Testing the waters

Communication Design Quarterly Jun 2015

Daniel Richards

Abstract

This paper explores the potential for technical communicators to employ usability research with risk-based interactive geovisualization technologies as a method of cultivating "critical rhetorics of risk communication" for local communities. Through integrating theories from usability studies and risk communication, I offer some new directions for thinking about the productive usability of online, participatory technologies that promote citizen engagement in science. I argue that the key tenets of productive usability afford technical communicators the opportunity to build localized knowledge of risk in real, local users, which in turn improves the capacity for a community and its stakeholders to more effectively communicate risk.

Journal: Communication Design Quarterly
Published: 2015-06-16
DOI: 10.1145/2792989.2792992
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Topics: technical communication

Citation Context

Cited by in this index (2)

Kong (2025)

Visualizing Flint Lead Contamination Risks: Building a Critical Rhetorical Risk…

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Richards (2018)

Not a cape, but a life preserver

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Toward a critical rhetoric of risk communication: Producing citizens and the ro…

Technical Communication Quarterly

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CrossRef global citation count: 14 View in citation network →