Journal of Business and Technical Communication Jul 2019

An Ethic of Constraint: Citizens, Sea-Level Rise Viewers, and the Limits of Agency

Daniel P. Richards Old Dominion University

Abstract

The design of online interactive visualizations is an ongoing area of research within technical communication, with recent work focusing on visualizations in risk-based contexts. This article shares the results of a large-scale user experience study on a popular interactive sea-level rise viewer aimed at facilitating decision making for individual users in coastal communities. Using this viewer, participants performed three major tasks related to individual property, community impacts, and future projections and gave feedback on the design, use value, and functionality of the tool. The participants were assessed on their ability to complete the three major tasks. The author discusses the implications of these results on the continued design of interactive risk visualizations and argues for a vision of user agency that is more constrained within the larger ethical paradigms of environmental communication.

Journal
Journal of Business and Technical Communication
Published
2019-07-01
DOI
10.1177/1050651919834983
CompPile
Search in CompPile ↗
Open Access
Closed
Topics
technical communication
Export
BibTeX RIS

Citation Context

Cited by in this index (11)

  1. Seawright et al. (2026)
    “Is This Ethical?” New Data on the Ethical Principles and Practices of Document…
    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  2. Kong (2025)
    Visualizing Flint Lead Contamination Risks: Building a Critical Rhetorical Risk…
    Communication Design Quarterly
  3. Hunter (2024)
    Toward TPC-UX: UX Topics in TPC Journals 2013–2022
    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  4. Pflugfelder et al. (2023)
    Expanding the Scope and Scale of Risk in TPC: Water Access and the Colorado Riv…
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  5. Tillery et al. (2022)
    Hyperrationality and Rhetorical Constellations in Digital Climate Change Denial…
    Technical Communication Quarterly
Show all 11 →
  1. Richards et al. (2022)
    How Real Is Too Real? User-Testing the Effects of Realism as a Risk Communicati…
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  2. Altamirano et al. (2022)
    Experience report streamlining complex website design using a content audit sel…
    Communication Design Quarterly
  3. Strantz (2021)
    Using Web Standards to Design Accessible Data Visualizations in Professional Co…
    IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication
  4. Amidon et al. (2021)
    Visual Risk Literacy in “Flatten the Curve” COVID-19 Visualizations
    Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  5. Olman et al. (2020)
    Hybrid collectivity: hacking environmental risk visualization for the anthropocene
    Communication Design Quarterly
  6. Stephens et al. (2020)
    Story mapping and sea level rise: listening to global risks at street level
    Communication Design Quarterly

References (69) · 14 in this index

  1. Albers (2003)
    Multidimensional Audience Analysis for Dynamic Information
    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  2. 10.1201/EBK1439828946-3
     ↗
  3. 10.1080/00335630903296176
     ↗
  4. Barton B. F. (1993)
    Professional communication: The social perspective
  5. Bostrom A. (2017). Mental models and risk perceptions related to climate change. In Climate science (Oxford r…
     ↗
Show all 69 →
  1. Bradford R. A. (2011)
    Improving communication strategies for effective flood risk management
  2. Buehl J. (2016)
    Science and the Internet: Communicating science in a digital age
  3. 10.1111/j.1467-7717.2007.01036.x
     ↗
  4. Charriére M. (2012)
    Proceedings of the 8th International Conference on Geo-Information for Disaster Managemen…
  5. Chisnell D. (2016)
    Journal of Usability Studies
  6. 10.1016/j.jhg.2008.09.005
     ↗
  7. Dragga S. (2016)
    Technical Communication
  8. Dragga S. (2001)
    Technical Communication
  9. Fischhoff B. (2013)
    Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
  10. 10.1177/0267323116682804
     ↗
  11. 10.1177/0018720817690634
     ↗
  12. 10.1007/s10708-007-9111-y
     ↗
  13. Grabill et al. (1998)
    Toward a critical rhetoric of risk communication: Producing citizens and the ro…
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  14. 10.1080/13669870701566557
     ↗
  15. Henry (2009)
    (Re)Appraising the Performance of Technical Communicators From a Posthumanist P…
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  16. 10.2190/CPIC7
     ↗
  17. 10.1080/17524032.2016.1176946
     ↗
  18. 10.1177/1090198106291963
     ↗
  19. Holder J., Kommenda N., Watts J. (2017). The three-degree world: The cities that will be drowned by global wa…
  20. 10.1109/TVCG.2011.255
     ↗
  21. Jones et al. (2016)
    Disrupting the Past to Disrupt the Future: An Antenarrative of Technical Commun…
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  22. Kain et al. (2013)
    Visualizing complexity and uncertainty about climate change and sea level rise
    Communication Design Quarterly
  23. 10.1177/002194369703400204
     ↗
  24. Kostelnick C. (2016)
    Technical Communication
  25. Kostelnick C. (2016)
    Science and the Internet: Communicating science in a digital age
  26. 10.3138/carto.48.3.1531
     ↗
  27. 10.1109/TVCG.2010.177
     ↗
  28. Mara et al. (2009)
    Posthuman Rhetorics and Technical Communication
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  29. Miller (2007)
    What Can Automation Tell Us About Agency?
    Rhetoric Society Quarterly
  30. Mirel B. (2003)
    Interaction design for complex problem solving: Developing useful and usable software
  31. 10.4324/9781351203074
     ↗
  32. Mosco V. (2014)
    To the cloud: Big data in a turbulent world
  33. 10.1002/wcc.11
     ↗
  34. 10.3200/ENVT.51.2.12-23
     ↗
  35. 10.4159/harvard.9780674061194
     ↗
  36. Norman D. A. (1998)
    The design of everyday things
  37. Peters E. (2008)
    Risk assessment, modeling and decision support: Strategic decisions (pp
  38. Propen (2007)
    Visual Communication and the Map: How Maps as Visual Objects Convey Meaning in …
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  39. Rawlins et al. (2014)
    Agency and Interactive Data Displays: Internet Graphics as Co-Created Rhetorica…
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  40. Richards (2015)
    Testing the waters: local users, sea level rise, and the productive usability o…
    Communication Design Quarterly
  41. 10.1145/3121113.3121208
     ↗
  42. Richards (2018)
    Not a cape, but a life preserver: the importance of designer localization in in…
    Communication Design Quarterly
  43. Roth F. (2012)
    Focal report 9: Risk analysis. Visualizing risk: The use of graphical elements in risk an…
  44. Salvo (2001)
    Ethics of Engagement: User-Centered Design and Rhetorical Methodology
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  45. 10.1177/0013916511421196
     ↗
  46. 10.1109/TVCG.2010.179
     ↗
  47. Simmons W. M. (2007)
    Participation and power: Civic discourse in environmental policy decisions
  48. 10.1559/152304001782173998
     ↗
  49. 10.1017/CBO9780511509605
     ↗
  50. 10.1145/2775441.2775446
     ↗
  51. 10.1177/1075547014550371
     ↗
  52. Stephens et al. (2015)
    Evaluating the Utility and Communicative Effectiveness of an Interactive Sea-Le…
    Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  53. 10.1080/17524032.2016.1167758
     ↗
  54. 10.1126/science.1162574
     ↗
  55. 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199744763.001.0001
     ↗
  56. 10.1016/j.futures.2010.04.031
     ↗
  57. Ward B. (2017). 3D maps show famous landmarks swamped by sea-level rise. Yale Climate Connections. Retrieved …
  58. 10.1007/s10584-006-9060-3
     ↗
  59. Weather Network. (2017). Coastal flooding, rising seas threaten US cities most. Retrieved from https://www.th…
  60. Welhausen (2015)
    Power and Authority in Disease Maps: Visualizing Medical Cartography Through Ye…
    Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  61. 10.1080/13669870701552235
     ↗
  62. 10.1007/s10584-014-1226-9
     ↗
  63. Wynn J. (2016)
    Science and the Internet: Communicating science in a digital age
  64. Zoetewey M. W. (2012)
    Technical Communication Quarterly
CrossRef global citation count: 19 View in citation network → Build reading path →

Related Articles

  1. Written Communication May 2026
    Leveraging Human-Centered Design and Artificial Intelligence to Improve Rural Healthcare: Wicked Problems, Design Thinking, and Mutable Methodologies ↗
    Richard Johnson-Sheehan; Thomas Rickert; Paul Thompson Hunter; Adrianna Deptula
    technical communication artificial intelligence
  2. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication May 2026
    The User Experience of Virtual Reality for Longitudinal Writing: A Diary Study of Immersive Graduate Dissertation Composing Experience ↗
    Jason Tham; Rich Shivener; Niveditha Pookkottuvariam; Sarah Riddick
    rhetorical criticism graduate education technical communication archival research empirical research qualitative research
  3. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication Apr 2026
    Visualizing Heat Risk: Infographics, Memorability, and Design ↗
    Preksha Mysore; Kathryn Lambrecht
    technical communication
  4. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication Apr 2026
    Developing Intercultural Socioemotional Communication Skills: A Hybrid Student Exchange Project Between Kenya, Ireland, and Germany ↗
    Belinda Oechsler; Yvonne Cleary; Sissi Closs
    technical communication professional writing
  5. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication Apr 2026
    What Video Games Can Tell Us About Interactive Technical Communication ↗
    Emily Kuzneski Johnson
    technical communication multimodality