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Essential Works on Technical Communication ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY SUMMARY ᭜ Presents an annotated list of 115 essential works on technical communication compiled from a list of over 600 titles from a wide variety of print, Internet, and professional sources ᭜ Constitutes what might be called “essential literacy” in technical communication Essential Works on Technical Communication GERALD J. ALRED INTRODUCTION As titles of works were gathered from various sources, each hen I began the task of developing a bibliog- title was coded for every source in which it was listed. With raphy of “essential works on technical com- this coding, then, I would know which and how many munication” for this special issue of Technical sources listed any particular title. Wcommunication, I soon realized that no list of Next, I organized the titles into categories. In addition works or definition of essential could adequately represent to their usefulness to readers in the final version, categories the wide range of activities of those in technical commu- would help me sift and narrow the roughly 600 titles into nication. I concluded that what is essential could only be the final list of 115 items. My primary goal as I created defined by practitioners, educators, researchers, and con- categories was to allow them to grow out of subject areas sultants who depend on such works. suggested by the works themselves, as opposed to creating categories according to any prior assumptions. The final Methodology result of categorizing produced the sections that follow: Fortunately, I could start with my research from The St. ᭜ Landmark anthologies Martin’s bibliography of business and technical communi- ᭜ Philosophy, history, and ethics cation, which included 376 works gathered from a wide ᭜ Research studies and methodology variety of over 50 sources (Alred 1997). To those works, I ᭜ Education and professional development added over 500 titles from 40 additional, more recent ᭜ Writing and editing sources that included the following: ᭜ Documentation and usability ᭜ Bibliographies and lists of selected works published ᭜ Visual and graphic design after 1997 in Technical communication and else- ᭜ Publication and information management where Although I hoped that the final categories would be ᭜ Recommended works published by professional or- reasonably balanced and clear cut, many works overlap ganizations or posted on the Web, for example, at several categories. For example, a number of works in STC Web sites “Documentation and usability” might arguably fit in the ᭜ Lists of recent award-winning books and articles on category “Writing and editing.” For such a work, I consid- technical communication ered its major emphasis or how readers might view that ᭜ Works selected for new and forthcoming collections work. of important articles on technical communication My primary consideration for including a title was the ᭜ Multiple separate postings and collected lists of rec- number and diversity of sources listing that particular title. ommended works posted in the last seven years on For example, when a title appeared in many diverse two discussion groups: TECHWR-L (http://www. sources, I could be fairly certain that it could be considered raycomm.com/techwhirl/) and ATTW-L (http://www. “essential.” To my pleasant surprise, a very large percent- attw.org/ATTWEmailList.asp) age of the decisions were obvious and relatively easy. But ᭜ Personal lists of recommended “essential works” from both new and experienced practitioners, edu- cators, researchers, and consultants in the U.S. and Manuscript received 22 May 2003; revised 10 July 2003; abroad accepted 15 July 2003. Volume 50, Number 4, November 2003 • TechnicalCOMMUNICATION 585 ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY Essential Works on Technical Communication Alred for works that seemed borderline, I considered the follow- tion does matter, as Dicks observes, “because academic ing additional criteria: programs and the practice of technical communication are ᭜ Whether the work was a watershed or essential to mutually dependent [and] for both groups to succeed, they the development of a subject area must communicate and collaborate effectively” (p. 23). ᭜ Whether a work provided leads for further informa- Certainly, most academic programs depend on mutually tion or other important works essential to subspe- beneficial relationships with technical communication pro- cialties or newly developing areas fessionals through such activities as internships, alumni ᭜ Whether a work originated from highly selective list- programs, advisory boards, and workplace research ings, such as those from specialists particularly quali- projects. Further, as this bibliography also reflects, profes- fied to judge the work’s importance sionals in industry increasingly come from academic pro- ᭜ Whether a work was so product specific (for exam- grams in technical communication. ple, software guides) or dated that it would be of The split that Dicks describes is evident in the compo- marginal value to a significant portion of the broad sition of this list. For example, the first four categories readership of Technical communication. contain works primarily aimed at academic audiences, and Although I used all these strategies and appealed to col- the final four categories include works generally addressed leagues for help in areas less familiar to me, ultimately, I to practitioners. This division, as well as the selections remained the final arbiter. themselves, grew out of the process described under “Methodology.” General observations about this list While all the works on this list are essential, not every work Appreciation of cultural differences As someone that is essential to specific practitioners, educators, and who has participated in academic-practitioner partner- consultants appears on the list. Based on my review of ships, I would suggest that the tensions embedded in the many sources and the opinions of a wide variety of spe- different perspectives of the professional and academic cialists, however, I believe this list does constitute essential communities, while they create problems in understand- literacy in contemporary technical communication. ing, also generate ideas and work toward the advancement of the field. As an educator, I would argue that in technical Perspective on “essential works” In the process of communication, theory, practice, research, and pedagogy developing this list, I concluded that the works included are inevitably and vitally connected and interrelated. For here are essential because they enable those who value example, many of the projects that academic researchers them to do their work—but often for very different rea- pursue have been stimulated by the needs and questions sons. Some works, for example, are essential to the imme- raised by workplace professionals. Likewise, many of the diate needs of professional technical communicators who publications that professionals depend on for their daily face specific and demanding workplace tasks under tight work have been created by academic authors based on deadlines. Other works are crucial to educators who must research, theory, and pedagogy. One of my students ad- be concerned with the long-range implications of research mitted recently that, as a workplace professional, he found or theoretical insights as they prepare students for profes- it very difficult to appreciate “theory.” However, after hav- sional careers in technical communication. ing taken a course in teaching technical communication, he As these examples and my own observations in the now understands why theory as well as research are so process of gathering these titles suggest, practitioners and vital to education. He also told me that an understanding of educators often have very different perspectives about the theory has even given him a wider perspective of his work works that are “essential.” R. Stanley Dicks (2002) describes outside the academy. some of the reasons for these differing perspectives in an Nevertheless, as the works in this bibliography make article titled “Cultural impediments to understanding: Are clear, some undeniable differences in perspectives may they surmountable?” Dicks, who has spent over 13 years in never fully be accommodated. And perhaps they cannot, academia and 16 years as a practicing technical communi- nor should not, be brushed aside. I would hope at least that cator in industry, concludes that the “cultural differences” this list might help foster understanding—that readers from between academic and workplace professionals are so both the academy and the workplace would gain an ap- pronounced that “operating in these two worlds can be like preciation for why these works are essential to those out- traveling between countries” (p. 23). side their own culture. If Dicks is correct, some practicing technical commu- nicators and academics may have difficulty understanding LANDMARK ANTHOLOGIES why specific works are listed here or why some works are Many essential works on technical communication have not listed or why the question even matters. But the ques- been published in collections of articles. The anthologies 586 TechnicalCOMMUNICATION • Volume 50, Number 4, November 2003 ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY Alred Essential Works on Technical Communication below as well as the articles highlighted have shaped the Carolyn R. Miller; and “Creating a text/creating a com- direction of the field and offer significant insights on the pany: The role of a text in the rise and decline of a new roles of technical communicators.
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