The Ethic of Exigence: Information Design, Postmodern Ethics, and the Holocaust

Mark Ward Clemson University

Abstract

Compared to ethics in technical writing, ethics in design has received less attention. This lack of attention grows more apparent as document design becomes ‘‘information design.’’ Since Katz discerned an ‘‘ethic of expediency’’ in Nazi technical writing, scholars have often framed technical communication ethics in categorical terms. Yet analyses of information design must consider why arrangements of text and graphics have symbolic potency for given cultures. An ‘‘ethic of exigence’’ can be seen in an example of Nazi information design, a 1935 racial-education poster that illustrates how designers and users co-constructed a communally validated meaning. This example supports the postmodern view that ethics must account for naturalized authority as well as individual actions.

Journal
Journal of Business and Technical Communication
Published
2010-01-01
DOI
10.1177/1050651909346932
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Citation Context

Cited by in this index (10)

  1. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  2. Technical Communication Quarterly
  3. Communication Design Quarterly
  4. Communication Design Quarterly
  5. IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication
Show all 10 →
  1. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  2. Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  3. IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication
  4. Communication Design Quarterly
  5. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication

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