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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
FROM TEXTBOOKS TO SAFETY BRIEFINGS: HELPING TECHNICAL WRITERS NEGOTIATE COMPLEX RHETORICAL SITUATIONS
Title
FROM TEXTBOOKS TO SAFETY BRIEFINGS: HELPING TECHNICAL WRITERS NEGOTIATE COMPLEX RHETORICAL SITUATIONS.
Creator
Blackburne, Brian, Bowdon, Melody, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description
In this dissertation, I analyze the organizational and political constraints that technical writers encounter when dealing with complex rhetorical situations, particularly within risk-management discourse. I ground my research in case studies of safety briefings that airlines provide to their passengers because these important documents have long been regarded as ineffective, yet they've gone largely unchanged in the last 20 years. Airlines are required to produce these safety briefings,...
Show moreIn this dissertation, I analyze the organizational and political constraints that technical writers encounter when dealing with complex rhetorical situations, particularly within risk-management discourse. I ground my research in case studies of safety briefings that airlines provide to their passengers because these important documents have long been regarded as ineffective, yet they've gone largely unchanged in the last 20 years. Airlines are required to produce these safety briefings, which must satisfy multiple audiences, such as corporate executives, federal safety inspectors, flight attendants, and passengers. Because space and time are limited when presenting safety information to passengers, the technical writers must negotiate constraints related to issues such as format, budget, audience education and language, passenger perceptions/fears, reproducibility, and corporate image/branding – to name a few. The writers have to negotiate these constraints while presenting important (and potentially alarming) information in a way that's as informative, realistic, and tasteful as possible. But such constraints aren't unique to the airline industry. Once they enter the profession, many writing students will experience complex rhetorical situations that constrain their abilities to produce effective documentation; therefore, I am looking at the theories and skills that we're teaching our future technical communicators for coping with such situations. By applying writing-style and visual-cultural analyses to a set of documents, I demonstrate a methodology for analyzing complex rhetorical situations. I conclude by proposing a pedagogy that teachers of technical communication can employ for helping students assess and work within complex rhetorical situations, and I offer suggestions for implementing such practices in the classroom.
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Date Issued
2008
Identifier
CFE0002465, ucf:47729
Format
Document (PDF)
PURL
http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0002465