Abstract

Abstract Advances in computing technologies, growth of business involvement on the Web, and our culture's affinity for image-intensive communication have forced technical communicators to become more involved with making and using a wide variety of images in their compositions. Too often our theories about how to write and read images are limited to a functional view, which stresses objectivity, ignores interpretation, and sees design as preset layout formulae. Combining current graphic design theory with rhetoric's understanding of techne, I argue for a configural view of images that stresses their artificiality and cultural significance and articulates design in strategic terms.

Journal
Technical Communication Quarterly
Published
2002-04-01
DOI
10.1207/s15427625tcq1102_4
CompPile
Search in CompPile ↗
Open Access
Closed
Topics
Export

Citation Context

Cited by in this index (12)

  1. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  2. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  3. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  4. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  5. Journal of Business and Technical Communication
Show all 12 →
  1. Technical Communication Quarterly
  2. Computers and Composition
  3. Technical Communication Quarterly
  4. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  5. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  6. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  7. Technical Communication Quarterly

References (37) · 2 in this index

  1. Aristotle. On Rhetoric: A Theory of Civic Discourse. Trans. George A. Kennedy. New York: Oxford UP, 1991.
  2. Stephen Heath. New York: Hill & Wang
  3. Barton, Ben F., and Marthalee S. Barton. "Ideology and the Map: Toward a Postmodern Visual Design Practice." …
  4. The Technical Writing Teacher
  5. Bolter, Jay David. Writing Space: The Computer, Hypertext, and the History of Writing. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum…
Show all 37 →
  1. Bosley, Deborah, and Greg Wickliff, eds. Visual Rhetoric. Spec. issue of TCQ 5 (1996): 1-120.
  2. Childers, Pamela B., Eric H. Hobson, and Joan A. Mullin. Articulating: Teaching Writing in a Visual World. Po…
  3. Detienne, Marcel, and J. P. Vernant. Cunning Intelligence in Greek Culture and Society. Trans. J. Lloyd. New …
  4. Feenberg, Andrew. Critical Theory of Technology. New York: Oxford UP, 1991.
  5. Fox, Roy F., ed. Images in Language, Media, and Mind. Urbana, IL: NCTE, 1994.
  6. The New Yorker
  7. George, Diana, and John Trimbur. Reading Culture: Contexts for Critical Reading and Writing. 3rd ed. New York…
  8. Goldman, Robert, and Steven Papson. Nike Culture: The Sign of the Swoosh. Thousand Oaks: Sage, 1998.
  9. Gurak, Laura J., and Sam J. Racine, eds. The Social Realms of Technology. Spec. issue ofJBTC 14 (2000): 261.386.
  10. Computers and Composition
  11. Haraway, Donna J. Modest-wimesssecond-millennium .femaleMan(c)- meets-oncoMouse(tm) : Feminism and Technoscie…
  12. Hamer, Sandra, and Tom Zimmerman. Technical Marke ting Communication. New York: Longman, 2001.
  13. Horn, Robert E. Visual Language: Global Communication for the 2 1 st Century. Bainbridge Island, WA: MacroVU, 1998.
  14. Horton, William. The Icon Book: Visual Symbols for Computer Systems and Documentation. New York: Wiley, 1994.
  15. Johnson, Robert R. User-Centered Technology: A Rhetorical Theory for Computers and Other Mundane Artifacts. A…
  16. Johnson-Eilola, Johndan. Nostalgic Angels: Rearticulating Hypertext Writing. Norwood, NJ: Ablex, 1997.
  17. Kinross, Robin. Modern Typography: An Essay in Critical History. London: Hyphen, 1992.
  18. Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  19. TCQ
  20. Kostelnick, Charles, and David Roberts. Designing Visual Language: Strategies for Professional Communicators.…
  21. Lauer, Janice, and Janet Atwil!. "Refiguring Rhetoric as an Art: Aristotle's Concept of Techne ." Discourse S…
  22. Lupton, Ellen, and J. Abbott Miller. Design Writing Research. New York: Princeton Architectural P, 1996.
  23. TCQ
  24. Mitchell, W. J. T. Iconology: Image, Text, Ideology. Chicago: U of Chicago P, 1986.
  25. - The Lunguuge of Images. Chicago: U of Chicago P, 1980.
  26. - ed. Picture Theory: Essays on Visual and Verbal Representation. Chicago: U of Chicago P, 1994.
  27. CC
  28. Selfe, Cynthia L., and Susan Hilligoss, eds. Literacy and Computers: The Complications of Teaching and Learni…
  29. Sosnoski, James J. Modern Skektons in Postmodern Closets: A Cultural Studies Altemtive. Charlottesville, VA: …
  30. Sullivan, Patricia. "Taking Control of the Page: Electronic Writing and Word Publishing." Evolving Perspectiv…
  31. Sullivan, Patricia A., and James E. Porter. Opening Spaces: Writing Technologies and Critical Research Practi…
  32. Sullivan, Patricia A., and Jennie Dautermann, eds. Electronic Literacies in the Workplace: Technologies of Wr…