English

""As university instructors, we often design our service learning courses to include a set of preconceived project types. We might offer students some flexibility, as in a document design course—e.g., “Create a set of documents with a cohesive identity”—but our syllabi usually specify project genres. That genre might be driven solely by a course’s genre-based theme, such as grant writing, or by an instructor’s ongoing relationship with an organization.

Then again, a genre might be incorporated to help students meet a specific course objective. In these alternative cases, instructors have liberty to select among multiple types of projects, given access to such projects of course. Before moving from project concept to syllabi to nonprofit contacts, instructors would do well to consider the types of projects with which nonprofits most need help. Ideally, this information about project needs would go beyond local, anecdotal reports. The Service Learning Opportunities in Technical Communication (or SLOT-C) Database gives us access to such data, and this study examines these data for patterns among nonprofits’ self-reported needs.

The SLOT-C Database was designed to broaden the range of organizations that instructors and students have for client-based projects (see www.slotc.org). Now in its second year, the database facilitates targeted partnerships between upper-division and graduate communication students and nonprofit organization. University instructors looking for meaningful, real-world communication-related projects for their students can search the database to find self-selected nonprofit organizations.

To date, the SLOT-C Database has 136 registered nonprofit organizations, and that number is growing, as is the number of states the SLOT-C’s nonprofits represent. When a nonprofit’s representative registers with the free database, he or she enters details that help generate successful pairings (for example, a mission statement). Next, the representative categorizes the organizations eligible projects (based on categories developed from card-sorting activities and usability tests).

In this presentation, I will briefly describe the development of the SLOT-C Database, but I will focus on preliminary findings from the SLOT-C endeavor. Specifically, I will analyze the over 600 projects that those 136 nonprofits have entered into the database. My goal is to reveal the types of communication projects for which nonprofit organizations want student help, as well as trends among projects. With this information, instructors can construct and reconfigure project assignments so that they will better meet the needs of worthy but often underfunded and overworked nonprofit organizations. I suggest that instructors with syllabi tailored to better reflect real nonprofit needs are better prepared to work with community partners and to encourage student civic engagement.""

explains, local EMAs (LEMAs) lay the groundwork for prevention and other activities, coordinating with nearby LEMAs and local entities, including private and nongovernmental organizations. LEMAs have been studied little; most research on online LEMAs and State Emergency Management Agencies (SEMAs) has been limited to website content, providing an incomplete picture of how they provide online service to the public. Bertot & Jager argue that functionality, usability, and accessibility are critical elements in evaluating e-government, noting that if users cannot get to or find the content, the content becomes irrelevant. This study contributes to addressing this gap by evaluating Alabama LEMA websites, based on a combination of content rubrics used in prior EMA studies and usability heuristics, factors that can affect user trust, and thus a site's usefulness. It also looks at how Alabama LEMAs are using social networking on their websites.

This study examines the controversy over alleged cannibalism in the prehistoric American Southwest as it played out in scholarly journals. It also examines the lessons those controversies provide technical communication. Data painstakingly collected from human remains at ancestral Pueblo sites have been interpreted as representing cannibalism and, alternatively, as indicating witchcraft, mutilation of the dead, and warfare. Three focal points of this study are the circular process of developing criteria for analysis in archaeology, the role of analogy in building hypotheses, and the role of gestalt in interpretation of the findings. This study also looks at the ways narratives contribute to knowledge building.

The chapter presents healthcare examples of the current virtual working environment and introduces nursing skills necessary for evidence-based practice in a virtual workplace. The authors discuss how the Nursing Information Literacy Program was designed and implemented at Three Rivers Community College to assist nursing students in developing skills such as critical thinking and problem-solving, technological literacy, information literacy, and collaborative and cooperative learning. The authors hope that this example will serve as a model for creating other information literacy programs that prepare students for working in a virtual workplace.

Arguments manifest in scientific visuals through graphic representation, content placement, and overall document structure. These arguments, designed to influence public perception, change over time in relation to sociopolitical climate. Analysis of a series of documents constructed deliberately to influence perception can help to determine patterns of argumentation and perceived exigencies. In this article, four self-guided tour brochures produced for distribution to visitors to the Glen Canyon Dam in 1977, 1984, 1990, and 1993 are analyzed in order to identify rhetorical strategies designed to influence public perceptions of the dam site, and examine how public perception of the dam, and related argumentation, is structured by sociopolitical climate.

Phishing e-mails deceive individuals into giving out personal information which may then be utilized for identity theft. One particular type, the Personal Solicitation E-mail (PSE) mimics personal letters—modern perversions of ars dictaminis (the classical art of letter writing). In this article, I determine and discuss 19 appeals common to the PSE. These appeals were established first by conducting generative rhetorical analysis, then by volunteer coding, on 170 e-mails collected over a 12-month period. After defining these categories, I show how these letters are excellent twenty-first century teaching tools for pathos-based argumentation, logical appeals, the creation of ethos, and kairos in the development of perceived exigency.

Balance and common sense are commonplace concepts used to bring an audience to a place of shared understanding. These commonplaces also function as decision-making heuristics. I argue in this paper that the commonplaces “balance” and “common sense” are problematic because they suggest decision-making strategies that strip associated information of complexity and value. Through an examination of theory and responses to interviews conducted in relation to an ongoing project on environmental rhetoric, I problematize these concepts and consider how awareness of the interaction of these commonplaces and heuristics can benefit rhetors and agencies seeking environmental change.

Common topics are words or phrases used to develop argument, and commonplaces aid memory or catalyze frames of understanding. When used in argumentation, each may help interested parties more effectively communicate valuable scientific and environment-related information. This article describes 12 modern topics of environmental rhetoric, identified from 125 interviews, and discusses them in relation to their topical fluidity and managerial, generative, and encapsulated utility: “Al Gore,” “balance,” “common sense,” “environment as setting,” “experience,” “extremism,” “man’s achievements,” “pragmatism,” “proof,” “religion,” “recycling,” and “seeing is believing.” Findings suggest that “environment” is a complex topic with many potential implications—using topics common to environmental rhetoric to shape argumentation may facilitate more productive environment-related communication.

Purpose: In this article I propose an audience analysis instrument designed to assess representative members of a desired target population's underlying predispositions in terms of the sources of information they privilege, their motivations toward environment-related action, and the commonplaces that impact their perceptions of environment-related communication. The goal of this method is to offer a time- and cost-effective instrument that enables organizations to easily classify an audience's interest in environmentalism, assess their willingness to listen to and accept environment-related messaging, and pinpoint the commonplace elements likely to be most useful in constructing environment-related communication.

Method: I developed the interview, coding sheet, instructions for completing the process, and glossary that make up the Deep Audience Analysis instrument from existing data presented elsewhere (Ross 2013, 2012, 2008), and refined the instrument through both participatory design and usability testing.

Results: The results of my testing suggest that the Deep Audience Analysis tool I propose is both valid and reliable, but training with the instrument would prove beneficial, and triangulation with multiple coders is optimal. Organizations adopting this method of audience analysis would do well to practice with the instrument and have norming sessions before putting the instrument to use in the field.

Conclusion: The audience analysis instrument I propose here includes an interview script, code sheet, instructions for completing the process, and glossary. The method proposed here should serve as a time- and cost-effective paper-based strategy for organizations wishing a deeper understanding of their audience(s).

Introductory research methods courses in technical and professional communication play a vital role in preparing Master’s- and PhD-level students for their chosen specializations. Here, past participants of a “hands-on” introductory research methods course retrospectively analyze the class’s approach and discuss the benefits of a hands-on classroom. From our experiences, contextualized against literature, we argue that the most effective introductory research methods courses are those that mix both theory and practice in a hands-on classroom environment. We note important concepts we learned and conclude by providing a sample course schedule that should enable practitioners to readily try our suggestions

This article presents data from a two-part study of student perceptions of research. Fifty-one research proposals are analyzed in order to understand perceptions of research, and results from a survey are analyzed to better understand how students both perceive and articulate their understanding of research. The data show that students assign multiple definitions to the concept of research, and suggest that increased attention to clarifying terminology and identifying student perceptions would facilitate better work.

Research problem: Subversive environmental texts, those that strive against hegemonic discourse, such as the book Ecodefense, have a long history of use by radical environmentalists as a means for recruitment and distribution of best practices. This study aims to investigate the role of plain language in the subversive text Ecodefense, and consider some ethical implications of plain language by conducting a close textual analysis. Research questions: (1) Is the subversive text Ecodefense an artifact of plain language? (2) If Ecodefense is written in plain language, what does that suggest about the inherent ethicality of plain language? Literature review: Plain language refers to clear expression designed to help users achieve desired goals. In the sense that it is a communication practice, it is guided by standards put forth by various agencies and bureaucratic bodies. In the sense that it is a movement, plain language is characterized by the proliferation of organizations advocating for plain language practices in society. This study is rooted in the investigation of the ethical practices of social movements. It considers the ethics of plain language practices when they are put toward subversive ends and explores the ethical value of plain language itself. Methodology: Ecodefense is analyzed using the Center for Plain Language's (CPL) Plain Language checklist and Writemark's criteria for documents, which includes consideration of the audience, structure, language content, and design of a text, as well as usability testing. Results and conclusion: Analysis shows that Ecodefense is partially representative of plain language use and practice under the CPL's standards, and appears somewhat more fully representative under Writemark's standards, which are designed for use by a trained assessor. Analysis further suggests that adherence to checklist-driven language practices may unwittingly enable an ethic of exigence; thus, research is needed into the ethical implica- ions for list-driven, or standards-based, rhetoric in order to ensure that plain language practices consider long-term implications for users and for organizations that employ these practices.

In this thesis I will argue that popularized science books should adhere to normative criteria regarding the presentation, interpretation, and understanding of the natural sciences. The increasing popularity of popular science texts (PSTs)-based on sales, critical notice, and scholarly attention-indicates that they can function to interest and partially educate the lay public in scientific principals and practices. I will identify and analyze the narrative, rhetorical features of two popular science texts: Douglas Adams' Last Chance to See and Alan Lightman's Einstein's Dreams. These texts are selected based on a series of normative criteria, criteria constructed for the purpose of enhancing the public understanding of science. Additionally, these criteria are needed to help the lay public develop a proper appreciation of science. A proper appreciation of science, I argue, enables people to make better informed decisions regarding their own personal welfare and also that of the natural world. Finally, a proper appreciation of science, stimulated by PSTs, may help both scientists and the lay public reconceive the possibilities of narrative, public writing, and civic discourse.

Background: This paper offers a hybrid, place-based ethic drawn from multiple perspectives as a way to reinvigorate ethical thought for technical communicators. Literature review: Aldo Leopold's land ethic asks us to consider actions beyond our immediate surroundings. Martin Buber's dialogic ethics complement a land ethic and interrogate interpersonal communication. Anticipatory technology ethics recommends the integration of ethical discussions and decisions during the design phase of new technologies. Together, these three approaches inform a place-based ethic for technical communicators. Research questions: 1. How might we meaningfully merge the many ways that technical communicators from varying backgrounds approach ethics into a useful ethical model that considers human interaction, technological innovation, and physical place? 2. How might such a merged model, what we call a place-based ethic, affect technical communication design? Methods: We analyze cases including documents from radical environmental defense groups, a restyling of certain federal court rules from legalese into plainer language, the creation of mortgage documents suitable for consumers and industry professionals, and the action-research design phase of a locative mobile application about public art. Results and conclusion: The cases provide concrete examples of the components of a place-based ethic, and we conclude that designing with a place-based ethic includes actively acknowledging the value of the environment, seeking areas for dialogue among involved parties and celebrating dialogue where it occurs, seeking shared spaces, clearly stating anticipated outcomes, and usability testing for potential ethical issues.

Document design in professional and technical communication • Environment-related rhetoric, such as use of commonplaces and design elements, in popular and modern culture • Ethics in environmental rhetoric and technical communication • Organizational culture

Zines are typically self-published magazines designed for small circulation and often DIY'd (Do It Yourself'd). They are often linked to empowerment and personal expression, and that potential for voice-finding can be powerful when explored in the classroom setting. This experience report reflects on a "zine-ing" experience from both an instructor's and student's viewpoint. Our hope is that other technical communication teachers might consider zines and zine-ing as a way to introduce students to self-publishing, design, and radicalized expression. As zines can be as simple or complex as the designer wants, and can take anything as their general subject while offering a clearly-defined deliverable, they work well as a central component for any number of projects. CCS CONCEPTS • B7; Human-centered computing → Visualization; Visualization theory, concepts and paradigms.