This collection of thirty-six articles exposes the problem and the promise of historical research in technical writing. The central problem is that historical research in technical writing has too often been focused only on celebrated authors or scientists as technical writers. The central promise contained in some very recent essays is that historical research in technical communications is beginning to consider the slow evolution of technical communication taking place across a broad spectrum of both celebrated and uncelebrated writers. This historical approach, though more difficult to carry out, is immensely more accurate and meaningful.
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References
1.
Abstracts provided by the authors themselves are marked with an asterisk (*).
2.
AndrewsDeborah C. and WilliamD., Nineteenth Century American House Pattern Books, A Rhetorical Analysis, Proceedings of the 28th International Technical Communication Conference, 1981, pp. E-1–E-4.
3.
*In 19th Century America, a widely felt need for information on house-building resulted in a sizable body of literature that addressed homes as both fact and symbol and developed a form and a language for conveying architectural information to a broad middle-class audience. One of the most popular of the house pattern books was A. J. Downing's The Architecture of Country Houses (1850). Downing was an effective popularizer of architectural information whose language dealt simply and effectively with both the technical details of building, plumbing, ventilation, heating, and the cultural and symbolic aspects of homes in a period of great change and growing concern for developing an American architecture.
4.
BasquinEdmondThe First Technical Writer in English: Geoffrey Chaucer, Technical Communication, 28: 3, pp. 22–24, Fall 1981.
5.
*Geoffrey Chaucer (1343?–1400) is renowned as one of the earliest and greatest of English poets; his Canterbury Tales will be read with pleasure as long as English exists. But one of his lesser-known works, A Treatise on the Astrolabe, qualifies him also for the title of the first technical writer in English.
6.
BrockmannR. JohnA Reformed Writer in 1676, Technical Communication, 29: 2, p. 48, 1982.
7.
This article describes the stylistic changes in a short prose passage written by Joseph Glanvill in 1676. One version of the passage was written before his acquaintance with Thomas Sprat and the scientific style of the Royal Society and the other was written after. The second passage shows Sprat's style rules in action because it is remarkably clear of all “amplifications of style,” and it employs a clear brevity of style.
8.
BroganJ. A., Lessons from Benjamin Franklin, America's First Great Technical Writer, IEEE Transactions on Engineering Writing and Speech, E WS-8: 1, pp. 3–6, June 1965.
9.
*Benjamin Franklin acquired the qualities of style that have given him the title “America's first great technical writer” through self-study of the style of others, notably Addison. Franklin rewrote Addison's Spectator papers from notes, then compared his imitation with the original to see where he had failed to be as concise and readable. Other great writers have testified to the efficacy of this kind of imitation as an exercise in style improvement, and the technical writer of today will find it still one of the best ways to attain clarity and fullness of expression. Bush, Donald W., The Diction of Sir Humphrey Davy, Technical Communication, 25: 1, p. 32, 1978.
10.
This short article examines the diction of an article published by Davy in 1816 and points out how it exemplifies universals of good technical communication.
11.
Connaughton, Michael., Technical Writing in America: A Historical Perspective, in Technical Writing: Past, Present, and Future, compiled by J. C. Mathes and Thomas E. Pinelli, March 1981 (see also Educational Resources Information Center, August 1981), pp. 31–41.
12.
This ground-breaking article describes the place of historical considerations in the discipline of technical writing. It also describes the professional practice of American scientific writing from its earliest beginnings in the seventeenth century until 1815.
13.
Del SestoSteven L., The Science Journalist and Early Popular Magazine Coverage of Nuclear Energy, Journal of Technical Writing and Communication, 11: 4, pp. 341–349, 1981.
14.
*This article is a sample of science and technology stories about the peaceful uses of nuclear energy, drawn principally from popular magazines which reported nuclear news in the 1940s and 1950s. It shows that many of the accounts were widely optimistic and sensational in their claims about the potential uses of nuclear power, and suggests the reasons for the sensationalism and overconfidence in science and technology. The concluding section discusses the general implications for the present and future popularization of science and technology journalism and communication.
15.
FergusonEugene S.The Mind's Eye: Nonverbal Thought in Technology, Science, 197: 201, pp. 827–836, August 26, 1977.
16.
Thinking with pictures is an essential strand in the intellectual history of technological development in the Western world. It has been nonverbal thinking, by and large, that has fixed the outlines and filled in the details of our material surroundings for, in the innumerable choices and decisions, technologists have determined the kind of world we live in.
17.
FergusonRichard W., “Fear God and Take Your Own Part.” Ethical Imperatives and Technical Writing — Some Turn-of-the-Century Examples, Proceedings of the 27th International Technical Communications Conference, 1980, pp. W-195–W-197.
18.
*Unlike the pluralistic view which dominates our perception of our society today, many of our predecessors held a holistic view. This holistic vision obligated some technical writers to lecture the reader on the relationship between the technical information and the social responsibilities of the user.
19.
FreedmanWilliam A.Geoffrey Chaucer, Technical Writer, Society of Technical Writers and Publisher Review, 8: 4, pp. 14–15, October 1961.
20.
*Before the current technological era, the appellation “technical writer” and the term “instruction manual,” certainly common enough words today, were almost unknown. And yet, as early as the fourteenth century, Geoffrey Chaucer wrote Treatise on the Astrolabe, an extremely well written and organized instruction manual, even though written in the style and English of that time. This article compares Chaucer's style and organization to the accepted requirements for a good instruction manual.
21.
GreshamStephen L.Benjamin Franklin's Contributions to the Development of Technical Communication, Journal of Technical Writing and Communication, 7: 1, pp. 5–13, 1977.
22.
*Addressing the professional communicator, the technical writing teacher and the interested student, this article discusses Benjamin Franklin's major contributions to the development of technical communication. While the article centers on Franklin's technical writing style as a model for today's technical communicator, it also outlines Franklin's philosophy of technical communication and his incisive views of the scientist's role in society.
23.
GreshamStephen L.Harvesting the Past: The Legacy of Scientific and Technical Writing in America, Proceedings of the 24th International Technical Communications Conference, 1977, pp. 306–308.
24.
*The modern technical communicator needs to be aware of the legacy of scientific and technical writing in America. This legacy, initiated by men such as John Winthrop, Jr., Cotton Mather and Benjamin Franklin, can benefit the modern communicator through enhancing his writing style, his use of technical formats and rhetorical modes, his knowledge of the history of his discipline, and his sensitivity to the poetry of science and technology.
25.
GreshamStephen L.When Technical Communicators Face the Past, Technical Communication, 25: 3, pp. 8–9, 11, 1978.
26.
*Technical writing was born in the military manual mills of World War II, according to a popular notion, but there are scholars who say otherwise. Professor Gresham is one of those scholars. At the 1976 annual conference he participated in a session entitled An Informal History of Technical Communication in America and distributed a questionnaire to the attendees in an effort to assess their view of our history. Here he summarizes and interprets the results.
27.
GreshamStephen L.George Washington Carver and the Art of Technical Communication, Journal of Technical Writing and Communication, 9: 3, pp. 217–225, 1979.
28.
*The achievements of great men like George Washington Carver are often perpetuated by myth; but more often they are simply overshadowed by the stature of the man himself. Such is the case with Carver.
29.
Thus, this article seeks to identify Carver's achievements as a technical communicator through a brief analysis of some of the technical bulletins he wrote while directing the Agricultural Experiment Station at Tuskegee Institute.
30.
GreshamStephen L., From Aristotle to Einstein: Scientific Literature and the Teaching of Technical Writing, in Courses, Components, and Exercises in Technical Communication, StevensonDwight W. (ed.), NCTE, Urbana, Illinois, pp. 87–93, 1981.
31.
*Many students in technical writing classes are absorbed in the immediate developments within their technical disciplines. However, scientific and technical literature of the past can be used as a base upon which to build assignments that serve technical writing class objectives. A series of such assignments is outlined here.
32.
HargisCharles C.America's First Great Technical Writer, Society of Technical Writers and Publishers Review, 8: 4, pp. 14–15, October 1961.
33.
*Benjamin Franklin was an editor, a publisher, and a printer, but first of all he was a writer. His technical writings are today models of lucidity and simplicity, understandable to the technical and nontechnical reader alike. He preferred language that was clear, concise, and unadorned.
34.
HarrisElizabeth, Language and History in the Sciences and Technologies: Towards a Hierarchical Semantics of Scientific and Technological Discourse, paper delivered at the 1981 convention of the Modern Language Association, New York, New York, December 29, 1981.
35.
A historical understanding of a technical or scientific document allows one to understand the conceptual paradigms used in developing the documents. Such an understanding increases one's ability to read such documents critically and to see them as linguistic constructions of reality not transparent windows of reality.
36.
JonesRichard F., Science and English Prose Style in the Third Quarter of the Seventeenth Century, Publications of the Modern Language Association, pp. 977–1009, 1930.
37.
This article traces the impact of the Royal Society's linguistic reformers — Sprat, Petty, Wilkins, et al. — Upon English prose style as it moves from the “luxuriant prose of the commonwealth into that of a diametrically opposite nature in the Restoration.” This is a classic exposition of the stylistic heritage that Bacon bequeathed through science to the whole educated community of his time.
38.
KelgoreDeborah, Moby-Dick: A Whale of a Handbook for Technical Writing Teachers, Journal of Technical Writing and Communication, 11: 3, pp. 209–216, 1981.
39.
*Moby-Dick is a classic of technical literature as well as a classic of American literature. But for the technical writing teacher, its relevance goes beyond this: Moby-Dick can also be a valuable teaching resource. It provides pertinent examples for teaching students the concepts of audience, purpose, research and sources, use of background experience, and thoroughness in compiling data. It also supplies ample models of technical definitions, descriptions, processes, and theories. Finally, Moby-Dick demonstrates the kind of energetic technical writing that is needed today.
40.
KelleyShari A., and KelleyPatrick A.Sir Charles Lyell: Geologist and Technical Communicator, Technical Communication, 27: 2, p. 40, 1980.
41.
This short article discusses how the nineteenth century British geologist Sir Charles Lyell effectively communicated “technical information to a diverse audience” and “controversial information to an antagonistic audience,” in a short passage from his Elements of Biology.
42.
LayMary M.A Classical Example of a Procedure, Technical Communication, 27: 4, p. 40, 1980.
43.
This brief article discusses how John Snow's 1824 paper, “The Prevention of Cholera,” exemplifies the rhetorical pattern of the “procedure.” “Snow's communication is an excellent model of the results of analyzing audience and purpose in procedures.”
44.
LipsonCarol, I Am But a Lewd Compilator: Chaucer's Treatise on the Astrolabe as Translation, Neuphilo-logische Mitteilungen, Fall 1982 (in press).
45.
*This article looks at the extent of Chaucer's dependence on sources; it finds inapplicable the common designation of the work as translation.
46.
LipsonCarol, Descriptions and Instructions in Medieval Times: Lessons to be Learnt from Geoffrey Chaucer's Treatise on the Astrolabe, Journal of Technical Writing and Communication, 12: 3, 1982.
47.
*This paper examines Chaucer's place in the manual tradition of the period. It looks at the strengths of his handling of this mode of writing to determine what has led to the enduring popularity of his manual and what we can learn from it for our own handling of manuals for lay audiences.
48.
MarkelMichael H.The Rhetorical Principles of Sir Thomas Browne, Technical Communication, 26: 1, pp. 8–9, 1979.
49.
*Modern technical communicators can learn a thing or two by studying the work of pioneers in the field. Analysis of the prose of Sir Thomas Browne (1605–1682) yields Professor Markel three basic rhetorical principles that are as useful today as they were three hundred years ago.
50.
MasseRoger E., and PatrickM. Kelley, Teaching the Tradition of Technical and Scientific Writing, in Technical and Professional Communication, SawyerThomas M. (ed.), Professional Communication Press, Inc., Ann Arbor, Michigan, pp. 79–87, 1977.
51.
The two authors discuss how they introduce students to the “long and great” tradition of technical and scientific writing using selected readings from the scientific and technical writing in Hutchin's and Adler's The Great Books of the Western World.
52.
MillerWalter James, What Can the Technical Writer of the Past Teach the Technical Writer of Today, in The Teaching of Technical Writing, CunninghamDonald H. and EstrinHerman A. (eds.), NCTE, Urbana, Illinois, pp. 198–216, 1975.
53.
*Passages from the works of technical writers of the past are presented and discussed by the author, who states that from a study of the classics an aspiring technical writer can learn organization, approach, and variety of forms, especially in defining and describing process, apparatus, and theory.
54.
NovozhilouYuri V., and RichardsonJacques G.Fifty Years after the Death of Flammarion, The Science Popularizer, Journal of Technical Writing and Communication, 6: 2, pp. 89–96, 1976.
55.
*The fiftieth anniversary of the death of Camille Flammarion, the great French astronomer, is the occasion for the authors of this article to review the beginnings of modern science writing. Flammarion's Popular Astronomy may be considered the first step in the popularization of science. The relation of science communication to other disciplines is discussed as well as the contemporary approach. One of the tasks of the popularizer is to present a correct image of science to the public. The authors conclude with a state of UNESCO's involvement in the popularization of science.
56.
OvittGeorge, A Late Medieval Technical Directive: Chaucer's Treatise on the Astrolabe, Proceedings of the 28th International Technical Communication Conference, 1981, pp. E-78–E-81.
57.
*Chaucer's Treatise on the Astrolabe, which is the oldest treatment of a technical subject in English, was written at a time when Western science was still in the process of developing an adequate language with which to deal with the complexities of the emerging discoveries of the previous two centuries. The problems that Chaucer encountered in describing the construction and function of the astrolabe may be seen to foreshadow the perennial problems of all technical communicators, and his solutions to these problems, though sometimes unsatisfactory, nonetheless provide the present-day technical communicator with a sense of his discipline's history.
58.
ParadisJames G., The Royal Society, Henry Oldenburg, and Some Origins of the Modern Technical Paper, Proceedings of the 28th International Technical Communication Conference, 1981, pp. E-82–E-86.
59.
*The interaction of science and literary tradition in the mid-seventeenth century is an important source of the modern form of the scientific paper or periodical article. Some of the earliest standards in technical documentation can be traced back to those set forth in the Royal Society's Philosophical Transactions. The first periodical journal of England, this series, initiated in 1665 under the editorship of Henry Oldenburg, created a specialized audience and rhetorical models for which there was very little precedent. Three primary forces converged to establish what Robert Boyle, the patron and influential friend of Oldenburg, called the “experimental essay.” First, the Baconian standards for technical language were formally recognized by fellows of the Royal Society and the plain style of language was promoted over the high oratorical style favored by the universities. Second, two forms of literature, the essay genre of the Renaissance and the letter model that had provided the traditional means of exchanging technical information among experimentalists, converged to provide a new short format for publishing experimental results. Finally, the institutional structure of the Royal Society itself furnished an administrative mechanism by means of which original work, first reported at meetings of the Royal Society, could then be printed in the formal literature and sold for profit and for the promotion of useful knowledge.
60.
ParadisJames G., Bacon, Linneaus, and Lavoisier: Early Language Reform in the Sciences, in New Essays in Scientific and Technical Writing and Communication, AndersonP.BrockmannJ., and MillerC. (eds.), Baywood Publishing Co., Inc., Farmingdale, New York, 1983.
61.
Although largely based on the vernacular, scientific language draws much of its vocabulary from distinct lexicons that accommodate the special varieties of internal logic, fixity, and precision used by scientists. The nature and significance of these departures from a common or vernacular language can be clearly seen in a historical context as a series of reforms by key scientific innovators, whose theoretical scientific innovations were fundamentally linked to their language reforms. In this essay, James Paradis describes a series of such language reforms and their link to scientific innovations from 1620 to 1840.
62.
ScottGeoffreyThe Scientific Poetry of Eramus Darwin, Technical Communication, 29: 3, pp. 16–20, 1982.
63.
*Eramus Darwin (1731–1802) was a renowned English physician and scientist. He was also the author of extremely popular extended poems that described eighteenth century science and technology in heroic couplets. While these “scientific poems” differ greatly from our present prose models, Darwin's works stand as enlightening examples of technical communication from the Age of Enlightenment.
64.
ShulmanJoel J.The Anonymous Technical Writer in History, Society of Technical Writers and Publishers, 7: 1, pp. 22–26, January 1960.
65.
This article discusses the activities of people whose primary work has been technical writing from Babylonian times to the present, and how they have functioned not as participants in scientific activity but as “anonymous tools.”
66.
ShulmanJoel J.Technical Writers Who Become Famous as Scientists, Society of Technical Writers and Publishers, 7: 2, pp. 17–21, July 1960.
67.
*Once in a rare while a person achieves stature as a scientist on the basis of work that is primarily a collection, classification, codification, or communication. Among these persons are some of the first rank in their fields. Because American science has so many of these figures, this article emphasizes American contributions, but will also include other famous examples.
68.
ShulmanJoel J.Cotton Mather, America's First Great Technical Writer, Society of Technical Writers and Publishers Review, 10: 2, pp. 20–22, 1963.
69.
*A dedication to learning was one of the outstanding characteristics of the Puritan religious movement in England in the seventeenth century. Cotton Mather, a third generation American clergyman, best known for his defense of the witchcraft trials in Salem in 1692, was the outstanding scientific figure in America at that time. Because of his interest in the communication of information, he may be called a first-rate technical writer even though many have considered him a second-rate scientist. Mather was probably the first person who consciously strove to establish the importance of communications in science as an essential part of scientific endeavor.
70.
StephensJames, Style as Therapy in Renaissance Science, in New Essays in Scientific and Technical Writing and Communication, AndersonP.BrockmannJ., and MillerC. (eds.), Baywood Publishing Co., Inc., Farmingdale, New York, 1983.
71.
During their careers, Renaissance scientists such as Paracelsus, Bacon, Galileo, Kepler, and Copernicus discovered that a communicator of scientific innovation must not only communicate the details of innovations, he must also employ a style which will gently coax intelligent, though reluctant, readers into accepting change. In particular, these Renaissance scientists sought to develop a style that would persuade readers to give up allegiances to superstitions and antiquated beliefs. In this essay, James Stephens describes versions of this style developed between the years 1500 and 1700.
72.
TebeauxElizabethFranklin's Autobiography — Important Lessons in Tone, Syntax, and Persona, Journal of Technical Writing and Communication, 11: 4, pp. 341–349, 1981.
73.
*Having students read selected portions of Benjamin Franklin's Autobiography provides unique and effective material for supplementing instruction in style and control of tone. Franklin's writing exemplifies the major style characteristics taught in technical writing: Active voice, conciseness, common words, concrete language, sentences structured by clauses rather than phrases. The work clearly shows that good “technical” style is not an isolated type of writing, but a powerful means of controlling tone and meaning. Students can be shown that by skillfully using syntax and diction and by carefully selecting content, Franklin shrewdly and effectively achieved his goal in writing the Autobiography — A precisely drawn image of himself for posterity.
74.
WhittakerDelia A.Priestley's Personal Style, Technical Communication, 26: 1, p. 28, 1979.
75.
This short article investigates the personal stylistic attributes of an experiment written up by Joseph Priestley in 1755. The author explains how Priestley took responsibility for what he discovered and included himself in his descriptions.
76.
ZappenJames P.Francis Bacon and the Topics, Proceedings of the 24th International Technical Communications Conference, 1977, pp. 309–312.
77.
*The topics of classical rhetoric are familiar methods in the communication of scientific and technical information. But the topics hold quite a different place in the communication process than they once did. While in classical rhetoric the topics were means of finding arguments in matters subject to debate, today they are viewed as types of reports on principles of organization. The emphasis is on form rather than content, this change due largely to Francis Bacon's criticisms of the conventional topics. The change has left certain needs unattended, among them the need for new language systems. Scientific and technical communication begins, uniquely, in things, not propositions. The formulation of language systems suited to new technologies and new audiences is a proper province of the topics in a modern communication system.
78.
ZappenJames P.Francis Bacon and the Rhetoric of Science, College Composition and Communication, 26: 3, pp. 244–247, October 1975.
79.
*Bacon's comments on logic and rhetoric reveal a comprehensive view of the communication process. In particular, Bacon includes subject and audience analysis among those concerns proper to the rhetorician. Perhaps more importantly, Bacon suggests, albeit by implication only, that the transfer of knowledge encompasses logic as well as rhetoric.
80.
Internship Programs: Current Practices and Future Changes, Proceedings of the Council for Programs in Technical and Scientific Communication, 1980.
81.
Surveys in Two-Year Technical Communication Curriculum Development, Journal of Technical Writing and Communication, 11: 1, 1981.
82.
Teaching Computer Documentation in an Academic Environment, American Computing Machinery Special Interest Group for System's Documentation Newsletter, 7: 4, 1981.
83.
A Reformed Writer in 1676, Technical Communications, Fall 1982.
84.
Cases for Composition Versus Casebook Rhetoric, Teaching English in the Two Year College, Spring 1982.
