This article focuses on information architecture as a site for developing critical practice for technical communication. Such a focus suggests methods for rhetorical intervention aimed at democratizing the process of technocultural development. As a site of intervention, information architecture invites practitioners and academics to develop plans for action based on the analysis generated in descriptive research, completing the circuit from analysis to informed action.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
American Society for Information Science and Technology. (2001, March 16). Information architecture and architects defined. Retrieved July 31, 2002, from http://www.asis.org/SIG/SIGIA/definition.html
2.
Brown, J. S., & Duguid, P. (2000). The social life of information. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Business School Press .
3.
Burke, K. (1967). Rhetoric as symbolic action: Essays on life, literature and method. Berkeley: University of California Press .
4.
Dayton, D. (2002). Evaluating environmental impact statements as communicative action . Journal of Business and Technical Communication, 16, 355-405 .
5.
Department of Energy. (1995). Information architecture: Vol. 1. The foundations (DOE Publication No. HR-0141). Washington, DC: Government Printing Office .
6.
Feenberg, A. (1991). Critical theory of technology. New York: Oxford University Press .
7.
Feenberg, A. (1995). Alternative modernity: The technical turn in philosophy and social theory. Berkeley: University of California Press .
8.
Fox, C., & Fisher, D. (2001). A comment on Greg Wilson’s “Technical communication and late capitalism: Considering a postmodern technical communication pedagogy.” Journal of Business and Technical Communication, 15, 241-247 .
9.
Heidegger, M. (1982). The question concerning technology and other essays. New York: HarperCollins .
10.
Herndl, C. (1996). Tactics and the quotidian: Resistance and professional discourse . Journal of Advanced Composition, 16, 455-470 .
11.
Herndl, C. (2001). Review of Spurious coin: A history of science, management, and technical writing . Journal of Advanced Composition, 21, 487-492 .
12.
Herndl, C., & Brown, S. C. (Eds.). (1996). Green culture: Rhetorical analyses of environmental discourse. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press .
13.
Johnson, R. R. (1998). User-centered technology: A rhetorical theory for computers and other mundane artifacts. Albany: State University of New York Press .
14.
Johnson-Eilola, J. (1996). Relocating the value of work: Technical communication in a post-industrial age . Technical Communication Quarterly, 5, 245-270 .
15.
Kaufer, D. S., & Butler, B. (1996). Rhetoric and the arts of design. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum .
16.
Latour, B. (1993). We havenever been modern. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press .
17.
Latour, B. (1996). Aramis or the love of technology. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press .
18.
Lefevre, K. (1986). Invention as a social act. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press .
19.
Longo, B. (1998). An approach for applying cultural study theory to technical writing research . Technical Communication Quarterly, 7, 53-73 .
20.
Longo, B. (2000). Spurious coin: A history of science, management and technical writing. Albany: State University of New York Press .
21.
Lyotard, J. F. (1984). The postmodern condition: A report on knowledge. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press .
22.
Miller, T. P. (1991). Treating professional writing as social praxis . Journal of Advanced Composition, 11. Retrieved July 21, 2003, from http://jac.gsu.edu/jac/11.1/Articles/3.htm
23.
Nardi, B. A., & O’Day, V. L. (1999). Information ecologies: Using technologies with heart. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press .
24.
Norman, D. (1989). The design of everyday things. New York: Doubleday .
25.
Odell, L., & Goswami, D. (Eds.). (1985). Writing in nonacademic settings. New York: Guilford .
26.
Office of the Chief Information Officer, Department of Energy. Information Architecture Program. Retrieved July 31, 2002, from http://cio.doe.gov/iap/publications.htm
27.
Reich, R. (1991). The wealth of nations: Preparing ourselves for 21st century capitalism. New York: Addison-Wesley .
28.
Rorty, R. (Ed.). (1967). The linguistic turn: Essays in philosophical method. Chicago: University of Chicago Press .
29.
Salvo, M. J. (2001). Ethics of engagement: User-centered design and rhetorical methodology . Technical Communication Quarterly, 10, 273-290 .
30.
Schneider, B. (2002). Theorizing structure and agency in workplace writing: An ethnomethodological approach . Journal of Business and Technical Communication, 16, 170-195 .
31.
Spilka, R. (Ed.). (1993). Writing in the workplace: New research perspectives. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press .
32.
Spinuzzi, C. (2002). Toward integrating our research scope: A sociocultural field methodology . Journal of Business and Technical Communication, 16, 3-32 .
33.
Steinberg, H. M. (2001). Richard Saul Wurman: Designing outside the lines. Retrieved July 31, 2002, from Architectural Record Web site: http://www.archrecord.com/INTRVIEW/PROF0301.ASP
34.
Wilson, G. (2001). Technical communication and late capitalism: Considering a postmodern technical communication pedagogy . Journal of Business and Technical Communication, 15, 72-99 .
