Journal of Business and Technical Communication Jan 1993 Open Access

Modes of Power in Technical and Professional Visuals

BEN F. BARTON ; MARTHALEE S. BARTON

Abstract

Treating visuals as sites of power inscription, the authors advance a Foucauldian design model based on the Panopticon—Bentham's late-eighteenth-century architectural figure for empowerment based on bimodal surveillance. Numerous examples serve in demonstrating that maximum effectiveness results when visuals foster simultaneous viewing in the two panoptic modes, the synoptic and the analytic. The panoptic theory of visual design is shown to be compatible with many privilegings in the literature of visual design that have hitherto appeared ad hoc and undertheorized, with relations masked by the disparate terminologies employed. The limitations of panoptic theory are located in its neglect of oppositional practices—seen as the most compelling horizon for research on the empowerment of designer and viewer through visual design.

Journal
Journal of Business and Technical Communication
Published
1993-01-01
DOI
10.1177/1050651993007001007
Open Access
OA PDF Green
Topics
multimodality multilingual writers

Citation Context

Cited by in this index (15)

  1. Hartzog (2025)
    ‘Flatten the curve’: rhetorical data visualizations of a global pandemic
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  2. Welhausen (2023)
    Visualizing a Drug Abuse Epidemic: Media Coverage, Opioids, and the Racialized …
    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  3. Fanning (2023)
    Visual Representation & Visible Boundaries in Online Postpartum Depression …
    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  4. Olman (2022)
    Decolonizing the Color-Line: A Topological Analysis of W.E.B. Du Bois's Infogra…
    Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  5. York (2021)
    Digital surveillance in online writing instruction: Panopticism and simulation …
    Computers and Composition
Show all 15 →
  1. Casas (2021)
    Maps as Inscription of Power: Imposing Visibility on New York’s “Shadow Transit”
    Rhetoric Review
  2. Robles (2018)
    Visualizing Certainty: What the Cultural History of the Gantt Chart Teaches Tec…
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  3. Wilson et al. (2018)
    Agency in Action
    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  4. Walsh (2018)
    Visual Invention and the Composition of Scientific Research Graphics: A Topolog…
    Written Communication
  5. Ross (2017)
    The Role of Ethics, Culture, and Artistry in Scientific Illustration
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  6. Wolfe (2015)
    Teaching Students to Focus on the Data in Data Visualization
    Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  7. Rawlins et al. (2014)
    Agency and Interactive Data Displays: Internet Graphics as Co-Created Rhetorica…
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  8. Ramey (2014)
    <i>The Coffee Planter of Saint Domingo:</i>A Technical Manual for the Caribbean…
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  9. Rosner (2001)
    Theories of Visual Rhetoric: Looking at the Human Genome
    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  10. Kostelnick (1996)
    Supra-Textual Design: The Visual Rhetoric of Whole Documents
    Technical Communication Quarterly

Cites in this index (0)

No references match articles in this index.

Also cites 7 works outside this index ↓
  1. 10.1177/105065198700100103
     ↗
  2. 10.1075/idj.2.2.04bur
     ↗
  3. 10.1093/screen/23.3-4.74
     ↗
  4. 10.1093/screen/16.3.6
     ↗
  5. 10.1002/j.2326-1951.1987.tb02941.x
     ↗
  6. 10.1086/414428
     ↗
  7. 10.1177/002194368502200101
     ↗
CrossRef global citation count: 40 View in citation network →

Related Articles

  1. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication Apr 2026
    What Video Games Can Tell Us About Interactive Technical Communication ↗
    Emily Kuzneski Johnson
    multimodality technical communication multilingual writers
  2. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication Apr 2026
    “Is This Ethical?” New Data on the Ethical Principles and Practices of Document Design ↗
    Leslie Seawright; Amy Hodges; Timothy Ponce
    multimodality technical communication disability studies multilingual writers
  3. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication Mar 2026
    “It's Hard to Show ROI When You’re Preventing Things from Happening”: How Impact Storytelling Frames Community Health Initiatives for Executive Audiences ↗
    Margaret Hsiao
    qualitative research multimodality technical communication professional writing multilingual writers
  4. Written Communication Feb 2026
    Reading Medium and Communicative Purpose in Writing: Effects on Pausing Behaviour and Text Quality, Controlling for Reading Comprehension and Executive Functions ↗
    Ángel Valenzuela; Cristian A. Rojas-Barahona; Ramón D. Castillo; Ladislao Salmerón
    assessment curriculum design multimodality multilingual writers revision
  5. Literacy in Composition Studies Feb 2026
    All Are Connected: From Traditional Chinese Medicine to Students’ Literacy Practices Reviewing Doing Difference Differently: Chinese International Students’ Literacy Practices and Affordances by Zhaozhe Wang ↗
    Shi, Carina Jiaxing
    multimodality multilingual writers