3): 319–321. https://doi.org/10.1525/RH.2014.32.3.319 Views Icon Views Article contents Figures & tables Video Audio Supplementary Data Peer Review Share Icon Share Twitter LinkedIn Tools Icon Tools Get Permissions Cite Icon Cite Search Site Citation Merete Onsberg; Review: Metamorphoses of Rhetoric. Classical Rhetoric in the Eighteenth Century, by Otto Fischer and Ann Öhrberg. Rhetorica 1 August 2014; 32 (3): 319–321. doi: https://doi.org/10.1525/RH.2014.32.3.319 Download citation file: Ris (Zotero) Reference Manager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search All ContentRhetorica Search This content is only available via PDF. © 2014 by The International Society for the History of Rhetoric. All rights reserved.2014 Article PDF first page preview Close Modal You do not currently have access to this content.

Research problem: Adding contextual information to a core message has been shown to be critical in improving communication quality, especially in computer mediated communication. This paper models how people contextualize messages in the face of changing communication complexity. Research question: Can changes in communication complexity that occur during the communication process explain and predict contextualization? Literature review: Theories of human communication and studies of computer supported collaboration suggest that communication complexity reflects potentially problematic conditions resulting from 1) the difference in perspective and context held by the collaborators; 2) the incompatibility between the message representation and the way it is interpreted and used by the receiver; and 3) the intensity of information exchanged between communicators. We use this definition as a basis of for developing a measure of cognitive communication complexity. The literature further suggests that higher communication complexity induces higher contextualization. Methodology: First, we conducted a pilot study to develop and validate measures of communication complexity. Second, we conducted a laboratory experiment, in which 258 participants working in pairs collaborated on a sixteen-step assembly task. They used a tailored system that structured each message as core (the essence of the message) and context (additional information that explains the core and the sender's perspective). We used unbalanced panel data analysis to examine the repeated measures of contextualization and communication complexity associated with each step of the task. Results and discussion: We found that collaborators respond to changes in communication complexity at the expense of higher collaborative effort. We offer a cost-benefit framework in which, at the step level, people contextualize to reduce the communication complexity, and at the task level, they additionally consider the impact of contextualization on task performance. The main limitation of this study was the need to structure the communication between collaborators, to control and measure contextualization. Future research can adapt and extend our measure of communication complexity to less structured communication.

"Higher Education in the Digital Age" (edited by William G. Bowen) is divided into two sections. The first section includes adaptations of Bowen's presentations at The Tanner Lectures at Stanford University in 2012. The second section includes discussion responses from respected colleagues, and Bowen's response to the same. This unique structure enables the reader to be involved as an insider to this debate - a witness not only to the author's assertions but also to the lively discourse that ensues in response. The reviewer feels this book is provocative in addressing pressing issues that can no longer be ignored. Bowen's assertion that the time at hand to begin a transformation is supported by research, and the data support the dire need for a resolution to the student debt crisis and productivity problem in higher education. The gaps in the research he presents, particularly involving MOOCs, invite technical researchers to take advantage of this timely opportunity, not only to continue the conversation but to seek solutions to the viability he proposes. Bowen,s concern that public opinion of higher education matters and his insistence that institutions and educators must come together to lead the change while they can is an important call to action for IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication readers in particular.

In "Online Education 2.0: Evolving, Adapting, and Reinventing Online Technical Education," editors Keith Grant-Davie and Kelli Cargile Cook investigated how online pedagogy and learning have changed and how have faculty, students, and programs evolved over the last ten years. The book reviewer feels this is an interesting collection of articles that addresses fiscal, technological, and theoretical questions to help audiences who are addressing a virtual landscape in which online education is expanding to include more schools, levels of education, and a more diverse population of students. It is a helpful text for a wide-variety of audiences - administrators, scholars, and online instructors - to help them understand where online instruction has been, and where it is headed. As one who advocated early for developing quality online education as an alternative to face-to-face instruction, the reviewer suggests that one read the text to garner new insights into training, mentoring, and practice, regardless of whether you are a seasoned online educator, a novice, or somewhere in between. Each of us has lessons to teach as well as to learn, and this text will help guide your understanding of how to navigate the virtual landscape.

Research problem: Both the function and the appearance of annual reports have changed over the last few decades. These multimodal reports now include many types of information that serve different functions. In this study, the effects of several information types on stakeholders' attitudes toward annual reports and the companies that published them are measured. Literature review: Not much is known about how stakeholders read annual reports. The literature is not conclusive on the relative importance of several information types in these reports. Most studies investigate the impact of part of the information in annual reports and ignore the combined impact of the information types. Whether the potential investors are more affected by the financial review, the future strategy narrative or by pictures, such as a picture of the CEO, is unknown. Methodology: An experiment (2 × 2 × 2 between subjects design) was conducted to test the effects of a good financial review versus a poor one, a good future strategy versus a poor one and a picture of the CEO smiling versus that with a serious facial expression. The effects on potential stakeholders' attitudes toward the information, on their attitudes toward investing in the company, and on their perceptions of the corporate reputation are measured. Results and conclusion: The results show significant effects of all three information types. A good financial review, a good future strategy, and a serious facial expression have beneficial effects on the potential stakeholders' attitudes and on the corporate reputation. More important, however, the results show that the information types should be aligned with each other. A smiling facial expression, for example, is only beneficial if the content of the other information types is good.