Technical Communication Research Articles

Towards terminological resources tailored to the users’ needs: Terminology extraction based on appositive constructions

Abstract Terminological resources (TRs) are indispensable tools for accessing a specialized domain of knowledge. In this article, we propose a methodology for extracting terms and relevant linguistic information, useful for different users, hinging on the nature of some special linguistic structures: appositive constructions. The case study for our proof of concept in this investigation is the domain of Cultural Heritage. For such purpose, we compile a parallel Italian–English domain corpus in the specialized sub-domain of archaeology, for extracting data to be later stored in TRs tailored to three target users: (1) translators and interpreters, (2) technical communicators, and (3) the general public or laypeople.

Tuning to Place: Using Photos to Better Understand Problems in Technical Communication Classes

This article highlights the role of place in understanding problems, specifically within community-engaged projects in upper-level technical and professional communication courses. Drawing on a year-long participant-generated imagery study with students, instructors, and community partners, the authors argue that photographic research is effective in helping participants and researchers tune to place. Taking photos offers opportunities for documentation, individual interpretation, and collaborative reflection, resulting in a deeper, more nuanced sense of place. Ultimately, this article demonstrates how a greater awareness of place, cultivated through reflecting on visual evidence, enhances engagement projects and helps technical communicators address complex problems.

Peer-Led Professional Development: How One Technical Communication Team Learns on the Job

Technical communication practice can change rapidly over time and across organizations. As a result, lifelong learning is an important mind-set, yet few studies explore how technical communicators learn on the job. This study builds on research about technical communication training by reporting on learning practices in one documentation team working at a large, multinational corporate information technology firm. Based on interviews and artifact analysis, the authors report on topics, technologies, and learning purposes that the team discussed, finding that peer-led, collaborative learning enables documentation teams to create and sustain group dynamics, an underexplored facet of on-the-job learning.

Analysis of the security of on-board information systems in vehicles

The features of the functioning of the on-board information systems of a car are considered. Threats to their security are analyzed, and methods for ensuring information security and functional security of on-board information systems are proposed. The design of road networks in the organization of road traffic is one of the factors in ensuring the functional security of modern intelligent transport systems, that is, compliance with such information security attributes as data confidentiality, integrity, availability, authenticity and novelty of data. The security of on-board vehicle information systems is a critical issue in the modern world, as more and more vehicles are equipped with electronic systems that may be vulnerable to cyber attacks. One of the main challenges of protecting on-board information systems is the wide range of devices and technologies used in modern vehicles. Different systems may have different security requirements and vulnerabilities. They may interact with each other in a complex way. Another challenge is that many of these systems were not designed originally with security in mind. They may lack basic security features such as encryption and authentication and use outdated software and protocols that are vulnerable to known attacks. The main types of attacks and threats to the elements of the transportation system that interact with the VANET were identified to analyze the information security of vehicle in-vehicle systems. Based on the theory of fuzzy sets under conditions of uncertainty and using the Fuzzy Logic Toolbox in the integrated Matlab environment, the level of information security of the OBU-VANET system was modeled. The obtained results allowed us to formulate the degree of information security of vehicle operation elements against unauthorized access to data. The results of the study showed that technical communication systems have the highest security level (> 0.7), and vehicles become the most vulnerable in public places.

A Metainvestigation of Speaking Skills: Practice, Feedback, and Self-Directed Efforts

<bold xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">Background:</b> Fluent and accurate speaking is an essential set of skills that engineering students strive to achieve, as they can lead to better job placement and a promising future. This article documents a speaking assessment carried out among 120 engineering students who have undergone two semesters of Technical English courses in the final year of their study. The students from diverse departments opted for the English for Competitive Exams elective course to improve their English language proficiency. The objective of the elective is to train the learners in essential language components for facing high-stakes competitive exams with an integrated language skills approach. <bold xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">Literature review:</b> This linguistics-focused study documents a cluster strategy, a pedagogical attempt at speaking, with a culminating self-reflection phase. The strategy cluster was thoughtfully designed and integrated throughout the semester to enhance the students' speaking competency. <bold xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">Research questions:</b> 1. How do learners perceive the effectiveness of speaking skills practice given to them in the online sessions? 2. What benefits through feedback have learners achieved during these sessions? 3. How do students perceive the role of self-directed efforts toward improving their speaking skills? <bold xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">Methods:</b> Students were trained on speaking skills as part of a semester-long online course, and an assessment for speaking skills was designed in which students answered 10 self-reflective questions about their perception and usefulness of practice, feedback from the instructor and peers, and self-directed efforts. Each student's recorded audio file of an average of 11 minutes 24 seconds was uploaded to the learning management system (LMS) as part of the assessment. A qualitative and interpretative investigation of their answers reflecting their learning experiences during the semester, based on the activities and self-regulation, and their self-rating were analyzed thematically. <bold xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">Results and discussion:</b> The findings of the metainvestigation show significantly valuable insights with potential implications on the language teachers’ perception of teaching speaking skills in the classroom, especially in the current online environment. <bold xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">Conclusions:</b> We conclude that using the strategy cluster comprising practice, feedback, and self-directed efforts with a culminating phase of oral self-reflection is highly beneficial in developing speaking skills in engineering courses focusing on technical communication.

The Communication Coefficient Method: A New Faculty Grading Tool Designed to Help Engineering Students Improve Their Technical Communication

The Communication Coefficient Method: A New Faculty Grading Tool Designed to Help Engineering Students Improve Their Technical Communication

Critical Approaches to Climate Justice, Technology, and Technical Communication Special Issue Introduction

ABSTRACT This special issue amplifies the contributions of technical communicators working on climate justice initiatives across the Majority World. By Majority World, we refer not to a specific geography but to the conditions in which most of humanity lives: lacking economic, social, and/or political agency, and absent adequate institutional access to critical infrastructures. The articles in this issue make explicit the need for TPC scholars to rethink, update, and engage in spaces of environmental injustice.

Development of Soft Skills among Computing Students in Online Task-Based Learning: Insights from Technical Communication Course

Soft skills development, such as communication, teamwork, and problem-solving, is critical for computer students as they enter the profession. Students may be able to practice these skills in a virtual setting through an online task-based course. In this study, we investigated how successfully an online task-based course encouraged the development of soft skills among computing students. The course was designed to give students real-world challenges that required them to work in groups and communicate effectively with their classmates and instructors. The inquiry was based on a qualitative examination of the students' final reports. It gave data from two semesters (Fall 2020 and Spring 2021) of students who studied a course named Technical Communication. In total, 216 students' final reports were ready for investigation. A sample of 97 reports, representing 45%, was selected based on certain criteria to ensure a high-quality investigation. According to the findings of our study, the online task-based course helped boost the development of certain soft skills among students. Students noted an improvement in their ability to communicate effectively, cooperate successfully with team members, and identify professional responsibilities, as well as a rise in their self-confidence. Overall, this study emphasizes the necessity of introducing online task-based courses into computing students' curricula, giving them a valuable opportunity to develop critical soft skills. The present design of the Technical Communication Course is believed to be efficient regardless of the education delivery method (traditional/online).

Introduction to Special Issue: The People, Practices, and Technologies Central to Content Strategy

This special issue of the Journal of Technical Writing and Communication features work from scholars and practitioners of content strategy. Content strategy is an emerging area within technical communication that boasts a variety of unique practices for publishing, editing, and delivering technical content. The work within this special issue is a testament to the complexity and diversity of this field.

A Maturity Model for Content Strategy Development and Technical Communicator Leadership

While technical communication consultants and researchers agree that content strategy requires attention to both customer needs and business goals, we found no evidence that technical communication educators promote an accurate understanding of business goals among their content strategy students. Through industry–academia collaboration, we integrate two existing models, using content tactics within organizational characteristics that define the maturity level of an organization's content operations. Analyzing the current state of maturity for each characteristic highlights gaps that can define a content strategy with prioritized tactics and, ultimately, encourages the growth of technical communicator leadership and the empowerment of our profession.

What They Were Thinking: Communal Rationality, Strategic Action Fields, and the Launch Plan for Oxycontin

Purpose: Few studies in our field have investigated corporate communications at the origins of the United States opioid crisis, which arguably began around the mid-1990s. Such analyses can illuminate executives and managers' collective thinking at the time (that is, "communal rationality"), nuance our public narratives, and recommend ways that technical communicators can engage further with this public health tragedy. Thus, this article surfaces the communal rationality expressed in the launch plan for OxyContin, which I obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request. This is perhaps the first close reading of a pharmaceutical launch plan in our scholarly literature. Method: Following precedent in other research, I applied a three-point heuristic based on the concept of strategic action fields: what is going on and what is at stake, what interpretive frames are constructed, and what the rules of the game are. Results: The communal rationality expressed in the launch plan involves a complex tangle of cultural knowledge, including state and national laws, guidelines, classes of analgesics, and industry practices. The writers effectively translate this knowledge into opportunities, positioning statements, strategies, and tactics. Conclusion: In some ways, the launch plan is an exemplary piece of technical and professional communication, but its treatment of ethics and risk is highly problematic—arguably making it an example of communication failure as well. Future research should delve deeper into the opioid crisis, exploring additional promotions, genres, drugs, and methodologies.

Convergent Practices in Social Media Videos: Examining Genre Conventions in Business-to-Consumer Content

Purpose: Technical communication (tech comm) and marketing communication (marcomm) are converging in business-to-consumer (B2C) contexts. Convergent videos integrate practices from both genres to address ever-changing digital audiences. In this paper, we review available literature and analyze tech comm and marcomm social media videos to demonstrate traditional genre conventions. We then analyze a select couple of convergent social media videos to delineate genre conventions across genres. We end by considering four unique convergent strategies that these videos used in combining elements of the tech comm and marcomm genres. Methods: We selected several social media videos produced by large home improvement brands to analyze the generic practices they employ in relation to accepted best practices in the literature from scholars in tech comm and marcomm. We then analyze videos that fit neither genre in light of recent publications by Adobe discussing genre convergence and note several distinct genre practices that can be ascribed to convergent videos. Results: We find that convergent characteristics are distinct from tech comm and marcomm. The brands employ convergent practices in some social media videos that blend genre conventions from tech comm and marcomm video production.Specifically, we identify four ways that these genres converge: using technical tasks as marketing opportunities, balancing corporate branding with mundane user ethos, layering content pathways across the interface, and capturing attention with relevance. Conclusion: Convergence represents a new genre in that it purposefully attempts to engage users across the product lifecycle in single videos. This approach is a departure from traditional marcomm and tech comm video production. Though limited in scope, this analysis provides examples of how convergent videos attempt to achieve this goal. We end by noting our limitations and offering suggestions for future research.

Strategy of Technical Content Marketing in an Entrepreneurial Tech Company: Using the Funnel-Bucket Model to Guide the Message and Media

Purpose: In this article, the content strategy for technical content marketing (TCM) is examined for a start-up tech company, Terra Solar, commercializing a "do-it- yourself" (DIY) home solar power kit that makes clean energy more affordable and accessible to a wider range of consumers. Notably, this article illustrates the role of technical communication in technical content marketing using the funnel-bucket model, a framework for implementing content strategy for new products, to inform the communication goals of an entrepreneurial technology company and provides a framework for implementing content marketing publication strategy for new technical products. Method: This case study integrates theory, research, and industry practices of content strategy, technical content marketing, advertising, digital marketing, and technical communication. Results: This article situates strategic marketing plans with the theory of content strategy and includes a review of the latest research in content marketing to provide readers with a research-based guide for planning the commercialization strategy for technology products. Conclusion: This case study describes the use of the funnel-bucket model as a framework for planning TCM genres to provide a coordinated set of informative and persuasive product-related information through multiple media platforms to reach target technical buyers.

Language Learning in Engineering Colleges of Madhya Pradesh

Abstract: Students learn English in their school days through grammar and English literature. English is a necessary tool for getting into a good job and for a multiracial business and technical outlook for engineering students. So, the aim of the English subject in engineering sector is to encourage the students to involve in learning the target language and to obtain proficiency in technical communication. Some students, out of personal interest and motivation learn vocabulary through substantial reading. But many students depend on the teachers for the development of vocabulary. The present paper deals with the features of vocabulary. It also presents the general and competency-based objectives of the curriculum. It reviews the English course books and the process of evaluation of the four language skills.

Distance learning during the pandemic era: Russian instructors’ experience

The article focuses on studying Russian university instructors’ experience acquired during the emergency remote learning period in 2020–2021. The need to adjust the development route of the distance learning system determines the topicality of the research. The novelty of the article is determined by significant gaps in scientific literature concerning studying, generalizing, and comprehending such experience.The study employed quantitative and qualitative methods of data collection and processing. Russian university instructors (N = 57) filled in an online questionnaire which aimed to identify the advantages and disadvantages of distance learning. Corpus linguistics methods were used to outline the most common key themes, which made it possible to identify the frequent words employed to describe positive and negative experiences. Responses to open-ended questions were examined using contextual and content analysis.The most significant positive aspects of the online format identified by the respondents included travel time saving, extending the repertoire of teaching strategies and access to visual methods of presenting information thanks to the online platform technological capabilities. This enabled instructors to involve usually silent students in active communication. Moreover, the respondents cited safe communication during the spread of a viral disease as well as students’ constant access to information resources. As for disadvantages, respondents mentioned a marked deterioration in interaction with students due to the lack of personal and/or visual contact, technical communication problems, and labor intensity. Other often cited drawbacks were difficulties in developing practical skills and effectively monitoring students’ knowledge and psychological state, learners’ decreased motivation as well as health problems.Based on the results of the study, the article concludes that it is necessary to improve instructors’ professional competencies and improve technical facilities of educational institutions. This would provide access to and usage of multifunctional distance learning management systems and programs that permit videoconferencing, file sharing and demonstrating multimedia presentations and online materials.The research is relevant as it is important to study and summarize instructors’ positive and negative experience to improve professional development programs, make decisions on purchasing and using equipment and software, and change university development agendas.

Typology of Tweets and User Engagement Generated by U.S. Companies Involved in Developing COVID-19 Vaccines

This study analyzes 295 tweets by four U.S. companies engaged in discovering a vaccine for COVID-19. Tweets were analyzed to understand how their Twitter feeds balanced corporate and product branding (vaccine, medicines, etc.) and disseminated scientific information relating to COVID-19. The results suggest that these companies were actively embedding technical information about COVID-19 in their corporate and product branding. Tweets providing technical and scientific information about the progress made toward developing a COVID-19 vaccine garnered high levels of user engagement from their target audience. Findings from this study indicate the growing importance of technical communication in corporate settings during a public health crisis.

Lessons of experience: Labor habits of a long-time, contingent online technical communication instructor

ABSTRACT The COVID-19 pandemic made nearly every teacher and student online teachers and students in some capacity. This article presents a case study of an experienced, contingent technical and professional communication (TPC) instructor showing how she sets up, presents, and, most importantly, labors in her course for the benefit of her students and herself. This article ends with recommendations for other online TPC teachers and program administrators to support online TPC courses.

The Twain Shall Meet

Abstract On Wednesday, March 11, 2020, the author received an email that would change the course of his teaching for the following twenty-four months. The university-wide communication indicated that, due to the emerging COVID-19 crisis, all classes, activities, and university business was suspended, with the email further instructing faculty to wait at home for more details. As the author mulled over the educational shifts ahead of him, his training as a technical communicator—and more specifically his knowledge of user-experience (UX) and design thinking—kicked in, offering him a set of tools he could pull from as he sought to create courses that reflected the quickly shifting needs of his students. In this article, the author discusses how the use of design thinking expands the limited conversations about course co-creation, a practice that leads to more effective and equitable course designs. The author additionally uses his experience employing design thinking in the creation of his Shakespeare seminar course as a case study, demonstrating the value that the collaborative nature of design thinking has for pedagogy.

Obstacles and Countermeasures for China to Promote the Cooperative Management of Lancang-Mekong Water Resources

Since its launch in 2016, the Lancang-Mekong cooperation has been steadily advancing through a range of projects, notably those concerning cooperative governance of water resources. In recent years, foreign actors have cast doubt on China's involvement in the Lancang-Mekong River Basin, fueling the propagation of the "China water threat theory" and exerting influence over water resource management in the region through various channels, including strategic partnership initiatives, organizational mechanisms, and technical communication. Meanwhile, China faces daunting challenges in managing water resources in the Lancang-Mekong Cooperation region, including intense market competition and hedging issues, which hamper its international image. This study analyzes the challenges and obstacles that China may confront in developing water resources cooperation between the Lancang and Mekong Rivers, and proposes recommendations for further advancing China's engagement in water resources management.

Perspectives on Usability Testing with IoT Devices in Technical Communication Courses

ABSTRACT This article offers perspectives on adopting smart home technology into usability testing for technical and professional communication (TPC) courses. Usability is a valued skill for technical communicators. However, usability testing methods have their problems as pedagogical tools. Internet-of-Things (IoT) devices and Smart Home Technology (SHT) may offer instructors tools to overcome some of those problems. This article details advantages and concerns associated with using SHT for curricular usability testing.