John C. Gooch

The dynamics and challenges of interdisciplinary collaboration: a case study of "Cortical depth of Bench" in group proposal writing

This study contributes to a discussion on collaboration and technical/professional communication in indeterminate zones or less familiar sites for collaboration. The interdisciplinary group for this case study collaborated to write a project proposal to solicit funds from the US government for constructing a test bed for immune buildings as a tactic for combating potential biological and chemical terrorist incidents. Their approach to collaboration coincided with several approaches previously addressed in professional and technical communication research. Novel and creative approaches emerged as a result of this collaboration, but in some instances, disciplinary differences, as manifested by disputes over concepts and terminologies, posed obstacles to collaboration. Such challenges necessitated strong leadership, which was also critical for managing group process.

Book Reviews: Visualizing Technical Information: A Cultural Critique, Writing Power: Communication in an Engineering Center, Electronic Collaboration in the Humanities: Issues and Options, Preparing to Teach Writing: Research, Theory, and Practice, Service-Learning in Technical and Professional Communication:

Visual genres—items such as graphs, tables, and illustrations—are often key parts of technical presentations. In some cases, such as illustrations and diagrams, these genres provide examples readers can use to identify items. In other cases, genres such as charts and graphs can serve as mechanisms that help readers conceptualize relationships related to data. The power of these visual genres to convey information has prompted much discussion on how they should be used or designed, yet the genres themselves have been the subject of relatively little criticism. In the current information age, however, the need for such a critique is growing, for audiences—especially online audiences—are increasingly exposed to data presented in a visual format. As a result, technical communicators could find themselves using more visual genres and less text to share information with audiences. An examination of these genres could provide technical communicators with the knowledge needed to make better choices when presenting information visually, and Lee E. Brasseur’s book Visualizing Technical Information: A Cultural Critique, can serve as a foundational step toward understanding visual communication. Brasseur’s book is composed of a series of essays that, “investigate how the [visual] genres work within a technically based cultures, both as products to be read and as designs to be processed” (p. 2). Each essay uses a series of questions

Book Reviews: Reshaping Technical Communication: New Directions and Challenges for the 21st Century, Communicating Science: The Scientific Article from the 17th Century to the Present, Writing Center Research: Extending the Conversation

Academics in technical communication and industry professionals can experi ence difficulty working together because of competing values, goals, and per spectives. The anthology, Reshaping Technical Communication: New Directions and Challenges for the 21st Century, explores these challenges in academic/ industry collaboration and the future of technical communication. As part of this exploration, Barbara Mirel and Rachel Spilka, editors of this text, identify two key questions:

Book Reviews: Technical Writing: A Guide for Effective Communication, Network: Theorizing Knowledge Work in Telecommunications, beyond the Archives: Research as Lived Process

Technical communication has long been touted as an international field with individuals working in a range of countries. But are technical communication professionals trained in the same ways in different nations? If not, what implications might such variations have for the practice of technical communication around the globe? One way to answer this question is to review educational materials used in technical communication instruction in nations other than one’s own. One recent work that can provide such insights is the textbook Technical Writing: A Guide for Effective Communication. Written by three authors from Spain’s Universitat Politecnica de Catalunya, the over-arching objective of the text is to provide Spanish engineering students with instruction in how to produce effective technical documents for a range of audiences. The authors, in turn, focus on the central concepts of audience and genre as guiding principles for the book. The idea, as the authors’ explain, is that today’s engineer must be “multiliterate”—or able to address the expectation of different audiences via various genres. Achieving such multiliteracy involves understanding how the notion of audience affects the writing process to create a