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A RHETORIC OF TECHNOLOGY: THE DISCOURSE IN U.S. ARMY HANDBOOKS AND MANUALS
Title
A RHETORIC OF TECHNOLOGY: THE DISCOURSE IN U.S. ARMY HANDBOOKS AND MANUALS.
Creator
Steward, Sherry Ann, Jones, Dan, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description
This dissertation examines the historical technical publications of the United States Army from 1775-2004. Historical research in Army technical communication reveals the persuasive characteristics of its technical publications. Elements of narrative, storytelling, and anthropomorphism are techniques writers used to help deliver information to readers. Research also reveals the design techniques writers adopted to unite the situated literacies of the troops. Analyses of print, comic, and...
Show moreThis dissertation examines the historical technical publications of the United States Army from 1775-2004. Historical research in Army technical communication reveals the persuasive characteristics of its technical publications. Elements of narrative, storytelling, and anthropomorphism are techniques writers used to help deliver information to readers. Research also reveals the design techniques writers adopted to unite the situated literacies of the troops. Analyses of print, comic, and digital media expose the increasing visualization of information since the eighteenth century. The results of such historical research can be applied to new media designs. Automating processes captured in paper-based technical manuals and adding intelligent functionality to these designs are two of many possible design options. Research also dispels a myth concerning the history of modern technical communication and illustrates the development of many genres and subgenres. Modern technical communication was not born of World War II as many scholars suggest, but was a legitimate field in eighteenth-century America. Finally, historical research in Army technical communication shows the systematic progression of a technological society and our increasing dependence on machine intelligence.
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Date Issued
2004
Identifier
CFE0000060, ucf:46088
Format
Document (PDF)
PURL
http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0000060
INTEGRATING KEY ELEMENTS IN AN E-LEARNING CURRICULUM FOR AN OPTIMUM EDUCATIONAL AND INTERACTIVE USER EXPERIENCE
Title
INTEGRATING KEY ELEMENTS IN AN E-LEARNING CURRICULUM FOR AN OPTIMUM EDUCATIONAL AND INTERACTIVE USER EXPERIENCE.
Creator
Stearns, Heather, Jones, Dan, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description
This study determines the particular components that are considered the best practices to use when implementing an e-Learning curriculum. Technical communicators and instructional designers have numerous development options to choose from. However, practices that work in academe do not always integrate well in a corporate setting, and what works for one corporation may not work for another. There is no singular methodology for developers to apply that enables e-Learning to fit every...
Show moreThis study determines the particular components that are considered the best practices to use when implementing an e-Learning curriculum. Technical communicators and instructional designers have numerous development options to choose from. However, practices that work in academe do not always integrate well in a corporate setting, and what works for one corporation may not work for another. There is no singular methodology for developers to apply that enables e-Learning to fit every organization's needs. Research shows that to ensure a successful online learning implementation, a sound project management team must be in place at the beginning of the project planning. This team must be prepared to collaborate with managers and users across an organization and carefully incorporate their suggestions into the curriculum design. Additionally, this team must be experienced not only in making sure that the project is launched on time and within the defined budget, but also in asking pertinent questions about the users, content structure, and design. Implementing an e-Learning site involves more than putting a Web page online for users to view. Developers must know about adult learning styles, must know how to incorporate interactive activities (like games and simulations), and must know how to write content so that it is engaging yet understandable.
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Date Issued
2008
Identifier
CFE0002099, ucf:47547
Format
Document (PDF)
PURL
http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0002099
CREATING SUSTAINABILITY THROUGH CORPORATE BRANDING
Title
CREATING SUSTAINABILITY THROUGH CORPORATE BRANDING.
Creator
Ritz, Hayley, Jones, Dan, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description
This thesis provides a thorough definition of corporate branding, including its benefits when used as a strategic marketing tool. There are many who believe that the logo of a corporation is its brand. However, the logo is only one interpretation of the brand. The brand is the corporation's ethos. It is the fundamental character or spirit of the corporation. It is an expression of who the corporation is. It is the essence that links the corporation's product or service with its...
Show moreThis thesis provides a thorough definition of corporate branding, including its benefits when used as a strategic marketing tool. There are many who believe that the logo of a corporation is its brand. However, the logo is only one interpretation of the brand. The brand is the corporation's ethos. It is the fundamental character or spirit of the corporation. It is an expression of who the corporation is. It is the essence that links the corporation's product or service with its consumer through loyalty and emotional attachments. Corporations use various processes and methodologies when they begin to create and enhance their corporate brand. Corporations must define their corporate personality, build recognition, standardize, and fulfill brand promises. There are also obstacles and challenges that corporations face in their endeavor to implement a branding guideline, and the chance of overcoming them without defined leadership is unrealistic. This study focuses specifically on existing literature about corporate branding and cites case study examples to show what makes the best brands successful and where failing brands could have been more successful. The study concludes by providing insight into the future for corporate branding and offering suggestions for technical communication professionals who find themselves a part of the brand building and defining process. There are various rules to branding and traits that are common to every top brand in the world. By instilling its brand with such traits, and following certain processes with focus, passion, and persistence, and most of all a long-term commitment to the brand, a corporation will find its brand among the most recognized brands in the world.
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Date Issued
2007
Identifier
CFE0001871, ucf:47413
Format
Document (PDF)
PURL
http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0001871
CLINICAL PRACTICE GUIDELINES FOR EMERGING ULTRASOUND APPLICATIONS: DRAFTING FOR VALIDITY AND USABILITY
Title
CLINICAL PRACTICE GUIDELINES FOR EMERGING ULTRASOUND APPLICATIONS: DRAFTING FOR VALIDITY AND USABILITY.
Creator
Borok, Katherine, Jones, Dan, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description
Clinical practice guidelines (CPGs) are viewed by many people with interests in health care as valuable tools for reducing practice variations that undermine patient outcomes and increase medical costs. However, guidelines themselves vary in quality. Assessment tools generally base quality measures on strength of guidelinesÂÂ' evidence base, but particularly for newly emerging applications of ultrasound, standards for measuring guideline quality are controversial. The...
Show moreClinical practice guidelines (CPGs) are viewed by many people with interests in health care as valuable tools for reducing practice variations that undermine patient outcomes and increase medical costs. However, guidelines themselves vary in quality. Assessment tools generally base quality measures on strength of guidelinesÂÂ' evidence base, but particularly for newly emerging applications of ultrasound, standards for measuring guideline quality are controversial. The validity of a guideline is considered likely when strong research-based evidence supports its recommendations, but for newer medical procedures such as emerging ultrasound applications, available evidence is sparse. Existing assessment tools must be modified if they are effectively to measure the validity of these guidelines built on immature evidence. Focusing on ways document drafting affects CPG validity, this study rated six guidelines using the Appraisal of Guidelines Research and Evaluation (AGREE) tool which was customized according to categories of guideline purposes and their differing features of validity. Fine-tuning AGREE in this way may create a more consistent, informative method of evaluating guidelines for emerging applications, and standards established in such an instrument may be useful as a template during the guideline development process. Results from my analyses illuminate several common omissions that weakened documents. Most guidelines did not describe an updating procedure or identify areas for future research, but results also highlighted some highly effective techniques for building validity. Notable examples include providing full credentials for expert drafters, and embedding statement references directly in the text. From the results of the analysis, I conclude that, although the adapted assessment tool I used needs additional adjustment, it may refine analysis of guidelines for emerging ultrasound guidelines and conversely serve as a useful tool during their development process.
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Date Issued
2010
Identifier
CFE0003556, ucf:48925
Format
Document (PDF)
PURL
http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0003556
HUMANIZING TECHNICAL COMMUNICATION WITH METAPHOR
Title
HUMANIZING TECHNICAL COMMUNICATION WITH METAPHOR.
Creator
McClure, Ashley, Jones, Dan, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description
This thesis explores how metaphors can humanize a technical document and more effectively facilitate user comprehension. The frequent use of metaphor in technical communication reminds us that the discipline is highly creative and rhetorical. Theory demonstrates that a technical text involves interpretation and subjectivity during both its creation by the technical communicator and its application by the user. If employed carefully and skillfully, metaphor can be a powerful tool to ensure...
Show moreThis thesis explores how metaphors can humanize a technical document and more effectively facilitate user comprehension. The frequent use of metaphor in technical communication reminds us that the discipline is highly creative and rhetorical. Theory demonstrates that a technical text involves interpretation and subjectivity during both its creation by the technical communicator and its application by the user. If employed carefully and skillfully, metaphor can be a powerful tool to ensure users' needs are met during this process. The primary goal of technical communication is to convey information to an audience as clearly and efficiently as possible. Because of the often complex nature of technical content, users are likely to feel alienated, overwhelmed, or simply uninterested if the information presented seems exceedingly unfamiliar or complicated. If users experience any of these reactions, they are inclined to abandon the document, automatically rendering it unsuccessful. I identify metaphor as a means to curtail such an occurrence. Using examples from a variety of technical communication genres, I illustrate how metaphors can humanize a technical document by establishing a strong link between the document and its users.
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Date Issued
2009
Identifier
CFE0002948, ucf:47979
Format
Document (PDF)
PURL
http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0002948
DESIGNING FOR MULTICULTURAL AND INTERNATIONAL AUDIENCES: CREATING CULTURALLY-INTELLIGENT VISUAL RHETORIC AND OVERCOMING ETHNOCENTRISM
Title
DESIGNING FOR MULTICULTURAL AND INTERNATIONAL AUDIENCES: CREATING CULTURALLY-INTELLIGENT VISUAL RHETORIC AND OVERCOMING ETHNOCENTRISM.
Creator
Moore, Bridget, Jones, Dan, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description
Various cultures interpret visual rhetoric differently; therefore, technical communicators must adjust their rhetoric accordingly by creating effective visual rhetoric for their international and multicultural audiences. Although there is a great deal of research in the field regarding how to create effective visual rhetorical rhetoric, this research often fails to take into international and multicultural audiences into consideration. Many visual rhetoric solutions proposed in technical...
Show moreVarious cultures interpret visual rhetoric differently; therefore, technical communicators must adjust their rhetoric accordingly by creating effective visual rhetoric for their international and multicultural audiences. Although there is a great deal of research in the field regarding how to create effective visual rhetorical rhetoric, this research often fails to take into international and multicultural audiences into consideration. Many visual rhetoric solutions proposed in technical communication involve ÂÂ"catch allÂÂ" approaches that do little to communicate to people of non-Western cultures and can even serve to offend or confuse international and multicultural audiences. These solutions are generated by a globalization mindset, but are not realistic when we acknowledge how varied technical communication audiences are with regard to culture. The globalization approach also fails unless technical communicators intend to limit the reach of their communication to certain types of Western audiences. To create the most useful visual rhetoric, technical communicators must learn to use color, graphics, icons/symbols, and layouts (web and print) appropriately for audiences. They must learn more about different types of cultures (individualistic or collectivistic, universalist or particularist, high-context or low-context, high uncertainty avoidance or low uncertainty avoidance, monochronic or polychronic, linear thinking or systemic thinking, masculine or feminine), and they must address these different cultural expectations accordingly.
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Date Issued
2010
Identifier
CFE0003036, ucf:48333
Format
Document (PDF)
PURL
http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0003036
The Modern Church Communicates: Rhetoric and Hypertext in Church Website Design
Title
The Modern Church Communicates: Rhetoric and Hypertext in Church Website Design.
Creator
Palmer, Edward, Applen, John, Jones, Dan, Stephens, Sonia, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description
The Internet and the World Wide Web have supplanted many paper-based information systems. People turn to the web to locate local services in the same way they find ecommerce sites such as Amazon. Churches of all sizes must develop effective and attractive websites to attract new members and inform existing members. These two groups form distinct audiences that must be correctly targeted by the website content. Other churches may visit to gather ideas for their programs; they are a third group...
Show moreThe Internet and the World Wide Web have supplanted many paper-based information systems. People turn to the web to locate local services in the same way they find ecommerce sites such as Amazon. Churches of all sizes must develop effective and attractive websites to attract new members and inform existing members. These two groups form distinct audiences that must be correctly targeted by the website content. Other churches may visit to gather ideas for their programs; they are a third group of site visitors. Organization of hypertext on the web requires skills that are different than writing for print. Technical communicators possess those skills and can help others write better hypertext. This research examines eight churches that cross three categories: denomination, size, and location. The websites of the churches are analyzed from the standpoint of the reader and the technical communicator to determine their effectiveness in content, organization, and underlying structure of the webpages, and then consider if geography, size, or denomination account for the observed differences. Audience and message are lesser issues than organization of information and navigational guidance for the reader. No remarkable differences were observed based on size, geography, or denomination. The technical communicator can assist non-technical content producers in developing skills in organization and classification.
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Date Issued
2017
Identifier
CFE0006635, ucf:51218
Format
Document (PDF)
PURL
http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0006635
Grace Hopper and the Marvelous Machine: Lessons for Modern Technical Communicators from the Mark I ASCC Manual
Title
Grace Hopper and the Marvelous Machine: Lessons for Modern Technical Communicators from the Mark I ASCC Manual.
Creator
Meyr, Jessica, Jones, Dan, Dombrowski, Paul, Applen, John, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description
Women's technical writing achievements often go unrecognized, both due to the invisibility of technical writing professionals in general, and a lack of famous technical communication role models in particular. The purpose of this thesis is to analyze and present an early major work in the technical writing of Rear Admiral (")Amazing(") Grace Hopper, inventor of the compiler and an important figure in computer science history. Although Hopper is arguably best known for popularizing the idea of...
Show moreWomen's technical writing achievements often go unrecognized, both due to the invisibility of technical writing professionals in general, and a lack of famous technical communication role models in particular. The purpose of this thesis is to analyze and present an early major work in the technical writing of Rear Admiral (")Amazing(") Grace Hopper, inventor of the compiler and an important figure in computer science history. Although Hopper is arguably best known for popularizing the idea of the (")computer bug,(") her achievements in computer science extend from invention of the software compiler to tireless promotion of the programming language COBOL. Her work A Manual of Operation for the Automatic Sequence Controlled Calculator, written for the first digital computer in America, is analyzed here according to Mike Markel's eight criteria of excellent technical writing: honesty, clarity, accuracy, comprehensiveness, accessibility, conciseness, professional appearance, and correctness. I also cover other specific strengths of Grace's approach, including how she establishes sufficient context, highlights multiple uses for information, and provides numerous well-chosen examples for audience needs. However, I also discuss how modern research principles for improving technical writing, including task-orientation, attention to cognitive load, and minimalism, help explain the manual's shortcomings. I conclude my study with a discussion of Hopper's later work, (")The Education of a Computer,(") to demonstrate her growth as a writer. The conclusion also highlights areas awaiting further research and cements my recommendation that study of Grace Hopper's work be incorporated into our historical understanding of the discipline. Hopper's technical writing deserves to be more widely understood and appreciated as a vital contribution to early software documentation.
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Date Issued
2017
Identifier
CFE0006625, ucf:51263
Format
Document (PDF)
PURL
http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0006625
Good Works: The Topoi of Corporate Social Responsibility in the Travel and Tourism Industry
Title
Good Works: The Topoi of Corporate Social Responsibility in the Travel and Tourism Industry.
Creator
Culler, Connie, Scott, Blake, Jones, Dan, Rounsaville, Angela, Dingo, Rebecca, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description
This dissertation focuses on the identification and analysis of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) topoi in the travel and tourism industry. A sample set of six companies was selected for the study due to their size and prominence in the industry -- namely Disney, Hilton, Intercontinental, Marriott, Starwood, and Wyndham. Topoi were identified through a blended method of research that employed rhetorical analysis, modified grounded theory, and NVIVO content analysis software. The research...
Show moreThis dissertation focuses on the identification and analysis of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) topoi in the travel and tourism industry. A sample set of six companies was selected for the study due to their size and prominence in the industry -- namely Disney, Hilton, Intercontinental, Marriott, Starwood, and Wyndham. Topoi were identified through a blended method of research that employed rhetorical analysis, modified grounded theory, and NVIVO content analysis software. The research followed three guiding principles to recognize textual cues and drive analysis: common and special topoi; topoi as heuristic; topoi for association and amplification; and topoi as fluid and movable. The common CSR topoi, triple bottom line and shared value, were also used as overarching categories for coding the texts. The results of the method yielded six unique topoi that were specific to each company; these included Inspiration, Higher Purpose, Collaborative Innovation, Leadership, The Age of Great Change, and Green. Results also included a set of seven special industry topoi that were common across all of the sample companies; these included Commitment, Management, Alignment, Environment, Engagement, Achievement, and Sustainability. The rhetorical synergy and topological levels identified through this research can inform other studies of CSR about the generative potential of topoi and its fluidity when viewed from different conceptual vantage points.
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Date Issued
2015
Identifier
CFE0005936, ucf:50851
Format
Document (PDF)
PURL
http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0005936
Playing with Usability: Why Technical Communicators Should Examine Mobile Games
Title
Playing with Usability: Why Technical Communicators Should Examine Mobile Games.
Creator
Cata, Alexandra, Jones, Dan, Applen, John, Salter, Anastasia, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description
This thesis examines how technical communicators can look to free, successful mobile games for mobile User Interface (UI) and User Assistance (UA) inspiration and design techniques. The purpose of this thesis is to provide an overview of major game studies theories and situate them within technical communication theory and practices. Technical communicators can leverage game studies theories to augment existing technical communication theories and practices. Specifically, I examine cognitive...
Show moreThis thesis examines how technical communicators can look to free, successful mobile games for mobile User Interface (UI) and User Assistance (UA) inspiration and design techniques. The purpose of this thesis is to provide an overview of major game studies theories and situate them within technical communication theory and practices. Technical communicators can leverage game studies theories to augment existing technical communication theories and practices. Specifically, I examine cognitive learning theory in game design, game usability, playability, and user-centered design, and how these theories relate to technical communication, rhetorical, mobile UI/UA, and general usability theories and methods. Additionally, I also note technical communicators can provide depth and fill in existing gaps in game design theory relating to language and textual presentation within games. I demonstrate this value by synthesizing and applying these methods to two successful free mobile games: Supercell's Clash of Clans and Blizzard Entertainment's Hearthstone. In a highly competitive and lucrative environment, top free mobile games provide effective user experiences to engage and retain users. Examining mobile game design provides a creative way for technical communicators to improve their own approaches for user engagement and mobile design.
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Date Issued
2017
Identifier
CFE0006573, ucf:51316
Format
Document (PDF)
PURL
http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0006573
The Role of Occupational Branding in the Professionalization of Technical Communication
Title
The Role of Occupational Branding in the Professionalization of Technical Communication.
Creator
Thomas, Chelsea, Jones, Dan, Flammia, Madelyn, Bell, Kathleen, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description
This study investigates the relationship between professional identity and professional status by exploring the quest for professionalization within technical communication. An established professional identity is crucial to an occupation's professionalization process, as it enables members of a given field to create a common sense of being and facilitates a recognizable personal and collective identity. Such recognition is vital to an occupation's rise to professional status, as it creates a...
Show moreThis study investigates the relationship between professional identity and professional status by exploring the quest for professionalization within technical communication. An established professional identity is crucial to an occupation's professionalization process, as it enables members of a given field to create a common sense of being and facilitates a recognizable personal and collective identity. Such recognition is vital to an occupation's rise to professional status, as it creates a distilled image of the ideal practitioner for outsiders and forms the basis upon which claims of expertise may be made. By constructing the meaning surrounding their profession, members are able to portray an image which designates their knowledge as a scarce expertise and their profession as the appropriate source for the services they provide.A lack of professional identity constitutes the primary factor hindering technical communication from realizing the professionalization process, as it prevents the formation of practitioners' common sense of being, promotes the absence of identifiability and precludes the possibility of recognition by larger society. Without an established professional identity, the field cannot formulate a culturally-relevant perception of its role, claim professional expertise or jurisdiction over their work, or achieve the social and cultural legitimacy necessary in order to increase its professional status. By implementing processes of occupational branding within the professional project, efforts involving the construction of collective professional identity will increase professional status by enabling a group's management of professional meaning, facilitating the creation of an occupational brand and assisting in value production.
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Date Issued
2016
Identifier
CFE0006189, ucf:51137
Format
Document (PDF)
PURL
http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0006189
Technical Communicators in Marketing: Switching Roles and Changing Ethical Perspectives When Working With Content Marketing
Title
Technical Communicators in Marketing: Switching Roles and Changing Ethical Perspectives When Working With Content Marketing.
Creator
Alvarez, Nicole, Dombrowski, Paul, Jones, Dan, Zemliansky, Pavel, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description
This thesis presents an alternate career path for technical communicators in the area of content marketing and expands on the ethical and goal-related issues associated with a career change to a marketing-focused role. Many of the skills necessary for technical communication are transferable to marketing communication roles; however, a successful career change requires that technical communicators understand how the ethical values and goals of marketing professionals can differ from those of...
Show moreThis thesis presents an alternate career path for technical communicators in the area of content marketing and expands on the ethical and goal-related issues associated with a career change to a marketing-focused role. Many of the skills necessary for technical communication are transferable to marketing communication roles; however, a successful career change requires that technical communicators understand how the ethical values and goals of marketing professionals can differ from those of technical communicators. Through a detailed literature review and autoethnographic study, this thesis discusses the performance goals of marketing professionals to determine how these clash with those of technical communicators. This study also discusses the ethical values of technical communicators and marketing professionals, and how these values are shaped by their unique job functions. The overall goal is to determine how this affects the technical communicator working with content marketing. After combining the data available in the literature and the data gathered from the autoethnographic study, this study suggests that due to the differing job functions and training received by technical communicators and marketing professionals, ethically charged situations and ethically questionable practices are likely to be viewed under different perspectives by each professional. This can lead to vastly different perspectives on a particular situation and result in the two groups having vastly different ideas in regard to how ethical-decision making should proceed.
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Date Issued
2014
Identifier
CFE0005570, ucf:50280
Format
Document (PDF)
PURL
http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0005570
The Relevance of Benjamin Franklin's and Thomas Jefferson's Technical Writing for Modern Communicators
Title
The Relevance of Benjamin Franklin's and Thomas Jefferson's Technical Writing for Modern Communicators.
Creator
Fecko, Kristin, Jones, Dan, Cavanagh, Thomas, Flammia, Madelyn, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description
Today's technical communicators enjoy an increasingly broader role and influence in the workplace, and are often given latitude to use engaging rhetoric and personal touches in many kinds of communications. Historical documents, particularly those that are substantially removed from our own era, can offer fresh approaches and insight into the enduring elements of successful communication. This study explores the technical writings of Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson and considers their...
Show moreToday's technical communicators enjoy an increasingly broader role and influence in the workplace, and are often given latitude to use engaging rhetoric and personal touches in many kinds of communications. Historical documents, particularly those that are substantially removed from our own era, can offer fresh approaches and insight into the enduring elements of successful communication. This study explores the technical writings of Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson and considers their usefulness to professionals today.Although the political writing of Franklin and Jefferson is more familiar, both men frequently wrote about scientific and technical subjects and were well-known in their day for these documents. Franklin created a captivating persona and arguments which carried emotional and logical appeal. Jefferson was a student of ancient rhetoric and applied classical principles of arrangement to guide readers. His fondness for statistical records led to a skill in presenting numerical data and other types of information in creative, efficient ways. By using tone, language, and description, both Franklin and Jefferson created technical narratives that are equally informative and aesthetically pleasing.The contemporary era of technical communication has been shaped by positivism, the plain language movement, and humanism, among other significant trends. Franklin's and Jefferson's approaches to technical communication both support and challenge the guiding philosophies of these movements. Their styles are reviewed in this study against the context of modern approaches. Opportunities for further historical study are also offered, including additional writings of our Founding Fathers and technical writing from the turn of the twentieth century.
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Date Issued
2014
Identifier
CFE0005329, ucf:50526
Format
Document (PDF)
PURL
http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0005329
The State of the Anti-Union Address: A Rhetorical Critique of Select Service Worker Training Methods
Title
The State of the Anti-Union Address: A Rhetorical Critique of Select Service Worker Training Methods.
Creator
Ries, Richard, Dombrowski, Paul, Hirumi, Atsusi, Jones, Dan, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description
This is an interdisciplinary master's level thesis that explores links among technical writing, training manuals, surveillance, and anti-union rhetoric used with service workers in select American chains and franchises. Brief histories are provided, including those of technical writing, the rise of unions in America, and how technical writing became inextricably linked with labor. A major shift occurred in the 20th century when workers began interacting less with products and more with the...
Show moreThis is an interdisciplinary master's level thesis that explores links among technical writing, training manuals, surveillance, and anti-union rhetoric used with service workers in select American chains and franchises. Brief histories are provided, including those of technical writing, the rise of unions in America, and how technical writing became inextricably linked with labor. A major shift occurred in the 20th century when workers began interacting less with products and more with the public. The research focuses on training manuals, techniques, and rehearsed dialogues of McDonald's, Wal-Mart, Starbucks, Whole Foods, Panera, and Publix, though similar organizations are referenced. Service worker language, uniforms, and store decorum are sometimes analyzed for their rhetorical content. The idea of a single, technically written training manual in the service sector is a misnomer; training is delivered through a pastiche of manuals, videos, computers, apps, flipcharts, and on the job training. Unions are avoided through franchising (and therefore eat outlet not possessing enough workers to organize), creating conditions of high turnover rates, rhetoric, and use of euphemism. Global corporations are likened to "superfiefdoms," with service workers equated to modern serfs. If the world has evolved into supercorporations, it is argued then that the Publix employee-owned model may be the best approach and the most dignified of all. The technical writing and instruction in state-sponsored and federalized school pedagogies, which emphasize drills and compliance, may be culturally linked to the training found in these entry-level service jobs, and more academic study exploring these links is called for.
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Date Issued
2014
Identifier
CFE0005700, ucf:50134
Format
Document (PDF)
PURL
http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0005700